Holocaust Research Paper

Research Paper
Holocaust Overview





Emily Eyberg






ENG 201-104
Mr. Neuburger
November 18, 2011

After her liberation from Auschwitz, Holocaust survivor Simone Veil stated, “It’s here, where absolute evil was perpetrated, that the will must resurface for a fraternal world, a world based on respect of man and his dignity.” (qtd. In Survivor Quotes) Evil presents itself everywhere in our world and always will. To say events such as the Holocaust must never happen again is foolish as it continues to happen frequently to people of varying religions and skin color. To dive into the depths of the Holocaust is an altogether painful idea. Nothing compares to the pain and cruelty endured by those who suffered through the Holocaust. It is important to be aware of the facts of the Holocaust and not merely the propaganda. Most people are aware of the Holocaust but understanding how Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party were able to systemically murder over eleven million people in a very short period of time is as important today as ever.
Anti-Semitism
The Holocaust began with the growing hatred instigated by anti-Semitic Europeans. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), in 1879, German journalist Wilhelm Marr coined the term anti-Semitism in an attempt to describe hatred towards those of Jewish descent. Marr also applied anti-Semitism to hating equal rights, pacifism, free trade, and other free thinking ideas. (Anti-Semitism: the Longest Hatred) The idea of closing out all forms of free-thinking or anything that goes against Nazi rule is disgusting, which is exactly what the Nazis believed to be the best, and only, way. Anti-Semitism has been going long before the Holocaust. In 1807 Napoleon forced Rabbis to leave their positions and place their loyalty only to France and Napoleon himself. (Timeline of Anti-Semitism before the Holocaust) According to USHMM, “History has shown that wherever anti-Semitism has gone unchecked, the persecution of others has been present or not far behind. Defeating anti-Semitism must be a cause of great importance not only for Jews, but for all people who value humanity and justice.” (Anti-Semitism- The Longest Hatred) Leading up to the death camps, pogroms began to form, leading to a greater sense of fear and need to protect one’s self. A pogrom is an extremely violent riot launched by anti-Semitic voices, encouraged by government authorities aimed against Jews. A sickening rumor was started, stating Jews used the blood of Christian children for ‘rituals’ (USHMM). The Nazis spurred such rumors tenfold into the community of people to increase propaganda and encourage young men to join their forces. Jews were considered ugly, non-German, unappealing in every aspect in the Nazi mindset.
Nuremberg Laws
The late summer of any year may bring lovely memories. However, the late summer of 1935 in Germany, was yet another black mark against the Nazis and a painful scar upon those of Jewish descent. The Nuremberg Laws as they came to be known, defined what a Jew is, and what each person is allowed to do and not allowed to do. The Laws excluded German-Jews from Reich citizenship, (USHMM) which included marrying or relations with any ‘legitimate German blood’. A Jew was not defined purely by religious belief, in fact it was almost opposite of that. The Laws put in to place stated a Jew was anyone who had grandparents of Jewish belief, usually at least two to three generations previously. Many of those who were known as Jews hadn’t actually practiced their beliefs at any time in their lives. Anyone from the most deeply devoted Rabbi, to a completely unorthodox, non-practicing Jew, was branded as an equal member of said race (USHMM). More than merely an attempt to distinguish the differences between a ‘German-Jew’ and a ‘Reich German’, this was furthering the loss of rights for Jewish citizens. One by one, the rights and respect of Jewish people were stripped away from them by such ignorant, idiotic beliefs.
Another attempt at Nazi propaganda was witnessed during the Olympic Games of 1936 in Berlin. To ensure Hitler and his forces were viewed in a good light, or at least more favorable than a group of anti-Semitic hateful people, the Nazis put on a heartbreaking façade of lies yet again. As in the film “A Film Unfinished”, we see excellent attempts at lying to people outside of Germany, to encourage others to buy in to the brainwashing propaganda.
Kristallnacht.
“The night of broken glass, the shattering of windows” of homes and synagogues rang in the ears of the Jewish people, the glass was shattering as their lives shattered with it. During ‘Kristallnacht’ the homes and businesses of Jewish people were broken into, and the windows broken. While Jewish people stood by helplessly, their homes and careers were destroyed. Pogroms began taking place in Russia and other places, since at least 1934 creating walls and isolation for the Jewish people. However, as time went on vicious pogroms took place. Through Germany, some parts of Czechoslovakia, and certain areas of Sudetenland, were occupied by German troops and led vicious riots against the Jewish people. There is no doubt that the pogroms were instigated by the Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler. The officials and their members were known as Sturmabteilungen; Assault Detachments aka storm troopers, and of course the Hitler Youth. We see in the film “Blues Brothers” the brothers ‘hate Illinois Nazis’, and in “Animal House” the ‘Hitler youth’ flooding the minds of young people. Although we laugh and enjoy ourselves in these comical movies, we cannot forget the truths that are held here.
Rounding up of Jews- the Ghettos
Starting in 1939 and continuing through 1945, the Nazis were in need of a plan to keep the Jews all in one place where they could “keep an eye on them’ more effectively. It started in Poland. This goes back to anti-Semitic beliefs ranging all the way back to the 16th and 17th centuries in Rome, Prague, and Frankfurt. Before the actual ghettos were set up, walls were created, to form a sense of separation from the Jewish-Germans to the full blood Germans. According to Rossell on the Web, (Holocaust: An End to Innocence) by 1941 however, most Polish Jews were moved to Warsaw, Kovno, Krakow, Lublin, and other cities. The cities where the Jews were housed were nothing more than slums, where filth and disease spread steadily, while despair raged and hope fell faint. To move the Jews into one gathered area, the Western Jews were moved east towards Poland to join Polish Jews. Yet again, more walls were put up, this time to separate the Jews from the Polish people, thusly establishing ghettos. At least 1,000 ghettos were established, the majority of these were in Poland, and however others were in German-occupied territory and the Soviet Union. The first ghetto was created in Poland in Piotrkow Trybunalski in 1939 in. The main goal of the ghettos was to create a place to house the Jews, along with giving the Nazis time to debate about options for them, all of which horrifying. All of the Nazis knew they did not want the Jews around, and in reality were dancing around what they really wanted to do; exterminate them. Many of the ghettos were short lived, taking the extremely small ghettos and transferring the people there to the larger ones. The ghettos were first viewed by the Jews as a new place to live, with stronger laws, but at least they would be in the same area. Upon first arrival into the Ghettos, each person was inspected. If a person was fit enough, they were made to work, if a person was not fit for work, then he/she did not receive food tickets, thus resulting in starvation. At first, the ghettos had a decent amount of food for each person, though as time went on the food dwindled, and the Nazis had no desire to maintain the food supply in healthy portions. Many of the people died of starvation and disease. Instead of a trash system people today have become accustomed to, the trash was dumped out of the windows into the streets. Dead bodies had nowhere to go until the mass burials were set up, except for the streets. Numerous families were crammed into areas the sizes of studio apartments. The ghettos were run by Jewish councils, (Judenrats) they were responsible for fulfilling Nazi orders. It was made to believe that the Judenrats had better lives than those who were not, but their lives were just as terrible. The biggest ghettos were that of Warsaw and Auschwitz; however Warsaw was the most famous. Over 75, 00 people died of starvation and disease in the ghettos. Children attempted to scavenge for food all over the ‘towns’ but found little relief. In the midst of creating Nazi propaganda, the Nazis would have the healthiest looking Jews pose in front of shops and nice apartments, as if it were their own. Many of the Jews who agreed to pose for the cameramen had hope this would allow them food or some sort of help, however they were sadly mistaken. As time went on, the Nazis became stricter, crueler, and even more heartless. With the Nazis scrambling to come up with an ideal ‘cure’ for the Jews, the solution was made clear. (http://www.aish.com/ho/o/48959726.html).

Wannsee Conference- The Final Solution
In mathematics, people must derive a final solution to a problem in which they are attempting to solve. The person attempts different methods, asking for input from others, and eventually comes up with their final solution. The Nazis attempts at finding a ‘final solution’ to their “Jewish problem’’ was much more than a simple mathematical problem. It was the successful attempt at permanent destruction of an entire people. Families torn apart loved ones murdered right in front of children’s eyes. It did not matter to the Nazis who they alienated, only that they covered their tracks, like scared mice running from a bright light. They were unremorseful and as hateful towards the Jewish people, and any non-German, as they ever could be, yet they had to hide the evidence.
According to a detailed account of the minutes of the Conference (Minutes of the Wannasee Conference) the conference had two main objectives: to inform other governments and agencies of the details of the plan and to let others be aware that Hitler had tasked Heydrich and the RSHA with the planning. Without even a hint of remorse or deliberation that the plan should be put into action the conference instead discussed how to put the plan into action quickly and seamlessly. As the minutes of the conference show, those who were in attendance were aware that the NSR (National Socialist Regime) had already begun mass murders of Jewish people in German occupied lands. Not a single person raised an objection to past actions or the plan that was created .The implementation of the plan was to destroy every ghetto that the Nazis had created, and, in the end, murdering every European Jew they could get their sadistic hands on. This began in 1941, transporting the Jews by trains to the death camps. Heydrich, Hitler’s go to man, planned out the numbers, as if counting out stacking bears; 11,000,000 Jews in Europe would be in the “Final Solution” Most of the Jews now were marked, or already in the imprisonment of the Nazis, however if there was any question, the Nazis referred back to the Nuremberg laws to decide what a Jew was. The trains in which the Jews would be transported on were cramped to the extremes, many died on the trains before even reaching the camps. The assumption of the Jews was that it was now forced labor, but in a similar setting to the ghettos. As each train arrived, any Jew that could work and do so for at least a while was put in one line, while the others, were put in another.
Selektion
Once the final decision had been made and began to be put into place, the question rose, who would be killed as soon as they got off the train, and who would last a few hours, days, weeks longer. According to a testimony in his personal biography Jack Kagan (http://bit.ly/qUjnWv) stated that the selection process had no reason for who went to work and who went into the dark, ominous building. The Nazis asked the prisoners a series of questions; what their profession was, how many children they had, and then were evaluated by how they appeared. Two people could be of similar backgrounds, age, and family relations, however one would go to the left, to work, the other to the right through the doors to a slow death. In an interview of Holocaust survivors (http://bit.ly/sqwa3B), Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall, stated that “If one didn't look right for whatever reason to the particular person that was doing the selection. One never knew if they were in the good line or the bad line.” It did not matter the true age of a person imprisoned. In the harsh conditions of the camps, an eighteen year old young woman could appear to be in her late forties. Fritzshall recalled that often times when the women’s hair would begin to grow back, they would take the coal from a burnt fire and rub it on their heads, to appear even a little younger. Every day it was a struggle to see who was randomly dragged from what was left of their family into the gas chamber, and who would live for one more terrifying day.
Extermination Methods
Holding on to the hand of your young child, both your and her ribcages stick out, whisper a prayer to Jehovah to keep safe and hold your child in His arms. You look into the eyes of the men who hold the weapon that will take all light from your eyes. The order is given; pop, pop, pop. The bodies fall and there is no more muted sobs from a child.
To the left, to the left, to the left, to the right. No reason as to why one person is sentenced to be shot, another to work, another to be gassed. A woman has her head shaved, stripped of all clothing and what has remained of her dignity. A few hundred are shoved into a tight cramped room; light peeks through in the slats. Young children cry for their mothers, some women sob, while others have nothing left inside them. A loud noise is echoed through the room and a yell from a German accent is heard. Instantly the overpowering smell of gaseous fumes from trucks is released into the room. Trying to breathe, with no avail, steadily the bodies drop to the floor.
Each extermination method was heartless and cruel, as time progressed however; they became more technical and advanced. Mass shootings, gas chambers, and gas trucks. The Nazis quickly discovered that the mass shootings were inefficient and wasted ammunition. Mass graves were dug throughout Germany and Poland to dispose of the bodies, but the Nazis quickly realized they needed a way to get rid of all of their evidence for their evil crimes. As a person is gassed in the chambers, or in a gas truck, they are then hauled into the mass graves. The difference between these graves and others is that here the bodies were burned until there was nothing left. The death camps themselves were the places of pure extermination. Whereas there were also labor camps that contained extermination and sick experimentation on the people, and holding camps as if they were in limbo between Heaven and Hell.

Liberation
For those who had managed to not be gassed, shot, or starved, they were forced through death marches; the name states its purpose plainly. The Nazis gathered up the remaining people captive in the camps and forced those to march back to Germany, across Poland in an effort to continue to hide the evidence from the approaching allied forces. As the forces moved across Europe, they began to find bodies throughout the land, some clinging on to their last breath. In addition, Soviet forces were the first to approach a Nazi camp, in the summer of 1944. These young men had already witnessed the brutality of war and the images that are burned into their brains; however, when viewing the camps, they were shown a whole new side of brutality. The Germans were aware that allied forces were on the move to save those imprisoned, but were taken off guard at the how swiftly they moved. Again, reverting back to their cowardly state, the Nazis attempted to hide the evidence. The Nazis demolished camps by setting fire to the crematorium, pulling down fences and destroying the shanties. However, the gas chambers still stood, as we have photographic evidence. Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka were fairly well dismantled by 1943; however the allied forces still were able to find what was left. Including shoes, ashes of those burnt and the absolute feeling of pure evil. Auschwitz, the largest concentration and extermination camp was freed in January 1945, by the Soviets. However, there were very few prisoners left there since the death marches. Only several thousand prisoners were remaining, barely alive or dying. Furthermore ,in the remaining buildings that had not been completely destroyed, the Soviets found suits, women’s outfits, small children’s shoes, and possibly even more disturbing 14,000 pounds of human hair. As time went on, so did the liberations. The Soviets continued to push through Poland, liberating Stutthof, Ravensbrueck, and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. The good olde boys in blue from the U.S. liberating Buchenwald which is located near Weimar, Germany, on April 11, 1945, a mere few days after the Nazis began to cleanse the camp. A group of resistance prisoners living underground in Buchenwald seized control of the remaining Nazi guards to prevent further crimes against the people. At Buchenwald alone, 20,000 prisoners were liberated. Along with Buchenwald, American forces also freed those at Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenburg, Dachau, and Mauthusen. Neuengamme, Bergen-Belsen, and others in Northern Germany were liberated by the British forces around April of 1945. A spread of Typhus was found in most camps but particularly in Bergen-Belsen. Around 60,000 prisoners were in critical condition, yet alive, more than 10,000 people died from starvation or disease just a few weeks shy of liberation.(USHMM) It breaks one’s heart to hear that many could have been saved if the forces were only a few weeks earlier.
The Soldiers that took place in the Liberations encountered sickening and horrifying things. Those who had survived the camps appeared to be nothing more than skeletons one would find in a teaching hospital. Piles of bodies, shoes meant for three year old children, men and women with hallowed eyes, for their souls had been so brutally torn apart.
Those who were young enough to tell their stories in later years still live with fear on a daily basis. The amount of those who suffer with Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder was in the millions, some entering counseling, others mental institutions.
Going through the list of forces that joined together to liberate those held in captivity causes one to feel a sense of pride in each of those nations. However, to take a cynical note, why were these actions not taken sooner, is it not our personal duty to help others of the human race to be freed?
After Liberation
How could the people return to a home which had been destroyed, when the thoughts of anti-Semitism still ran rampant? According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Aftermath of the Holocaust), directly after the Holocaust, numerous pogroms took place in Poland, many resulting in death by beating. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, tens of thousands of homeless survivors headed west towards liberated lands held by western allies. The now freed captives went from a series of death camps to camps for displaced persons. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration stepped in to aid the administration of the camps in the allied areas. However, with most administrations, the attention to each individual was lacking. Varying agencies and volunteers worked to aid the Jewish people to homes and somehow starting over. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee provided shelters which included food and clothing. At this point many of the Jews were feeling the yearning to return home, to Israel, however it would come at yet another cost. Since immigration transportation and paperwork took time and funds that were limited, the journey to Palestine were a difficult one. The British put many restrictions on entering Palestine; many of European borders closed their supposed open doors to these lost people. In 1944, the Jewish Brigade Group, which was a unit of the British army, was formed, joining with former partisan fighters. The group created an organization titled Brihah, which is Hebrew for “flight” or “escape”, fitting. This group aided Jewish people somehow find passageway into Palestine, however the British authorities stopped many of the ships. The Exodus of 1947 forced 4,500 Holocaust survivors to return to Germany, many of these were placed in detention camps, some managed to make it to Palestine, and others died while in the detention camps.
Finally, a glimmer of light shown upon the faces of those who had known only darkness. The State of Israel was established in May, 1948. 170,000 and more displaced persons migrated into Israel, what would be a hope for safety and peace. In the winter of 1945, President Harry Truman mandated that a directive be issued so that the quota of immigration would be loosened. Many other Jewish refugees in Europe immigrated as displaced persons to varying parts of the world; Mexico, South Africa, and Canada.
The acts of the Holocaust cannot ever be undone, nor taken back. However, those who have been haunted by the terror may hope to one day find peace.
Works Cited
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"70 Years Ago: "Kristallnacht" in Germany." Ask an Expert at Able2know - Ask Questions, Share Answers. Horizontal Vertical. Web. 09 Nov. 2011.
"Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
"Documentation of Selektion." Research Facility. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
"Education on Holocaust." The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
"Gas Chambers." Central Page. Holocaust Research. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.
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"Killing People Through Gas In Extermination and Concentration Camps." Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.