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Question: Did the german population agree to the elimination of Jewish people or only to put the Nazis in power!?
In other words, did laypeople in Germany circa 1933-1945 know that the Nazis were actively seeking to eliminate as many Jews as they could!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


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The Nazis carried more seats than any other party in the last election held in Germany before 1945, but did not win a majority!. This was in 1933!. There had been several elections in rapid succession, because none of the governments formed after the elections proved capable of dealing with Germany's problems!. The Nazis gained seats each time, but never reached a majority!. Since they had more seats than any of the several other parties, the aged President Hindenburg called on Hitler, as head of the party, to form a new government, with Hitler as Chancellor and Hindenburg as President, in January 1933!. Hindenburg died the next year and Hitler maneuvered and had himself named President as well!. The Nazis quickly consolidated power and in the "night of the long knives" in 1934 murdered all significant opposition!. With the secret police and a network or informers, they were in absolute control and the average person was not able to do anything to change it!.

There were laws passed forbidding the Jews from practicing professions, and attending schools!. The Jews were forced to wear yellow armbands with a star of David on them, and their businesses were vandalized, and eventually forced to close!. Kristallnacht in 1938 was the beginning of the real pogrom!. The Jews began disappearing, but people thought they were being resettled in the east!. The Germans did not advertise what they were doing!. The Jews themselves believed the resettlement story for a long time, because nobody was coming back and telling anything different, but eventually a few escaped and tried to spread the word, but had trouble getting anyone to believe them - it was just too monstrous to comprehend!.

After the war, most Germans claimed not to have known of the camps, even those who lived in neighboring towns or just down the road!. Some American commanders made local Germans come tour the camps, and help bury bodies!. Some Germans committed suicide after this!. But its hard to believe that by the end of the war that many did not know!. The train crews that carried the cars to Auschwitz, the soldiers who witnessed, or participated in massacres as the Germans moved into Russia, to say nothing of concentration camp guards and employees!. All German factories were running on slave labor by the end!. So were all German farms, and this led to widespread starvation in Germany in the fall and winter of 1945, after the war ended, because the labor force was freed by May!. And all those who had direct knowledge probably told at least a few friends or family!. But still, if the Gestapo got a whiff of your possible "disloyalty", you too were done for, and probably your family too!.

There was a woman who was killed in 1945 for telling the following joke: "Goering and Goebbels were on top of the tallest radio tower in Berlin!. Goering says 'Id like to do something to cheer the people up'!. Goebbels says 'Why dont you jump' "!. Thats a death sentence in Nazi Germany!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Germany had been emasculated by the Versailles Treaty and was hit hard by the Depression!. What Hitler and the Nazis played off of was the German need for national pride and national identity!. There was a lot of talk about the old Aryan ways, Aryan Gods; the swastika was found on old German pottery, which is why it became the Nazi symbol!. (The swastika will arise in any basket-weaving society, so people's claims about Hitler perverting a sign of peace are bull!. It was about preserving the old Teutonic ways!. Don't ask me how the basket-weaving thing works or how I know that!.) The Jews were a convenient scapegoat!. They owned a lot of shops and as a group had a bit more wealth than the average German!. They were a small group, a bit dodgy from the average citizen's point of view, and an easy target!.

One thing to be remembered is that once in power, the Nazis didn't give average citizens much of a choice in anything!. It wasn't like German boys could pick between Hitler Youth or 4H camp!.

On the other hand, I think that people tend to overestimate Hitler's power and efficiency!. As a Jewish libertarian, I'm not condoning his mass slaughter!. On the other hand, the Germans did focus quite a bit on just getting the Jews out of Germany!. A lot of Jews -like the ones I'm directly descended from- got out when things were getting bad, but before it all went to hell!. A lot of Germans helped Jews escape!. And until the end of the war, when 14-year old boys and 80-year old men were padding the ranks of the German army, boys in Hitler Youth mostly spent their time watching propaganda, playing sports, and walking around in their uniforms, trying to impress girls!.

Not every German was a raving murderous lunatic!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Anti semitism was a fact of life in Europe for many centuries before the Nazis!. The christians had often persecuted the jews so Hitler was kicking at an open door to some extent but few people imagined that he would take things to the extreme of killing them all!.
The Nazis were always a minority party in the Reichstag until Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor in 1933 to try to restore order to Germany!.
Once he was chancellor he started to eliminate the other political partiesWww@QuestionHome@Com

Yes they did!. I don't believe that everyone knew exactly what was going on in the extermination camps, but they knew Jews were being killed!. Think about it: There were homes not far from Auschwitz (Sp!?) So, if you could see all those people were going in and no one was going out, what happend to the people!?!? also, Hitler made many speeches on how Jews were evil and monstrous!. For instance, it was believed, in their time, that Jews were beasts that could shape-shift to look like regular people!. This may sound ridiculous, but when Hitler took over he regulated everything including schooling, books, newspapers and everything in between!. Therefore, school children were taught that (literally) Germany was their mother, Hitler was their father, and that Jews were evil!. also, they were taught to have a great deal of patriotism for their country and at age 12 or so all boys were put into boot camp to become soldiers for their country!. Basically he brain washed most of the citizens since birth!. Since Hitler brought the country out of depression the German people were grateful to him, so they believed whatever he said due to their loyalty to him!. This was one of the main reasons no one struck back against Hitler, other than the fact they were scared of him!. Pope John Paul the II and Mother Teresa were some of the very very few who tried to help the Jews!. If you want to know anymore, message me!. I am a huge WWII nerd, lol!. Hope this helped answer your curiosity!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

No, most of the German people had no clue the Holocaust was an occuring issue, they just had clues that the Jews were being mistreated(people wonder after people disappear in their city)!. German citizens took no act or vote to elimate the Jews, only inside Nazi officials knew or acted upon it!. The Germans were rather sympathetic towards the Jews, especially after the war!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Only 43!.9%!. That was the highest vote that Hitler and his party got after he was made Chancellor by Hindenburg (March 1933)!. By that time the Nazi party had control of the ballot box anyway!. As proved by Mugabe, it's not the majority that counts!.

Did the population believe it was voting for the elimination of the Jews!? Some of them may have hoped for that but it is amazing how often what you vote for doesn't happen, in a Democracy!. What they mostly thought was that the Nazis would "do some thing"!. Well, this time they did!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The German people were happy to have Hitler take them out of their depression and severe inflation!.

There are a lot of questions about the extent of the knowledge of the average German citizen about the Final Solution!. Most seem to agree that the Germans knew what was happening, but not necessarily the details!.

An example of this would be the American public's lack of information of the conditions at Guantanamo and our prisons for enemy combatants overseas!. We hears stories telling us things are okay and other stories telling us things are terrible, and we don't really know the whole story!.

Are you demanding the complete truth!? Are you concerned with the protection of the human rights of potential Al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners!?

I think German citizens were in the same position!. They knew Jews were being rounded up, they knew that some bad stuff was happening, but they didn't know the details and really didn't want to know, because knowledge would make them obliged to speak up, and speaking up would mean risking your life in Nazi Germany!.

(I am in no way comparing the US to Nazi Germany, by the way!. I have freedom of speech and believe that our press, while flawed, is still free!. Nazi Germany did not give their citizens those things!.)

One interesting aspect to all this is the German seizing of some Jewish accounts in Switzerland!. Switzerland has been made to answer for some of their culpability and cooperation!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The Holocaust did not begin with the nazi party!. Anti-Jewish pogroms were a long standing tradition in Europe!.http://www!.geocities!.com/Athens/Cyprus/8!.!.!.

It was impossible for the German people to be unaware of the Holocaust taking place under their eyes!. It took the support and active participation of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people to pull it off!. http://www!.calvin!.edu/academic/cas/gpa/w!.!.!.

When one's Jewish neighbors!., friends, and business associate disappear, when death camps go up, when the smell of burning flesh floats over your town!.!.!.!.http://www!.randomhouse!.com/vintage/read/!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

i'm not sure, but i would say put a government in place to get them out of the depression, that's why Hitler rose to power so fast!. I know it wasn't for the Holocaust because Jewish people were living in Germany at that time!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

As far as I know a lot of Germans tried to help out Jewish people by hiding them from the police!. But of course I'm sure its not that simple!. There were people who agreed with the Nazi view and of course people who didn't, things arent always so cut and dry!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm german and I am a nazi, they did not agree but some did agree because that's how they were born to do so they thought it was their destiny the few were smart and tried to help them but most sadly are now dead heros!.!.but even bad people are still heros D:Www@QuestionHome@Com

There were many who claimed they did not know!. Many knew, and simply looked the other way!. There were also some that knew, and did what they could to help!. Oskar Schindler is probably one of the most notable!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I don't know, I would hope they didn't know of this awful tragic time in history!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

when you tell people someting is someone elses fault they'll follow you u!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com