Holocaust and Rwanda Genocide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Holocaust and Rwanda Genocide - Essay Example Explanations on the Holocaust featured bureaucratic and/or economic motives and/or wartime pressures (Levene 2000, p.305). The bulk of the data and interpretation of the Holocaust and Rwanda genocide centers on either intentionalist or the functionalist perspectives. For instance, the debate surrounding the root of Holocaust can be explored from two main questions: 1) was there an Adolf Hitler's present master plan to annihilate the Jewish race? Intentionalists assert that there was such a plan, whereas functionalists assert that it was absent. 2) How was Holocaust systematically driven? (By the instructions awarded by Adolf Hitler or deep within the ranks of the bureaucracy). Intentionalists maintain that the scheme came from Adolf Hitler whereas functionalists argue it emanated deep within the lower ranks of the bureaucracy. Discussion The genocide of European Jews mainly referred to as the Holocaust, occurred between 1941 and 1945 whereby close to six million European Jews were an nihilated by the Nazis. From the 1960s following the publication of work such as The Hitler State, several historians disputed the overriding interpretation and outlined that the alleged master plan was, in fact, absent. During the 1970s, proponents of the intentionalist school of thought labeled as â€Å"the straight road to Auschwitz† camp owing to their insistence that Hitler was satisfying a preset programme (Mann 2005, p.180). Proponents of the functionalist school of thought were referred to as â€Å"the twisted road to Auschwitz† camp owing to their insistence that it was the internal power arrangements of the Third Reich that orchestrated the Holocaust. Hence, functionalists/structuralists assert that Holocaust stemmed as part of the functioning of the Nazi state while intentionalists believe that it was Hitler’s intents alone that propelled the Holocaust (Confino2012, p.118). Functionalism also referred to as structuralism and intentionalism represent a historiographical debate centering on the origins of mass murder such as the Holocaust. The two schools of thought avail a historical explanation on decision-making regarding the Nazi Jewish policy (Stone 2012, p.39). One of the approaches focuses on the structure of the Nazi regime and its functioning (functionalist) while intentionalism spotlights Hitler, his ideology, and intentions. The Holocaust: Intentionalist Approach The intentionalists argue that Hitler plus his team were propagating Aryan-race supremacy as they were anti-Semitism as they proposed to wipe them out of the map. As the word suggests, intentionalists place significant interest on the intention of the Nazis, from the outset, detailing the resolve to eliminate Jews by means that ultimately encompasses mass slaughter. This approach elevates the figure of Adolf Hitler and his monomaniacal fanaticism to annihilate the Jewish â€Å"cancer† from Germany and across the whole of Europe (Kershaw 2000, p.40).