Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Brad Chapman

Eng. 102-102 Mr. Neuberger 11 July 2012

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The word Holocaust brings to mind, for most people, the needless extermination of millions of people. Under Adolph Hitlers reign Jews as well as homosexuals and political foes were executed to fulfill Hitlers ultimate plan of a master race. He felt the Jews and homosexuals were dirtying society thus they should be rid of Germany. Enabling Hitler to progress with his plan he used propaganda to warp and influence as well as fear to control the people he ruled. The conditions the prisoners endured in the death camps as well as the methods in which they were killed were horrendous. The amount of human suffering and loss was unfathomable and spanned Europe almost entirely and parts of Russia. After Hitlers reign was ceased by Allied Forces his henchmen were gathered up and put on trial for their crimes against Jews. Some of them including Hitler escaped sentencing by committing suicide before or after their capture. Anti-Semitism and Nazi ideals Jacob Katz states in his article Accounting for Anti-Semitism, The term anti-Semitism made its first appearance in Germany in the fall of 1879. It was introduced into public discourse by Wilhelm Marr, one of the leading figures in an anti-Jewry campaign which had been gaining strength for the better part of the decade and which emerged at this juncture into a full-fledged social-political movement. (Katz 52)
Adolph Hitler http://bit.ly/MsG5Cv

Jewish hatred was rooted in religious beliefs but antiSemitism has to do more with Jews in the social and cultural aspect

of society. Katz further explains, In all these places Jews were viewed as aliens, their participation in national life as an intrusion and usurpation (Katz 52). This is the idea in which

Chapman 3 Hitler built his plan for a master race upon. He saw Jews as unfit and poisonous to society thus they must be wiped out of the German culture. He initiated his plan primarily with the Nuremberg Laws which then progressed to Kristallnacht and later the Holocaust as a whole (Katz). The Nuremberg laws Thomas A. Idinopulos explains in his article, How Yehuda Bauers Critique of Holocaust Thinking Has Changed My Mind, the Nuremberg laws of September, 1935, stripped the Jews of most civil rights. In November 1938 the Jewish community was again reminded they were not welcome in Germany under Hitlers reign when Kristallnacht happened (Idinopulos). According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the laws did not say anything about a Jew being one who participates in the Jewish religion but one who had Jewish grandparents for at least three generations. People who never practiced Judaism or even
Chart illustrating the Nuremberg laws. The figures represent Germans, Jews, and Mischlinge. Germany, 1935. http://bit.ly/NNlAOx

those who had converted from Judaism were included in the laws. The laws also prohibited Jews from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of German or related blood. Racial infamy, as this becomes known, is made a criminal offense. Later a new law, Law for the Protection of the

Hereditary Health of the German People requires all prospective marriage partners to obtain from the public health authorities a certificate of fitness to marry (USHMM).

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Propaganda According to Jeffrey Herf in his essay Hate Radio, between 1939 and 1945 Nazi propaganda was broadcast in several languages through shortwave radios stationed outside of Berlin. Languages broadcast were Arabic in the Middle East and North Africa and Persian in Iran. He goes on to reveal after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 German embassies and consulates were closed both in the Middle East and North Africa putting an end to, for the moment, Nazi propaganda (Herf). The author later informs it did not stop the Nazi propaganda machine by stating the following, Between 1941 and 1943millions of leaflets were dropped from airplanes and distributed on the ground by propaganda unitsBut in a region where fewer than twenty percent of the adults are literate, radio was considered a much more effective medium of communication. (Herf par3) The Nazis used several different propaganda techniques including signage, posters, films, books, public speeches, leaflets, and radio to convince the public Jews were not worthy of Reich
Propaganda cartoon warning of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. Germany, date uncertain. http://bit.ly/NWsDs8

citizenship and needed to be rid of the country, and later in the campaign, complete annihilation (Herf). Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht translates to night of broken glass. Kristallnacht is a product of Hitlers master plan and it was just the beginning of atrocities and suffering to come in the following years for Jews. Describing the night of Kristallnacht Amitai Etzioni states,

Chapman 5 By the scales of what was to follow, Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938) was a rather limited affair. Jewish store windows were broken and many shops were looted. Numerous synagogues were set on fire. Some 30,000 Jews were arrested, at least 91 were killed on the spot, and others were sent to already functioning but newly expanding concentration camps at Buchenwald, Dachau, and Sachsenhausen. (Etzioni par 2)

Kristallnacht was a nationwide event against the Jews. Anti-Semitism drove the idea the Jews were to blame for Germanys problems. Kristallnacht was met with hardly
Shattered storefront of a Jewish-owned shop destroyed during Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass"). Berlin, Germany, November 10, 1938. http://bit.ly/OYg8d7

any opposition due to Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitism that had spread throughout Europe and other parts of the world. Seeing the lack of opposition to his actions Hitler

became more powerful and dangerous. This night of broken glass truly marked the beginning of the end for millions of peoples lives. Without outside or foreign opposition Hitler was uncontrollable in the execution of his plans for his master race (Etzioni). Ghetto life Ghetto was the term used for sectioned off parts of cities or manmade encampments where Hitler segregated Jews while he decided what to do with all of them. The USHMM states there were over 1000 ghettos strewn across Eastern Europe. Some of them were in operation for months, some for years. Most ghettos were closed units, meaning the Jews were not allowed to leave and others were not permitted to enter or live there. The conditions Jews had endured in these ghettos were terrible to say the least. The worst of the conditions was starvation. According

Chapman 6 to the USHMM, The Germans regarded the establishment of ghettos as a provisional measure to control and segregate Jews while the Nazi leadership in Berlin deliberated upon options to realize the goal of removing the Jewish population. (Ghettos par 3). The Warsaw ghetto in Warsaw, Poland was the largest of all the ghettos measuring 1.3 square miles and detained 400,000 Jews. It was here the Warsaw uprising, Jewish resistance towards the Nazis, happened
Scene in the Lodz ghetto marketplace. http://bit.ly/OajfiK

in the Spring of 1943 (Ghettos).

The Final Solution Jan Piskorski informs it was Monday, October 4 when Heinrich Himmler laid out to the Nazi elite the plan for Jewish extermination. He made no effort to choose his words carefully while in the company of such experienced killers. He spoke of how it is easier to kill a few people today than to have to kill a few thousand tomorrow. Human life meant nothing and was but a means to benefit Germany. The author continues by stating, Regarding the evacuation of the JewsHimmler was hiding nothingHe spoke simply and plainly about extermination The Jews must be murdered, because they are Germanys eternal, primeval enemy. Hitlers intentions were carried out by those executioners under his command. Although no notes were ever found of Hitlers orders to exterminate Jews, it is assumed he made all orders since in the Third Reich nothing was done without orders from the Fuhrer (Piskorski 156). It was at the Wannsee Conference in Jan 1942 when the fate of millions of Jews was finally determined by Hitler and his henchmen (Piskorski 157). The author explains, 1942 and the first half of the

Chapman 7 Holocaust. Mass murder began almost simultaneously in the camps in Belzec, Auschwitz, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Matdanek (Piskorski 172).

Extermination methods According to the USHMM, Nazis used death camps for much of the killing of Jews. In these camps
Prisoners' bodies laid out in a mass grave. http://bit.ly/Nz4TrF

almost 2.7 million Jews were killed by SS officers either by gunfire or poisonous gas. It was December 1941 when

Chelmo death camp was opened; it was there the Nazis used gas vans for extermination of their victims. In 1942 Nazis opened three other death camps named Belzec, Treblinka, and Sobibor to carry out the mass killings. It was in these three camps the Nazis killed 1,526,500 Jews between March 1942 and November 1943. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of all the death camps. It had four gas chambers in which Zyklon B poisonous gas was used to exterminate up to 6,000 Jews per day. The Nazis had perfected an efficient killing machine at Auschwitz that in the end killed over one million Jews as well as thousands of Poles, Roma, and Soviet prisoners of war. In an effort to cover up the mass killings Nazis cremated the remains of those killed as soon as possible. This was
Zyklon B pellets found at the liberation of the Majdanek camp. Poland, after July 1944. http://bit.ly/NG7BPT

difficult to do because the furnaces could not keep up with the gas chambers. The Nazis also stored the belongings of victims in strategically hidden locations.

Chapman 8 After the fall of Germany, Allied Forces found mounds of shoes, clothes and hairbrushes, some up to 15 feet tall (USHMM). Liberation Concentrating on the Belgium town of Antwerp because they had the highest concentration of pre-war Jews in that country and thus was the hardest hit, Veerle Vanden Daelen states in his article Returning: Jewish Life In Antwerp In The Aftermath of the Second World War (1944-1945), When the German forces left Antwerp, the city was Judenrein: officially there were no Jewish life left (27). Using the number of Jews that were registered by the Vereeniging van Judedin Belgie (VJB) pre-war, 65 percent of those Jews were transported to Auschwitz death camp. After liberation the town had grown to a Jewish population of about two thousand. Life in the town was very difficult at that time. There were not enough people to help take care of the newly returning Jews seeing as most of them were of ill health and/or injured. Lack of
Antwerp after bombing raid. http://bit.ly/Ml7IiF

housing was also an issue since the town had been all but demolished by air bombardments from the Germans. As

one can imagine, the lack of food and basic clothing was in shortage too. Antwerp Jews were forced to reform themselves as Jews due to the Germans exceptional efforts to wipe away the Jews existence. This was a difficult task for them as a whole because some Jews chose not to live as Jews for fear of being singled out again by anti-Semetic people. This was a problem in other towns and countries across Europe and other parts of the world.

Chapman 9 The majority of Jews in Antwerp worked in the diamond industry. The effort to restart this industry was helped along by Goldmintz, Schamisso, and Huysmans, a powerful diamond dealer based in London, England. Re-establishment happened pretty quickly due to their efforts aiding in Jewish resettlement. Many other groups were formed to help the re-establishment of Jews such as Aid to Jewish War Victims (AIVGC) and the Committee for the Defense of Jewish Interests (CVJBC). These groups helped Jews in many ways. They helped with food and shelter as well as finding relatives and being the voice for Jews as a whole (Daelen). As evidence the author states, Once Antwerp had been liberated on 4 September 1944, the Jews came back to the city. The severely battered Jewish community started to reorganize itself immediately. Those who had survived the war were not left to fend for themselves (p. 38). This statement details how the Jewish community pulled together with help from groups and organizations to rise above the destruction and blossom as a people again.

Chapman 10 Works Cited Daelen, Veerle V. "Returning: Jewish Life in Antwerp in the Aftermath of the Second World War (1944-1945)." European Judaism 38.2 (2005): 26-42. Print.

Etzioni, Amitai. "`Kristallnacht' Remembered." Commonweal 126.3 (1999): 12. Print.

Ghettos. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 14 July 2012.

Herf, Jeffrey. "Hate Radio." Chronicle of Higher Education 56.14 (2009): B12-13. Print.

Idinopulos, Thomas A. "How Yehuda Bauer's Critique of Holocaust Thinking Changed My Mind." Journal of Ecumenical Studies 37.3/4 (2000): 444. Print.

Katz, Jacob. "Accounting for Anti-Semitism." Commentary 91.6 (1991): 52. Print.

Killing Centers: An Overview. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 14 July 2012.

"Nuremberg Laws." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 14 July 2012.

Piskorski, Jan M. "From Munich Through Wannsee to Auschwitz: The Road to the Holocaust." Journal of the Historical Society 7.2 (2007): 155-75. Print.

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