Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Jamie Buerger

Eng Comp 102-106 Larry Neuburger 2 April 2012

Buerger 2 The Holocaust was an organized persecution of the Jews led by the Nazi regime. Many events contributed to what is now known as the Holocaust. It is important for one to learn from these events so that history is not repeated. Nazi rise to power In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and began to lay the foundation for the Nazi state. According to a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) article, the Nazis were guided by racist and authoritarian principles; creating decrees designed to eliminate basic civil-rights. Within the first two years of being Chancellor, Hitler was able to coordinate policies such as political parties, state governments, professional organizations, that fell under Nazi authority. The article states, The Fuehrers will became the foundation for all legislation (Germany: Establishment of Nazi Dictatorship). Furthermore, the
Adolf Hitler, the newly appointed Chancellor. Source: http://bit.ly/HlWFPT

article explains that with the establishment of this dictatorship, Hitler was able to control all facets of German life. By 1934, Hitler

was designated as both Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor making his personal power over the German nation unlimited. (Germany: Establishment of Nazi Dictatorship).

Anti-Semitism As defined by the USHMM, anti-Semitism is the prejudice against or hatred of Jews. Early Christian thought held Jews collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus (AntiSemitism: The Longest Hatred). In addition, this teaching in Catholic and Protestant religions resulted in many persecutions of Jews over the centuries. As Jews began to mainstream in Europe, political forms of anti-Semitism emerged and Jews were targeted for their ideas and

Buerger 3 roles in society. During World War II, the Nazis exploited this hatred and began what is now known as the Holocaust (Anti-Semitism: The Longest Hatred).
Jewish memorial defaced. Source: http://bit.ly/9YKvN2

Nuremberg laws In 1935, Nuremberg held a rally party where the Nazis announced new laws that excluded German Jews from having Reich citizenship and depriving them of most political rights. These laws later became known as the Nuremberg Laws. A USHMM article states that these laws prohibited Jews from marrying or having sexual contact with Germans. Jew was no longer defined as someone with particular religious beliefs but instead by family
Masses of people at the Nuremberg rally. Source: http://bit.ly/HAPw3S

background. If the person in question had three or four

Jewish grandparents, regardless if they practiced Judaism, they were considered a Jew. By 1937 and 1938, Jews were required to register property and carry identification cards (The Nuremberg Race Laws). Propaganda Hitler declares in his book Mein Kampf, "Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea (qtd. in Nazi Propaganda). This was Hitlers first use of propaganda which fueled the spread of ideas regarding antiGerman children reading anti-Jewish propaganda books. Source: http://bit.ly/J5gmii

Buerger 4 Semitism. The article continues to state, following the 1933 seizure of power, the aim was to communicate the Nazi message using art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational materials, and the press. Several audiences were the intended targets of these messages. Using propaganda campaigns, Germans were shown an atmosphere of tolerance of violence against the Jews while also showing Jews the appearance of restoring order (Nazi Propaganda). Kristallnacht Following the assassination of Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath in 1938, Hitlers Chief of Propaganda, Goebbels launched what is now known as Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass. According to the article on the Holocaust\Shoah Page, gangs of Nazi youth walked Jewish neighborhoods breaking the windows of businesses and homes and burned synagogues after looting them. The article continues to states, In all 101 synagogues were destroyed and almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed. 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps, Jews were physically attacked and beaten and 91 died (Kristallnacht). Three days later, a
Nazi youth burning a Jewish house. Source: http://bit.ly/HZJjMs

meeting of the top Nazi leaders was called with the intent of placing blame for Kristallnacht upon the Jewish people and using the events

of that evening to promote the removal of Jews from the German economy. Kristallnacht turns out to be a crucial turning point in German policy regarding the Jews and may be considered as the actual beginning of what is now called the Holocaust, (Kristallnacht). The ghettos As explained on the Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team (HEART) article the Ghettos

The Jewish people fleeing the Warsaw Ghetto. Source: http://bit.ly/HMsoPh

Buerger 5 of the Holocaust, ghettos were not Nazi invented. The article continues to relay that the origins of the term ghetto can be traced to medieval times and were not only used to congregate Jews in towns and cities but in some cases, whole countries. Because of this long history of being placed in areas together, Jews tended to assemble in places that other Jews resided in even when no longer forced to do so. According to the article, the Nazis removed the choice and forced Jews into closed communities virtually sealed from exterior contact. The article further explains, Dilapidated housing, appalling sanitary conditions, inadequate and poor quality food, absence of medical supplies and facilities this was the lot of the ghetto dweller. And most of those ghetto dwellers also shared a common end. They died of starvation, disease and exhaustion within the ghetto, or at shooting pits and death camps outside of it (The Ghettos of the Holocaust). Nazi ghettos were not meant to be more than temporary while the result of the Final Solution of the Jewish Question was decided. Later, the ghettos served as convenient points at which to concentrate that Jewish labour force prior to its liquidation (The Ghettos of the Holocaust). Wannsee conference, the final solution The Wannsee Conference took place in 1942, where representatives from the Nazi party met to decide on the subject of the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. The House of the Wannsee Conference article explains that Reinhard Heydrich, Head of the Security Police and SD called the meeting to order to discuss his leading role in the preparations for the murder of the Jews. The article continues to state that SS had assumed responsibility for the Final Solution. Objections and proposals were raised but it was ultimately decided that all participants present supported the Final Solution
The House of the Wannsee Conference. Source: http://bit.ly/HMBD2H

Buerger 6 and showed wiliness to cooperate. Leading officials of the German state administration became accessories and perpetrators to the crime that was to come (The House of the Wannsee Conference). Extermination methods According to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) site, the Nazis did not begin by wanting to eliminate the Jews completely but by 1939 to 1941, eradication methods began to evolve. The article continues to state that many different techniques were used and experimented with. Those in charge of the
German firing squads. Source: http://to.pbs.org/f5koEQ

killings would often talk about success and failures of methods of extermination. The article states, The ability of a single camp to kill 2,000-3,000 people per hour took years to achieve. At first, though, murder was done at close range-man-to-man, woman, or child (The Killing Evolution). Death by firing squad was one of the first methods used to murder the Jewish people but officers worried about their men and the effect it would have on them to kill someone in cold blood. In addition, the article describes how next the use of carbon monoxide in form of hell vans came. Jews were herded into a windowless basement room where they were loaded into a van by a ramp. From there, the article continues to tell that exhaust fumes were routed into the back of the van, asphyxiating the trapped victims. Once the victims screams could no longer be heard and the destination was arrived at, they were then unloaded and either buried or burned. These units were called hell vans because witnesses that heard the screaming but could not see the people as they drove by imagined the experience to be hell. The PBS article also explains that the most effective product used to kill the Jews was Zyklon B. First used to kill the lice on prisoners clothing, it was discovered that when heated,

Buerger 7 this disinfectant produced a lethal gas. In 1941, in a basement at Auschwitz, Zyklon B was administered in a sealed room of Jewish people but instead of taking the half an hour time predicted to kill the people in the room, it took two days. Moreover, the article explains that by the spring of 1943, the article relays that four crematoriums were built and became fully operational at Auschwitz II. They housed eight gas chambers used to kill more than 4,000 Jews each day. Trains would arrive at the camp and those most fitapproximately 10-30 percent of the arrivalswould be selected for a work detail. The remaining prisoners were sent to the gas chambers (The Killing Evolution). Lastly, the article tells that prisoners were selected to transport the bodies to the crematorium where two bodies were burned in a single oven at a time (The Killing Evolution). The death camps According to the Eye Witness to History article, the first death camps were established in 1933 after Hitlers rise to power. Growing to 100 or so locations, these camps were used for slave labor and extermination areas (Inside a Nazi Death Camp, 1944). In another article from the USHMM, the camps were said to be used to eliminate enemies of the state (Nazi Camps). Not only were Jews sent to these camps but also gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally
Jewish deportation to a death camp. Source: http://bit.ly/oZzy2r

unsound. Continuing, the article relays that not only did those placed in these death camps die by the various

methods being used to exterminate at that point but many also perished from starvation, exhaustion, and exposure (Nazi Camps).

Liberation

Buerger 8 As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners (Liberation of Nazi Camps). The article states that the prisoners found were starving and exhausted. The Germans attempted to cover up what they were doing by hiding mass murder sites and demolishing camps (Liberation of Nazi Camps). According to the article, camp staff burned crematoriums but gas chambers were left standing because they were not allowed enough time to get rid of them. In 1945, the largest death camp, Auschwitz, was liberated by Soviet troops where soldiers found emaciated people still alive. Much evidence was destroyed by the Germans before the raid but warehouses were found houses personal belongings such as suits and outfits and even human hair (Liberation of Nazi Camps). After liberation In 1945, when Anglo-American and Soviet troops entered the concentration camps, they discovered piles of corpses, bones, and human ashes -- testimony to Nazi mass murder. Soldiers also found thousands of survivors -- Jews and non-Jews -suffering from starvation and disease. For survivors, the prospect of rebuilding their lives was daunting (The Aftermath of the Holocaust). The article relays that many Jews feared going back to their homes because of antiSematic feelings in Europe. Limited emigration options led thousands of Jews to move western allied territories
Camp survivor cooking a meal in a field. Source: http://bit.ly/IQLGTi Survivors of the death camps. Source: http://bit.ly/e77oQ6

Buerger 9 (The Aftermath of the Holocaust). Continuing, the article tells that displaced persons (DP) camps were formed where Jews congregated. With the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, Jewish displaced persons and refugees began streaming into the new sovereign state. Possibly as many as 170,000 Jewish displaced persons and refugees had immigrated to Israel by 1953 (The Aftermath of the Holocaust). The Holocaust was an organized persecution of the Jews led by the Nazi regime. The events discussed above contributed to what is now known as the Holocaust. It is important for one to learn from these events so that history is not repeated. Works Cited "The Aftermath of the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. "Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. Austin, Ben S. "Kristallnacht." The HolocaustShoah Page. Middle Tennessee State University. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. "Germany: Establishment of the Nazi Dictatorship." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. "The Ghettos of the Holocaust." Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team. Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. "Inside a Nazi Death Camp, 1944." Eye Witness to History. Eye Witness to History. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. Kampe, Norbert. "House of the Wannsee Conference." House of the Wannsee Conference. House of the Wannsee Conference. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.

Buerger 10 "The Killing Evolution." Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Community Television of Southern California (KCET). Web. 18 Apr. 2012. "Liberation of Nazi Camps." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. "Nazi Camps." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. "Nazi Propaganda." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. "The Nuremberg Race Laws." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.