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Xianhao Wu
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT1102
10/01/2015
Jewish life before Nazism
The general area of inquiry is Jewish life before Nazism. The inquiry will seek to
understand the lifestyle of the Jews based on economic, social and political participation in
Germany. The paper will seek, therefore, to understand the relationship between the Jewish
community and the Aryans, who were considered pure Germans. The focus on relationships will
also include the study of the attitude of the Aryans towards the Jewish community in the years
leading to the Holocaust. As part of this inquiry, the topic will also focus on factors that
influenced the way of life of the people by taking a historical view of the journey of Jews from
Palestine to Europe. While seeking to understand the life of Jews during this period, the inquiry
will investigate, therefore, whether the Jews were perceived as different from other members of
the communities in which they existed. Such inquiry is based on the understanding that
perceiving a group of people as different from others is what creates the mentality of us versus
them that galvanize one social group to rise against the other.
My choice of the topic is due to the relevance that the Jewish community has on the
political and social realignment of the past and present worlds. The majority of the existing
literature has focused on the Jews from the Nazi leading to the Second World War. The
Holocaust led to increased global attention on the problems faced by the Jews due to the mass
murder of Jews in the genocide. However, for such atrocities to occur there must be a historical
reason that should be assessed to determine why and how the situation developed as it did for the
Jews. For this reason, I have chosen the topic since it will lead to a deeper understanding and
increased knowledge about the reasons that made it possible for the holocaust to occur.
The topic was inspired by my knowledge of the Second World War. Nazism takes center
stage as one of the key issues in the study of the Second World War with the focus being the

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atrocities committed against the Jews. However, studying the life of Jews in the context of the
Second World War only gives a glimpse of the whole picture because the problem had gathered
intensity for several centuries. Therefore, focusing on the Jewish life before Nazism ensures a
deeper understanding that studying it as part of the inquiry into the Second World War. What
attracts me to this topic is the number of victims of the Holocaust. The fact that the Nazi
authority convinced many of its followers to believe that their political, social and economic
problems would end by killing a specific group of people, including its children, women and
infant is interesting (Nicosia and Scrase 117). The Nazis must have preyed on some beliefs that
made their followers accept readily such an ideology.
My background knowledge of the topic Jewish life before Nazism is based on the
biblical accounts of the Jewish people. There is the biblical story of the Babylonian king
Nebuchadnezzar who exiled Jews from the Jerusalem (Matthews 272). I believe that such
biblical and historical occurrences have an impact on the later outcomes since they provide the
background for what the Jews will experience in the coming years leading up to the period of
Nazism.
My two specific questions about the topic include; how did the Jews find themselves
dispersed across Europe? What was the motivation behind the perception of Jews by the others
races? One angle of thinking about the topic is to take into account the demographical
assumptions. The assumption is based on how the Jewish population influenced the actions of
other races since millions of them were living outside Palestine. The second angle is a social,
economic and political assessment of the Jewish life before Nazism. The angle leads to the
inquiry of the topic based on how the social, economic and political position of the Jews
influenced their lives. Based on the essay organization, the fact-finding version of an Inquiry

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Question about my topic is; why did the Nazis regard the Jews as an inferior race that needed to
be removed from Europe?

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Works Cited
Nicosia, Francis R., and David Scrase, eds. Jewish Life in Nazi Germany: Dilemmas and
Responses. Berghahn Books, 2013. Print.
Matthews, Warren. World Religions. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
Peer response reflection:
I have read Lora Talyshkhanovs inquiry proposal. I enjoyed read her paper and I think it
was well written, but it should be more detailed for some parts. It did not state very
clearly for several parts. I think the paper has perfect grammar from my perspective.
Moreover, the beginning of her paper is easy to catch readers attention and let me
interested in continuing read.