Interwar Period
From an article in the Wall Street Journal written by Adrian Karatnycky:
"Today, reliable estimates place the number of Ukrainian (a territory in the Soviet Union) victims of starvation at 4.5 million to 7 million. The famine was in part the result of Stalin’s relentless drive to collectivize Soviet agriculture." |
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Nazi GermanyAdolf Hitler was a master at exploiting situations for his benefit. One example was the rise of the Nazi party and the spread of his Fascist ideals. When Hitler was attempting to rise to power, Germany was in a huge economical collapse following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles. The people of Germany started to resent the government for leading them towards such hard times, and Hitler used their hate to overthrow the Weimar republic. With a weak central government that the state hated, Hitler and the Nazi Party easily rose to power in Germany.
During Adolf Hitler’s rule of Germany, millions of Jews and other groups were abused and killed for being different. Germany was just like any other country with normal citizens, so what caused normal people to be able to kill other innocent men who were different? Even before the rise of the Nazi party, Germans resented Jews, believing that they were the cause of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Hitler used the bugging resentment of the Jews to create a hate against the Jews. Hitler also used social pressure to encourage normal citizens to commit acts of destruction against Jewish establishments. The citizens of Germany did not want to be considered different than their peers, so they destroyed and fought to conform to society. |
“Today it is clear that the Weimar Republic could not succeed in winning the future for Germany. We National Socialists (Nazis) therefore make the holy promise never to rest in raising up Germany.”
-Adolf Hitler |
A Japanese Soldier describes the brutality of the Invasion of Nanjing:
“We had fun killing Chinese. When we caught some Chinese civilians, we either buried them alive, or pushed them into a fire, or beat them to death with clubs. When they were half dead we pushed them into ditches and burned them, torturing them to death. Everyone gets his entertainment this way.” |
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