Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Kendall DeBerry

English Composition 102-101 Mr. Neuberger 17 April 2012

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During the Holocaust, millions of Jews were persecuted, tortured and murdered over a two year period. Although the Holocaust itself lasted only two years, the way it occurred was comprised of a series of events and efficient German engineering. One needs to understand how the Nazis gained power, the tactics they used, why they were in such severe opposition to Jews, and their intentions as to what they would do once they gained control.

Anti-Semitism According to the Yad vashem website article, the Nazi views on anti-Semitism were not the first. The Nazis severe opposition to Jews began long before the time of the Holocaust and they had actually begun because of the crucifixion of Jesus in biblical times. Almost all of Europe was Christian and therefore their anti-Semitic views traced back to this. The website article further states that people then viewed Jews as the devil because the devil would be the only creature willing enough to kill the Christian messiah. The preexisting anti-Semitic views in Germany along with other
Working class Germans feed a Jew, 1938 (Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies).

problems of the German state created a source for

which all of their problems could be blamed. The Jews were this source and began to be persecuted. Professor Yehuda Bauer shares his opinion when he says in his interview, The Nazi version of anti-Semitism did something that the others had never done: It translated theory into practice. In the past, you could find many statements that the Jews should be done away with -- but these were statements, only words. The words didn't become flesh (to use a term from Christian theology). But here the words

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became flesh; in other words, the idea became something real and tangible, and it was translated into reality . Nazis took an idea and a theory and turned it into reality. (The Background to Nazi Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust)

Nazi rise to power According to the website, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the Nazis began to gain power as soon as Hitler was appointed Chancellor by Paul Von Hindenburg in January of 1933. Within a month of Hitler first being appointed, the Nazi government had issued a decree that suspended the basic civil rights of the German people. The ability for the Nazis to suspend the rights of people that they wanted to control was a powerful advantage for them. The website states further that the German
Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany (Dipity, free digital timeline).

political parties, organizations, and especially people of

ethnicity were then subject to Nazi rule. For the next two years Hitler would follow a policy in which cultural and professional organizations, schools, and state governments were influenced by Nazi ideals. The actual action of discriminating against Jews began when Nazis used the Civil Service Law to eliminate Jews from governmental agencies, state positions, and their own private work places. USHMM describes how Jewish employers and employees were sent to the German Labor Front which was under control of the Nazis themselves. Soon the Enabling Law was passed and it transferred the control of the German parliament to the Nazi party. From this point, the Nazis were the only political party and upon the death of Hindenburg, Hitler made

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himself the leader of the country. The Nazis had now gained complete control (Rise of Nazi Party). Nuremberg laws The University of West of Englands (UWE) website describes how following Hitler's appointment as Chancellor, the Nazis immediately started targeting the Jews by formulating the Nuremberg Laws. The Nuremberg Laws were put into effect two years after Hitler was
Official document of the Nuremberg Laws (The Social Studies Lab).

appointed Chancellor and were to ensure that the German nation would continue to exist without the pollutants of

inferior races. These laws were the next step in the Nazi plan to gain power. The fact that they had the ability to control groups of people was very important to them by means of genocide. UWE shows that all seven of the articles state very strict and specific laws, the first of them being the forbiddance of marriage between Jews and Subjects of the German State. The article continues to state new ordinances such as the forbiddance of sexual intercourse between Jews and subjects of the German state. Also, the ability to fly the German National Flag by Jews is forbidden. The different laws that were encompassed by the Nuremberg Laws put a devastatingly tight hold on the Jewish population (Nuremberg Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor).

Nazi propaganda According to the website Yad vashems article, the Nazis were one of the most intricate propaganda users

Cover of the anti-Sematic childrens book The Poisonous Mushroom (USHMM).

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of all time. Even before the Nazis had taken control of Germany, they used propaganda to gain support from the German people. The Nazis pushed the ideas of anti-Semitism on the people by constantly reminding them that the Germans had only the Jews as their enemy. Yad vashem goes on to state that Hitler was very well informed by means of propaganda and writes about his perspective on it in his book, Mein Kampf. Yad vashem paraphrases Hitler and writes, Propaganda is meant for the masses who cannot comprehend logic and intellect, but can be convinced of anything if their emotions are manipulated the key to propaganda is to keep repeating the same ideas over and over again until they are understood by and engraved on the mind of even the slowest person (Propaganda, Nazi). Hitlers forces used repetition in a number of different ways, such as the bombardment of anti-Semitic signs, movies, childrens books, radio, press, and education. The movies that were shown always depicted the Jews to be filthy, ugly, crooked people who were rapists and murderers (Propaganda, Nazi). Another article from the Yad vashem website says that adults were not the only people subject to this kind of brainwashing and in fact, children saw as much of this as their parents did. The childrens books issued to schools included information about Jews that would inspire a hatred for them among the new generations of Germany (Propaganda and Children During the Hitler Years).

Kristallnacht According to the Yad vashem website article, otherwise known as the night of the broken glass because of the windows shattered in Jewish businesses, Kristallnacht occurred on November 9th through the 10th in 1938. On this night, Nazis rioted in the streets, set fire to Jewish owned buildings, and destroyed Jewish personal property. The

A burnt and destroyed Jewish synagogue as a result of Kristallnacht (3rd Period's WWII Wikis).

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Nazis reason for this was the fact that a German embassy official was assassinated by a Jewish refugee, and so on the same night that the German official died, the Nazis launched their attack. Nazi leaders all over the country sent orders to their men that they would all be required to not act as if a large scale attack had been planned but rather a rightful rage had by all Nazis. According to the Yad vashem article, rioting and the destruction of Jewish property began within hours of the orders. Enraged Nazis burnt down hundreds of Jewish synagogues and looted Jewish stores. Wealthy Jewish business men were immediately arrested and sent to concentration camps. The acts committed by the Nazis gained them the foot hold they needed to start the persecution of Jews and other people who were viewed as parasites (Kristallnacht).

Ghettos The USHMMs article Ghettos, states that the ghettos in World War II were usually portions of the city that were blocked off from the rest of the city and held many more people than they should have. The first ghetto established by the German occupation authorities was built in 1939 and from then they were built by the hundreds until the end of the war. The Nazis intention of the ghettos was to segregate Jews and other unwanted ethnic groups away from the German subjects and then potentially kill them off. The USHMM further states that the ghettos served as holding places for the Jews until
Starving Children in the Warsaw Ghetto (Bundeskanzler, Willy, Brandt, Stiftung).

they were either shipped to killing centers or other places

of the sort. These ghettos were very effective in their purpose by means of the vast numbers they could squeeze into single areas. One of the most famous ghettos, the Warsaw Ghetto, held up to

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four hundred thousand Jews in an area of only one and a third square miles (Ghettos). The USHMM article, Life in the Ghettos shows that the kind of life that was had in these ghettos was very poor. The food rations given to the Jews were very inadequate which caused many deaths due to starvation. Jews were forced to labor for the Nazi authorities and some of this labor included operating killing centers or sending them to places where they would perish anyway. The Jews who worked in these ghettos had no choice when performing their duties considering that their Nazi overseers would not hesitate to kill them (Ghettos). The ghettos were places in which many people now are unaware. The remains of them are proof of the atrocities that occurred to the people that lived in them.

Resistance Jewish resistance toward their oppressors is almost unheard of when one is thinking of the Holocaust but in fact many acts of resistance took place. According to the Yad vashem website article, Jewish resistance took place in a number of different forms. Jews would try to resist the starvation and sickness that greatly affected them in the ghettos by smuggling in medicines and food. Other Jews would take up armed resistance against Nazi oppressors by joining partisan groups and by smuggling weapons into the ghettos. Jews would try preserving their mental and spiritual health by founding schools, theatres, newspapers, and orchestras (Jewish Resistance). Although they were outnumbered with almost no chance of ever successfully resisting the Nazis, Jews would try to show that they would not just let horrible things happen to them. According to Yad vashem, there
Explosion in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (USHMM).

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were underground organizations in about one hundred different ghettos whose purpose was to plan armed uprisings. These uprisings were meant to happen at the same time as the deportations to various killing centers. An armed uprising called the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began in April of 1943 and lasted for three weeks (Jewish Resistance). According to the Yad vashem article, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, there were a few armed uprisings prior to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Jewish organizations such as the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) and the Jewish Military Union (ZZB) had sprung into action three months earlier due to the fear of deportation. After this, the Yad vashem article states, They spent their time training, obtaining weapons, and mapping out a strategy for the Ghetto's defense (Jewish Resistance). The Jewish resistance had to constantly remain ready because they knew that the Nazis could be ready to deport them at any time. On April 18th 1943, information reached the ZOB and ZZB that the last deportation of Warsaw would occur on the 19th of April so they prepared and waited. When the day finally came, the Jewish resistance actually forced a retreat on the Nazis and held out until May. The Jewish resistance soon fell short on supplies and was taken over by the Nazis although a few dozen Jews escaped last minute. Resistance among the Jews did appear on occasion, and when they did resist their fate, they provided the Nazis with a good opponent (Warsaw Ghetto Uprising).

Extermination Methods According the USHMM website article, during the Holocaust and the persecution of Jews, there were several methods of exterminating Jewish people. There was the firing squad method, gas van method, and the Zyklon B method. The firing squad method was the

A can of Zyklon-B pellets that is used for gassing (Zyklon-B).

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most inefficient of all of the methods and was hard on Nazi morale to have to shoot row after row of people. Also on the large scale that the Nazis were having to exterminate people, they couldnt justify the time and effort it took to kill by firing squad. The next method of extermination was the gas van. This method also took entirely too much time to pick up very few numbers of individuals and gas them. This method was an upgrade from the firing squad in which it was less costly. The USHMM article further states that this led the Nazis to a new method of extermination in which they would put large numbers of individuals in a room and release a gas made of Zyklon B pellets. It was decided in the Wannsee Conference that gassing should be the primary method of extermination and so from that point forward, the Zyklon B became the lead killer of Jews in the Holocaust. When hundreds of thousands of Jews would be deported to killing centers such as Auschwitz, they would be sent to take showers but in reality would be packed into rooms where they could be systematically gassed. This very efficient form of genocide would work in the Nazis favor until the Jews were liberated (Gassing Operations).

Concentration Camps Once the Nazis gained power, began to persecute Jews, and established extremely efficient ways of killing in mass numbers, they began to put their concentration camps into full operation. According to an article on the Yad vashem website, concentration camps came into effect as soon as Hitler gained power as chancellor. The Nazis first arrested people of political power and relocated them in camps. The article further states that concentration camps used by the Nazis were divided up into different phases according to the year in which they were around. By the end of July 1933, there

Laborers at Auschwitz concentration camp (Further Glory).

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were 27,000 people that had been relocated in camps. Prussia itself had twenty camps established to hold these prisoners. As the year progressed into fall, Nazis began to relocate people into camps for different reasons. Some of the new prisoners were criminals, the homeless, and prostitutes. These camps belonged to the first phase in which the camps served as a way to remove opposition to the Nazi regime. During the second phase of concentration camps (19361942), most of the original camps were put out of commission. The article states that newer and larger camps had to be established for the increasing number of prisoners, this included a total of ten major camps (although there were dozens of smaller camps). World War II had begun within this period of time and put pressure on the Nazi regime to speed up their genocide process. From 1938 onward until the liberation of the Jews from camps, Jews began to be sent to concentration camps just for being Jews. This particularly happened after Kristallnacht when 36,000 Jews were imprisoned. Numbers continued to rise and increased especially when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The Final Solution to exterminate all Jews was decided in 1941 and so an additional four major camps were established to serve as extermination camps. Original concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Majdanek were upgraded so that they to could serve as extermination camps. According to the article on the Yad vashem website, as concentration camps entered the third and final period the Nazis began to send all of their Jews to extermination camps where most would be killed but others would be liberated (Concentration Camps).

Liberation According to the Yad vashem websites article, the liberation of Jews from concentration camps and Nazi ruled areas began as soon as the Soviet Union troops reached Majdanek in July

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of 1944. Prior to the liberation of Jews from the concentration camps, the Nazis tried to destroy their camps in order to cover up the atrocities they had committed there. The Nazis abandoned the camps at which they were stationed and either took the surviving Jews with them on death marches or left them to die in the camps. The allied forces stumbled upon many camps, some of which were disguised from the outside. British and American troops who were advancing from the west didnt uncover camps until 1945. As the allies moved closer and closer to the heart of the Nazi regime, they uncovered more camps thus liberating the prisoners within them. The Yad vashem article further states, the Allies were surprised when they liberated these camps
Liberated prisoners of Auschwitz (Auschwitz Birkenau Scrapbook Pages).

because of all of the dead corpses they found and the thousands of prisoners who were suffering from

malnourishment and disease. The Allied liberators tried to give those liberated a new and fresh start but because of the persecution still existing, this was hard. Also the prisoners who were liberated were usually the only survivor of their family and so therefor had no place to go when they were freed. Camps called Displaced Person (DP) camps were often used by the Allies to relocate those liberated with a close friend or with someone they knew. Even though the Jews had almost no place to go when they were liberated, most of them went to Israel to start their new lives free of oppression (Liberation). The Holocaust was a period of time in which almost all of the Jews in Europe were wiped out. This period of time in which Hitler gained power and put the most extreme hatred for Jews into the minds of his followers, hung a huge shadow of depression over those that were

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persecuted. One needs to understand that the Holocaust was a devastating time for the Jews and that without the help of the Allied forces; the Jews might not be around today.

Works Cited

Anti-semitic Image, Germany, circa 1938. Digital image. Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "The Background to Nazi Antisemitism and the Holocaust." Yad vashem. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. The Burning of a Synagogue on the Night of Kristallnacht. Digital image. To 3rd Period's WWII Wikis. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. A can of Zyklon-B pellets. Digital image. Zyklon-B Info. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Concentration Camps." Yad vashem. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Cover of the "Poisonous Mushroom" Digital image. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Gassing Operations." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Ghettos." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Hitler is appointed Chancellor. Digital image. Dipity, free digital timeline website. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Jewish Resistance." Yad vashem. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Kristallnacht." Yad vashem. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.

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Laborers at Auschwitz concentration camp. Digital image. Further Glory. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Liberation." Yad vashem. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Life in the Ghettos." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Nazi Rise to Power." United Sates Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Nuremberg Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor." University of West England. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. Official document of the Nuremberg Laws. Digital image. The Social Studies Lab. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Prisoners Re-enact Liberation from Auschwitz Main Camp, Feb. 1945. Digital image. Auschwitz Birkenau Scrapbook Pages. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Propaganda and Children During the Hitler Years." Yad vashem. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Propaganda, Nazi." Yad vashem. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. Starving children in the Warsaw Ghetto. Digital image. Bundeskanzler, Willy, Brandt, Stiftung (German History). Web. 12 Apr. 2012. "Warsaw Ghetto Uprising." Yad vashem. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.

DeBerry 14 Score Points Available

40 20 40 35 25

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
Source Info is supposed to be under the caption

33 20 35 32 17 8 18
Total Score

15 25

Writing Mechanics Paper is free from errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.

Total = 200

163