Autonomy and Responsibility in Nazi Germany - 1435 Words

Autonomy and Responsibility in Nazi Germany Throughout history, the struggle of people finding their rights in society has played a major role, especially in the Nazi ideology. During this struggle, societies tried to determine who had rights, what a person owed to society and the duties of an individual. Nazis believed in the Volk, which meant people in the sense of a race, not individuals. Nazis saw the Volk as the major component in society, and therefore based the rest of their beliefs on a persons place in the society on the idea of preserving the pure Volk. The rights a person obtained were based on achieving this goal of preserving the Volk as well. The Nazi view of autonomy and responsibility of the individuals in†¦show more content†¦Thus, they eliminated all rights these non-citizens had in the nation, including the right to exist. The extermination of the non-Germans was seen to them as a way of preventing contamination of the German culture. They were afraid that Jews wanted to take over the world and that would destroy the platforms of the nations. They believed that à ¬Jews destroy the peoples both in religion and moralsà ® and exterminating them was the only way to keep German power.3 In order to exterminate these people, the Final Solution was enacted in 1935. The Final Solution began with the Nuremberg Laws. These laws denied citizenship to Jews, based a persons race on their ancestry, prohibited Jews from marrying Germans, ended exemptions on restrictions for Jewish veterans, prohibited the employment of Germans by Jews, and required that all Jews wear the star of David at all times for easy identification.4 The second step came in 1938 when Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and Socialists were shipped to concentration camps and the real extermination began in the gas chambers.5 The Nazis saw peo ple not of the main volk as nothing and therefore did not even think that they had the right to live. Once a person was considered a German citizen, their rights were officially established. Germans were given equality in their rights, in the nation and in comparison to other countries. However, the state was the main provider of the opportunities of theShow MoreRelatedThe Versailles Treaty World War I Ended1310 Words   |  6 Pagesthe creation of the Versailles Treaty World War I ended. It ensured that national identity and independence was preserved limiting Germany powers. Like with everything in life there were some negative effects of the treaty. The worst â€Å"side effect† was that it lead to World War II giving rise to Hitler’s powers. The Germans were deeply hurt placing â€Å"war guilt† on Germany. 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