Answer to Question #160780 in History for Will

Question

Describe the atrocity known as the Holocaust and it's future global impact

Answer 1

The Holocaust refers to the state-sponsored persecution and murder of over six million Jews and millions of others by the Nazi Germany during World War II. The Nazi government referred to the mass murder as the “final solution” to the Jewish problem. The Nazi regime considered the German race superior to every other and deemed the Jews inferior both racially and biologically. The Nazi regime began the persecution by establishing ghettos and concentration camps to segregate Jews before it graduated to more radicalized measures. Jews were deported to extermination camps where they were killed by mass shootings, gassed in cyanide, medical experiments, death marches, starvation, worked or beaten to death or died of diseases. Though Jews were the main target of the Nazi racism, the Nazi regime also targeted other groups because of their perceived biological inferiority e.g. people with disabilities as well as groups with contrasting ideological or behavioral background e.g. homosexuals.

The atrocity created a bitter legacy and the wounds it caused were slow to heal. Survivors faced severe psychological and psychiatric effects and the psychological vulnerability has been passed across generations. The Holocaust caused a dramatic increase in the number of refugees and displaced populations across Europe in the late 1940s. The Allied Powers held trials against the Nazi government in order to bring the atrocity to global light and in 1948, executed a mandate for the creation of Israel to provide shelter to Jewish survivors. Even to date, many Holocaust survivors are living in poverty and experience a higher rate of cancer due to exposure to starvation, extreme stress and poisonous gases. The mass murder led to the development of the Nuremberg trials, which led to the development of War Crimes Trials. They marked a turning point between classical and contemporary international law as they led to the formation of the International Criminal Court.