Haim Bresheeth - Introducing The Holocaust: A Graphic Guide

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ISBN: 978-178578-014-1

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The Holocaust is what we call the Nazi attempt to destroy European Jewry. It was part of a vast operation in genocide which, between 1939 and 1945, caused the following deaths:

In Hebrew, the Holocaust is called Shoah - a great and terrible wind.

Holocaust comes from the Greek. Holos means whole and caustos means burnt (as in caustic). Originally, it meant a sacrifice consumed by fire - a burnt offering. It came to mean a sacrifice on a large scale, and, by the end of the 17th century, the complete destruction of a large number of persons - a great slaughter or massacre.

The Holocaust is an example of Genocide. genocide, which literally means the annihilation of a race, was first used in 1944.

The United Nations Convention of 1948 defines the crime of genocide as acts committed to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religous group as such.

There have been many cases of genocide in history. The Spanish conquerors slaughtered the Native Americans; whole peoples like the Caribs disappeared. Following on the colonization of North America, the Native Americans were massacred by the army or settlers.

In modern times there have been numerous genocides. Here are some of them:

Shoah - the Holocaust - was a case of Genocide. It was intended by the Nazis to be the final solution of what they saw as the Jewish problem. The Nazis stated aim was to make the territories under their control Judenrein - cleansed of Jews. It was therefore an extreme case of racial cleansing.

Its ideological basis was anti-Semitism.

The word anti-Semitism was indented in 1879 by a German racist called Wilhelm Marr (1818-1904).

But anti-Semitism as a phenomenon was many centuries older. It has its roots in religion.

MURDERERS OF THE LORD REBELS AND DETESTORS OF GOD COMPANIONS OF THE DEVIL. NO BETTER THAN HOGS IN THEIR LEND GROSSNESS AND GLUTTONY.

The Guilt of the Jews

Protestant Anti-Semitism

The Protestant church inherited the anti-Semitism of the Catholics. Martin Luther, the great reformer, denounced the Jews as the devils people, as liars and bloodhounds and a bloody and revengeful people.

We are at fault in not slaying them. Set fire to their synagogues and schools and bury or cober with dirt whatever will not burn This is to be bone in honour of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God may see that we are Christians.

The Other

Communities tend to define some group or its representative as the Other. The Other is a figure on to whom they project their fears and aggressions. This occurs particularly at times when the community is threatened economically, physically or culturally. The Other is usually different in some very obvious ways - skin colour, culture, dress or cuisine and race or nationality.

In Christian medieval Europe difference was forced upon the Jews. They were required to live in ghetto segregation. They were said to have a special smell - foetor Judaicus - just as other immigrants today are accused of having a bad smell. Throughout the centuries in Europe, the Jew has been the Other - different - set apart - by culture, by religion, by rituals, by dress (in some cases they were compelled to wear badges or specific robes), and by language. Many Jews have - as is their right - held very tenaciously to their differences.

The Jews and the Enlightenment

In the 18th century, the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment produced the body of thought that led to the French Revolution. It believed in equality irrespective of race.
It was against superstition. All religions, including Christianity and Judaism, were viewed with equal scepticism. The important thing was human understanding and tolerance.

As a result of the Enlightenment, the 19th century was a period of assimilation when Jews were received into Gentile society.