John Zamfoti

Mr.Hawkins
Modern World History-P, Period 3
March 15, 2015

What events during the first days of Hitlers rise to power might have foreshadowed
what eventually happened to the Jews during World War II?
Adolf Hitler was one of the most terrifying dictators in History along with Lenin and
Stalin. He was known for the mass slaughter of the Jews and started the Nazi Party. Although
people still wonder if maybe this could have been seen during his early rise as Fher and most
likely could have been stopped. With the evidence I will present, Hitler did show signs of the
persecution of Jews.
In July 1932, the elections were up and the Nazi party has grown stronger. They wanted
to seize power, but Hitler wanted to play by the rules: politically and legally. All he wanted was
to become the chancellor for Germany. The internal political situation, meanwhile, was very
unstable and many Germans were revolted by the brutal street fighting of the SS.
(Evidence 1). Early in January 1933, von Papen and Hitler met in the home of a Cologne banker,
Kurt von Schroder, who pledged funds needed by the Nazi party, and a group of industrialists
reassured Hindenburg to let Hitler form a cabinet. Then there came a fire called the Reichstag
Fire. A fire destroyed the Reichstag Building on February 27, 1933. Hitler blamed the fire on
the Communists. The fire symbolically destroyed the only remaining institution capable of

placing reins on Hitlers grab for dictatorial power. Although the case is still somewhat
disputed, the fire was very likely instigated by the Nazis and blamed on a Dutch Communist
who had committed arson, Marinus van der Lubbe. There was no sign whatsoever of a
revolution, but van der Lubbe gave the Nazis the excuse they needed and the pretext for new
emergency measures. (Evidence 1). Hitler hated the Communist party because with them made

less power over the economy for these industrialists, less profits due to unions, work standards,
benefits, and more taxes to fund social programs. This may have explained why he hated the
Communist group and blamed it on them. Hitler induced a confused and frightened
Hindenburg to sign a decree euphemistically called, For the Protection of the People and
State, suspending all of the basic rights of citizens and imposing the death sentence for
arson, sabotage, resistance to the decree, and disturbances to public order. Arrests could be
made on suspicion, and people could be sentenced to prison without trial or the right of
counsel. (Evidence 1). This could have shown suspicion or all out control of power to where he
pointed it to the Jews. In this may have shown how superstition or cowardly precaution, so this
is probably one thing the Jews should have looked out for. From the first day that Adolf
Hitler seized power, January 30, 1933, he knew that only sudden death awaited him if he
failed to restore pride and empire to post Versailles Germany. His close friend and adjutant
Julius Schaub recorded Hitler's jubilant boast to his staff on that evening, as the last
celebrating guests left the Berlin Chancellery building: No power on earth will get me out of
this building alive! (Evidence 2). Hitler may have shown this as a boast, but was probably
intimidated by the Jews or it could have shown his character. In addition, it was clear that Hitler
was a very smart man and knew what he was doing so he had a plan. Adolf Hitler, murderer of
millions, master of destruction and organized insanity, did not come into the world as a
monster. He was not sent to earth by the devil, nor was he sent by heaven to "bring order"

to Germany, to give the country the autobahn and rescue it from its economic crisis.
(Evidence 2). He was very brutal, but it was brilliant. He didnt show it directly, but indirectly
that could have shown the killing of Jews. In January 1933, after a bitter ten-year political
struggle, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. During his rise to power, Hitler had
repeatedly blamed the Jews for Germany's defeat in World War I and subsequent
economic hardships. Hitler also put forward racial theories asserting that Germans with
fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes were the supreme form of human, or master race. The
Jews, according to Hitler, were the racial opposite, and were actively engaged in an
international conspiracy to keep this master race from assuming its rightful position as
rulers of the world. (Evidence 3). Right here shows how this may have foreshadowed his plot
by character and mindset. Spurred on by Joseph Goebbels, Nazis used the death of vom Rath
as an excuse to conduct the first State-run pogrom against Jews. Ninety Jews were killed,
500 synagogues were burned and most Jewish shops had their windows smashed. The first
mass arrest of Jews also occurred as over 25,000 men were hauled off to concentration
camps. As a kind of cynical joke, the Nazis then fined the Jews 1 Billion Reichsmarks for
the destruction which the Nazis themselves had caused during Kristallnacht. (Evidence 3).
This all was blatantly there and did foreshadow the outcomes of Hitlers power and the
manslaughter of Jews.