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Telling the History of the Holocaust

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Telling the History of the Holocaust

The history of the Holocaust is often studied in a macro format, which incorporates the use of secondary sources to give an overview of events as they happened. The macro format focuses on the key figures such as Hitler and Himmler and how their actions directly affected the topic. Studying the macro history of the Holocaust fails to capture the feelings and opinions of the German people during this time. The study of primary sources written by the German people who lived through the event; give vital information on the German population and their feelings toward Hitler’s radical ideology. This paper will illustrate the history of the Holocaust from the perspective of secondary sources or the macro view, then using Ruth Klueger’s memoir, Still Alive add additional information the other books fail to include. In order to fully understand the history of the Holocaust you must study both primary and secondary sources.

The Holocaust begins with the architect Adolf Hitler. In 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany the popularity he gained had little to nothing to do with and Anti-Semitism beliefs the party had, because ‘depriving the Jews of making a living would hurt the economic recovery”. (Gellately 4) Hitler at first openly attacked the communist party in order to save Germany from “the Marxist Attack” and would eliminate any political rivals. On March 23, 1933 Hitler was able to successfully pass the Enabling Act stating the need for “the moral purification of the body politic”. (Gellately 13) The Reichstag Fire Decree reveals that Hitler’s political and social agenda is more than dealing with Communism and unemployment, but also evolves the purification of Germany. Hitler’s quest for racial purity would eventually lead to the 1935 Nuremburg Rally, where he would announce his laws against the Jews and any

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