When researching the Holocaust, I focused on the events before Kristallnacht and how those events relate to the Eight Stages of Genocide (http://www.hmd.org.uk/page/about-genocides). I found it interesting and disturbing that the term genocide (as described in the Eight Stages of Genocide) was only recognized by the UN in 1946 and can be applied for other actions in trying to eliminate a group of people beside death. The way the eight stages applied to all genocides, including the Holocaust, was unsettling. I also noticed how the stages (though not all of them, and many on a smaller scale) could be applied to other atrocities against groups of people, including the segregation and lynching of African-Americans (although on a smaller scale). I found this very disconcerting.

            The Holocaust Museum’s article about the life of Jewish people before the Holocaust (http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007689) was very interesting. It was disturbing that people believed German propaganda (usually stating that Jewish people were greedy, wealthy, and lesser than other Germans) against Jewish people when most Jewish people were normal citizens and were found in many different socio-economic classes and positions. How people could believe something so obviously untrue terrified me.

            The article from the Holocaust and Humanity website on the events leading up to Kristallnacht, in tandem with the video on Kristallnacht (http://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/kristallnacht/events-leading-up-to-kristallnacht/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uine5MhOc0I) was very odd. I thought that many of the events could be connected to the Eight Stages of Genocide. For example, the dismissal and banning of Jewish people in many government positions connected with the dehumanization and classification steps of the Eight Stages of Genocide. Jewish people were also forced to add a Jewish name (Israel for men, Sarah for women), which connects to the symbolization and dehumanization stages.

             I noticed that many of the Nuremberg laws were similar to the Jim Crowe laws against African-Americans. For example, intermarriage was prohibited between Jewish people and German people and Africa-Americans and Caucasian people. I also found the amount of destruction caused during Kristallnacht extremely unsettling; it was disturbing that people could cause so much damage on one night. I thought it was odd that the Nazi’s estimation of the amount of destruction on Kristallnacht (191 synagogues burned, 96 Jewish people killed) and the much, much larger numbers in the video (11,500 synagogues burned, 2,500 Jewish people killed or committed suicide) were so radically different. To conclude, the Holocaust articles were interesting while disturbing and unsettling.