How Can The Holocaust Be Explained Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

How Can The Holocaust Be Explained - Essay Example By doing so, endless research into this period in history has resulted in different viewpoints that even share important common ground regarding research into the Holocaust. In order to understand the entirety of historic events such as the Holocaust, it is important to take different intellectual perspectives. This helps one to attain a view that has minimum bias, and thus provides an explanation that may be generally considered. In studying historic events such as the Holocaust that took place during the Second World War, it is important to use different perspectives, as these help one to uncover how the event unfolded. This is of particular importance because the Holocaust is not a historic event that took place overnight; it was one that lasted years, and commenced under the strong hand of a military regime. Two perspectives that help in gaining insight into the Holocaust include the functionalist and intentionalist perspectives. These two perspectives are significant because they both share common ground, but argue their individual viewpoints. The intentionalist perspective holds that Hitler had intentions of annihilating the Jews from Germany much before 1939. The functionalist perspective holds that the cruelties the Jews faced were a result of competing forces in the lower German ranks, many of which were done to please Hitler1. Having said this, both perspectives accept that Hitler despised the Jews. Also, the common ground shared includes both perspectives acknowledging that the Holocaust took place, which is unlike other conflicting viewpoints. The intentionalist perspective and the functionalist perspective have two levels each. In the following part of the paper, both levels of each perspective will be included in the discussion, as they are significant in determining how the Holocaust can be explained. Proponents of the extreme side of the intentionalist perspective hold that Hitler had