Due to anti-semitism, the lives of many Jews were lost in a genocide known as the “Holocaust”. Anti-semitism is often used to describe any sort of “...political, social, and economic agitation directed against Jews” (Funk & Wagnalls). It was spread through propaganda, the idea of a master race, and led to the Jews being a scapegoat for the Germans after World War I. The history of anti-semitism can be traced back to biblical times, perhaps even earlier than that; as stated in Maus I, there were “centuries of anti-semitism” before the rise of Hitler and the Nazis (Maus I 171. 6). Although anti-semitism can be found earlier than biblical times, it was mainly prevalent after the crucifixion of Jesus, when many …show more content…
the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators”, lasting from the years 1939-1941 (United States Holocaust Museum). After becoming the chancellor of Germany in 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime strived to bring Germany out of the depression and debt zone that they were currently in. Since the Nazis believed strongly that the Jewish people were harmful to the Germans and were “inferior”, Hitler’s idea of helping Germany out of this mess was by getting rid of the Jews in his ”Final Solution”. As a part of his Final Solution, Hitler exterminated the Jewish population through the implementation of concentration camps. Located in these camps were: gas chambers, crematories, and labor camps, which were used to execute the Jews. At these camps, the Jews were forced to work and if not, “[they would] go straight to the furnace [Or] to the crematory” (Wiesel 47). Although the Jews were the main targets, many other groups were subjected to cruelty under the Nazis as well. Some of these groups included: gypsies, homosexuals, the physically/mentally challenged, communists, anyone who opposed the Nazis, and the elderly (Wahutu,