Holocaust Research Paper

The Holocaust

A Disgraceful Stain on Human History

Dalton Bagley

Composition 102 Section 110

Mr. Larry Neuburger

25 March 2011

Bagley 2

The word “holocaust” is from Greek origin, meaning “sacrifice by fire.” (ushmm). Under

the rule of the High Chancellor Adolph Hitler, Germany’s National Socialist Workers Party

(Nazi Party) led a state-supported assailment to eradicate all people of Jewish Heritage, and

those considered to be inferior, from the years 1941 to 1944 (Andersson). According to the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, approximately six million Jews were murdered

during the Holocaust, either by Nazis or collaborators (ushmm). Anti-Semitism was not just the

work of Nazis however, and the persecution of Jews did not start with the Holocaust. Mikkel

Andersson of The Holocaust History Project states that Hitler took power of Germany in 1933,

and this immediately led to the persecution of Jews, which later became a systematic mass

murder commonly referred to as The Holocaust. (Andersson). The Holocaust is regarded as one

of the most significant and horrendous systematic mass murders in history.

The Nazi Party takes control

As a young boy, Hitler looked up to the mayor of his hometown of Vienna, Karl Lueger.

“Lueger blamed Jew's for Austria's economic problems. Hitler's

views on the Jews and anti- Semitic tactics were shaped by

Lueger.” (The Holocaust: A Tragic Legacy). This point of view

transcended into his later life when he wrote his book Mein

Kampf, meaning, My Struggle. This book contained his

views on how Germany was being controlled by a

Jewish/Communist Government and became the

platform for the Nazi Party. (The Holocaust: A Tragic Legacy).

Before the Nazi Party took control, Germany was in a civil war. The end of World War I

had left Germany in shambles and taking full responsibility for the war. As The Holocaust: A

Adolf Hitler addresses a rally.

http://bit.ly/dTfXYS

Bagley 3

Tragic Legacy states, “World War I was "settled" with the Treaty of Versailles, leaving Germany

responsible for war reparations and branding it an embarrassing guilt clause.” (The Holocaust: A

Tragic Legacy). That is when Hitler took his opportunity to seize power.

With Hitler being appointed High Chancellor and Fuhrer of Germany in 1933, the Nazi

Party had gained complete political control. On July 14, 1933 the Nazi Party was declared the

only legal party in Germany. (Gavin).

Anti-Semitism and Nazi’s views on Jews

The definition of Anti-Semitism as stated by The Christian’s Action for Israel

Organization, “The attributing of all or part of

one's own misfortunes, and those of one's country,

to the presence of Jewish elements in the community,

and proposing to remedying this state of

affairs by depriving the Jews of certain of their

rights; by keeping them out of certain economic or

social activities, by expelling them from the

country, by exterminating them etc.” (Christians).

This definition is the exact action that was being

produced by the Nazi Party in Germany. In September of 1933, The Nazis prohibited Jews from

owning land. (Gavin). Ridding Germany of Jews was the goal, and by stripping them of their

rights, then maybe then they would leave.

The Nuremburg Laws was a large piece of legislation that stripped Jews of their rights.

The Jewish Virtual Library explains that, “The first law, The Law for the Protection of German

Jewish students humiliated in front of class. Board reads, “The Jew is our greatest enemy. Beware of the

Jew!”

http://bit.ly/f3z1o8

Bagley 4

Blood and German Honor, prohibited marriages and extra-marital intercourse between “Jews ”

(the name was now officially used in place of “non-Aryans ”) and “Germans ” and also the

employment of “German ” females under forty-five in Jewish households. The second law, The

Reich Citizenship Law, stripped Jews of their German citizenship and introduced a new

distinction between “Reich citizens ” and “nationals.” (Pridham). The Nuremburg Laws were a

formalized way to persecute the Jews and from 1935 on, things only got worse.

Kristallnacht

By 1936, Jews were prohibited from participation in elections and signs reading "Jews

Not Welcome" appeared in most German cities. The Laws stripped Jews of their citizenship so

many were deported to Poland. According to Gary M. Grobman, the only problem was that

Poland would not take the Jewish immigrants, and this left many Jews homeless on the Polish

border. When Herschel Grynszpan, a Jew living in

Paris, found out about his family’s homeless status at

the Polish border, he walked into the German Embassy

in Paris and shot Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath.

Rath was critically wounded and died two days later, on

November 9. Grobman goes into detail explaining that,

“The assassination provided Goebbels, Hitler's Chief of Propaganda, with the excuse he needed

to launch a pogrom against German Jews. Grynszpan's attack was interpreted by Goebbels as a

conspiratorial attack by "International Jewry" against the Reich and, symbolically, against the

Fuehrer himself. This pogrom has come to be called Kristallnacht, "the Night of Broken Glass."

(Grobman).

A Synagogue burns during Kristallnacht

http://bit.ly/e4zxC3

Bagley 5

The nights of November 9 and 10 brought out gangs of Nazi youth, who demolished

Jewish neighborhoods, breaking windows of Jewish businesses and homes, burning synagogues

and looting. Grobman states that in all, 101 synagogues were destroyed and almost 7,500 Jewish

businesses were destroyed. 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps, Jews

were physically attacked and beaten and 91 died.

Hitler was quoted as saying, “Why does the world shed crocodile’s tears over the richly

merited fate of a small Jewish minority? … I ask Roosevelt, I ask the American people: Are you

prepared to receive in your midst these well-poisoners of the German people and the universal

spirit of Christianity? We would willingly give everyone of them a free steamer-ticket and a

thousand-mark note for travelling expenses, if we could get rid of them.” (Longman). But getting

rid of the Jews was not working, and the frustration of the Nazi’s was only growing. Tensions

were high, and this lead to a Final Solution.

Rounding up the Jews

With nowhere to go, and tension rising due to The Nuremburg Laws, and Kristallnacht,

the persecution of the Jews took a serious turn

in late 1939 with the rounding up of Jews to

be forced into ghettos. Hitler had just invaded

Poland which would be considered as the

catalyst for World War II. (Andersson). According

to Seymour Rossel, “By 1941, most Polish Jews

had been moved to the slums of Warsaw,

Kovno, Krakow, Lublin, and other cities. Western

Jews, including those of Germany, were moved eastward into Poland to join them. Walls were

Jews being deported from the Warsaw ghetto board a freight train.

http://bit.ly/fZg13l

Bagley 6

built to separate the Jews from the Polish people. The Nazi ghettos had been established.”

(Rossel). The United States Holocaust History Museum allocates that the Ghettos were created

for the purpose of waiting for a decision on how to get rid of the Jews. (ushhm).

The decision on how to rid Europe of its Jews was made at the Wannassee Conference in

late 1941. The Final Solution was to kill all European Jews. “The Germans and their auxiliaries

either shot ghetto residents in mass graves located nearby or deported them, usually by train,

to killing centers where they were murdered. German SS and police authorities deported a small

minority of Jews from ghettos to forced-labor camps and concentration camps.” (ushhm). The

Final Solution was the beginning of the Holocaust, and the extermination of the Jews had begun.

Death Camps

“The Nazis and their helpers used the most terrible methods of murdering Jews, gypsies

and other “undesirable” population groups. In the attempt to carry out the Final Solution as

effectively as possible, different methods of mass murder were tested. The Nazis began by using

mass shootings, then used gassing trucks (in the first extermination camp, Chelmno) and ended

up by constructing large industrialised facilities of mass destruction as in Auschwitz-Birkenau,

where the highly effective Zyklon B gas was used.” (Larsen).

Holocaust History says that the emphasis had switched from mass shootings, after about

1.5 million Jews had been exterminated, to concentration camps. Prisoners worked to near death

as slaves in work camps. Those in Death Camps were murdered in Gas Chambers. The most

infamous Death Camp was Auschwitz, which was both a Death and Work Camp. About 1.3

million Jews were killed at Auschwitz alone, and one million of those were killed in the gas

chambers. (holocaust-history). Michael Peters claims that, Starting from November 1941, three

extermination camps were built to control the population of ghettos and other victims from

Bagley 7

surrounding areas. The first was Belzec, then Sobibor, and finally Treblinka. They were located

in the far east of Poland near the borders of

Byelorussia and Ukraine. “The camps had to be located

near main railway lines as victims were to be

transported by rail, and in sparsely populated areas

because of secrecy. As a guise the victims were told

that they were being transported (Deportation

Transports) east for resettlement and work. “

(Peters).

According to Peters, The extermination process in Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka was

similar to the methods used in the six euthanasia killing centers in Germany and Austria. “The

steps were: Deception ("You must get a shower in the bathroom!"), Handing over the valuables

(enrichment for the German Reichsbank), Undressing (realization of the clothings and finding of

hidden jewelry), Cooping up the victims in the gas chamber (as narrow as possible to minimize

the air volume), Use of carbon monoxide gas (CO) (discharged through gaspipes), and

Cremating the corpses (covering up all tracks).” (Peters).

Liberation

In 1944, the Jews were liberated. Frieda Miller claims that, 1.5 million of the Jews who

perished in the Holocaust were children. “At liberation, the few children who had survived the

Holocaust emerged from concentration camps and places of hiding. Many found themselves

orphaned. Most who had survived were adolescents and the majority of them were boys. For the

most part, only those who were older and strong enough to work had been able to endure the

hardships in the camps. Liberation signified their release from captivity.” (Miller).

A mass Grave in the Belzec Camp.

http://bit.ly/h8dYV6

Bagley 8

Liberation was made possible by the Soviets, as they

liberated Auschwitz in 1945 (ushhm). According to the

United States Holocaust History Museum, “Surprised by the

rapid Soviet advance, the Germans attempted to hide the

evidence of mass murder by demolishing the camp. Camp

staff set fire to the large crematorium used to burn

bodies of murdered prisoners, but in the hasty evacuation

the gas chambers were left standing. In the summer of

1944, the Soviets also overran the sites of the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka killing centers. The

Germans had dismantled these camps in 1943, after most of the Jews of Poland had already been

killed.” (ushhm).

Although the Jews were liberated, things did not turn around so easily. Miller explains

this thoroughly, “In the period immediately following liberation, children along with other

survivors began their search for family. They traveled by foot and hitched rides on jeeps or

trains. Communications and travel were difficult in Europe as the war-torn countries struggled to

re-build. Some children returned to their homes and found them destroyed or occupied by

strangers. Their communities were decimated and scattered. Many children began a round of

displaced persons (DP) camps looking for parents, brothers and sisters. Once they were

convinced that their search was in vain they drifted back to DP camps like Fulda, Feldafing and

Aglasterhausen.”

After Liberation

Soon after liberation, a Soviet physician examines Auschwitz camp survivors.

http://bit.ly/fNUV46

Bagley 9

Holocaust survivor Noach Lasmen describes what living after Liberation was like. “I just

did not want to stay there [in Nachod in Bohemia, where he was liberated]. I knew I had nothing

at home. Because I imagined by the time that what I had seen meant my parents could not be

alive. But I went back home because I did not want to stay in Germany; I did not want to stay in

strange places. I went home just in case I might find someone there.” (Chichopek).

Lisa Derman, a Holocaust survivor of Auschwitz, after being liberated and left with

absolutely no family, went back to thank those who

helped hide her before being concentrated. Derman

says, “So, I went to tell her that I survived. So I came to

her house. We knocked on the door. She opened the

door, and I was so grateful that she was alive and that

she still lived there... And ah - and she said, "You

were a child when you left my house. You look so

grown up." She kissed and hugged and cried, because I

told them my sister did not survive... She didn't know there were any Jews at all that survived.”

(usshm). Derman also speaks on how she was treated when she finally made it to America,” In

fact, I have to tell you, that some survivors have told me that - that the neighbors and Jewish

neighbors, not Christians, Jewish neighbors, would not let their children play with this survivor's

children. And ah - they felt very bad about it, very bad about it. They were not accepted. But,

because at that - very early not so much was known and not so many people spoke up, so there

was a feeling that the people that were in the concentration camps, there was something... they

survived... I don't know, doing what? Eating other peoples' flesh? Or, they are terrible...? I don't

know, they are - I really lack to come to the bottom of it why, but it's the truth. That's the way it

Jewish displaced persons rebury exhumed corpses in a cemetery at Mauthausen one year after the

liberation of the camp.

http://bit.ly/eidb08

Bagley 10

was. I did not meet up with it at all. I did not meet up. And in fact, everywhere that we went we

were sort of quote/unquote like "elite" of survivors.” (usshm).

The Holocaust was the mass murder of over 6 million Jews. The Nazis killed

them in hate and with no regard to human ethics. The biggest debate topic in the Jewish

community is forgiveness. Whether or not the Jews who survived the Holocaust have the ability

to forgive what was done to them in those concentration camps. The debate can never be settled

due to the fact that each survivor has his or her own fears, nightmares, and opinions from the

tragic events. Whether or not a survivor forgives, no one should forget what happened. The

Holocaust was both sad and disgusting, and the Holocaust can accurately be described as A

Disgraceful Stain on Human History.

Bagley 11

Works Cited

Andersson, Mikkel. The Holocaust History Project. N.p., 1993. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.

"Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust." Christian Action for Israel. N.p., 1996. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.

Austin, Ben. "Kristallnacht." The Holocaust. Ed. Ben S. Austin. N.p., 21 Feb. 1996. Web. 26

Feb. 2011.

Cichopek, Anna. "After Liberation: the Journey Home of Jewish Survivors in Poland and

Slovakia, 1944-46." Cadmus. N.p., 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.

Gavin, Phillip. "Holocaust Timeline." The History Place. N.p., 1997. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.

Grobman, Gary M. "The "Final Solution"." Remember.org A Cybrary of the Holocaust. Ed.

Joseph Korn. N.p., 1990. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.

Keren, Daniel. Holocaust Photographs. 1997. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.

Larsen, Brian B. "Methods of Mass Murder." The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide

Studies. Ed. Peter Vogelsang. N.p., 2002. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.

Longman, Addison W. "Statements by Hitler and Senior Nazis Concerning Jews and Judaism."

University of West England School of Humanities. Ed. Stuart D. Stein. N.p., Nov. 1998.

Web. 25 Feb. 2011.

Miller, Frieda. "Liberation." Virtual Museum. Ed. Roberta Kremer. N.p., 2002. Web. 27 Feb.

2011.

Peters, Michael. "Treblinka." Aktion Reinhard Camps. Ed. Chris Webb. N.p., 4 Sept. 2006. Web.

27 Feb. 2011.

Pridham, Noakes, Geoffery Pridham, and Jeremy Pridham. "The Nuremberg Laws." Jewish

Virtual Library. Ed. Mitchell G. Bard. AICE, JVL, 1974. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.

Bagley 12

Rossel, Seymour. "Holocaust An End to Innocence." Rossel on the Web. Ed. Seymour Rossel.

N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.

The Holocaust: A Tragic Legacy. N.p., 1997. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.