The following article is a historical analysis calling for an unbiased, objective study into the causes of one of the most famous incidents in world history. It is NOT a Holocaust denial, nor a justification of Hitler's regime nor its actions, nor does it blame the Jews for the Holocaust.

The Holocaust is easily one of the foremost malevolent and tragic events in world history. Everyone has been witness to the horrific imagery of incinerated and decrepit corpses being heaved into mass pits. But what were the actual catalysts of the mass genocide of over 6,000,000 individuals, most of whom Jews? Antisemitism and even outright attempts at extermination had been nothing new to the Germanic world, or the remainder of Europe. As early as 1096, German crusaders had begun pogrom-like attacks all throughout the Holy Roman (German) Empire against Jews, rather than Muslim Tatars or Saracens. Recently-united Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries ordered the expulsion of all Jews and non-Catholics from Iberia, even sanctioning their murder. Muslim nations included them as infidels in their global duty of Jihad to defend the true faith. In the 16th century, German Protestant founder Martin Luther called for their complete expulsion from Germany in his novel On the Jews and their Lies:

"If we wish to wash our hands of the Jews' blasphemy...we have to part company with them. They must be driven from our country...Then they need no longer wail and lie before God against us that we are holding them captive...This is the most natural and the best course of action, which will safe guard the interest of both parties."

But what were the underlying causes of such a sudden, unparalleled, and draconian explosion in national extermination programs of the Jewish populations in Axis-dominated Europe as initiated by Germany, Hungary, Romania, and their allies? The individual is well-versed in the standard curricular and ideological explanations for such an abhorrent tragedy: that the German people were brainwashed by a fanatical, evil despot, and that radical figures in the new National Socialist movement needed a scapegoat to explain the rampant post-war hyperinflation, shameful loss of a worldwide war, the seizure of Germany's eastern and western marches by the victors, and the Versailles punishments the German empire faced. Without restraint or bias, and especially being careful not in any way to imply that the mass slaughter of the Jews was justified or acceptable, historians must engage in active analysis of the contributions of both parties to the Holocaust, and why the historical anti-Semitism reached such a sudden peak after World War I.

Historians must first work to question the concept that the Holocaust can solely be attributed to the fanaticism of Chancellor Adolf Hitler, as is often implied. Coming to power in 1933 after an election victory and the selection by President Hindenburg, Hitler made clear public notice of his outlined suppression of the Jewish population. On multiple occasions, he openly exclaimed that the Jewish ethnoreligious community would be removed from Germany by force, especially in a famous 1942 national speech before the Sportspalast in Berlin.

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