Kenny 1 Anna Kenny Mr.

Willett English 11 1 March 2012

Murder by the Millions Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are two of the most hated men that ever lived. During the 1930s and 1940s Adolf Hitler controlled all of Germany and other occupied territories, while Joseph Stalin controlled Russia with an Iron Fist. Due to the way they reined and their time in power millions upon millions of people were killed. In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R) from 1932-1939, twenty-three million people were killed in Russia, from famine and from purges (The Worst). In Germanys occupied territory from 1939-1945, twelve million civilians were killed (The Worst). Both men caused havoc in their countries, starvation, war and death. But both men had control and that was all that mattered. Millions of people were starving, or being deliberately punished in the U.S.S.R. From 1932-1933, three point three million starved or were killed due to the questioning of their nationality (Timothy). Some say that Stalin was more murderous based on the number of people that died under his reign compared to Hitler. Yet some argue that Hitler was more monstrous based on the fact that he tried to demolish an entire race from existence. Also when Hitler was in power he was the main reason for WWII, which also resulted in the deaths of millions. Hitler and Stalin ruled for many years and from their leadership millions of individuals died.

Kenny 2 Due to Stalin and Hitlers leadership people were murdered. Families were taken out of their homes, sent to concentration camps, and were separated. In 1937-1938 about seven million people were arrested for unknown reasons in the U.S.S.R. Of those seven million, one million were executed and around two million died in the concentration camps (Conquest). Thousands of civilians that went into the U.S.S.R concentration camps did not survive. Hardly more than ten percent of those that went in the camps survived (Conquest). The camps in German-occupied territories were just as horrifying as those in the U.S.S.R. The conditions for the prisoners in the camps cannot even be considered living conditions because the camps were terrible, prisoners had been starved, were often physically harmed, and suffered from disease due to neglect from there being no heat, no water for bathing and no health care (Nebraska). Lives for the prisoners that survived another day were almost unbearable. Mark Smith wrote the book Treblinka Survivor which is a biography about Hershl Sperling who lived and survived the concentration camps. "It was not a work camp, it was not a concentration camp, it was not a penal camp, it was a death camp," said Sperling. "Franz Stangl, the commander of Treblinka, boasted they could go from train to death in two hours" (Forgotten). The concentration camps meant almost definite death for many prisoners, in both German occupied territories and the U.S.S.R. Hitler wanted the perfect Aryan race which meant that those who were different needed to perish. Hitler called the manslaughter of millions of people the final solution. In its entirety, the "Final Solution" called for the murder of all European Jews by gassing, shooting, and other means (Introduction). Accomplishing this meant getting rid of those who were intimidating or different, Jews, homosexuals, Jehovahs Witnesses, along with people who disagreed with how Hitler was running the country. From 1939-1945 around six million Jews perished horrible deaths (A Teachers). Jews intimidated Germans so they were the first race to destroy in order

Kenny 3 for Hitler to have a pure Aryan race. Its estimated that five thousand to fifteen thousand homosexuals were sent to camps. Out of ten thousand Jehovah witnesses that were imprisoned in concentration camps around two thousand five hundred to five thousand people died (A Teachers). Being different was not an option if you wanted to live in a pure Aryan race. Stalin killed people that disagreed with him or if he was worried that they might cause a revolution against him and most of the people that disagreed with him were male. Males were targeted by Stalin and about 98 percent of those that died in the concentration camps were male (Conquest). Once Hitler and Stalin gained their power it seemed as if they were unstoppable. They got rid of the people that intimidated them and the people that they did not like. Hitler wanted people to die a painful death in the concentration camps; it was his idea to use gas as the answer to murdering millions of people quickly and easily. As a soldier in World War I, he had been caught in a gas attack. He remembered the bitter, choking feeling of the gas and the fear that gripped him. Gas, he said, was the answer (Rossel, 69). Every day trains would come to a concentration camp filled with people, mostly Jews, and often when the train doors would open the German guards would open fire on them. When the trains arrived at the camps the Jews, many sick or wounded, stood closely packed together, afraid to move. Then the German guards often opened fire on them (Rossel, 72). Individuals who lived in the concentration camps often did not live past the first few days, from various causes. Within the first few days, thousands would die of hunger, exposure, and disease. Many just wanted death and did not want to fight to live and some chose to run into the wire, which is taking their own lives by throwing themselves against the electrified fences. Still others died of severe beatings, torture, or abuse (Rossel, 74). It was hell living in the concentration camps and thousands of individuals did not have the strength to pull through it and died.

Kenny 4 In his quest for absolute power Stalin needed laborers even if that meant slave labor. Stalin ordered for the killing of almost three out of every ten people under Order Number 00447. This order shows that Stalins purges in 1937 were motivated for his need for slave labor (Service, 351). Stalin was spreading fear throughout his country. Stalin was running a terrorstate (Service, 353). Stalin had operations for killing people and each operation had a different number of people to be arrested and killed. Stalin approved a further operation to purge antiSoviet elements. This time he wanted 57,200 people to be arrested across the U.S.S.R. Of these 48,000 were to be rapidly tried and executed (Service, 355). Stalin was in control of his country and the individuals that lived in the U.S.S.R knew that he had absolute power and they understood what extremes he could go to with that power. Stalin was so determined to make a strong U.S.S.R that he did not care who died; he wanted his country to be strong even if that meant killing millions of people. Tens of thousands of people were shot by Soviet state police and hundreds of thousands deported. Those who remained lost their land and often went hungry as the state requisitioned food for export (Timothy). Stalin had a vision of modernization for the U.S.S.R. he had people killed mostly during a time of peace. Many of the Soviet killings took place in times of peace; these killings were related more or less distantly to an ideologically-informed vision of modernization (Timothy). Hitler however made Germany the cause of World War II from invasions and manslaughter. He wanted a pure Aryan race and the only way to accomplish that was to exterminate individuals. The genocide of the Jews was the culmination of a decade of German policy under Nazi rule and the realization of a core goal of the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler (Introduction). Hitler and Stalin are both at fault for the death of millions of people. They both

Kenny 5 killed in their desire for power and control. Both of these men were very determined but they showed their determination in the wrong way, by murdering people by the millions.

Kenny 6 Works Cited A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust. Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Web.27 Jan. 2012. http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/. Conquest, Robert. The Great Terror: A Reassessment. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. Print. Forgotten Death Camp Survivor's Story Unearthed | Culture | DW.DE | 21.09.2011." TOP STORIES | DW.DE. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15405270,00.html. Introduction to Holocaust. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 31 Jan. 2012. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=100051432. Rossel, Seymour. The Holocaust. New York: Watts, 1981. Print. Service, Robert. Stalin: A Biography. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2005. Print. The Worst Genocides of the 20th Century. Piero Scaruffis Knowledge Base. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/dictat.html. Timothy Snyder/ The New York Review of Books. Home/ The New York Review of Books. Web. 27 Jan. 2012. http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/timothy-snyder-2/.