Hitler's Evils

Adolf Hitler, as we all know, was the dictatorial leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party - otherwise known as the Nazi Party, commanding German forces throughout World War II. Upon becoming the chancellor of Germany in 1933, he quickly transformed the crowds into fascists, exploiting widespread and deep-seated discontent in Germany and calling upon anti-semitic feelings to attract support. The resentment at the crippling terms of the Versailles Treaty were directed and blamed for by the Jews, who were portrayed as the root of Germany’s ills. Little by little, Hitler’s actions became bolder. From the rearmament and remilitarization of Germany to German expansion and acquisition of other districts like Sudetenland, Bohemia and
But Hitler’s foreign minister and former Ambassador to London Joachim von Ribbentrop, assured him that neither Britain nor France would honor their commitments, and the invasion went on anyway. Unfortunately for them, Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War II had begun.

For the first year and a half or so, things looked rather bright and promising for Hitler (disregarding how bright and promising a war can actually be) - victory was achieved and there was a swift collapse of resistance. But, the victorious path, soon lead to the dwindling road to defeat. It could be said that it all went downhill when Germany launched out Operation Barbarossa - that is, an attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (which contravenes the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). Whilst its initial Battle of Smolensk was successful, the Soviet Army began to fought back soon after, and it ended disastrously for Germany in December that year. To add on, Japan launched an attack on the United States (US) on 7 December, which resulted in the US declaring war upon the Axis
But, with regards to his brutality: is Hitler really to blame for the thousands of killings in concentration camps? For one, the Sitzkrieg (“sitting war”) - where Hitler merely instructed two Gauleiter (party leader of a regional branch of the Nazi Party) to Germanise the areas, with no clear instructions on how that was to be accomplished. While the Polish citizens under one of the Gauleiter only had to sign forms stating they had German blood, the other took a more brutal ethinic cleansing campaign (and perhaps sparked up the idea of mass killing the Jews in concentration camps). Apparently, Hitler refrained from getting involved into those issues; he merely gave out vague instructions and expected his subordinate to interpret it as accordingly. So this leads us to the question of, did Hitler really ordered for the mass killing of Jews? Was it his intention? This is perhaps one of the most disputed question amongst