Beginning to the End Holocaust

Megan Tayman

English 102-101-11SU Professor LARRY NEUBURGER 15 July 2011

Tayman 2 A Time that Will Never be Forgotten that Changed Lives Forever The Holocaust was one of the worlds most horrifying, tragic and helpless times in the history of the world. A time of trials and tribulations for mostly Jewish religions as well as gentile Poles, Slavics, Soviets, prisoners of war, Romanies, handicapped and others who did not fit the criteria of the Aryan Race as dictated by Adolf Hilter. Throughout what has been named the Holocaust innocent people suffered through Anti-Semitism, Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, segregation and Selektion. After years of torture, liberation was on the horizon and that left many altered changes for the lives remaining to move forward with nothing left and nowhere to go, except to start over in a new life. Anti-Semitism and the Nuremberg Laws Changes to a countries lively hood were about to change at the time of Adolf Hitlers election to power in March of 1933. With this election Anti-Semitism grew throughout his forces and political organizations. Jews were brutally beaten, some killed, businesses boycotted and hatred filled the air among which they all had once lived more peacefully. As stated in Holocaust
Anti Semitic tabloid picture Source; http://bit.ly/qIFgpH

Education, the first apparent anti-Semitic initiative was the boycott

of Jewish stores in April 1933. After this followed a wave of laws and ordinances. More than 2,000 racist laws and ordinances were issued between 1933 and 1945 (Holocaust Education).

Tayman 2 Nuremberg Laws and the outcome of what would be implemented into society. Implemented into society was also the Nuremberg Laws. Laws that would dictate how to classify a jewish decent person, and the defiinition of a laws. Nuremberg laws state, The Law for the Protection
Nurember Laws Source: http://bit.ly/n25O9k

of German Blood and German Honor and The Reich

Citizenship Law. One of the most important aspects of these laws was the establishment of a legal definition for Jew. The Laws also outlined different levels of Jewish individuals, depending on the number of Jewish grandparents an individual had. An individual with three or more Jewish grandparents was classified as a full Jew. An individual with two Jewish grandparents was considered a Mischling of the first degree, or half Jew. Mischlinge of the first degree were broken down into two sub-groups: 1) Individuals who were married to a Jew or had been members in the Jewish community were referred to as Geltungsjuden. These people were treated as full Jews and subject to the same persecution and restrictive laws. They could only marry other Jews or other Geltungsjuden. 2) Individuals with two Jewish grandparents who were baptized into the Protestant or Catholic tradition were known simply as Mischlinge. Under the original Nuremberg Laws, Mischlinge were able to keep their citizenship; however, eventually their rights were taken away and they were treated like the Geltungsjuden. Someone with one Jewish grandparent was considered a Mischling of the second degree, or quarter Jew. These individuals were allowed to keep German citizenship but experienced many handicaps in the workplace. After Hitler issued an order on April 8, 1940, quarter Jews

could not recieve promotions in the military (Stoltzfus 71). Also, they could be barred from educational establishments if their attendance would cause a problem for the facility. They were only allowed to marry Germans.

The original Nuremberg Laws also, took away German citizenship from all full Jews and Geltungsjuden, prohibited Jews from flying the German flag (in December 1936 this was extended to any Germans married to Jews), prohibited Jews from employing Germans as domestic servants, and Jews. prohibited sexual relations between Aryans

prohibited marriage between Aryans and Jews. The original Nuremberg

Laws continued to be amended in the years 1935 to 1939, causing the Nazi regime to gain even more control over the lives of Jews living in Germany. (Owlnet) The laws changed many things for many people as detailed above.

Kristallnacht and the starting of a lifetime of fear for many. In November of 1938 breaking glass, smell of fire and screams rang out through cities all over Germany. A night of terror had begun to show the people of these coutnries who shall be in charge and who was no
Kristallnacht Source: http://to.pbs.org/bVtBAn

longer accepted in place that they had grown up. Homes

of the Jews were terrorized and destroyed. Their synagogues burnt to the ground. America and the Holocaust depicts the events after the silence of the night, By the end of the rampage, gangs of Nazi storm troopers had destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses, set fire to more than 900 synagogues, killed 91 Jews and deported some 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps. Furthermore it is stated, In a report back to the State Department a few days later, a U.S official

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In Leipzig described what he saw of the atrocities. "Having demolished dwellings and hurled most of the moveable effects to the streets," he wrote, "the insatiably sadistic perpetrators threw many of the trembling inmates into a small stream that flows through the zoological park, commanding horrified spectators to spit at them, defile them with mud and jeer at their plight" (pbs). As stated in the PBS article. Following the night of Kristalnacht many men were found missing from their homes and places of employment. Men were taken and sent to concentration camps as workers or were sent to death camps. Kristalnacht, yet another terrifying time that added to the betrayal of a countries society.

Segregating a community and families, which once were a town and worked together. Segregating the town was the next step in the take over and was a must for the Nazi regime to gain more power and create fear among the Jews. Jewish families were targeted and lost their jobs, homes and everything that they had worked so
Entering a Jewish Ghetto Source: http://bit.ly/qNzxqM

hard for. Families were moved to areas where they would

be with other Jews. Children were pulled from academics, sent to separate classes or schools all together.

Concentration camps and ghettos created to segregate the Jewish people from others. The Crossover Project states, The Nazis forced Jews to live in ghettos, which were areas in established cities that were enclosed with barbed wire, brick walls and armed guards. (Crossover) Further more it is explained that, Conditions inside were horrendous, with roughly

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100,000 of its residents starving to death or dying of disease between 1940 and 1942. (Crossover) Conditions inside the ghettos were cram packed and unsanitary. A ssurvivor of the train transportation recalls a frightening experience when arriving to a concentration camp. Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall recalls, The train arrived in the middle of the night, so we were greeted by very bright lights shining down on us. We were greeted by soldiers, SS men, as well as women. We were greeted by dogs and whips, by shouting and screaming, orders to try to empty the train, by confusion... There is no way to describe your first coming to Auschwitz. (ushmm) Many stories are recalled such as this and even more shattering.

Deportation on a large scale that included many other countries and political groups. In Holocaust Memorial Day Trust it speaks to the size of help that was used to pull of the deportation of Jews. Deportation on this scale required organization on an industrial scale and included many Government departments the Ministry
Deportation Railway Source: http://bit.ly/pimKEq

of Transportation to arrange train schedules and routes,

the Order of Police to direct and manage the deportation and the Foreign Office to organize cross-border travel for Jews in allied countries. The co-ordination of these deportations showed how normal hatred had become. (HMDT) In addition to the mass deportation the conditions were imaginable to most. The Germans used freight and passenger trains for the deportations. No food or water was provided for those on the trains, despite being sealed into packed freight cars with little or no room to sit or lay down those inside endured intense heat during the

Tayman 6 Summer and freezing temperatures during the winter. Aside from a bucket, there were no sanitary facilities, adding to the indignity faced by those being deported. Many of those packed onto these trains died on route to the camps through starvation or over-crowding. (HMDT) Deplorable conditions spread throughout all deportation areas. Wannsee Confrence to gain followers and help from other political parties. House of the Wannsee Confrence Details what was to take place at the meeting. At noon of 20 January 1942, a meeting of approximately 90 minutes took place in the dining room of the SD
Wannsee Confrence Source: http://bit.ly/nklTh0

guesthouse. Representatives of the SS, the NSDAP and

various Reich ministries attended this meeting, which was convened by Reinhard Heydrich, Head of the Security Police and SD. The subject of the meeting was the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. Heydrichs aim was to emphasize his leading role in the deportations and to involve important ministries and party departments in the preparations for the murder of the European Jews. The meeting was also designed to resolve conflicts between the German civil administration in the occupied territories in Poland and Ostland and the SS leaders in these territories. The conference was a confi rmation that the SS had won the 1941 dispute between authorities regarding the responsibility for the Solution of the Jewish Question. The participants presented proposals and raised objections depending on the interests of the authorities they were representing, but overall they showed that they were willing to cooperate. In the process, the leading officials in the German state administration became accessories to and perpetrators of the crime (ghwk). Many changes were to be set fourth following this meeting.

Tayman 7 Many other items that were placed into the conference notes that could be taken into prospective at a later date and time were detailed. This meeting was not just conference rather it set up the final solution of what was to be done and followed out. Eichmann stated in the conference, approximately 11 million Jews, who were to be taken into consideration in the course of the Final Solution of the Jewish Question (ghwk). Considering the people that were involved, the conference had many high hopes of whom and what they would like to accomplish by setting out the plans set forth in the conference. Selektion, Death Camps, Exterminating and Mass Murder Grow in Silence. Selektion was implemented following the Wannsee Conference. It was a method in which the sick, dying and elderly were chosen out of everyone else and sent to their death. Children would
Selektion Line Source: http://bit.ly/ntF0k9

then follow in these same steps after a period of time

went by. In Vaivara a concentration camp on Estonia the first Selektion took place in fall of 1943. Men and women that were found unable to comply with work demands were killed by gun shot. This process would continue every two weeks killing almost 500 detainees at a time. (Jewishvirtuallibrary) Concentration camps and the mass deaths that were unknown. Concentration camps were a dreary and deadly place to be help. Overcrowded and disease infested many died from other reasons than being killed. However, if you were too ill or could not produce anymore they would take you out in one of many extermination methods. Many camps were solely in place to take care of this and that is the only reason that people, mainly Jews were sent there. To end their

Tayman 8 Lives as they did not fit the criteria of the perfect society. Mobile killing units were put in place. Jews were placed in vans and killed with the exhaust. Horded like cattle others were put into train cars and lime thrown on them which would eat their skin and suffocate them. The Holocaust Encyclopedia states, In some cases the captive victims had to dig their own graves. After the
Members of Mobile Killing Source: http://bit.ly/hkfO87

victims had handed over their valuables and undressed, men, women, and children were shot, either standing

before the open trench, or lying face down in the prepared pit (ushmm). Taking it a further step, Einsatzgruppen units carried out their operations, the German authorities planned and began construction of special stationary gassing facilities at centralized killing centers in order to murder vast numbers of Jews (ushmm). Gas Chambers soon became the most used method of mass murder and extermination of the Jews held in concentration camps. More would fit into a small place and could all be taken care of at once and then their bodies disposed of. These types of killings would continue for long to come at many other concentration camps and ghettos. Liberation and the Pieces Left Behind to Find a New Life. Liberation was something that many had only dreamed of after experiencing the anguish set forth by Adolf Hitler. U.S. forces started to enter Germany in June of 1944. Liberation of Jews would not be complete until May of 1945. The International School for Holocaust Survivors shares, Many Holocaust survivors share these sentiments. As prisoners in the Nazi camps, they had to channel all of their physical and emotional energy into daily survival. It was only after their liberation that survivors faced the reality

Tayman 9 of their existence, the immense scale of their losses, and the fact that they were utterly alone in the world. Yitzhak (Antek) Zuckerman, who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, recalls his emotional state when he was liberated in a town near Warsaw. "That day, January 17 [1945], was the saddest day of my life. I wanted to weep, not from joy but from sorrow. I am not saying that I wept, but that I wanted to shed tears for the first time. The tank crews blowing kisses, the flowers hurled at them, the elation of the crowd, the sense of freedom and liberation, and we Zivia and I and the dog standing there among the crowd, lonely, orphaned, lost and only too well aware that there was no longer a Jewish people." (yadvashem) Strong emotions shared from Yitzhak Zuckerman. Those that survived were then left with nothing to return to. As liberation was moving forward many Jews returned their homeland to find that they had nothing left. Homes, schools and businesses had been terrorized, destroyed or occupied by new tenants. Displaced persons with no homes or family to return to. Following the liberation with nowhere to return to many of the camps were turned into Displaced Person Camps. These camps would allow the survivors to remain there until they could regain enough to move forward. Many of these people stayed till the camps
Displaced Persons Source: http://bit.ly/ouml95

closed forcing them out to be on their own once again.

Trying to regain some sort of self was difficult as many of the displaced persons were not allowed to immigrate to other countries with fears of overcrowding. With this, the Jewish community of survivors retreated to Palestine.

Tayman 10 Formation of a New Home and New Start. Survivors found hope awaiting them in Palestine. Though the shear mass of people would soon cause problems there as well. With the influx of all the immigrants going to Palestine many fought against them. Yet other countries did not accept them either. In an address to President Truman and advisor recommended, mass population transfer from Europe and resettlement in British-controlled Palestine or the United States(ushmm). After years of fighting for a country to be their own, they suceeded. In May of 1948 the U.S. and the Soviet Union gave recognition to the state of Israel. (ushmm) The Holocaust was a time that will remain in history and will never be forgotten. Many lost their lives fighting through anti Semitism, Nuremberg Laws, Kristalnacht, segregation, Wannsee Confrence, Selektion, liberation and the life after starting over. Those that triumphed have lived to tell their stories.

Works Cited "The American Experience.America and the Holocaust.People & Events | "Kristallnacht" | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/peopleevents/pandeAMEX99.html>. "Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Museum. Web. 22 June 2011. <http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/>. "The Crossover Project." Welcome to the Crossover. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.thecrossover.info/index.php?option=com_content>. "The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies." Holocaust - Officiel Undervisningsside. Web. 07 July 2011. <http://www.holocaustuddannelse.dk/baggrund/antisemitisme.asp>. "Displaced Persons." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005462>. "Ghettos & Deportation - HMD Trust." Home - HMD Trust. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.hmd.org.uk/genocides/the-holocaust/ghettos-deportation>. "History of Holocaust | Nuremberg Law Is Passed | Event View." Xtimeline - Explore and Create Free Timelines. Web. 11 July 2011. <http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=18454>. "House of the Wannsee Conference." Haus Der Wannsee-Konferenz . Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.ghwk.de/engl/wannsee_conference.htm>.

"Liberation." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/liberation/>. "Life after the Holocaust - HMD Trust." Home - HMD Trust. Web. 29 June 2011. <http://www.hmd.org.uk/genocides/the-holocaust/life-after-the-holocaust>. "Life in the Camps - HMD Trust." Home - HMD Trust. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.hmd.org.uk/genocides/the-holocaust/life-in-the-camps>. "Nuremburg Laws." Rice University -- Web Services. Web. 11 July 2011. <http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~rar4619/nuremburg.html>. "Vaivara." Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Vaivara.html>. "What Happened to the Jews After the Holocaust?" The Holocaust History Project Homepage. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://www.holocaust-history.org/short-essays/whathappened.shtml>. Yad Vashem - The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. Web. 13 July 2011. <http://yadvashem.org/>.