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Lesley Tucker Ms. Caruso ENG 1102 23 February 2012 Historical Inquiry Paper In the dictionary, the word holocaust is defined as destruction or slaughter on a mass scale. Instability was created in Europe after World War II, which made way for the next international conflict, World War II. Although WWII was two decades after, it proved to be even more destructive and shattering. Adolf Hitler, along with his Nazi Party, rearmed the country and contracted treaties with Japan and Italy. On September 1939, Hitler overran Poland, which drove France and Great Britain to declare war on Germany. The next six years would claim more lives and destroy more than any war before, and would come to be known in history as the Holocaust (History). World War I greatly affected Europe, leaving it diluted and unstable. Adolf Hitlers rise to power was seeded from that instability, which was both economic and political, as well as prolonged bitterness over the Versailles Treaty and the strict terms it brought on. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that was signed after World War I, and it brought war between Germany and the Allied Powers to a stop. It placed heavy limitations on Germany and its military power. Hitler, violating the treaty in secrecy, began rearming Germany. His inspiration and motivation was his absolute fascination with the idea of a pure German race, and all the supposed supremacy it would bring. In his eyes, war was the only way to get the proper living space for his perfect race to multiply and develop. Following the formation of alliances with Japan and Italy against the Soviet Union, troops were sent by Hitler in 1938 to conquer Austria,

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and Czechoslovakia was invaded the next year. Due to their focus on internal political affairs, the United States and Soviet Union both overlooked Hitlers manifestation of hostility; Britain and France both wanted to avoid conflict. In August of 1939, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin partnered with Hitler and signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, instilling a state of anxiety within Paris and London. The very next month, Poland was overrun by Hitler from the west, and Britain and France declared war on Germany. This was the beginning of World War II (History). Concentration camps were assembled by the National Socialist government in order to placate political, as well as ideological, opponents. As the years went by, before the start of World War II, police officials and SS imprisoned Jews, Roma, and other people who didnt fit in with the accepted ethnicity or race. But, after the war began, and after the raid of the Soviet Union in 1941, militarized divisions of Order Police administrators went behind German lines to perform mass-annihilation against Soviet state and Communist Party officials, Jews, and Roma. Throughout the next three years, Nazi German officials exiled millions of Jewsi from Germany, and transported them to concentration camps (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Trainsii transporting mass amounts of Jews frequently arrived at the camps from 1942 to 1944, from practically every country in Europe allied to or occupied by Germany. Selection was performed on new arrivals at Auschwitz-Birkenau. SS staff decided who was too weak for forced labor, and those people were instantaneously sent to the gas chambers. Horrific things were done and millions of lives were lost inside these camps. Opened in May of 1940, Auschwitziii was the largest of all the Nazi concentration camps, and it claimed the most lives as well. Surrounding Auschwitz was a double-length electrified fence, dotted with watchtowers manned by armed SS guards (Gutman). The whole camp was

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divided into three parts: Auschwitz; Birkenau, or Auschwitz II; and Monowitz, or Auschwitz III. Each prisoner was stripped of their identity upon arrival, if they werent killed from the get-go. They were each registered into the camp with shaved heads, striped uniforms, and numbers tattooed on their arm for identification (Forget You Not; Auschwitz-Birkenau). If the prisoners had any gold teeth, they were taken out by the guards and heated down into gold bars for the Hitlers Reich. Hair of the dead prisoners was sold and made into clothes for U-boat crews. Anything personal that the prisoners had with them from the beginning was taken away and transported out to be sold (Last Refuge Ltd). The prisoners held in Auschwitz received no privacy, barely any nourishment, and were to work from early morning until night. Not only did the prisoners struggle to just remain alive, but also lived in fear of the gas chambers and crematoriumsiv. Gas chambers were used to rid the camps of the prisoners that were found to be too weak. The prisoners were told that they would be taking a simple shower, but that was a lie formed by the SS officials. Instead, they were gassed to death with the poisonous gas, Zyklon-B, which was originally used for pest control (Introduction to the Holocaust). A Star of David hung above the gas chamber entrance, and on a purple curtain draped over the entrance was a sign written in Hebrew that read This is the Gateway to God. Righteous men will pass through. Thats a perfect example of how deceitful and heartless the SS guards were toward the Jews and other prisoners within the camp (Forget You Not; Auschwitz-Birkenau). The crematoriums were used to get rid of the corpses left behind from the mass-killings within the gas chambers, and even to burn prisoners alive. In January of 1945, the Auschwitz concentration camp complex was approached by Soviet forces, which made the SS begin evacuations of the prisoners. They moved inmates on forced marches or by train in attempt to avoid the Allied liberation of large amounts of prisoners. In a sequence of attacks against Germany, the Allied

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forces began to come across and liberate camp prisoners as they moved across Europe (Introduction to the Holocaust). On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Monowitz and freed around 7,000 prisoners (Auschwitz). The marches of the prisoners went on until May 7, 1945, which was the day that German armed forces were forced to surrender. World War II was over. In the end, between 1940 and 1945, an estimated 1.3 million Jews were transported to Auschwitz, and at least 1.1 Jews perished (Auschwitz). But approximately six million Jews were murdered entirely. The war resolved some problems, but brought on many others. Germany was no longer the dominant power in Europe, nor was Japan in Asia. Their defeat in the war opened positions of leadership, and the Soviet Union quickly moved in to take Germanys place. Because the Allies had failed to create a group to support the peace until after the war was over, they were determined not to make the same mistakes. On June of 1941, nine European governments-inexile teamed up with the Commonwealth countries and Great Britain by signing the Inter-Allied Declaration. It required cooperation among nations to work for peace that would last. World War II was the most costly war in history, having estimated costs between $1 and $2 trillion, as well as damage to property amounting to over $239 billion. National debt was raised from $42 billion in 1940 to $269 billion in 1946 (United States History). The Holocaust is a tragic time in history that should never be forgotten. It reminds us of what the human race is capable of doing to each other, but what should never be done. By now, most survivors of the Holocaust have passed away, but their stories will live on forever through their future generations.

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The Jews were mistreated by Hitler and the German Nazis; they were seen as the scum of Europe. Jews were sent to concentration camps where millions were murdered in Hitlers attempt to create the perfect, or pure race. In my story, the two main characters will be Jews who are newly engaged, and then taken away to concentration camps and separated. ii Trains that carried the Jews to the concentration camps were crowded, unheated, and unsanitary. Many died on the trip itself because of starvation, etc. This will be the last place my two main characters will be together before being sent into two different camps. iii Auschwitz was the harshest of all the camps, and is the most famous for that reason. I picked this camp for one of my main settings. iv The crematorium in Auschwitz was used to dispose/get rid of hundreds of thousands of bodies left over from the gas chambers. On October 7, 1944, hundreds of prisoners that were assigned to one of the crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau rebelled. They killed three SS, blew up the crematorium and one of the gas chambers.

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Works Cited Forget You Not; Auschwitz-Birkenau. isurvived.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://isurvived.org/_TheCamp.html>.

Gutman, Yisrael, and Michael Berenbaum. Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp. N.p.: Indiana University Press, 1994. Print.

Last Refuge Ltd. Auschwitz. Last Refuge Ltd. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://www.lastrefuge.co.uk///_death_camps-Auschwitz/_page1.htm>.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Auschwitz. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. USHMM, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.ushmm.org/// article.php?ModuleId=10005189>.

- - -. Introduction to the Holocaust. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. USHMM, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.ushmm.org/lc//article.php?ModuleId=10005143>.

World War II. History. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. <http://www.history.com//war-ii>.

World War II. United States History. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.u-shistory.com//.html>.

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