The Holocaust

Magan Fesperman

English102-104: Composition II

Mr. Neuburger

5 April 2011
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“My life was good.” “No complaints.” These were two statements made by Fela Gipsman

when explaining her life before the war. Then her life was forever changed in just a short period

of time. Her “good life” was turned into that of a slave’s life. The Holocaust is a name that was

given to the event of the mass murder of the ones who were not welcome in the eyes of the

Nazis. The ones who were being discriminated against on the streets and the ones who had

discriminatory laws made to basically make them slaves. The word Holocaust came from a

Greek word meaning “a burnt sacrifice offered to God.” (“Introduction to the Holocaust”)

According to the “Introduction to the Holocaust” article, “The Nazis, who came to power in

Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews,

deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.” The Jewish

people had the biggest threat against them. Approximately

seven million Jewish people’s lives were taken from them

during the Holocaust and approximately eleven and a half

million lives were taken altogether.

The Nazi came to power in 1933 and in December

Mass Grave of Holocaust victims
1941, Hitler decided to exterminate the Jews. This war http://bit.ly/ig1YYS

with the Nazis ended when the victims were liberated in

1945. The war started when the Nazi party started and began to rise to power to take control.

(“The rise of the Nazi Party”)

The rise of the Nazi Party

According to the “Nazi Germany and the Jews” article, Europe saw the Jewish people as

a dangerous race during the 1920s to the 1930s. With Adolf Hitler rising to power at this time
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and wanting a “pure” Germany, he was going to take care of this problem and get the “pure”

Germany he was wanting. His plan was to limit the Jews economic activity and distance them

from the public by making laws and putting the people in Ghettos. (“Nazi Germany and the

Jews”)

Adolf Hitler was a motivated speaker. Hitler used propaganda to

control people, and won people over and gained leadership by his

emotional and captivating speeches. (“Nazi Germany and the Jews”)

Adolf Hitler joined a small political party in 1919 called the German

Workers’ Party which was the precursor to the Nazi Party. Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was all for National Pride. He also supported the military and was for a
http://bit.ly/eorXwI

racially pure Germany. In 1923 Adolf Hitler tried to overthrow some local

authorities and failed. Adolf ended up going to jail but while in Jail he spent his time wisely. For

example, he used his court appearances to rant for hours against Government. He also did it to

get the people to know him and to win them over. When Hitler got out of jail, he started to

rebuild and organize the Nazi Party. In 1921 Hitler became the official leader of the Nazi Party.

By 1929 the Nazi party had 108,000 members and in the year 1933 the Nazi Party came to

power. (“Nazi Germany and the Jews”)

The Nuremberg Laws

The "Triumph of Hitler: The Nuremberg Laws" article reports that over fifty percent of

Jewish people living in Germany in the 1930s lived in big cities. The young Jewish people at this

time married non-Jewish Germans. When the Nazi came to power the Jewish People were faced

with many discriminatory laws that would end up forbidding them to marry non-Jewish People.
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One of the laws specifically stated, “Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred

blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the

purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad.” ("Triumph of Hitler: The Nuremberg

Laws") This was just one of the laws that singled the Jewish people out.

The Nazis introduced the laws at a Rally in Nuremburg in

1935. The laws were to help stop the riots that were happening on

the streets between the Germans and the Jewish People. The laws

did not define a “Jew” as a particular religion or belief. Instead a

Jew was considered to be anyone who had three or four Jewish

grandparents. It did not matter what belief or religion that

Chart of how to define a Jew
http://bit.ly/gVfi6d particular individual believed in. For example, a person may have

Jewish grandparents but conformed to Christianity, and according to the law, they would still be

considered Jewish. The Nuremburg Laws came into effect on September 15, 1935. The new

marriage requirements were instituted on October 18, 1935. ("Triumph of Hitler: The Nuremberg

Laws")

The Jewish people were not the only ones affected by the Nuremburg Laws. The

marriage law was also carried out to other races as well. Other races, such as blacks and Gypsies

were not allowed to marry or have sexual content with anyone other than someone in their own

ethnic group. These laws were carried out on November 14, 1935. ("Triumph of Hitler: The

Nuremberg Laws")

Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)

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Kristallnacht means “Night of Broken Glass.” This horrific tragedy happened on

November 9, 1938. Kristallnacht was the aftermath of the killing of a German Embassy staff

member. The staff member was shot by a 17 year old Jewish boy, Herschel Grynszpan. He was

living in Paris at the time of his retaliation. He shot the member due to his father and family

getting shipped out of Germany by train without warning. ("The American Experience.America

and the Holocaust.People & Events | "Kristallnacht" | PBS.")

On the night of November 9, 1935 Jewish

homes, businesses, and synagogues were destroyed by

the Nazis. Jewish businesses had their windows

smashed in and Jewish synagogues were burned. The

local firefighters stood there just to make sure the fires

did not spread. The local policemen stood in the crowds Jewish Business with broken windows
http://bit.ly/hqNxCg

as spectators. Homes of Jewish people were destroyed and

Hitler’s people beat and killed the Jewish women and children. During this night of chaos there

were reported 7500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned with 177 totally

destroyed, and 91 Jews killed. Also 25000 Jewish men were rounded up and taken to

concentration camps. ("The American Experience.America and the Holocaust.People & Events |

"Kristallnacht" | PBS."

The Wannsee Conference

Leading up to World War II the “final solution to the Jewish problem” had several

meanings. In other words one of the “final solutions”

was that the Jewish people were forced out of the public.

Place where Wannsee Conference was held.

http://bit.ly/hlpChH
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Another was that the Jewish People were forced into ghettos, forced into concentration camps,

and now forced to death. The Wannsee Conference was held to discuss this “final solution of the

Jewish problem” and to let leaders know that Reinhard Heydrich had been appointed as chief

executor of the “final solution of the Jewish problem.” ("Wannsee Conference: Facts, Discussion

Forum, and Encyclopedia Article.") The Wannsee Conference was held by the SS- Lieutenant

General Reinhard Heydrich. The conference was held in Wannsee which is a suburb of Berlin,

on January 20, 1942. SS-Lt Colonel Adolf Eichmann who was Heydrich assistant told during his

trial in 1961, that the meeting only lasted about an hour to an hour and a half over a luncheon. He

also said that the atmosphere of the meeting was one of cooperation and agreement. ("Wannsee

Conference: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article.")

During the meeting Reinhard Heydrich concluded that the Jewish people be deported and

used for labor and road building construction. With this he knew that they would eventually die

of natural causes. Heydrich presented the plan and it was approved by Adolf Hitler. ("Wannsee

Conference: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article.")

The Camps

The Jewish people were forced out of their homes and shipped to camps by cattle cars on

trains. There were many extermination and concentration camps and sub camps. The First

extermination camp to be established was Chelmo in Poland. At Chelmo 152,000 were gassed to

death in gas trucks from December 1941 till March 1943. They used the gas from the truck and

lead it back into to gas the victims. The extermination camp Belzek was established in May

1942. Belzek used gas chambers to kill approximately 600,000. Sobibor was another camp

established in May 1942 that used gas chambers. There were 250,000 people who lost their lives
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on the floors of the gas chambers in Sobibor. Treblinka was established in July 1942 and

continued working till November 1943. At Treblinka

approximately 900,000 were killed and their source of

killing was gassing in the bathhouses. (Austin, Ben)

Auschwitz-Birkenau was a concentration camp

that ended up being the largest killing camp with having

the largest number of deaths. There was approximately

Crematorium IV in Auschwitz-Birkenau
http://bit.ly/i1FDI5
one to two million deaths at this camp. This camp began

working in March 1942 and stopped in November 1944. Another camp was Majdanek and it

began working October 1942. It was an extermination and concentration camp. It took around

60,000 to 80,000 Jewish lives. There were a few more camps but this was where the bulk of the

killing was. At these six camps alone, there were at least three million Jewish lives taken.

(“Extermination Camps”)

There were many victims at the horrific camps. The majority of the victims were Jews

but not all them. There were homosexuals, Gypsies, Soviet Prisoners of War, Poles, and others.

These people were basically killed for no reason other than their nationality. (Austin, Ben) These

camps are now testimonies to the Nazis’ greatest crime in human history.

The Ghettos

The ghettos were basically set up to prison the Jewish People. There were three main

ghettos that they sent the Jewish people to. The ghettos were Lodz, Warsaw, and Theresienstadt.

Property and homes were taken from the Jewish; therefore the Jewish were forced into the
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ghettos. They were only allowed to take very few personal items with them to the ghettos and

their other items were taken by the Nazis. (“The Daily Life in the Ghettos”)

The ghettos had very poor electricity that only

worked half the time, they were overly crowded, and not

near enough food to feed everyone. The ghettos were not

very sanitary; therefore the Jews died due to diseases and

starvation. The prisoners of these ghettos all worked

Kids eating on the Streets of the Ghetto
http://bit.ly/f8bMpL together for survival. Some of the elders would risk their

lives to smuggle food in for the young so they would not

starve to death. The whole atmosphere in the ghettos was harsh and they were hardly livable.

(“The Daily Life in the Ghettos”)

The Extermination Methods

There were many different extermination methods the Nazis and their helpers used during

this time of mass destruction. The Nazi picked the most inhumane ways to kill their victims.

Different methods of mass murder were tested during this time. They wanted to find out which

method was the most effective when killing in massive amounts. (“Methods of Mass Murder”)

First the Nazi started eliminating by mass shooting then moved to gas trucks. The

prisoners were forced to dig massive ditched or basically their own grave. After they were done

digging, they were to stand at the edge. They were then shot that way so they could fall right into

the ditch or grave. Also as the prisoners arrived some were shot right on the spot. (“Methods of

Mass Murder”)
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The mass shootings were not doing the job they thought it would so they moved to

gassing trucks. The Jews were forced into sealed trucks where the exhaust from the engine was

lead back into the truck. This resulted in the victims suffocating due to the carbon monoxide

from the exhaust. (The Danish Center)

One of the most effective ways of killing the prisoners

was the gas chambers. They were gassed with exhaust fumes and

Zyklon B. The gas chambers were constructed for one reason and

one reason only in these camps. The reason was strictly for

killing. There were approximately three million Jews killed in

the extermination camps. According to the Danish Center, the

extermination camps were constructed strictly for killing

A prisoner getting shot into his grave
http://bit.ly/ethm1f effectively, quickly, and as secretly as possible. The

extermination camps were the most effective way of the mass

destruction. (“Methods of Mass Murder”)

Liberation

The word was out on what the Nazis were doing and people were not standing down and

acting like nothing was going on anymore. The camps were liberated in 1945. The Nazis made

the leftover prisoners march out of the camps westward

and the prisoners were to keep marching. These marches

were called the “death marches” because they basically

wanted the rest to die off. (“Introduction to the

Holocaust”)
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The Nazis vanished when the allied troops reached Kids being liberated and walking out of
their barrack
the camps to set the prisoners free. The troops were in shock http://bit.ly/gSyMdZ

in what they were seeing. They witnessed ditches full of people, a room full of baby shoes,

fingernail marks on the walls of the gas chambers, and much more. People in the surrounding

neighborhoods of the camps were told to come out and see what was going on in their backyard.

(“Introduction to the Holocaust”)

When the Jews were finally liberated, they had no place to go. The Jewish people were

put up in special barracks until they found a place to go. Most of the Jews had no family or

friends left. Richard Billauer stated, “I didn’t have any connection with my friends.” So in other

words, they went in having nothing and came out having less. They also had no place to go

because their homes had been destroyed or taken over by another family. The Jewish people had

no belongings or money because it was all taken from them when they arrived. They literally had

nothing but the skin on their body. Fela Gipsman mentioned in her testimony, that when the

gates opened, the Germans and their dogs ran away and the Jews flooded the streets.

The Conclusion

World War II was a devastating time period for many countries. It was especially a rough

time for the victims of the Holocaust. The victims included Jewish people, Gypsies, the

handicapped, Soviet Prisoners of War, homosexuals, and more. Approximately seven million

Jewish people were killed and around eleven and a half million altogether. The Numbers are not

exact because the Germans did not count all the people they killed; they just estimated the

number of people. From the time the Nazi came to power in 1933, it is amazing how this whole
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war was staged and the amount of people killed. They only had about 12 years to pull off what

they did.

The different events that happened during this time period really spiraled into something

bigger than anyone can imagine. It started off with the Hitler and his captivating speeches and

pulling everyone together. Then a group of officials set up laws that would set the Jewish people

apart from everyone else. You also have the night that no one slept due to the breaking glass.

The night Jewish people lost everything they had worked hard for, their businesses. It was

amazing that after all of that, that the Germans were not satisfied yet. They had to hold a

conference to come up with the “final solution” and exterminate the victims.

It is shocking that it got worse than that. The Jewish People were exterminated in the

most inhumane ways. They were suffocated, starved, shot and worked to death. Basically in

order to die and get out of your misery you had to suffer. It was not till 1945 that the Jews were

liberated. When the Jews were liberated they had no place to go and no friends or family. They

were basically held in refugee camps till they could get back on their two feet.

It just amazes me how one single human can manage to put such a war together and

succeed. One man was behind eleven and a half million lives. This has made such a huge impact

on history and yet genocide still happens today. Let us just hope it never gets to be to the extreme

as the Holocaust was during World War II.

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Works Cited

"Auschwitz Mechanisms for Mass Extermination: The Gas Chambers." I-55 Internet Services,

Inc. Merging with Xfone USA. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.

Austin, Ben S. "The Camps." Middle Tennessee State University. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.

"Daily Life in the Ghettos - Yad Vashem." Yad Vashem. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.

"Extermination Camps." The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The Danish

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.

Gerlach, C. "Wannsee Conference." Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.

"Holocaust Timeline: The Rise of the Nazi Party." Florida Center for Instructional Technology.

Web. 03 Mar. 2011.

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"Introduction to the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 27 Feb.

2011.

"Methods of Mass Murder." The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Web. 23

Feb. 2011.

“Nazi Germany and the Jews - Yad Vashem." Yad Vashem. Web. 02 Mar. 2011.

"The American Experience.America and the Holocaust.People & Events | "Kristallnacht" | PBS."

PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. WGBH. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.

"Triumph of Hitler: The Nuremberg Laws." The History Place. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.

"Wannsee Conference: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article."

AbsoluteAstronomy.com. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.