This Day in History: 16 November 2020
16 November 1941
79 years ago, today, Joseph Goebbels published in the German magazine, 'Das Reich', that 'Jews wanted the war, and now they have it'. This referred to the Nazi propaganda scheme to shift the blame for the world war onto European Jews, thereby giving the Nazis a rationalisation for the so-called 'Final Solution'. Just two days prior, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had written a letter to the 'Jewish Chronicle' having read more than a dozen decoded messages from German police which revealed the atrocities to which European Jews were being subjected. He stated that the Jew 'has not allowed [the Nazis] to break his spirit: he has never lost the will to resist.'
Churchill was correct, as active Jewish resistance was increasing, especially in the Soviet union, where Jews were joining partisans in fighting the German incursions into Russian territory. However, it was proving to be too late, as Goebbels and the rest of Hitler's henchmen carried out the 'elimination of the Jews' by using propaganda and anti-Bolshevik rhetoric to infuse SS soldiers with enthusiasm for Hitler's work. As the war drew to a close in 1945, Hitler committed suicide. In accordance with Hitler's will, Goebbels succeeded him as Chancellor of Germany, but only served one day in this post. The following day, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide, after poisoning their six children with cyanide.
Want to find out more about Joseph Goebbels? Click here for more information, or here for more about the other most wanted Nazi war criminals.
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