Final answer:
Individuals involved in the Holocaust, from those executing orders to those complicit in genocidal activities, bear varying degrees of responsibility. The Nuremberg Trials set a precedent for holding individuals accountable for their roles. The collective actions and inactions contributed to the murder of six million Jews and millions more from other minority groups.
Step-by-step explanation:
The responsibility of individuals involved in the confiscation and auctioning of Jewish property, arrest, and transport to concentration camps during the Holocaust is a matter that has long been debated in historical and ethical discussions. Those who participated in the systematized persecution and extermination of Jews and other groups deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime played varying roles in the implementation of the Holocaust. While some were decision-makers and planners, others were executors of the orders, often justifying their actions as following orders or succumbing to the pressures of the times. Nevertheless, the sheer scale of the Holocaust required the complicity and cooperation of countless individuals across varying levels of society and professions.
During the Nuremberg Trials, the international military tribunals set a precedent for holding individuals accountable for war crimes, including those who claimed to be following orders. The concept of 'command responsibility' established that individuals could be held legally responsible for their participation in the crimes committed. The involvement ranged from those in high-ranking positions to ordinary citizens who facilitated the atrocities through direct or indirect means. Any person who contributed to the functioning of this genocidal machine bears some responsibility, as their actions or inactions helped sustain a system that led to the deaths of approximately six million Jews, among others.
While many survivors of the Holocaust chose initially to focus on rebuilding their lives, the memories and testimony of those who endured these atrocities have been crucial in piecing together the extent of the Holocaust and maintaining the call to remember and 'Never Again' permit such inhumanity.