At the start of NAZI power in Germany during the year of 1933 it was unknown of what was set to begin with the mass killings of European Jews, Poles, other political party members, the disabled among others. The death total surpassed the millions but at the beginning this was not the prerogative, or at least did not seem to be, of Hitler and the Nazi’s. Although the German people were not totally accepting of Hitler’s public display of hatred for Jews among other certain groups they seemed to, after a certain period of time, accept it due to the fact of the upswing in economy and living conditions that came during Hitler’s power. The question I bring up doesn’t necessary involve Hitler and his actions towards these innocent people I bring up, but in terms of the German population and how much they truly turned their shoulder to the whole ordeal which we now know as the Holocaust.
Obviously there was a significant amount of Anti-Semitism throughout Europe during this time period, but it was Adolf Hitler who voiced his opinion the most and eventually took matters into his own hands during the Second World War. However, in no way shape or form am I trying to put the sole blame of these horrific events on anybody else, but how much did the German citizens also have to do with it. It was tough for other countries to understand the extent of what was going on with the extermination of millions of people and even though there was a good majority of Germans who truly were oblivious to the chaos there was still a significant amount that ignored it all.
A perfect example of this would be the Catholic Bishop Munster whose sermon went against the Nazi regime and their planned killings of the German disabled arguing that innocent ‘Germans’ are dying for no apparent reason. This Bishop whose brave sermon was successful, which stopped the killings, simply ignored many letters written to him from Jews asking him to do the same for them.
The Bishop today is seen as a hero, but how much of a hero is he, yes he saved many lives, but if speaking out against the Nazi’s and their anti-Jew slander could there have been something done. The question remains, but it was obvious there was many citizens of Germany who had nothing to do with the war or actual persecution of Jews, but their silence should most certainly be scene as a crime in itself.
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