Was the Holocaust Planned or was it a consequence due to a series of events leading up to and during the second world war?
To what Extent was the Holocaust a pre determined plan by Hitler? The mass murder of millions of Jews is one of the largest genocides recorded in European history. Many historians, such as Christopher Browning, have come to the conclusion that the Holocaust was the result of careful planning by Hitler and the Nazi party long before the Final Solution. Others like V.R Berghahn are of the opinion that the Holocaust was a consequence of several events, such as war, that Hitler had not anticipated. There is also a third opinion amongst historians regarding the holocaust, the likes of Heim and Aly suggest that it was the intention of Himmler to annihilate the Jews and convinced Hitler the best option was to get rid of the Jews permanently. It is therefore the intention to review the arguments surrounding this topic and consider a conclusion to the question raised by this essay. The idealisation that Hitler had intended to exterminate the Jews via mass execution is one that many historians share. Christopher Browning makes his opinion based on the idea that the Nazis singled out the Jewish community from an early stage; although Browning is seen as a functionalist and his main opinion was that the Holocaust was a consequence of cumulative radicalisation, much of his evidence pushes towards the idea that Hitler initially intended the mass genocide of the Jewry. The fact that before war broke out in Europe, 1‘Nazi policies had succeeded in isolating the German Jewry from the rest of society’ indicated a heavily rooted hatred for the Jews and a long term plan to ‘cleanse’ Germany completely of Jews. Emigration plans, mentioned by Browning, organised by Hitler are yet another indication that the ultimate goal of genocide was pre-conceived, dormant in the background, ready to be enforced. The plans to exile the Jews from Germany and Poland can be seen as the initial step leading to Jewish extinction. It could also be seen as the initiation of genocide amongst Germany
Bibliography: 1. Browning Christopher - The origins of the final solution, published by William Heinemann in 2004 2. Hitler Adolf - Mein Kampf, translated by Ralph Manhein with an introduction by D.C. Watt. 1992 3. Knopp Guido - Hitler in a letter cited in Hitler’s Holocaust, English translation first published in 2001 by Sutton publishing limited, Phoenix Mill, Thrupp Stroud Gloucestershire 4. Wistrich Robert. S - Hitler and The Holocaust, published by Modern Library 2003 5. Knopp Guido - Heinrich Himmler in a speech 1942 cited in Hitler’s Holocaust ,English translation published by 2001 by Sutton publishing limited Phoenix mill Thrupp Stroud Gloucestershire 2001 6. Speer Albert – the slave state, published by Macmilian Publishing Co., Inc 1981 7. http://quotesby.net/Heinrich-Himmler 10th November 2010 at 09:47 a.m