RACISM Essays (2719 words) - Reconstruction Era,

RACISM: It IS Still Alive Today Nazism.....................................pg.3 The Ku Klux Klan...................pg.7 Personal view.........................pg.15 Bibligraphy..............................pg.16 NAZISM Dozens of Political parties vied for power in the chaos that was Germany following World War I. Most were small, and one of the smallest was Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or the German Workers Party, later to become known as the Nazi Party. This tiny group of malcontents should evolve into a force that would threaten to conquer the world was due to the twisted genius of one man- Adolf Hitler. His passionate German nationalism would not allow him to embrace any philosophy that preached universal brotherhood. Hitler developed his pathological hatred for Jews during this period. To Hitler and to millions of others steeped in German anti-Semitism, the answer was a violent no. The Jews were foreign and alien; they could never be German. Their very presence was a threat to German purity. This came as a profound awakening to Hitler. He began to read anti-Semitic literature, much of which reviled Jews in sordid, pornographic terms. He came to believe that Jews were at the bottom of everything wrong with society. In 1913 Hitler left Vienna for Munich, the capitol of the German state of Bavaria. Over time and through connections and invitations, Hitler became the seventh member of the board of the D.A.P., short for the German Workers Party. The thirty year old former vagrant had found the vehicle though which he would impose his radical views across two continents. The small party- soon to be known as the nazis-had found its leader, who would make the party's name synonymous with the Holocaust. Although the party was, according to it's name, a party for the working class, most of the membership came from the middle class and were between twenty five and thirty five years old. Many were former soldiers who came home without a profession. Of these, many were violent by nature and were attracted by the prospect of street brawling. Generally, the early Nazis were characterized by four qualities: A fierce love of Germany, a hatred for Jews, a fear of communism, and a distrust of the Weimar Republic. Within a month, Hitler had overhauled party propaganda with grand plans. He began to organize a huge rally and rented an auditorium that seated nearly 2,000. His fellow members thought he had lost his mind. The people of Munich, curious about this new party and it's fiery spokesman, almost filled the hall. He spoke for nearly four hours, outlining Germany's economic troubles and placing the blame on the November Criminals and on the Jews. What should be done, he screamed, with those who have done this to Germany? Hang them! the crowd screamed back. Hitler then presented his 25 point plan. All Germans were to be united in a single nation. German citizenship was to be reserved for those of pure Aryan blood. No Jew, therefore, Hitler said, may be a member of the nation. It was at that point the party would soon become known as the Nazi party. Hitler knew that most people would be more easily unified by visible symbols than by abstract ideas. One was already at hand - The Swastika. As early as 1920, the Nazi Salute - The right arm held out stiffly at an angle- was in use, as was the greeting heil, variously translated as saved, or healed. Years later, when Hitler had become absolute leader of the Nazis, the greeting became Heil, Hitler. With Hitler winning the majority of the people, National elections were held on July 31st. The Nazis received 13.7 million votes, won 230 seats in Reichstag, and replaced the social democrats as the largest party. With the nazis firmly in power and all other political parties outlawed, it was only natural that the party would grow. Between 1933 and 1935 membership jumped 193 percent to almost 2.5 million. The number of schoolteachers holding Nazi membership rose more than 500 percent. The nazis had completed their seizure of power. They would next turn their attention to the long standing objects of their hatred- The Jews. After 1933 the Nazis were able to turn the full machinery of government against their avowed enemies. As a result, the Jews were slowly stripped of their rights and property until all that remained were