What+conditions+existed+in+the+Nazi+occupied+areas+that+allowed+such+cruelty?

==== When Hitler was appointed chancellor, he started a propaganda campaign that blamed the Jews for Germany’s many economic problems. Adolf Hitler persuaded his fellow men that this was true and it allowed people to side with someone who had power to annihilate the Jews. Hitler was not on his own in this act and had the help of the German Government, the SS, and the Nazi party officials. With Anti-Semitism fervent, German’s were ready to help Hitler in his scheme for the “Final Solution”, or the annihilation of almost six million Jews. ==== ====  Since there was such an unstable economy, the people bought into Hitler's promises of a more reliable economy by out casting the Jews. There was so much negative media displayed toward them that most people truly started to believe that they were the problem. The Nazi's were allowed to use such cruelty against them because by the time World War II started, Jews were equivalent to animals in the eyes of many citizens. ==== ====There were multiple social situations that allowed the Nazi's to spread their hate. For example in Germany, Hitler took ideas from the United States practice of segregation of African Americans, such as diverse benches, drinking fountains, and transportation seating and applied it to the Jews in Nazi Germany. To impose their will, the Nazi's set up strict rules in which all people in their occupied territories had to follow. One of these rules was that Jews could not be in a relationship with any non-Jew, and a reason for this was to prevent the creation of another generation of Jewish people, which the Nazi's believed would tarnish their “superior Aryan” race. Also, non-Jews throughout Europe were taught that it was socially acceptable to publicly humiliate and physically abuse Jews, inflicting much harm onto thousands of people. Jewish women and children would be forced to clean the streets on their hands and knees while non-Jews watched and harassed them. While the women and children cleaned, the Jewish men were abused and harassed, taking many severe beatings. ==== ==== A specific condition that helped the Nazis inflict cruelty started toward the end of the nineteenth century. Many Jews were seen living in Shtetls throughout the east. Shtetls were villages that contained Jews predominantly. They spoke Yiddish, read Yiddish books, both sacred and secular, and attended Yiddish theaters. These communities were a prize for the Nazis. Shtetls allowed them to enter areas with intentions to completely wipe out everyone that lived within that society. ====

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==== It is important to understand why the Nazis would want to inflict such cruelty upon Jews. Antisemitism was purging forward as World War II approached. Anti-Semitism is the hostile belief or behavior toward Jews just because they are Jewish. It may take the form of religious teachings that proclaim the inferiority of Jews, for instance, or political efforts to isolate, oppress, or otherwise injure them. It may also include prejudiced or stereotyped views about Jews. During the late 1800’s, “Jew- hatred” resurfaced as a formidable force throughout Europe and that is when the term Anti-Semitism was coined. It gave the old hatred a modern and scientific appeal. The German Government and most Germans were seen as the Anti-Seminists. ==== ====There were also some political issues in which German Nazi's spread their hate, as well. They starved the Soviets in order to use the food for their own rations. According to the documentary “Auschwitz”, when asked about starving the entire country, the Nazi general replied that the Soviets have “expandable stomachs” and that they were used to going without food for quite some time. Throughout Nazi occupied Europe, hate was evenly spread towards not just one race or group in particular, but towards anyone who did not fit the “Aryan” profile. Such horrendous conditions allowed for hate to be spread throughout the continent. ====