Harlan 1 Rebecca (Lee) Harlan Mr. Neuburger Eng.

101-104 17 April 2013 Research Paper Death Camps The Holocaust remains one of the darkest blots of history. The brutality of the Nazis toward the Jews and other ethnic groups is unparalleled in history. The sadism of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis culminated in 1945 in the systematic murder of twelve million innocent victims. Most people have heard of the Holocaust but cannot comprehend how the Nazis pulled off such an atrocity. In order for one to truly understand this period of time, one needs to realize there existed a series of events allowing the Holocaust to occur. Of all the death camps were built in Polish occupied territory and consisted of six individual death camps whose sole purpose was designed to carry out The Final Solution. Although the smallest of the six camps, Chelmno became just as notorious, because here experiments were first conducted using gas as a killing method. Nevertheless, Chelmno is the beginning of the gas killing method, the rest of the
Many lives lost during the Holocaust

death camps follows this extermination method. Chelmno

One of the first of many death camps is Chelmno. Even though Chelmno is one of the smallest of the six death camps, this is the murder sight for about 300,000 Jews and Gypsies. Yad Vashem (YV) states, While some were sent to the Chelmno murder site, which was

Harlan 2 reopened for this purpose. Approximately 300,000 Jews were murdered in Chelmno, mostly from Poland.(The Fate of the Jews across Europe). The Nazis start the killing process with gas vans. These vans are large trucks the Nazis modified to kill about fifty seventy prisoners at a time. The Nazis take the prisoners through a tunnel, onto a ramp, and into the vans. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). Another form of extermination employed was asphyxiation by lethal gasses
One of three gas vans used in Chelmno

in enclosed trucks or vans. Here again the victims were induced to enter these death machines by the promise that they would be transported to other areas for resettlement. As the van left the loading area, it was filled with deadly fumes. A few minutes later, when the van reached the disposal point, the corpses were unloaded into prepared excavations, which became unmarked, mass graves. These, then, were the usual methods used by the Einsatzgruppen. (Einsatzgruppen trial: Justice Jackson details use of gas vans). The Nazis realize this method of gas extermination is not accomplishing their goal quickly enough. The SS start experimenting with Zyklon B instead of using the gas vans as their main source of killing. According to the article (Gas Chambers. The Nazis continued to search for a more efficient method of mass murder. After some experimentation on Soviet prisoners of war, the Nazis found a commercial insecticide called Zyklon B to be an appropriate gas for their needs. Zyklon B, a form of hydrogen cyanide, (YV) Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau one of the largest concentration camps, located in Poland, Oswiecim, consists of three sections constructed from April 1940 to January 1945. The first of these sections named Auschwitz. According to Yad Vashem, Auschwitz soon became known as

Harlan 3 the most brutal of the Nazi concentration camps. Over one sixth of Jews are gassed here. (Auschwitz-Birkenau). In 1941, a spinoff of Auschwitz called Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz II, is a development the Nazis design to be the site for the extermination of Jews. Auschwitz II holds not only Jews, but also the Polish, Soviets, and Gypsies. According to (YV).it maintained the most degrading and inhumane conditions inclusive of the complex's gas chambers and crematoria. (Auschwitz-Birkenau)
.

Soon after the development of Auschwitz II, the Nazis

Auschwitz gate

construct Auschwitz III, to house the labor forces for Germanys well-

known chemical plants. The idea of Auschwitz III, is Jews and all other prisoners can be used as laborers. The Nazis exhaust the Jews by all measures, malnutrition, and plan to overwork the prisoners to exhaustion. Either way the Germans are able to get as much labor from the prisoners as they can without exhausting their own worker force. One of the ways to achieve this, the Germans will have a special group of Jewish prisoners called privileged prisoners. (Yad Vashem) also went on to state that they will be given better food, conditions, and opportunity to survive, if they agreed to enforce the brutal order of the camp. (Auschwitz-Birkenau). The prisoners work a few months and then exterminated; the next round of Jews would take their place. Belzec Belzec, located in the southeastern part of Poland, is a death camp for approximately one million Jews between 1941 and 1942. It covers an area formally known as labor camps, where railroads are in proximity of the Belzec death camp. The USHMM states, The killing center was

Harlan 4 only 1,620 feet from the Belzec railway station. A small rail siding connected the camp and the station. (Holocaust History of Belzec) Approximately, one million Jews are murdered in Belzec. Special groups of Jews selected by the S.S. on their transit to Belzec are selected to carry out brutal tasks against their people. According to USHMM Members of the Sonderkommandos (special detachments)groups of prisoners selected to remain alive as forced laborers worked in the killing area. They removed bodies from the gas chambers and buried the victims in mass graves. (Holocaust History of Belzec) In 1942, the Germans gathered up Jews from labor camps in the nearby area to get rid of the mass graves. USHMM says, Began to exhume the mass
Belzec after the dismantle of the death camp

graves at Belzec and burn the bodies on open-air ovens made from rail track. The Germans also utilized a machine to crush bone fragments into powder. (Holocaust History of Belzec) The exhuming of the bodies from the mass graves will be complete by 1943. This is when the dismantling of the death camp Belzec begins. The German SS have to hide any evidence of the death camp. USHMM states, After the Belzec camp was dismantled, the Germans ploughed over the site, built a manor house and planted trees and crops to disguise the area as a farm. A former auxiliary police guard at the camp ostensibly farmed the land. (Holocaust History of Belzec) According to (Aktion Reinhard Camps) ARC, In summer 1944 the Belzec region was occupied by the Red Army. After the liberation, local villagers demolished the farm. (Belzec Camp History)

Harlan 5 Sobibor Sobibor, also known as The Forgotten Camp, is located in the east sector of Lublin district, in conjunction with the railroad to serve its main purpose. In the article, Hell of Sobibor Death Camp (HSDC), Sobibors primary purpose is to kill as many Jews as possible (Louis Bulow). During the summer of 1942, the Nazis feel they can double the pace of eliminating the Jews by adding three more gas chambers to the existing chambers in operation. HSDC goes on to note, other than killing Jews by the systematic method, SS also invented new ways to murder. They pushed Jews with umbrellas off roofs to assemble parachuting. Some stabbed workers in their backs with a small knife when the workers bent over to pick up branches. Others sewed up prisoners trousers after throwing rats inside. Babies were thrown directly into garbage pits, or were torn apart down the middle by their legs. (Louis Bulow). Sobibor is one of the smallest death camps, and known for the largest and most successful revolts of all the death camps. Approximately 320 prisoners killed SS and Ukrainian staff in order to escape the monstrosity. According to (Jewish Virtual Library), Of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were brought to face the harrowing experience of Sobibor, only 64 survivors have ever been known.(Sobibor Extermination Camp) The Sobibor Revolt; Death to the Fascists states, Of the 550 prisoners at Sobibor, at the time of the revolt, 150 were left behind at the camp, either because of inability or refusal to escape, 80 were killed during the process by mines or gun fire, and 320 escaped to the forest. Of those 320, 170 were recaptured and executed in the search conducted by the Germans over the
Train tracks leading to Sobibor

Harlan 6 following weeks. Of the 150 who remained 92 were killed while in hiding. Another five survivors lost their lives fighting against the Germans in the war. In all only 53 revolt survivors would go on to survive the war, as well as 9 others
Sobibor revolt survivors

who had escaped from Sobibor prior to the revolt. (Ryan

A. Piccirillo) The revolt will cause a closing to the death camp Sobibor, and an end to the brutal and atrocious animosities of this corrupt dictatorship.

Harlan 7 Works Cited Auschwitz-Birkenau, Yad Vashem; The Holocaust Resource Center, Yad Vashem Holocaust Studies School Belzec Camp History, Aktion Reinhard Camps, ARC 2005 Einsatzgruppen trial: Justice Jackson details use of gas vans, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC Holocaust History of Belzec, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM); UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC MAY 11, 2012 Sobibor Extermination Camp, Jewish Virtual Library, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise The Fate of the Jews across Europe, Yad Vashem (YV) Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority The Sobibor Revolt; Death to the Fascists, PICCIRILLO, RYAN A. 2010, VOL. 2 NO. 09 | PG. 1/1

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Content paper demonstrates understanding and confidence about topic Sources uses only primary and secondary sources In-Text Citations integrates sources within text with effective use of signal words and phrases Formatting properly uses MLA formatting Works Cited works cited page has the required number of sources and is properly formatted

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10 15 Total = 100

Pictures uses pictures to enhance the text with effective captions and source information Writing Mechanics Paper is free from errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.

10

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Total Score 80