The Similarities Between Events in The Crucible and The Holocaust

Imagine what it would feel like to be thrown into a dungeon awaiting your death. Throughout history, groups of people have been persecuted just for being who they are, or who they are assumed to be. In the 1600’s, witch trials took place in Salem and wrongfully accused many innocent people. Also in the 1940’s, The Holocaust became one of the most famous genocides known to man. Although the two circumstances have numerous differences, the amount of similarities is extremely shocking.

Eerie Similarities of Two Events

In the play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams has the ability to speak and be heard, “I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil!” (Miller 48). After she said this, warrants were immediately handed out to the accused. A functional society cannot exist without a steadiness in power. If the president had all the power, then he would be able to do anything he wanted and try to benefit himself. Abigail had enough power to decide who should receive a warrant for witchery. When an irresponsible girl has enough power to do this, she will definitely take advantage of it, and she did.

Throughout time, history has proven that through conflict, it can be very painless to put all the blame on someone. Adolf Hitler was able to blame people, such as Jews, because he felt that they were causing all the problems in the world. Hitler had the power to kill over six million Jews. He was able to do anything because he sympathized with the German people and had them on his side. Abigail did the same thing when she spread rumors of witches and had others back up her accusations. Abigail only had to lead the way in order for others to follow. She had complete control over many people. Adolf Hitler and Abigail Williams both had something in common; they had the ability to trick others into believing false statements. Whether it was to have someone executed, put on trial, or have people trust the nonsense they were speaking, they both had a chaos that unfortunately took many lives.

Besides sharing similar traits, Adolf Hitler and Abigail both discriminated against people who didn’t conform to the norms of society. The people who were victimized in each event were blamed because they were outsiders. Hitler attempted to kill off the Jewish people because they had different religious beliefs than him. Prior to the Holocaust, he preyed upon crippled and mentally challenged children. He felt that since they had disabilities, they were unworthy of life. The people of Salem that were accused of witchery were chosen because they lived their lives unlike townspeople. For example, Goody Good and Goody Osburn were both accused of being witches and neither had a positive reputation in the town. When Elizabeth Proctor was accused of being a witch, she claimed that she was not a “Goody Good that sleeps in ditches, nor Osburn, drunk and half-witted” (Miller 61). Those two women were pointed out due to their diverse lifestyles. In both cases, the people that were living their lives outside of the standards, found themselves being persecuted.

During the Salem witch trials, more than two-hundred people were accused and twenty were executed. Families were torn apart and changed for eternity. What happened over a year, completely shifted people’s lives

In both cases, the victims were innocent of any crime. The witch trials and The Holocaust are both great examples of people being scapegoated for things they were not responsible for. Additionally, both situations had societies that allowed certain atrocities to occur without being stopped by anyone until it became overly drastic. The ultimate goal of each of the horrific events was to purify society and to rid the world of all the people that were out of place to them. The similarities between The Crucible and the Holocaust will remain in people’s memories and leave them with the inspiration to stand up for what they believe in.