Essay

“//Life is a progress, and not a station.”//

//Ralph Waldo Emerson//

The 1940s to the 1950s were very controversial times. Being at the tail end of the Great Depression, the country was going through a great change. As economic prosperity rose, many other problems also began to rise. These times brought about World War Two, Women's rights, and the Holocaust. These are the three main issues that will be addressed in this essay. The 1940s to the 1950s have shaped our time for the best and the worst.

World War Two occurred between 1939 and 1945. The war was started when Germany elected Fascism, a radical, authoritarian nationalist political ideology, as their government. (Fascism). They elected Adolf Hitler as their leader. He was an insane, evil man. He wanted to take over the world and he thought he couldn't be stopped. He took over Poland on.... He then began fighting other countries in order to gain control. He made allies with many countries who were also corrupt. Eventually Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. America had been out of the war until then. America then came in and stopped him. They liberated all of the prisoners of war and Hitler committed suicide.

During the war, most of the men were sent to fight the war, but women didn't like this. They had been fighting for their rights for years. Why couldn't they help fight the war? The women would use posters to show that women are strong enough to fight in the war. However men still didn't get the picture. It would be years until women were aloud to fight in the army without having to hide their femininity.

The Holocaust also happened during this time. This was when the Nazi Party decided the Jews were terrible vermin who needed to be eliminated. They used propaganda to convince others Germans that this was true. They separated the Jews into ghettos. They suffered there, but the Germans were told they were happy. They would then move the Jews into “work camps” known as concentration camps. They would work the Jews day and night. They were treated like pigs. If they became to weak, they moved them into chambers where they would gas them and the burn their bodies. Over six million Jews died. If it hadn't been for the German people who saw past the propaganda, even more would've died. Looking at this, they may seem like just estimates and statistics, but these were people with families who were killed for no reason except that they were Jewish.

The 1940s were dark times, but we over came them.