AtwellEverybody knows World War II contained one of the most horrific periods of time calledthe Holocaust, where an evil, delusional man named Adolf Hitler killed millions of people. Hekilled them all by gas, starvation, hard labor, medical experiments, executions, and anything hecould think of. Most believe this killing rampage only targeted Jews which is not entirely true,millions of non-Jews also died, Hitler hated the Polish.According to Terese Schwartz, on August 22, 1939, Hitler commanded his troops to, “…Kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish descent or language…”(“Half”, par. 1) He also states; Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. He went in by threeways: west, north, and south. By October 1939, Hitler controlled Poland. He took away the rightsof all Polish Jews and non-Jews. Hitler quickly set up a rationing system, which only gave thevery bare necessities of food and medicine. Hitler forbade the Polish language, renamed citiesand towns in German, burned libraries and bookstores, liquidated the press, closed secondaryschools and colleges, burned churches and synagogues, sent priests to concentration camps,forced young men into the German army, and destroyed all traces of Polish history, art, andculture (“Half”, par. 2). Hitler wanted to terrorize the Polish so they would do what he wanted nomatter what.Hitler executed the majority of Poland’s leading class because he knew that if he got ridof them it would make the rest of the Polish easier to control. He executed hundreds of Polishleaders, such as mayors, priests, judges, doctors, and teachers, in front of the public. He sent therest of Poland’s leading class to concentration camps, where they also died. The first massexecution of the war happened in Wawer, Poland on December 27, 1939. For the execution theytook 107 non-Jewish men from their homes at night, and shot them. This execution began a
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