Research Paper Holocaust Overview

ReBecca Burnett

Mr. Neuburger Eng. Comp 102-118 9 May 2013

Burnett

The Greek translation for the word Holocaust means sacrifice by fire, but in the minds of many, they know it as the largest genocide recorded in human history. In the years between 1933 and 1945 Adolf Hitler turns what seems to be a civilized nation into one of the most horrific events we know today. He turns these nations into a complete racial state, in which the ones that he sees unfit are used as slaves, persecuted, or murdered. Within all of these innocent victims most were Jews. Hitler directs the Nazis to murder over six million Jews, with one and a half million being innocent children. Nazi rise to power Germanys crushing defeat in World War I proves to be the starting point of hatred. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in the early years of 1930s the mood of Germany was grim, as fifteen years earlier World War I ends, but remains in the minds of many, leading to an economic depression and lack of confidence in the government. (Hitler Comes to Power). As The History Place (THP) explains it saying that overnight, the middle class standard of living so many German families enjoyed was ruined by events outside of Germany, which they had absolutely no control over. The Great Depression begins and they were cast into poverty and deep misery and begin looking for a solution, any solution. (Great Depression Begins). Furthermore, the USHMM explains that because of these conditions it provides the chance for a rise of a new leader, Adolf Hitler. He quickly becomes one of the most infamous and notably spellbinding speakers they knew then and we continue
Hitlers rise to power

to acknowledge today. Because of the Germans so

http://bit.ly/YJrY1e

Burnett desperately wanting a change in the nation they become followers of Hitler, who promises the people a better life and a new and more glorious Germany. Along with Hitlers rising to leadership comes Hitlers party, the National Socialist Germans Workers Party, or more commonly known as the Nazis. After appealing especially to the unemployed, young people, and members of the lower class, the parties rise to power becomes rapid. (Hitler Comes to Power). Nazis view on Jews anti-Semitism After rising to power, Hitlers view on appearance becomes very important for making a

pure German race. Hitlers ideal race, which will soon be called the Aryan race, were too be tall, blond haired and blue eyed. According to The History Place (THP) it talks about how Although Jews made-up less than one percent of Germany's overall population of 55 million, Hitler considers them by nature to be the "mortal enemy" of the German people. Yet, within Hitler's bureaucracy, radical and moderate antiSemites strongly disagreed as to what legal and illegal actions
Anti-Semitic graffiti on Jewish-

should actually be taken against the Jews. This bureaucratic infighting resulted in complete inaction concerning the development of a coordinated Reich policy of anti-Semitism. (The Nuremberg Laws) Nuremberg laws

owned store. http://bit.ly/XS0wCj

With the introduction of the new laws on September 15, 1935 the Jewish population is no longer considered part of the citizenship. The laws ultimately state that German blood and Reich Citizenship is higher over Jews. These regulations are made to fix the newly appointed Nazis parties ideology. According to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) the

Burnett Nuremberg Race Laws were the cornerstones of the legalized persecution of Jews in Germany, excluding them from Reich citizenship and prohibiting them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of German or German-related blood. (Background: Nuremberg Race Laws). Within the article states that because of these laws the German Jews were restricted from most political entitlements, including the right to vote. Furthermore, the article explains that The Nuremberg Race Laws represented a major shift from traditional anti-Semitism to an understanding of Jews as members of a race, defined by blood and by lineage. These new laws did not identify a Jew as someone with particular religious convictions but, instead, as someone with three or four Jewish grandparents. The Nazis went as far as terrorizing Germans who had not practiced Judaism or who had not done so for years. Even people with Jewish grandparents who had converted to Christianity could be defined as Jews and under the torture of the Hitler and the Nazis. (Background: Nuremberg Race Laws). In another article
Nuremberg Laws September 15, 1935 http://bit.ly/1ByPsp

on USHMM website it tells about how after the Nuremberg Laws were established in the weeks before and during the 1936 Olympic

Games held in Berlin, the Nazi regime moderated its anti-Jewish attacks and even began to remove some of the signs saying "Jews Unwelcome" from public places. Hitler did not want international criticism of his newly established government to result in the transfer of the Games to another country. Having this kind of loss would have hurt the German prestige. (The Nuremberg Race Laws)

Burnett Kristallnacht As quoted from PBS American Experience, On the night of November 9, 1938, the sounds of breaking glass shattered the air in cities throughout Germany while fires across the

country devoured synagogues and Jewish institutions. Furthermore, this website tell us that just a couple of days before the ninth of November a seventeen-year-old Polish Jewish boy named Hershel Grynszpan had shot Ernst vom Rath, who is the Third Secretary of the German Embassy in Paris. This young boy was upset about the deportation of his parents to Poland, and hoped that by his dramatic action it would alert the world about the threating of
Night of Broken Glass

Jews. It goes on to another quote from Grynazpan,

http://bit.ly/YJrY1e

himself, when he was arrested saying "Being a Jew is not a crime. I am not a dog. I have a right to live and the Jewish people have a right to exist on earth. Wherever I have been I have been chased like an animal." Moreover, because of this incident with vom Rath and Grynszpan it gave the Nazi authorities an excuse to initiate the violence that would occur on the night most known as The Night of Broken Glass or Kristallnacht. By morning they demolished seven thousand Jewish businesses, set fire to 900 synagogues, killed 91 Jews and held hostage 30,000 Jewish men that would be shortly transferred to concentration camps. Furthermore, the article explains how this horrifying event finally provides the Nazis an opportunity to totally wipe out the Jewish people from Germany. (People and Events: Kristallnacht) Round up of Jews ghettos As all of the previous events unfolding it gave Hitler the opportunity to create one of the many horrible experiences the Jews had to face. He calls these places the ghettos, places set up

Burnett for Jews to become separate and held for short periods of time as needed to evacuate them from each city. According to Yad Vashem, the Jews that were taken from their homes had only few seconds to grab a couple personal items with them to take to the ghetto. The ghettos remain overly crowded and often lacking basic electrical and sanitary foundation. Furthermore, the food rations remain always insufficient and the Nazis use excessive force against the smugglers. Many risk their lives trying to
Children eating in the Warsaw ghetto streets. http://bit.ly/aCXPoy

get food, education for the children and continuing to practice their religion traditions. (The Ghettos: Daily Life in the Ghettos). Holocaust survivor Ibi Ginsburg testifies about her experience during the Holocaust saying Even though we only had one year of the troublesthe end product was devastating. Ginsburg remembers her family packing up for an unknown journey. After three days of traveling, and knowing they were not going towards Germany, they finally end up in Auschwitz Birkenau. Her story goes on to say that she remembers being helped from the wagons by men in striped uniforms and made to wait with all of the other people. She recalls her family slowly becoming separated, and she and her sister being lead one way into a different part of the camp. Having all of her hair cut off, all possessions that they were told they could take with them, taken away and forced to wear the camp issued uniform, she finds herself in a wooden building with concrete floor and bare wooden bunks to sleep on. (Holocaust Learning: Survivor Stories) Resistance One may ask why the Jews did not fight back against the Nazi party, but in fact, there were many ways they did. One article on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Burnett website says The deprivations of ghetto life and the constant fear of Nazi terror made resistance difficult and dangerous but not impossible. (Spiritual Resistance in the

Ghettos). Within that same article it talks about the Jews engaging in unarmed defiance. The Jews would organize several attempts to escape the terrifying camps they live in by running into nearby forests. They try to smuggle
Jewish resistance fighters captured by SS troops during the Warsaw ghetto uprising. http://bit.ly/11ih4yP

food into the ghettos and also continue spiritual resistance. Furthermore, the article goes in depth with

how the Jews practiced spiritual resistance. To maintain their humanity, person integrity, dignity, and sense of civilization in the face of Nazi attempts to degrade them individuals would continue to practice their spiritual traditions. As the Germans obviously did not approve of any religious services or practices within the ghetto wall many Jews held ceremonies in secret. They would pray in places such as cellars and attics, while someone else would watch for Nazis nearby. In this article it says that in 1940, around six hundred Jewish prayer groups existed. Because Jews oppose the use of physical force they view prayer and religious observances as the truest form of resistance. (Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos). Wannsee Conference The Final Solution Due to the increasing amount of Jews being held and ghettos becoming extremely overcrowded the thought of what to do with them is brought into question. According to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on January 20, 1942, fifteen of the Nazi Partys highest ranking officials got together with German government officials at a house in
House in Berlin that held the Wannsee Conference http://bit.ly/YnxTaY

Burnett the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." (Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution) Extermination methods To effectively follow through with the Final Solution plan that was established,

extermination methods come into play shortly after. As said by the Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (DCHGS) the Nazis tested three different types of extermination methods, including mass shootings, gassing trucks and extermination camps. The first method that they began to test was mass shootings, which they carried out in June of 1941 up until the end of the war. The SS Special Task Forces used their Eastern European auxiliaries to kill over one and a half million Jews that occupied parts of the Soviet Union. Once the Jews were brought into custody they had to dig their own graves and told to stand next to the grave so that when they were shot they would fell directly in it. The next of the horrifying methods that the
Gas Chamber in Auschwitz http://bit.ly/vRH3HN

Nazis used was that of the gassing trucks. With these

mobile trucks the Jews were simply forced into a hermetically sealed vehicle and the exhaust gas from the engine would lead into the lungs of the victims. The Jews were consequently suffocated. Furthermore, the last and most effective way to kill of the Jews and any other person that did not comply were put into extermination camps, or most commonly called gas chambers. Six of these gas chambers surrounded the area and within these chambers held a gas known as Zyklon B or exhaust fumes. The chambers had one sole purpose and that was to eliminate the so-called undesirables or those who the Nazis see unfit. Those people were taken to the chambers and forced inside and the guards closed the door after them. The Zyklon B or exhaust

Burnett fumes are then led into the room and fill the air. The website article ends with telling us that at

least three million Jews have been murdered effectively, quickly and as secretly as possible using just the extermination camps alone. (Methods of Mass Murder) Liberation Germany finally surrenders in May of 1945, which is when Allied Forces step in. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website tells us that as the final stages of war comes to an end the Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate the concentration camp prisoners. On July 23, 1944, they entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, and eventually overran many that killing centers. Around six months later they finally entered Auschwitz, but only to find hundreds of exhausted prisoners. Furthermore, the websites article explains how the British, Canadian, American, and French troops also helped free the prisoners for the camps. Each of the countries was responsible for liberating different camps.
Camp survivors after Liberation Dachau, Germany http://bit.ly/Zk0foc

Once the prisoners from the camps were rescued, allied troops, physicians, and relief workers tried to provide

treatment and care, but many of them had severe weakness and could not be saved. In this same article it goes on to say how the survivors had mixed reactions to their newfound freedom. Some of the survivors said that they fell guilty for be alive when many other died. Aftermath Seven to nine million people were displaced by the end of the war, according to the website Teachers Guide to the Holocaust (TGH). In that same article on TGH it says that by 1945, almost two million displaced persons did not want to face the reality of going to their

Burnett homes in fear of anti-Semitism and social repercussions. This is when the Allied Forces set up Displaced Persons (DP) camps. These camps were set up in Germany but the American, British, and French military controlled, and the United Nations took care of.
Children after liberation at Auschwitz http://bit.ly/Ywc60X

10

In summary, the Nazi regime has been proven to be an unethical rise of cruel totalitarianism. The rise of the regime was forceful and is continually still felt today. Millions of Jews and other innocent people were killed, for Nazi beliefs that were entirely false. The Holocaust will always have a place in Germanys history and it will never be forgotten around the world. Ultimately, the collapse of the Nazis could be considered one of the best things that occurred to this world.

Burnett Works Cited

11

"Aftermath." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust. A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. "Background: Nuremberg Race Laws." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. "The Ghettos: Daily Life in the Ghettos." Yad Vashem. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. "Great Depression Begins." The History Place -The Rise of Adolf Hitler. The History Place, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. "Hitler Comes to Power." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. "Ibi Ginsburg: Surviving Auschwitz." Holocaust Learning: Survivor Stories. Holocaust Learning, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. "Liberation." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. "The Nuremberg Laws." The History Place -The Rise of Adolf Hitler. The History Place, 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. "The Nuremberg Race Laws." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. "People and Events: Kristallnacht." American Experience. PBS, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2013. "Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

Burnett 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, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. "Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution"" United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

12