Hitler may have had an irrational, psychotic hatred of Jews, but the Holocaust could not have occurred with the systemic dehumanization of a group of people. The Nazis harvested Jews for body parts. They used their bones for fertilizer and, as proven by the bags of hair, used their hair to upholster furniture. It was death for profit. The fact that it was death for profit makes me concerned that genocide could occur in the United States. Right now, especially in border states, illegal immigrants are routinely exploited as a source of cheap labor, while people vehemently argue against offering them citizenship. There is a huge amount of racial animosity towards Mexicans and South Americans, especially in these border states. Furthermore, like post-World War I Germany, the United States is in a significant recession. There are already political pundits who advocate very strongly against Hispanic illegal immigrants, some going so far as to suggest that people caught entering the country...

How far is it from the acceptance of these statements to a genocide? What the Holocaust Museum made me understand, in a way that detached reading from textbooks and other sources could not, is that genocide is never as far away as people would like to think.
Works Cited

"Background." Nowhere to Turn: Plight of German Jews in Nazi Germany, 1933-1941.

Minnesota State University, 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2010.

"Holocaust Denial." Jewish Virtual Library. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise,

2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2010.

"Holocaust Timeline." The History Place. The History Place, 1997. Web. 17 Mar. 2010.

"Testimony Excerpts: Christa M." Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Yale University, 1996. Web. 17 Mar. 2010.

"What is Genocide?" United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust

Memorial Museum, 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2010.