One of the most notorious aspects of the Nazi party’s creed was that Jews were responsible for the ills of Western civilization—most specifically, Germany’s defeat in World War I, the rise of communism, and the collapse of Western economies in the Great Depression. (For consideration of the political history, see our entry on Fascism.) When Hitler came to power on January 30, 1933, it was not long before he transformed the persecution of the Jews from an expedient political weapon into a precept of state ideology. Less than two months after he became chancellor, on March 20, 1933, Hitler ordered the establishment of the first concentration camp at Dachau, not uniquely to house Jews but as a place to imprison anyone deemed an enemy of the state -- social democrats, socialists,…
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Citation: Kich, Martin. "Nazism and the Holocaust". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 May 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=17637, accessed 25 November 2024.]
