The hate and prejudice that began the Holocaust went hand in hand with a political agenda that was fueled by the frustration aggression theory.(1) Hitler blamed the Jews for the loss of World War I and thus, instead of targeting political aspects of the Jewish community, he displaced his aggression towards ALL Jews, even the helpless.

This, combined with religious anti-Semitism prejudice that had been present in Germany for 1500 years and the theory of "eugenics", was the political and instrumental center of Hitler's political campaign.(5) He used a system of 'elimination of freedom', which he felt was necessary in the conditioning the German people to follow him. This meant that he would slowly change the rules, allowing him to gain more and more control over his people. New laws preventing rebellious attempts to overthrow his government and the elimination of non-supporters that would possibly dissent, (disagree with his plan)(1), gave Hitler complete control over what happened within the country's boundaries.(5)

He further conditioned the Germans to accept the program for the 'final solution' of the Jews with the constant onslaught

The German people that made up the bystanders in this tragedy may not have been guilty of cold- blooded murder, but they were not innocent either. They were also victims of cultural ethical relativism,(2) believing that if their government thought that this was ethically relative behavior in their culture, then they should comply. In cultural relative behavior, rightness and wrongs vary from place to place, and in this place, this prejudice behavior was considered right.

These Germans that did not speak out against the atrocities being committed against the Jews, even if they thought it would be ethically prudent, were also victims of the above theories as well as what is called the bystander effect.(1) The bystander effect is when there is a large group of people and thus the unlikeliness of anyone to help is stronger. This is explained by a theory called the pluralistic ignorance theory.(1) This theory is based on an uncertain situation where the people around them are not reacting to help, thus, they do not see the need to help either. The information that they are receiving from others around them is telling them that it is okay not to interfere, thus they become compliant with what their culture has deemed appropriate behavior, irregardless of what they may be feeling.

The rescuers had a combination of courage, empathy, compassion, awareness, resourcefulness, vigilance, inventiveness, and persistence. They also could accept people that were different in their community. They had the belief that one person could make a difference.(3)

I now realize how crippling these things are in everyday life. How many missed opportunities are out there because a stereotypical judgement I made caused me to make the ultimate attribution error about someone or a situation that rendered me immobile, frightened and weak? It is almost as if these stereotypes and prejudices and cognitive dissonance that caused as a result of them are a drug. Once you do it once, you must keep doing it or you feel uncomfortable. We become servants to them and soon they are what our lives revolve around. What a waste of precious thought, time, and energy!

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2343
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)