The Holocaust was a frightening and dreadful period of inhumanity and refers to the almost complete destruction of the Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany. This act of inhumanity caused the death of many innocent Jews and the destruction of any equality. Adolf Hitler's persecution of Jews began as soon as the Nazis came to power in 1933. Hitler was attempting to build a master race of Aryan blood and characterized any other race as dangerous Eventually, all of the people were traced through their family for Jewish blood and any Jew with Jewish blood was sent to a death camp. The primary goal of Nazi Germany was the extermination of all the Jews in Europe. The Holocaust began with Hitler's book Mien Kampf and ended with the death of many Jews, and taught people in the future how not to let an event such as the Holocaust occur again.
The Holocaust was a time of devaluation of life and demonstrated the consequences of inhumanity. The devaluation of life occurred when the Nazis killed six million Jews and tortured people like beasts. This was German nationalism as its peak because of the thoughts that Hitler had worked into every German's minds. The idea of one race being greater than another is the best example of devaluation of life. Another great example of devaluation of life was "The Night of Broken Glass." "Following the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a young Jew, all synagogues in Germany were set on fire, windows of Jewish shops were smashed, and thousands of Jews were arrested." (Encarta Encyclopedia). This event was a glimpse of the future for the Jews and was a signal to leave, or be punished. The inhumanity by the Nazis continued when the Jews were compared to rats, and anyone with Jewish blood was to be expelled from society. The Jews were compared to rats because they were described as dangerous and harmful to other people. Jewish blood was to be expelled from society because they were thought to infect the Nazis perfect Aryan race and Hitler blamed them for Germany's past problems.