Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Joshua Hardesty

English Composition 102-106 Mr. Neuburger 2 April 2012

Hardesty 2 This paper is about the holocaust and the several events that led up to the horrific acts of the Holocaust. Most people know of the murder of the Jews during the Holocaust however, this event just did not occur suddenly but, there were several issues that happened before the holocaust. The events started with the rise of the Nazi party to the concentration camps and the killing of the Jews and several other undesirable races. It is important to know about the Holocaust and the events leading to the event so other civilizations do not commit these horrible crimes. Rise of the Nazis to power According to The History Place Adolf Hitler first joined the German Workers Party in the year 1919. In October of the same year Hitler was to give a speech and, although some of the committee members doubted Hitlers ability at this time he astounded everyone with a highly emotional, and at times a nearly hysterical manner of speech making. In other speeches Hitler spoke out about the Treaty of Versailles and he also blamed the Jews for the troubles in Germany. Furthermore this article states that in early 1920 Adolf Hitler took charge of the propaganda for the German Workers Party. On February 24, 1920 Hitler gave a speech on the twenty-five points of the German Workers Party platform. This speech included, the union of all Germans in a greater German Reich, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles all income not earned by work to be confiscated and a strong central government for the execution of effective legislation. (The Nazi Party is Formed)
Hitler and von Hindenburg

Then in late 1920 Hitler changed the name to the National Socialist German Workers Party or Nazi party for short and by

Source: http://bit.ly/HlWFPT

Hardesty 3 the end of that year the Nazi party had over 3,000 members (The Nazi Party is Formed). In January of 1933 Adolf Hitler was appointed as chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg. Then according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the Reichstag Fire Decree on February 29, 1933, permitted the suspension of basic civil rights (Germany: Establishment of the Nazi Dictatorship) The USHMM also states that in March of 1933 the German parliament transferred all of its power to Hitlers cabinet. Then, by mid-July, the Nazi party was the only political party left in Germany. The other parties had been either outlawed by the government or had dissolved themselves under pressure. (Germany: Establishment of the Nazi Dictatorship) The Nuremburg Laws In 1935 the German government passed a series of laws called the Nuremburg Laws. According to Academic American the passage of these laws stripped the Jewish people of their citizenship and basic human rights. (The United States and World War II) The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (MCHE) has a translated copy of the Nuremburg Laws. Some of the laws that were passed by the Reichstag included making it illegal for Jews and non-Jews to be married and all marriages between Jews and non-Jews were made void. Furthermore the Jews
A copy of the Nuremberg laws Source: http://bit.ly/I6pA9X

were not allowed to fly the Reich flag or to display the colors of the Reich however, the Jewish people were allowed to display the Jewish

colors and this right was protected by the state. (MCHE) A Holocaust survivor named, Ellen Brandt, discusses about how the passage of the Nuremburg Laws affected her life. She talks about how Jewish people could no longer be

Hardesty 4 teachers or hold a public office. Ellen further talks about how as a student in the German schools she and the other Jewish children were segregated from the rest of the class. In the class the teacher and the students were not allowed to interact with the Jewish students, this includes asking the Jewish students questions, punishing the Jewish students, and the other students were not allowed to play with the Jewish students. (Brandt) Propaganda According to the article Nazi Propaganda after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 he established the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. This office was led by Joseph Goebbels and, The Ministrys aim was to ensure that the Nazi message was successfully communicated through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational material, and the press (USHMM). The Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team (HEART) has an article that talks about a few of the books and movies that the German propaganda ministry produced. One of these books is called Der Giftpliz or in English The Poisonous Mushroom. The following is a summary of the story according to the article Nazi Propaganda. A young boy, Franz, accompanies his mother on a walk in a beautiful, wooded area and helps her gather mushrooms. After carefully describing and showing Franz several varieties of both edible and poisonous mushrooms, his mother compares the good mushrooms to good people and the harmful
Poster for Der ewige Jude Source: http://bit.ly/HDU6hV

Hardesty 5 mushrooms to bad people. The most dangerous of people, of course, are the Jews. (Nazi Propaganda) Furthermore, this article discusses the movie titled Der ewige Jude or The Eternal Jew which is a film about as described in the article as the Jew as a wondering cultural parasite. Another film that was released in the early part of the war was called Jud Sub. (HEART) Kristallnacht Kristallnacht occurred on the ninth and tenth of November in 1938. According to the article by USHMM, synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses throughout Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia had their windows broken and they were set fire. Also, the article goes on to say, German officials announced that Kristallnacht had erupted as a spontaneous outburst of public sentiment in response to the assassination of Ernst vom Rath (Kristallnacht: A Nation Wide Progrom) Furthermore, this article goes on to state that rioters destroyed 267 synagogues that night as firefighters stood by and watched. The firefighters were instructed to not stop the burning building unless the fire started spreading to other buildings. (Kristallnacht: A Nation Wide Progrom) According to an article by The Jewish Virtual
A synagogue after the destruction of Kristallnacht Source: http://bit.ly/HabgU1

Library (JVL) the death toll of that night was about ninety-six; about 7,500 Jewish businesses, cemeteries,

and schools were burned or vandalized; and over 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps that evening. (Kristallnacht) Furthermore, this article goes on to discuss a meeting with the Nazi leadership on November 12th and the reason for this meeting was. to

Hardesty 6 make the Jews responsible for Kristallnacht and to use the events of the preceding days as a rationale for promulgating a series of anti-Semitic laws which would, in effect, remove Jews from the German economy. (JVL) In an interview with Ursula Levy conducted by the USC Shoah foundation Levy discusses about what happened during Kristallnact. She tells about how her father and her uncle were both arrested on November eleventh. After being arrested, the two were sent to a labor camp where they were forced to work. Furthermore, while they were in the concentration camp both her father and uncle died from exposure and a gang green infection. (Levy). The Ghettos A ghetto was a part of a city where the Germans forced the Jewish population to live; most of the ghettos during this time were in Poland. According to an article, by the USHMM, there were three types of ghettos; the closed ghettos were sections of a city that were closed off with walls or fences lined with barbed wire most ghettos of this time were of this type, the second type of ghetto was the open ghetto here there were no fences or walls but entry into and out of the area was tightly controlled, the final type of ghetto was the destructive ghetto these ghettos lasted only for two to six weeks and the Jewish population within were either shot or deported. (Types of Ghettos) The largest of all the established ghettos was in Warsaw, Poland. According to Yad Vashem there were about 375,000 Jews in Warsaw which is roughly thirty percent of the population of Warsaw and the Jewish people were made to live in about 2.4% of the city, and
A mass grave of Jewish bodies located in Warsaw Source: http://bit.ly/IPVm0Q

later the population grew to about 450,000 people when

Hardesty 7 more Jewish refugees entered the city. The article goes on to discuss the housing conditions where on average six to seven Jews lived inside a single room. Due to the overcrowding in Warsaw disease was very prevalent with more than 80,000 Jews died here alone. (The Ghettos: Warsaw Ghetto) The Warsaw ghetto was not the only ghetto with disease, and according to HEART article The Ghettos of the Holocaust, all ghettos shared similar traits. These traits ranged from, Dilapidated housing, appalling sanitary conditions, inadequate and poor quality food, absence of medical supplies and facilities (The Ghettos of the Holocaust) In another article from the USHMM the reason for the disease running rampant was that the plumbing in the houses had broken down and the human waste had to be thrown out into the streets. Furthermore, it talks about how the Germans were rationing the food to the Jews only, allowing them to purchase only a small amount of bread, potatoes, and fat. (The Ghettos of the Holocaust) To survive these conditions many children had to smuggle food into the ghetto by, they did this by slipping through narrow openings in the ghettos walls. Smuggling food into the ghetto was dangerous because the penalty for smuggling was serious punishment. (Life in the Ghettos) Wannsee Conference The Wannsee Conference was where the final solution was developed. The final solution was, according to the article The Final Solution, the Nazi plan to kill all of the Jews in the occupied territories of Germany. The Wannsee Conference took place on January 20th 1942. (USHMM) The article by HEART states that at least fifteen persons were present at the Wannsee Conference including; Dr. Alfred Meyer, Erich Neumann, Dr. Joseph Buhler, Dr. Gerhard Klopfer, Adolf Eichmann, Dr. Rudolf Lange, Martin Luther, Dr. Georg Leibrandt, Dr.

Hardesty 8 Wilhelm Stuckart, Dr. Ronald Freisler, Reinhard Heydrich, Wilhelm Kritzinger, Otto Hoffmann, Dr. Eberhard Schongarth, and Heinrich Muller. (The Minutes from the Wannsee Conference) Furthermore, this article discusses how many Jews currently resided in Europe, eleven million, and how the German government should deal with them. First all, Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. (The Minutes from the Wannsee Conference) Selection Selection as described by Peter Avram Zuckerman happened in the Auschwitz camp. He first describes arriving in Auschwitz in a train with each car filled with 100 people in them. Upon reaching Auschwitz the door to the train car was thrown open and everyone inside was ordered out of the train. The occupants of the train were placed into three different groups; men, women without children, and women with children. There Peter encountered a new German word Zwillinge which translated means Twins to come forward. Furthermore, Zuckerman describes how he was able to pass selection being fifteen and tall for his age, Peter, was led to a place where his head was shaved, was given a tattoo, and a striped uniform to wear. (Auschwitz, Hailfingen, Vaihingen: Hell on Earth) In the article Concentration Camp System: In Depth it discusses how at the beginning of 1941 the,
Selection at Birkenau Source: http://bit.ly/IdVgND Where the Wannsee Conference was held Source: http://bit.ly/hlpChH

Hardesty 9 German officials sent the ill and exhausted prisoners from Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenburg, Gross-Rosen, Niederhagen, Neuengmme, Ravensbruck, and Auschwitz to their deaths (USHMM) Furthermore the article goes on to say that four killing centers were constructed in Poland; Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. The Germans also changed Auschwitz into a killing center that according to the USHMM could kill 6,000 Jews in a day. (Concentration Camp System: In Depth) Extermination Methods The Nazis purposefully exterminated the Jews in a few different ways. Besides forcing the Jews to starve and work themselves to death the Nazis killed the Jews, and according to The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, either by mass shootings, gas trucks, or in a gas chamber located in one of the death camps. (Methods of Mass Murder) Mobile killing units.The article Einsatzgruppen (Mobile Killing Units) states that the, Einsatzgruppen were squads composed primarily of German SS and police personnel. (USHMM) The main task of this group was to murder people perceived as racial or political enemies of Germany. Those people the article defined as, Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and officials of the Soviet state and the Soviet Communist Party also residents of institutions for the mentally and physically disabled. (Einsatzgruppen) Furthermore, the article goes on to discuss how the Germans gathered the Jewish people together, then after being gathered, they were marched or driven to the execution site. At this site the Jews sometimes had to dig their own graves. (Einsatzgruppen) The same article goes on to state that, Shooting was the most common form of killing used by the Einsatzgruppen. (Einsatzgruppen) However, Heinrich Himmler noticed that the mass shooting had a negative effect on his men. After this finding the Nazis developed the gas

Hardesty 10 vans. These vans were a mobile gas chamber that used the carbon monoxide from the vans own exhaust to kill the victims inside. Furthermore this article goes on to say, By the spring of 1943, the Einsatzgruppen and Order Police battalions had killed over a million Soviet Jews and tens of thousands of Soviet political commissars, partisans, Roma, and institutionalized disabled persons. (Einsatzgruppen) The mobile killing units were however inefficient and was to disturbing for the soldiers who had to carry out the killings. (USHMM) Zyklon-B. Zyklon-B was the third way that the Nazis killed the Jews. The USHMMs article tells that Zyclon-B was originally used as an insecticide or to kill rats. Those that were selected to die led into chambers and were told to take showers in order to delouse themselves. Once inside the gas chambers the people died within minutes. The article goes on to talk about how after those inside died the prisoners within the camp, were
Canister of Zyklon B

forced to haul the corpses to a nearby room, where they removed

Source: http://bit.ly/jA1stI

hair, gold teeth, and fillings.(At the Killing Centers) The bodies were then burned in a crematorium or buried in mass graves. The Death Camps The JVL tells that there were six death camps operating from 1941 to 1945; they included; Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Majdanek. All six of these killing centers were located in Poland. Furthermore this article tells that both Auschwitz
Location of the death camps Source: http://bit.ly/IMmbTn

Hardesty 11 and Majdanek also operated as forced-labor camps. (Extermination Camps in Poland) Chelmno. According to an article by HEART the Chelmno killing center opened December 8th 1941. The Nazis chose this location as the sight of an extermination camp for a number of reasons; it was already a high center of Jewish population, the location was near a road, Chelmno was also near a river to help keep people from escaping, and also there was a train track only eight kilometers away so the Nazis could transport their victims by truck or by train. Furthermore the article goes on to discuss how it killed its victims; for the most part the Nazis used a gas van that fed the exhaust into the place where the passengers were held. (Chelmno Death Camp) Belzec. According to The Belzec Death Camp the site for the Belzec death camp was chosen because the site is only 400 meters from the Belzec city train station and only 50 meters from the Lvov rail line. Construction of this camp began in early November of 1941 and was completed by the end of February 1942. In addition the article goes on to state that the actual place of the murders was designed to look like a bath house this was done by installing false shower heads with in the room. Belzec started bring in Jews from the Lublin ghetto then by April of 1942 Jews from both Galicia and Lvov were brought into Belzec. (HEART) Sobibor. The Sobibor death camp was located according to the HEART article The Sobibor Death Camp was located in the eastern part of the Lublin district of Poland. As Sobibor was being constructed the Nazis took 80 Jews to help with the camps construction. Furthermore the article goes on to tell that after the completion of the camp these 80 people were gassed for experimental purposes. The Sobibor camp had a total of three gas chambers which are each a four meters by four meters square and had a capacity of 160-180 persons. The

Hardesty 12 Nazis killed the people inside of the gas chambers with carbon monoxide which was produced in an annex building and fed through by water pipes into the chamber. (The Sobibor Death Camp) Treblinka. The Treblinka camp is located, according to the article Treblinka Death Camp History, about four kilometers from the village of Treblinka. Construction of the death camp started in April of 1942 as part of the Aktion Reinhard. The gas chambers in Treblinka are the same size and are operated the same way as those in Sobibor, using an engine to create carbon monoxide and fed into the killing chambers. Furthermore the article goes on to describe how the mass grave were built being, approximately 50m long, 25m wide, and 10m deep. The ditches were dug by an excavator brought from the quarry at Treblinka 1 (HEART) Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz is located, according to the article by the JVL, neat the Polish town of Oswieccim. The actual gas chambers and the crematorium were built in Birkenau or also referred as Auschwitz II and were opened in March of 1943. At Auschwitz it was here that Zyklon-B was tested on the inmates of this camp. Furthermore the article goes on to describe that in August of 1942 began construction of four new gas chambers. The first was opened in March 1943 and the last was opened in April of 1943. After the people died in the gas chambers the victims had their valuables removed and then the bodies were burned in a crematorium. (Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp) Majdanek. The death camp Majdanek, began with its construction with October 1941, this according to an article by the USHMM. In December of the same year the first Jews were incarcerated in Majdanek. Furthermore the article goes on to describe how thousands of Jews were placed in the ghetto of Lublin used as forced labor and an unknown number of them were sent to the camp Majdanek. Also during, the winter of 1941-1942, camp authorities began to use Zyklon-B gas to murder prisoners too weak to work Majdanek also had another function

Hardesty 13 and that was as a storage facility, storing clothing and other personal items stolen from the Jews from the other death camps. The article also states the numbers of dead within the camp being over tens of thousands, they died either from the poor living conditions in the camp or from the gas chambers. Majdenak was liberated by the Soviet forces in July of 1944 and it, was the first major concentration camp to be liberated. (Lublin/Majdenak Concentration Camp: Conditions)

After reading this a person should have learned some of the atrocities that the Nazis committed during their reign. Although most of these acts are horrible it is important to know about these acts so we can learn to help prevent and stop any genocide that is happening this day and to prevent any future genocide that might occur.

Hardesty 14 Works Cited The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. "Kristallnacht." Jewish Virtual Library. Jewish Virtual Library, 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. "At the Killing Centers." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp." The Jewish Virtual Library. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. "Chelmno Death Camp." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, 2007. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. "Concentration Camp System: In Depth." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Einsatzgruppen (Mobile Killing Units)." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Extermination Camps in Poland." Jewish Virtual Library. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. "The 'Final Solution'" United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Germany: Establishment of the Nazi Dictarorship." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 7 Apr. 2012. "The Ghettos of the Holocaust." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. "The Ghettos: Warsaw Ghtto." Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.

Hardesty 15 Holocaust Survivor Ellen Brandt Testimony. Prod. USC Shoah Foundation. Perf. Ellen Brandt. YouTube. USC Shoah Foundation, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. "Holocaust Survivor Ursula Levy Testimony." Interview by USC Shoah Foundation. YouTube. USC Shoah Foundation, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. "Kristallnacht: A Nationwide Pogrom, November 9-10, 1938." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. "Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor." The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. "Life in the Ghettos." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. Lisciotto, Carmelo. "Nazi Propaganda." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, 2009. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Lisciotto, Carmelo. "The Minutes from the Wannsee Conference." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, 2007. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Lublin/Majdenak Concentration Camp: Conditions." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. "Nazi Party Is Formed." The History Place. The History Place, 1996. Web. 7 Apr. 2012. "Nazi Propaganda." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Sage, Henry J. "The United States and World War II." Academic American. Academic American, 2010. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.

Hardesty 16 "Types of Ghettos." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. Vogelsang, Peter, and Brian B.M. Larsen. "Methods of Mass Murder." The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 2002. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. Webb, Chris, and Carmelo Lisciotto. "Treblinka Death Camp History." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, 2007. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. Webb, Chris, Carmelo Lisciotto, and Victor Smart. "The Sobibor Death Camp." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, 2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. Webb, Chris, Victor Smart, and Carmelo Lisciotto. "The Belzec Death Camp." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, 2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. Zuckerman, Peter A. "Auschwitz, Hailfingen, Vaihingen: Hell on Earth." Human Progress Network. Human Progress Network. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.