Mass Hysteria Assignment
By: Andrew Sanderson
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem Witch Trials began in the spring of 1692 after young girls accused several people of sending their sprite out on them forcing them to dance in the woods. The only evidence needed back then to convict someone of being a witch is for someone to say they sent their sprite out on them. Once someone was convicted they either had to admit they were with the devil to save their life or they were hanged. Basically the way it was set up was lie or die, when also in their eyes "God damns all liars". By the end of the trails they had hung 19 people, over 100 were accused of being a witch.
The Holocaust
The Nazi's gained control of Germany in January 1933, they believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that Jews were deemed "inferior". The Nazi's set up concentration camps to kill as many Jews as fast as they could. The Jewish population in Europe before the Holocaust was about 9.5 million, after it ended by the Nazi's loosing control, the population of Jews in Europe was about 3.5 million. Not all of them were killed though, some were able to flea to other countries such as the U.S. to save their lives. The Holocaust officially ended May th, 1945 when Allied forces made them surrender during WWII which was considered V-E Day while Soviet forces announced their "Victory Day" May 9th.
Comparing Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust
The Salem Witch trials and the Holocaust were both horrible occurrences. Obviously the Holocaust was much worse because of the amount of people killed was much much higher, but they were both bad. They both killed people based on what someone said basically, the difference was in Salem, no one was safe but everyone had a chance of living. In the Holocaust if you were Jewish, you were most likely going to die, it was more of a matter of when you die, but yet if you weren't a Jew you were going to be safe and there was no way you would be killed in a concentration camp. So in the end, neither one is good, but in Salem if you were going to die, you could live by lying, in the Holocaust if you were going to die, you couldn't talk your way out of that.