Why did the Holocaust Happen?

It may be true. After all, the Holocaust is a long and depressing journey in humankind’s degeneration into a machine of hate, rage and destruction, so skipping some parts of this horrendous journey is forgiven, even if you are a historian.

However, the one question that still strike many people is; why did the Holocaust happen? What caused a person or a group of people to order these killings, nay, massacre of countless innocent individuals? There are chances that the answer to this question may never be known, because the man who has been held responsible for it is long dead and gone. But of course, it would be quite interesting for a psychiatrist to have a session with Adolf Hitler. Here are some of the incidents and aspects that we can safely say were at least some of the reasons for the Holocaust to happen, and to happen on such a massive scale.

Today, we can just shake our heads at some of the inane reasons that are attributed to the Holocaust. To most, it would seem to be a night-written plot of a B-Grade movie or even a slash-and-dash videogame. The Holocaust is, therefore, not only a blot on the history of mankind, but also an insult to the intelligence of the most intelligent being on earth – Humans.

It is said, that the basic motivation of the Holocaust was pure ideology. Of course, one major (and perhaps the only) reason was the humiliation that Germany had faced in the First World War, but though the reason was different, the motivation was quite ridiculous, to say the least.

The Nazis believed that there was a great Jewish conspiracy to rule the world (which, interestingly, is still one of the most popular conspiracy theories in the world), which was running parallel to the Aryan quest of cleansing the world, starting with Germany.

While this is widely considered to be the theoretical reason for the Holocaust, the practical reasons for the Holocaust are:

Germany’s Loss in World War I: Germany was soundly drubbed in the First World War. Hitler considered the Jews, who gave minimal support during the First World War, to be something of an ‘internal enemy’ and had to be eradicated, fast and with any means possible.

Treaty of Versailles: If we go to look at the single most biggest humiliation that Germany faced due to the their loss in the First World War, it would be the Treaty of Versailles. For one, Germany and allies had to take full responsibility for the First World War. Further, almost all of Germany was demilitarized and they had to pay reparations to some of the countries that formed the Entente powers. It also lost its colonies in Asia and Africa.

Adolf Hitler: Here was one man who had some weird ideas about a group of people, and the funny thing is that all other governments and countries did not/would not/could not help the systematic massacre of an entire civilization of people. Power makes people mad, and though his previous ideas may be at least arguable, his entire idea of destroying an entire civilization was not.