Page 99 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

918 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

The Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 1 Indictment ...

The following text concerning the Holocaust is an German secret weapon is anti-Semitism because if it
extract from the record of the Nuremberg war crimes is consistently pursued by Germany, it will become
tribunal following the German defeat in World War II. a universal problem which all nations will be forced
to consider.” The Defendant Streicher declared: “The
. . . Implementing their “master race” policy, the con-
sun will not shine on the nations of the earth until
spirators joined in a program of relentless persecu-
the last Jew is dead.” These avowals and incitements
tion of the Jews, designed to exterminate them.
were typical of the declarations of the Nazi con-
Annihilation of the Jews became an official State
spirators throughout the course of their conspiracy.
policy, carried out both by official action and by
The program of action against the Jews included dis-
incitements to mob and individual violence.The con-
franchisement, stigmatization, denial of civil rights,
spirators openly avowed their purpose. For example,
subjecting their persons and property to violence,
the Defendant Rosenberg stated: “Anti-Semitism is
deportation, enslavement, enforced labor, starva-
the unifying element of the reconstruction of Ger-
tion, murder, and mass extermination.The extent to
many.” On another occasion he also stated: “Ger-
which the conspirators succeeded in their purpose
many will regard the Jewish question as solved only
can only be estimated, but the annihilation was sub-
after the very last Jew has left the greater German liv-
stantially complete in many localities of Europe. Of
ing space...Europe will have its Jewish question
the 9,600,000 Jews who lived in the parts of
solved only after the very last Jew has left the Con-
Europe under Nazi domination, it is conservatively
tinent.” The Defendant Ley declared: “We swear we
estimated that 5,700,000 have disappeared, most
are not going to abandon the struggle until the last
of them deliberately put to death by the Nazi con-
Jew in Europe has been exterminated and is actually
spirators. Only remnants of the Jewish population
dead. It is not enough to isolate the Jewish enemy of
of Europe remain.
mankind—the Jew has got to be exterminated.” On
another occasion he also declared: “The second
or even murder Jews while others watched silently.While refugees trying to flee Europe. The United States, which
it may be an overstatement to say, as some scholars have, had initially proposed the conference, showed so little
that Germans were predisposed to anti-Semitism, few interest in solving the problem that other countries felt
Germans were prepared to raise any objections to no need to open their doors to fleeing Jews. In the end,
Hitler’s policies. the Dominican Republic was the only country that wel-
comed Jews.
The Danger Rises The situation grew increasingly ominous for the Jews
The discriminatory measures adopted in Germany did not when more than 26,000 Jewish men were imprisoned in
initially pose a physical threat to the Jews.This began to concentration camps at Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sach-
change on 9-10 November 1938, when the government senhausen.The first of these camps, Dachau, was estab-
organized attacks by mobs that destroyed 191 syna- lished in June 1933 for non-Jewish opponents of the
gogues and looted 7,500 shops.At least ninety-one Jews Nazi regime and other criminals, but Dachau, along with
were killed in what became known as the Night of Bro- the others, gradually became prisons primarily for Jews.
ken Glass, or Kristallnacht.
The authorities’ clear role in the attacks convinced World War II Begins
many Jews the time had come to flee. The question, for Germany’s invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939,
those with the courage and the means to leave their marked the unofficial start of World War II. One of the
homes, was where to go. Just four months earlier, dele- reasons Hitler said he went to war was to make room—
gates from thirty-two countries had met at Evian, France, Lebensraum, or “living space”—for Germans. He believed
to discuss what to do about the growing number of that eastern Europe had to be conquered to create a vast