Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Meghan Garay

English Comp. 102-102 Mr. Neuburger 16 April 2012

Garay 2 The Holocaust is a large event in our history that involved the murder of over six million Jews by the Nazi regime. However, the Holocaust did not just happen overnight. Although the Holocaust occurred over a two to three year period of time it was actually a series of prior events that took place allowing the Nazis to almost succeed in their goal to exterminate all Jews. With the knowledge of how it progressed, people will be able to prevent such an atrocity from happening again and defy the clich that history repeats itself. Adolf Hitler/Nazi rise to power: Growing up, Hitler had been a quiet boy, keeping mostly to himself. His inadequate social skills had not pleased his father. Hitlers father had

wanted him to progress in life and tried putting him in many organizations in school to push him to excel as a public speaker. It was his fathers goal for Hitler to become a Politian of sorts. However, Hitler never succeeded as a boy to capture attention from his peers. According to Mr. Neuburger, Hitler enlisted in the military during World War I and became a Corporal Messenger. In 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles, the war ended along with
Adolf Hitler with the Nazi symbol. http://bit.ly/HHyZWy

Germanys economy. With Germany in a depression, Hitler became a struggling artist. Around the same time, The National Socialist Party (Nazi) began to form. Not amounting to much as an artist, Hitler joined their party in 1923 and rose in their ranks as a public speaker. With his convincing words he and a few others participated in The Beer Hall Putsch. This was a situation in which the group tried to overthrow local authorities. The attempt failed resulting in a prison

Garay 3 sentence for all of them. While imprisoned Hitler wrote the book Mein Kampf, or My Struggle, gaining more support for the Nazi party within Germany. When Hitler was released from prison, he reorganized the Nazi party and became their leader. Through his leadership, the Nazi party gained their political ground. In the year 1934, Hitler was named the president of Germany. Upon his presidency, Hitler renamed himself the Fuhrer, or Father, of Germany and the Holocaust would soon begin. Anti-Semitism & Nuremberg Laws: After World War I the Jews were blamed for the depression. They had been seen as the downfall of the war and therefore they became the hated race of Germany. That loathing only grew as the Nazis began to rise. As stated in that article Holocaust Rise of Nazi Power, The Nazis began promoting anti-Semitism and encouraged national pride, militarism, and the commitment to the Volk and a racially pure Germany. Mein Kampf was the bases behind all of their beliefs and ideas. It had been written upon the idea of Social Darwinism, in the sense that only the fittest survive through natural selection. Social Darwinists defined natural selection as the means by which the more dominate organisms reproduce more than those that are more submissive. With these beliefs in mind, Hitler developed the concept of the Aryan Race, placing the perfect German (blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin) as the superior beings. Hitler later states, within his book: Nazi philosophy by no means believes in an equality of races, but along with their difference it recognizes their higher or lesser value and feels itself obligated to promote the victory of the better and stronger, and demand the subordination of the inferior and weaker in accordance with the eternal will that dominates this universe. (qtd. In Holocaust Nazi Rise to Power)

Garay 4 He proved his words correct by promoting anti-Semitism throughout Europe; anti-Semitism being anything anti-Jew. As the Nazis rose, the Jews had begun to be ostracized by all. German children were even being taught in schools that Jews were worthless and basically unnecessary. It got to the point where people were no longer being classified Jews by their faith and religion, but by their blood. Nazis had begun to develop
Depiction of German children being taught to hate Jews. http://bit.ly/HN6rQU

ways to determine if a person was to be considered a Jew or German as listed below:

If a person had at least three Jewish grandparents, then this person was of Jewish race. A person was a half-Jew, if he had two Jewish grandparents in German: Mischling ersten Grades. If a person had only one Jewish grandparent, he was a quarter-Jew. (Anti-Semitism) As soon as Hitler was elected President of Germany he took action against the Jews with no second thought. His first attack against them was to pass the Nuremburg Laws. These were a set of laws that restricted Jews from their rights. The laws also acted as the first step to disconnect them from being a part of any German life. Under this law, people were required to wear Hebrew stars to identify themselves as Jews. Any Jewish business was also required to be identified as such with some visible form of Hebrew star. This would all only be considered mild compared to what the Nazis were leading up to. Propaganda & Kristallnacht: Even with the Jews barely being able to live peacefully within a community the Germans still felt a need to assault them in every way possible. The Jews were constantly under attack,

Garay 5 whether by insult, mental abuse, physical abuse, isolation, etc. They never had a moment of peace, for the torment would not let up. Nazi ideology was being encouraged and shared everywhere through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational material, and the press (Nazi Propoganda). As mentioned before, German children were even being taught in school to hate the Jewish race and that Germans were the Aryan Race. Nazis were going around doing what they saw fit to get rid of the Jewish people in Europe; no matter what the cost. The Night of Broken Glass, most

commonly known as Kristallnacht, was the result of a Jewish boy trying to fight back. The article Kristallnacht stated that the boy had been 17 and was angered by the fact that the Nazis had felt the right to deport his parents. In retaliation, the boy shot and killed a commanding officer of the
A burning synagogue on the night of Kristallnacht. http://bit.ly/HIDfcG

Nazi army. This was the only fuel needed for the Nazis to react in violence toward the Jewish community. On November 9, 1938, the Nazis took action. That night they destroyed and burned every Jewish business and synagogue that could be found. Statistics within the same article stated that 7,000 businesses had been demolished, 900 synagogues were burned, 91 people had lost their lives, and 30,000 people were deported to concentration camps. After this event, the Nazis even had the audacity to blame the Jews for it all and sent them a bill. The Jews had to pay one billion dollars for the damages done to their own buildings. With their foot now in the door, the Nazis continued their rampage on the Jews lives and began to send them all to ghettos; tearing them completely away from German economic life.

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Ghettos & resistance efforts: Ghettos were isolated and enclosed communities that the Jews were placed in until the Nazis could reach the Final Solution. The Germans had established at least 1,000 ghettos within Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union; the most well-known ghetto being the Warsaw ghetto. According to the article Ghettos, statistics showed that they could range from an area of 1.3 square miles and have a population from 100,000 to over 400,000 within them. These

communities were run by Jewish police and council men, but were under the orders of Nazis. Nothing in the ghettos happened without their say-so. Ghetto life was harsh and unforgiving. Holocaust survivor, Eva Safferman, explained the time of the Ghetto to be the worst part of our lives, because we lived in constant fear. Going on to state that it had been a day-to-day survival; it was just hunger and fear (Holocaust Survivor Testimony). Jewish people lived in over-crowded

conditions with no sanitization. Most families were forced to live with other families in a small one room apartment. During this time people still had to wear the Jewish star upon their clothes; especially if they wanted
Crowded street within the Warsaw Ghetto. http://bit.ly/sP4UEx

to work. Most of the people worked at factories within the districts, making and providing the German army with their provisions. If a person was unable to work, then they did not receive any food; causing them to die from starvation. The filth they constantly lived in caused others to die from illnesses due to the dirtiness. The rest were evacuated to concentration camps (work camps where any Nazi enemies were sent for forced constant labor).

Garay 7 Jews did the best they could to survive, and some took measures into their own hands. Despite the consequences, people would smuggle necessary supplies into the ghettos. This would include food, medicine, and weapons (Ghettos). In some situations people would even organize uprisings against their Nazi captors, but without the proper resources the attempts failed; the revolts only resulting in the closing of schools and forbiddance of any social gathering. Any ringleaders/conspirators caught would either be executed or sent to concentration camps. This would be the final step before the Wannsee Conference. The Final Solution: The Final Solution (the final agreement) was the point in which the Nazis decided how to rid Europe of the Jewish population. It was also known as the Wannsee Conference, as

mentioned in the Wannsee Protocol article, due to the fact that the meeting was held at a villa on the Wannsee Lake in Berlin. Attending this meeting were Nazi agency bureaucrats and commanders within the Nazi army. The conference was called to order by Schutzstaffel

(Defense Protective Units) Obergruppenfher Heydrich and recorded by Adolf Eichmann. At this meeting the funding for continued emigration would be discussed along with other ideas to rid Germany of the Jews. Up until this point, the Germans had been emigrating Jews to other countries within Europe. In order to do this the Nazis were imposing an emigration tax upon the wealthy Jews; paying for the emigration of any poor Jews. This had been working until those countries delegates began to demand more money, and due to the war becoming more dangerous it was becoming risky. In order to avoid the risk and giving out more money, the Nazis had to figure out another way to rid themselves of the Jews. They developed the Final Solution; deciding that the best thing to do was to kill all the Jews. They would complete this task by evacuating the

Garay 8 Jews to death camps where they would be executed. The Germans were even thorough enough to decide who would be evacuated as listed below: Persons of mixed blood of the first degree willbe treated as Jews. From this treatment the following exceptions will be made: Persons of mixed blood of the first degree, for whom the highest offices of the Party and State have already issued exemption permits in any sphere of lifePersons of mixed blood of the first degree who are exempted from evacuation will be sterilized in order to prevent any offspring and to eliminate the problem of persons of mixed blood once and for allPersons of mixed blood to the second degree will be treated fundamentally as persons of German blood, with the exception of the following cases, in which they will be considered as Jews: The person of mixed blood of the second degree was born of a marriage in which both parents are persons of mixed bloodhas a racially especially undesirable appearance that marks him outwardly as a Jewshows that he feels and behaves like a Jewexemptions should not be made if the person of mixed blood of the second degree has married a person of German blood. Marriages between full Jews and persons of German

bloodJewish person will be evacuated or whether, with regard to the effects of such a step on the German relatives, should be sent to an old-age ghetto. Marriages between persons of mixed blood of the first degree and persons of German blood without childrenthe person of mixed blood of the first degree will be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghettowith childrenif they are to be treated as Jews, be evacuated or sent to a ghetto along with the parent of mixed blood of the first degree. If these children are to be treated as Germans, they are

Garay 9 exempted from evacuation as is the parent of mixed blood of the first degree. Marriages between persons of mixed blood of the first degree and persons of mixed blood of the first degree or Jewsall members of the family will be treated as Jews and therefore be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto. Marriages between persons of mixed blood of the first degree and persons of mixed blood of the second degreeboth partners will be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto without consideration of whether the marriage has produced children, since possible children will as a rule have stronger Jewish blood than the Jewish person of mixed blood of the second degree. Protocol) With the plan set in motion, all the Germans had to do was to develop a method of death. Obviously they did the simplest thing first and would evacuate the Jews to the camps and shoot them. They would bury the
Gas Van used in the Holocasut. http://bit.ly/IqnNPf

(Wannsee

bodies in mass graves. This method was easy enough,

but it left way too much evidence for the Nazis liking; so they decided to try something else. Next, they developed gas vans. The concept of the gas van was developed by SS Artur Nebe and Dr. Widmann. The article From Shooting to Gas Vans, from the Jewish Virtual Library, delves further into their studies and the development of the gas van. SS Artur Nebe had been working at an insane asylum and was killing patients by shooting them. Of course, like the other Nazis he had to find a better way to kill them. Dr. Widmann was sent to help Nebe with this predicament. The two came up with two ideas. They could kill the mental patients by either using explosives or poisonous gas. First they

Garay 10 experimented with the explosives. They put together two houses out in the woods, putting explosives and patients in both. It was discovered that the explosions were insufficient. Only half of them died in the first explosion, and it took too long for some to die in the second explosion. Now they had to test the poisonous gas. Dr. Widmann came up with the idea of using gas exhaust from a vehicle. To test this method, the two men connected two metal pipes into a small room. One end of the pipe led into the room, while the other led outside. To the ends outside they connected two cars. Only turning one car on, they found that even after eight minutes the patients had not died. Turning the second car on, it only took a few minutes for the patients to die. Using the results from their experiment, they created a vehicle that would lead exhaust into the enclosed, back cabin portion; killing any persons within it. The Germans used this form of killing method, but decided that it too still left too much evidence. Soon after, they developed gas chambers within camps. Warehouse buildings had been used to make gas chambers. Once it was loaded with as many people as possible, Sycuan B, a poisonous gas, would be injected into the warehouse. After everyone within was killed, Jewish workers would be sent in to collect the bodies and dispose of them. Every day trains would be brought to the camps with cars of Jewish people attached to them. The Jews would then be rushed off the train and separated into lines. Here was where the Nazis would perform the selection. The selection refers to the Nazis deciding who died within the gas chambers, and who would live to keep the camp working. Those who lived were immediately prepared for work. Those who were sentenced to die stayed in the lines and awaited their death. Holocaust survivor Ursula Levy described how she was able to survive the line three times, because adults would allow her to crawl between their legs to the back of the

Garay 11 line. Those still in concentration camps walked a death march to the gas chambers. If they didnt die on the walk, they died within the chambers. Continuously the Nazis would go through this killing process, killing over eight to ten thousand Jews daily. They would dispose the corpses in crematoriums where the bodies would be burned. Liberation: As the Germans were steadily losing ground within the war they frantically sped up the killing process, but were unsuccessful to reach their goal. The Nazis lost the war, and the Jews were to be freed. Holocaust survivor, Eva Safferman,

remembered when their long torment ended. She recalled that the previous day, leading into the night, she and others had been lead through a death march. They ended up in a warehouse building, packed
Jewish men rejoice and drink to their freedom. http://bit.ly/HO6Ocg

together with other people. They had been locked in

the building with no way out and no possible comfort. She and the others stood forever, never knowing how much time had passed, until the door opened. It had been a British soldier that had opened the door and he told them that the war was over, and they were free. Safferman had remembered this so clearly because the war ended on the same day as her birthday of April 15, 1945. The Allies began to set up many organizations to help the survivors. Schools were set up to continue education. Many children were sent to orphanages until any family could be found. Hospitals and medicinal camps helped to tend to every weak medically ill survivor. Ursula Levy remembered walking out of a hospital and seeing a cherry tree stating, I saw this beautiful

Garay 12 cherry tree in bloom, it symbolized life and another start (Holocaust Survivor Testimonies). Many of the survivors were indeed trying to start out fresh. However with the ending of the war, Jews didnt know what to do since they had been evacuated from their homes; they had nowhere else to go. In fact a Yad Vashem article mentions that Germans feared a possible Jewish retaliation to try and gain back their properties. Due to this fear, hostility was brought on upon the Jews. Some of the survivors left to immigrate out west, while others spread out trying to start anew. Everyone searched for any surviving family members. With no actual place to go, the allies continued to run the ghettos. Many Jews were sent back to them, but under better living conditions. The ghettos were operational for three more years, until Israel was formed in 1948. After the borders opened, the allies sent the Jews their giving them a home without persecution. The Holocaust was a horrid event that resulted in a mass murder of the Jewish population. The structure of the Holocaust had been based upon many events that occurred both before and during its time. Due to the Nazis determination to rid Germany of the Jewish race over six million people had died. Luckily, millions survived through the Event to the end and were able to start over and live their lives once more. By breaking down the progression of the Holocaust people have been able to avoid such an event from occurring again.

Garay 13 Works Cited "The Anguish of Liberation and the Surviving Remnants." Yadvashem.org. Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and 'Heroes' Remembrance Authority, 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. "From Shootings To Gas Vans." Jewishvirtuallibrary.com. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. "Ghettos." Ushmm.org. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 06 Jan. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. "The History Place - Rise of Hitler: Hitler's Book "Mein Kampf"" Historyplace.com. The History Place, 1996. Web. 09 Apr. 2012. Holocaust Survivor Testimony. Dir. USCShoahFoundation. Perf. Eva Safferman. YouTube. YouTube, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. Holocaust Survivor Testimony. Dir. USCShoahFoundation. Perf. Ursula Levy. YouTube. YouTube, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. "Holocaust Timeline: The Rise of the Nazi Party." Fcit.usf.edu. Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, and University of South Florida, 2005. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. "Kristallnacht." Pbs.org. WGBH Educational Foundation, 1996-2009. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. Mr. Neuburger. Lecture Notes. 23 Mar. 2012. "Nazi Propaganda." Ushmm.org. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 06 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. Vogelsang, Peter, and Brian B.M. Larsen. "The Nazis and Anti-Semitism." Holocausteducation.dk. Peter Vogelsang & Brian B.M. Larsen, 2002. Web. 28 Mar. 2012.

Garay 14 "Wannsee Protocol (January 20, 1942)." Jewishvirtuallibrary.com. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2012.

Meghan, Your paper has a lot of good info in it. I like how you integrated the primary testimonies of the survivors. However, there are a few problems. Some areas have no in text citations indicating where the information is coming from. When you do this, you are essentialy plagiarizing the information. Also, when you did attempt to cite within your text, you made some mistakes which are very easy to make. I am going to list those three basic rules for citing within your text. They are:
Signal when you start using a source with a signal phrase. Always use a parenthical citation after a direct quote Always use a parenthical citation when you stop using a source

You works cited has a lot of sources listed that are not listed in your text. The only sources that should be listed in your works cited are sources used in text. You probably did indeed use the sources in your text, but you just didnt cite them in text. I hope I am making myself clear.

Score Points Available

40 20 40 35

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

30 15 25 25

Garay 15

25 15 25

Works Cited works cited page has the required number of sources and is properly formatted Pictures uses pictures to enhance the text with effective captions and source information Writing Mechanics Paper is free from errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.

18 15 18
Total Score

Total = 200

146