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Anna M. Mayer
Mrs. Tonya Wertz-Orbaugh
English 1102
April 3 2014
Project Holocaust
As I began the journey of choosing the topic for my paper, I came across many topics of
interest but one stuck out to me because I had so many unanswered questions regarding it. That
is, how on earth did the Nazis get away with the whole creation of the Holocaust, how were
small cities created with such ease, and how did such supplies become available with little to no
suspicion. I chose this topic because of the vastness of the project itself and how much thought,
planning, and work had to go into it for it to be possible.
I began by searching for Hitlers intentions and feelings about Jews and why he felt that
way. After simply searching Holocaust on Google, I came across a site that informed me that,
aside from basic stereotypes, Hitler had no root of Jewish hatred or real reason to be so anti-
Semitic. Hitler, along with many other anti-Semitists, blamed the Jews for the fall of Germany
and later joined the National Socialist German Workers Party; known more commonly as the
Nazis. I found that as I read I was very interested in Hitler himself; he is the large cause and
leader of this whole epic so I wanted to attempt to get into his sick mind. Hitler wrote a book
called Mein Kampf that predicted a general European war would result in the extermination of
the Jews. It seems that his prediction, or hope rather, was correct in its attempt at least. He
was so obsessed with the idea of the pure Aryan race in need of lebensraum that his ideal people
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were blonde haired blue eyed. Since he himself was neither blonde nor blue eyed, the Aryans
were given many categories to enable his inclusion in the race. Hitler later anointed himself as
Fuhrer which was the leader or dictator of Germany. Strangely he had no trouble retaining
followers and gaining their full support for whatever his endeavors may involve. I felt that
something so extreme would have to have people questioning his motives, but people fell right
into his propaganda and did not hesitate. Further into my search on Hitlers influence I found
much more information on the camps and how many different people groups that he
discriminated against. His main focus was Jews but he also acted against communists, African
Americans, those with mental disabilities, and anyone that may hinder a perfect Aryan race (The
Holocaust).
After intently reading through Hitlers thoughts and hatred toward these people groups I
decided to then look into his planning. It seems that I had already gotten off on a bunny trail
from my original idea on my first source. I then searched the planning of the holocaust and
found many sites involving the Final Solution, a euphemism that the Nazis liked to use to
describe the full annihilation of the Jewish race. There used to be camps that were simple labor
camps and the Jewish captives became useful to the Nazis, those who were healthy and capable
that is. Other camps were labor to death and death camps like the most well-known one,
Auschwitz. Not only were these camps vast, but much architecture and planning through trial
and error took place before they settled on the most effective format and structure. There were
three camps prior it Auschwitz and they all seemed to have minor problems that caused a delay
in the extermination of the Jews, so changes were made as more camps were created. Some
changes were the setup of the gas chambers, simple things like having doors open in the opposite
direction to enable the hundreds of bodies to be more easily disposed of. Horrid, but to Hitler it
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was just more effective in less time. Not only were the Jews put through the gas chambers, but
the more able bodied ones were able to survive and dispose of the bodies in the ovens. These
people were potentially safe and had a better job; because of all the hard physical work they had
to do they were actually fed better portions and a more nutritious meal to keep them from
dying and making the Nazis do the legitimate dirty work. The Nazis hands were clean but they
sure as hell were not innocent. Prior to large exterminations, an event called Krystall-Nacht
occurred which was a boycott of all the Jewish goods and a complete destruction of the Jewish
homes, churches, and businesses. It was known as the night of broken glass, quite literally
because of the broken glass and blood that covered the streets after the boycott (Architecture).

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This picture is a great representation of the final layout of camps. As you can see, the
railroad was built to literally lead right up to the gates so the transportation of the Jews was easy.
The railroads would begin from the doorstep of the ghettos and lead straight to the doorway of
the camps. You can also see how the gates surround only the camp, because right across the
road is a neighborhood with normal people living normal lives. The walls could hide the
prisoners from far away but nothing could hide the smoke stacks billowing above the camp
grounds at all hours. The watch towers surrounded the camps in case there were any prisoners
who attempted to escape and could quickly be detained. The picture also clearly presents the
barbed wire surrounding all aspects of the camp. To create a harder escape for any prisoners,
one side of the camp was fashioned next to a river (Holocaust Remembrance).
I moved onto my next source by searching the architecture of the holocaust camps, and
I found a site that was very interesting to me. It had lots of specific information regarding the
format of the camps and gave reasons for each objects purpose. More often than not, camps
would have an electrified barbed wire perimeter fence or a wall, each with guard towers. On both
the inside and outside of this would be deep ditches running the whole length of the perimeter
(Final Solution). The main entrance was where the camp administrator was located along with
many smaller buildings for things like laundry, kitchens, showers, workshops, and prison blocks.
Deep ditches were dug on the inside and outside of the fences to make it more difficult to
approach for the prisoners. Guards were stationed all along the walls and corners of the camps in
towers so they could overlook the whole camp grounds! There was a section within the camp
called the Appell Platz which means roll call square, this is the area in which they rounded up the
prisoners and forced them to stand for hours upon hours while they were counted and re-counted.
I found all of this information very intriguing because many times you hear about the horrors of
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the camps but never to do they fully explain where things occurred or the format of the camps.
Many times SS officers would keep the prisoners there as torcher and executions would often
take place in the same arena. Some camps were divided into sections; usually with males on one
side and females and children on the other. Each section had individual barracks. Since the
camps were never only Jews, but political personnel, Jehovahs Witness, and Roma, the camps
were sometimes divided into different regimes according to their standing. It is often overlooked
that there were more than just Jews affected by the tragedy of the holocaustmany people
groups were discriminated against and punished for insignificant details. The housing was either
wooden or brick barracks that contained 1,200 prisoners and were originally built to only
accommodate 200. Because of the drastically overcrowded measures, many diseases and
infections spread throughout the barracks. The bunks were stacked three high and generally had
about five persons to a level. Those on the first level of the bunks would receive all the waste
from those above. Camps were eventually build for extermination and disposal of the bodies
many hardships caused death in the camps such as labor, disease/infection, lack of nutrition,
wrath of the SS officers, and the gas chambers themselves (Final Solution).
Overall my research was just how I expected, vague and scattered. Most information is
based on the prisoners themselves and what exactly took place and not about the scheming and
building of the camps as I was hoping to research. Although I did not learn much about my
intended topic, I did learn small details about the format of the camps themselves, and that was
not a path I expected to be taking. You never know what youll come across while researching
and I did end up on many bunny trails, even my first source wasnt what I intended and I had to
backtrack to again search for my original question. I learned much about the camps and that is
very important information to me because in order for this whole terrible project to take place
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there had to be a system and a set up. Instead of looking at the holocaust from an emotional
perspective I attempted to do my research with a mindset of it as a projectProject Holocaust.
In order for anything as huge as the holocaust to take place there has to be a set upI still have
many questions about my original question, which I hardly answered in my research, so I will
continue to research about how on earth this whole tragedy was possible!













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Works Cited
"Architecture, Buildings and Sub-sections." Concentration Camp Buildings & Architecture.
N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/the-camps/how-
were-the-camps-run/architecture-buildings-and-sub-sections/#.Uzx9mHnjjIU
""Final Solution": Overview." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States
Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005151
"Holocaust Remembrance, Sanctuary, and Tribute to Survivors." Holocaust Remembrance,
Sanctuary, and Tribute to Survivors. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
http://isurvived.org/Pictures_iSurvived-3/AUSCHWITZ-1_Map.GIF
"The Holocaust." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust