Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
Ordinary people behaved in a variety of ways during the Holocaust. Motives ranged from pressures to conform and defer to authorities, to opportunism and greed, to hatred. In many places, the persecution of Jews occurred against a backdrop of centuries of antisemitism. In Germany, many individuals who were not zealous Nazis nonetheless participated in varying degrees in the persecution and murder of Jews and other victims. Following German occupation, countless people in other countries also cooperated in the persecution of Jews.
Everywhere, there were witnesses on the sidelines who cheered on the active participants in persecution and violence.
Most, however, remained silent.
Participation Inside Nazi Germany
Throughout the 1930s, many Germans assisted the Nazi regime’s efforts to remove Jews from Germany’s political, social, economic, and cultural life. Nazi activists—local Nazi leaders and members of Nazi paramilitary organizations, the SA and SS, and the Hitler Youth—used intimidation against Jews and non-Jews to enforce Nazi social and cultural norms. For example, they harassed Germans who entered Jewish stores or who showed friendliness toward Jews.
But even Germans who did not share the extreme Nazi belief that “the Jews” were a source of “racial pollution” participated in varying degrees in Jewish persecution. For instance, members of sports clubs, book groups, and other voluntary associations expelled Jews. Teenagers within schools and universities enjoyed their newfound freedom to harass Jewish classmates or even adults. Many ordinary Germans became involved when they acquired Jewish businesses, homes, or belongings sold at bargain prices or benefited from reduced business competition as Jews were driven from the economy. With such gains, these individuals developed a stake in the ongoing persecution.