Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Danielle M Wells

English Com 102-102 Mr. Neuburger 2 April 2012

Wells 2 Holocaust Overview May we never forget World War II and the events that lead up to what many call the extermination of six million Jews, is one of the most researched periods of history. Millions of people were affected by the Holocaust, many in ways unimaginable to todays generation. To get a better understanding of the events that took place one must do the research themselves to fully grasp the journey the Jewish civilization and other victims of WWII. With survivor testimonies, eye witness accounts, literature and other documentation, may we all have a better understanding of the true world tragedy of the Holocaust. Nazi rise to power The Nazi rise to power cannot be credited to one particular event but to whom a man, one man held the fate of six million Jews - Adolf Hitler. In reference to the Yad Vashem web site, after WWI Hitler joined a group called the National Socialist Party. In 1923 he and his party activist led an uprising and tried to attain power. His attempts failed and Hitler was imprisoned. During his time in prison he wrote a book Mein Kampf which expressed his ideas about anti-Semitism (Nazi Germany and the Jews 1933-1939). According to an article in the Rise of the Nazis and Beginning of Persecution, in 1930, Hitler finally gained

Adolf Hitler Source: http://bit.ly/HIRMqf

power due to the down fall of the economy and in July 1932 the Nazi party was the largest in the House. According to the Yad Vashem web site, on January 30th, 1933 Hitler became Chancellor. Beginning of the persecution of Jews - anti-Semitism

Wells 3 With Hitlers Mein Kampf gaining power for the Nazi partys depicted view of the Jewish population, as an inferior race, this caused the Nazi idea that the Jews were responsible for the downfall of Germany after World War I. The Nazis also believe the Jews wanted to interbreed with non-Jews and become masters of industry and trade which would

Mein Kampf, My Struggle Source: http://bit.ly/IqJIol

then lead the Germans inferior to the Jews (Rise of the Nazis and

Beginning of Persecution. Many Jews, however, according to the survivor testimony of Kristine Karen, did not know she was Jewish at that time. I dont know if I knew at that time I was Jewish. I felt like the other kids around me (USCShoahFoundation.com). Hitler had other policies in mind so the Jewish would know they were Jews, such as anti-Jewish boycotts, book burnings and anti-Jewish legislation. The Nuremberg Laws In order for Hitler to settle conflict within his party as to decide who was a Jew and who was not a Jew the Nuremberg Laws took effect. According to the USHMM web site, the Nazis announced new laws from the theories of Hitler and his Nazi party. In the article The Nuremberg Race Laws, the Nazi party defined a Jew as someone who had three or four grandparents that were Jewish. In order for the government to identify the Jews, they were required to carry identification cards with the marking of a red J. The Law for the Protection of the Hereditary Health of the German People, as stated earlier the article Rise of the Nazis and Beginning of Persecution, Jews were not allowed to marry non

Jewish ID card Source: http://bit.ly/h3iS5c

Wells 4 Jews. The USHMM web site also states that German Jews were required to sell their shops for little or no money. They were forced to leave positions of power, such as, doctors, lawyers, legislative occupants, master tradesman and political rights were lost as well (The Nuremberg Race Laws). Wealthier Jews such as Kristine Karens family could no longer have a nanny or house maid in their home according to Kristine Karen Testimony. The Nuremberg Laws not only provided a legitimate legal system to exclude the Jewish from other German cultures but supplied the Nazis a reason for anti-Semitic riots and arrests. Kristallnacht According to the Jewish Virtual Library in the article Kristallnacht, (also known as Crystal Night) the German Prime Minster to France was assonated by a Jewish refugee named Herschel Grynszpan. In retaliation of his assassination the Nazi officials launched retaliation on Jewish communities. On November 9th and 10th 1938, riots and crazed mobs engulfed cities. Jewish businesses were broken into, stores looted, hundreds of synagogues and Jewish homes were burnt down. Not only were some physically assaulted and murdered but many wealthy and prominent members of the communities were arrested and deported to concentration camps. After Kristallnacht anti-Semitism
Kristallnacht Jewish Shop Source: http://bit.ly/Io4pCs

was intensified. Since the Jewish community was to blame for the assassination and all damages they had to pay a fine of one billion reichsmarks (400 million US dollars in 1938 according to Historical Dollar-to-Marks Conversion Page web page). As many Jews from Kristallnacht were sent to concentration camps it led Hitler and his Nazis to the start of rounding up the Jews. The Ghetto

Wells 5 With the Nuremberg Laws intensifying many Jews were forced out of their homes. In Elie Wiesels book Night some Germans even lived in the home with the Jews. Inevitably the Jews would leave their homes and move to a section of city surrounded by barbed wire and walls. The Warsaw Ghetto Established in 1940, the Warsaw ghetto contained nearly 400,000 Jews. As a result of overcrowding, hard labor, lack of sanitation, insufficient food, starvation, and disease an estimated 83,000 died Warsaw, (USHMM). In A Film

The Warsaw Ghetto Wall Source: http://bit.ly/ohl4hM

Unfinished by Yael Hersonski the viewer undergoes a powerful realization of real life accounts. With live footage shot by Nazi propagandist in the Warsaw Ghetto the film reveals key ingredients from every aspect of life within the walls of what some would call hell. Hersonski uses a versatile approach that shifts our perception and emphasizes empathy, self-sacrifice, humility and individual bravery while using footage shot by Nazi propagandist, such as young children smuggling food for their starving families. They in turn were put to death. Adam Czerniako, chairman of the Ghetto Council, wrote daily entries in his personal diary of the propagandists manipulation of their prisoners, even as its eventual purpose, perhaps, more than just to produce scenes showing heartlessness on the part of wealthy Jews toward their lesser fortunate Jew. Still the outcome remains as dim as ever. As for the victims of Warsaw, Hersonski, uses personal recollections and reactions from survivors as raw footage for her A Film Unfinished" (Hersonski). The Final Solution

Wells 6 With the war in full effect and the allies gaining more power, Hitlers Nazis were looking for the answer of what to do with the Jewish problem. According to an article Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution, high ranking Nazi officials held a meeting in Wannsee, Berlin on January 20th, 1942. This meeting concluded total destruction for all European Jews; but the question of how the annihilation was to be done had not been answered. The decision was made and the Jews were to be deported mainly by railroad to labor camps, which in turn would build into extermination camps (ushmm.org). The Germans needed a fast and efficient way of transporting Jews from the ghetto to the camps. There was no better way than by train. With Elie Wiesel personal recollection of the cattle cars, he explains the conditions of cars were not for the faint of heart. Germans would cram as many to car as possible. With little or no air, the ones close to the window were lucky.

Transportation by train Source: http://bit.ly/IOC34f

People would take turns sitting and standing and designate a spot for defecation. Selection From Elie Wiesels experience, upon arrival, the door of the train would open and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. The SS officers in charge would separate men from women and then young children to the old and weary. From the male side they then
Selection of Women Source: http://bit.ly/HBfiAL

separated by age. Elie lied and said eighteen; his father lied and said forty. They asked for profession and then again were selected. Those of who did not fulfill the needs of the camp were immediately sent to the crematorium, fire pits or gas chambers (Wiesel).

Wells 7 The Death Camps According to the Jewish Virtual Library there were six death camps within Poland between the years 1933-1945: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka ("36 Questions About the Holocaust (1-18)). Auschwitz-Birkenau In Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State; episode one, Rudolf Hoess the SS Commandant of Auschwitz murdered an estimated one million in Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the largest mass murdering sites in the world. Initially Auschwitz was not meant for Jews. Prior to the Jews arriving, Auschwitz held prisoners of war. By the end of WWII nearly three million prisoners lost their life to disease, starvation and physical abuse. Furthermore, the film describes how the Germans could not keep the amount of Jews arriving in the camp at present. So a new bigger camp was to be built with new barracks that would have the capacity to initially hold 550 prisoners but was then changed to 744 prisoners in one barrack. With the design to not only house the prisoners but
Inside the barracks- Source: http://bitIudmrI.ly/

kill them from disease and starvation as well. Extermination methods

Wells 8 In 1942 with the process of trial and error and an inefficient way of disposing the bodies, they were to build killing factories in Auschwitz. Gas chambers were mainly used with carbon monoxide or Zyklon B., a pesticide, according to article Methods of Murder" to kill hundreds at
Zyklon B. Source: http://bit.ly/Ie63rg

one time (The Holocaust History Project Homepage). In episode three of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi Camp, many prisoners had to dig up the graves of those who had been shot so the bodies could be burned to destroy evidence. The most efficient killing method was the gas chambers and burning pits. Elie Wiesel recalls his first time seeing a burning pit in the book Night. The Germans would just throw infants into the flames (Wiesel). In the article Death Marches the last killing method pertained to the Allies drawing closer the Germans. They took what prisoners they had left and led them on death marches across Poland for three reasons, first, to use them as hostages in turn for their freedom. Secondly, so the prisoners could not tell their story against the SS and lastly, maintain production of armaments (ushmm.org). The Liberation and After The USHMM published an article Liberation of Nazi Camps. In summary, the article states that the Allied troops took control of the Nazi occupied areas. The Allies came across camps that had been destroyed to cover up evidence that would later on be needed for charges against Hitler and his Nazi officials at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-1946. The soldiers found hundreds of survivors barely living in terrible conditions of the camps stated earlier. Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945 by the Soviets. The British and American troops did not reach the camps until the

The Liberation of Auschwitz Source: http://bit.ly/IYPzl4

Wells 9 spring of 1945. What they uncovered was tens of thousands starved in the worst conditions and piles of dead bodies. The non-Jewish returned to their homes and the others, many alone and the last ones of their families had nowhere to go. The others, however, began to search for family and friends at displaced persons camps and would try to put their lives back together. Many Jews eventually moved to Israel. Surviving the Holocaust As a young child Kristine Keren lived in Poland. Her father was a very successful business man in the textile industry. Her mother also worked with her father in the industry. Beings they owned a company, they lived on the third floor of a new apartment building with all modern amenities. With two entrances, one for guest and the other for deliveries, nanny and house made. Kristine loved to play outside with the other children. She had a brother three and a half years younger than herself. In 1939 the Communist government was uprising and the Russians come to Poland. The Russians demanded the keys from her father and was sent home. Her father then worked two jobs to make ends meet along with her mother. They also were forced by the Russians to get rid of the nanny and house keeper which led Kristine to attend preschool. The Germans came in 1941, knocking on Jewish doors taking anything they liked. Kristine and her family had to move across town with other Jewish families with the same experience. One, specific memory Kristine had while she was living in the ghetto: her grandfather was telling her father to pack his family and find new living quarters; her father was hesitant to leave without her grandfather but did anyway. After the Germans raided their room, they took her grandfather on a truck ride out of the ghetto with several other Jews, lined them against the wall and executed them with several rounds of shots. With that, tension was getting strong and her father had to make a choice, to stay in the ghetto and try to survive the next

Wells 10 evacuation or hide. He chose to hide. He met a sewer worker named Soha who helped hide them underneath the ghetto in the sewers. They lived there for fourteen months until the liberation. The condition of the sewer was immeasurable from crawling a mile in sludge to get a cup of water a day for a family of four. From surviving illness and disease to eating a few times a week. After the sewers Kristine then moved to Kharkov, Poland with her family and tried to normalize their lives the best they could. She attended school and made good grades. With hard work and dedication she was accepted into dental school and

Sewer -Source: http://bit.ly/HZouRp

became a doctor. She now lives in Port Washington, New York with her husband and children and has her own dental practice (Kristine Keren Testimony). Survivor testimony of Edith Coliver Edith Coliver was born July 26, 1922 in a little town called Karlsruhe, Germany. She grew up in the middle class with a peaceful German/Jewish family. Fredrick Simon her father, a merchant/banker, and mother Hedwig. She was however, very close to her loving, nurturing grandmother Michelle (English Translation) and lived in a large home on the bottom floor. She had two younger brothers, Harold and Ernest. Hitlers uprising in parliament was eager to exterminate other political parties which led to Ediths first encounter with the Germans around Easter time. The chairman of the Catholic party lived down the street and SS officers would gather a group of hecklers to sing German songs in front of the chairmans home which led the police to put the man in protective custody in actuality he went to a concentration camp. In Germany 1937 the Jews were not allowed to attend school anymore. Ediths father sent her to London with some family friends to attend high school. She loved London and stayed for a year.

Wells 11 In the meantime her father was working desperately to attain visas to move his family to America. He called on Edith to return home in 1939 and the day after her arrival they were at the Embassy with new visas. When they arrived in New York Edith was the first to see the Statue of Liberty and her first demonstration of good American will was a parade, chanting Down with Hitler Chamberlin Must Go! They stayed for four weeks and then took another ship to San Francisco with most of their belongings. She finished school with high honors in political science and moved to Washington. She applied for a job as a translator at the Nuremberg Trials. Her father was upset but gave her his blessing and told her not to
Nuremberg Trials Source: http://bit.ly/HOJpDX

forget she was a Jew. She also helped with the Jewish Displaced Persons paper as a translator/interpreter as well. She did marry and has two daughters whom are very active intheir fields of study and in the Jewish community. Her family just celebrated their sixty-first anniversary of their arrival to San Francisco ("Edith Coliver Testimony). Escape from Auschwitz In episode three of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State the escape of Kazimierz Plechowski gave hope to himself and three other polish political prisoners held captive to Auschwitz. On Saturday the 20th of June they walked out of the main gate toward their normal place of work a few hundred meters away. Unnoticed they managed to break into a storage room where the SS kept their uniform supplies, guns and ammunition. They quickly dressed themselves as SS. They planned not to use the guns they took to shoot any Germans, knowing that retaliation would be taken out on the rest of the inmates at the camp. Instead, if they were stopped at the final check point at the perimeter they would take their own lives. Because one of

Wells 12 the other prisoners worked in the SS garage, which was closed on the weekends, they managed
SS Uniform Source: http://bit.ly/Ir4UM0

to steal a car. Approaching the checkpoint the gate was still down. Plechowski yells in German to open the gate. The guard opens the gate. A quote from Plechowski: You could say it was euphoria. We were all pleased. We were young, free, armed. We realized that it wouldnt be easy to get us back into that hell Into Auschwitz (Episode 3: Factories of Death). In honor of those who survived. The recollection of survivor testimonies are the heart of knowledge that lead up to the events we

now know as the Holocaust. It is all we have today of personal accounts of bravery from the men and women who never lost their hope. not to forget what happened to the family of Jews and try to spread this message to children and grandchildren to the whole world so they remember what happened to Jewish people in the nineteenth century and shouldnt forget. If we forget, it will happen again (Karen).

Works Cited

Wells 13 "36 Questions About the Holocaust (1-18)." Jewish Virtual Library. Jewish Virtual Library. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State Episode 3: Factories of Death." PBS. PBS, 2005. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Holocaust History, "Liberation of Nazi Camps"" United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Kristallnacht." Jewish Virtual Library. Jewish Virtual Library, 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. Marcuse, Harold. "Historical US Dollars to German Marks Currency Conversion." UCSB Department of History. UCSB Department of History, 19 Aug. 2005. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. "Methods of Murder." The Holocaust History Project Homepage. The Holocaust History Project Homepage. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Nazi Germany and the Jews 1933-1939 Rise of the Nazis and Beginning of Persecution." Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem, 2012. Web. 9 Apr. 2012. "THE NUREMBERG RACE LAWS." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. USCShoahFoundation. "Edith Coliver Testimony." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. USCShoahFoundation. "Holocaust Survivor Kristine Keren Testimony." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print. Danielle, What I like best about your paper is the fact you used a lot of primary sources and not just a bunch of websites. By doing this, you demonstrate command of the subject matter. While the paper is not perfect, I enjoyed reading it.

Wells 14
Score Points Available

40 20 40 35 25 15 25 Total = 200

Content paper demonstrates understanding and confidence about topic Sources uses only primary and secondary sources In-Text Citations integrates sources within text with effective use of signal words and phrases Formatting properly uses MLA formatting Works Cited works cited page has the required number of sources and is properly formatted Pictures uses pictures to enhance the text with effective captions and source information Writing Mechanics Paper is free from errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.

32 20 32 28 21 15 18
Total Score

166