During perhaps the most devastating, destructive and absolutely horrific event to ever take place on the planet we call home, the German government of the Third Reich sponsored the systematic, methodological and bureaucratic persecution and murder of more than eleven million people. Six million of these individuals were of Jewish origin; However, the other five million people massacred by the Nazi regime in Germany were Roma Gypsies, Slavic peoples, mentally retarded people, communists, socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses and homosexuals. The Holocaust and the persecutions that accompanied it were and remain the most devastating and heartbreaking event that has ever taken place in human history. Why did this happen? Who allowed this to happen? These are questions everyone should know the answer to. The reasons behind this event should be public knowledge, to at least prevent history from repeating itself. So how can eleven million people be killed? The answer to the aforementioned question is quite simple and obvious; however, to understand the truth and reason for this sadistic event, one must understand the state of the world at the time. The regime responsible for the massacre of eleven million innocent people rose to power in a nation longing for better times. These people had lived through the trials and tribulations of corrupt governance, thousands of deaths after the Great War, and the economic ruin that followed the Treaty of Versailles that ended that war. Additionally, the Great Depression, which spread across the Western world and caused a wildfire, led people to desperately need change. Germany was a modern, industrialized country, with well-informed citizens and an active media. The Nation... middle of paper ... Hitler's astonishing speeches led to his rise to power in Germany. From the chaos of life in the German state, a dark figure and curious leader had emerged. A figure who preached the salvation of the German way of life would ultimately lead to the demise of the Republic. Unlike other revolutionaries, Hitler did not start the revolution before coming to power. Hitler did not overthrow the state; he became the head of state by winning the trust of the German people. This confidence of the German population would be important to the Führer as he began his fiery journey through the hills and forests of Europe, which would culminate in the final elimination of the vast majority of European Jews. Hitler's assault on the Semitic population of the German state began as early as the 1920s; however, his first state-imposed and state-sanctioned anti-Semitic actions began in 1933.