When did the formal killing start? Even though the Nazis took control in 1933 Formal killing doesn’t begin until 1941 Co-insides with the invasion on.

When did the formal killing start? Even though the Nazis took control in 1933

Formal killing doesn’t begin until 1941 Co-insides with the invasion on Russia

Then is practiced in Germany

Operation Barbarossa Systematic killing of Jews Use of the Einsatzgruppen

Special SS killing units These men were not thugs but professionals

Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers, etc

Operation Barbarossa Einsatzgruppen

Job was to search for opponents of the Reich Included Communists and Jews

Once they found them they were to execute them Four Units

A,B,C, and D Largest group had 1,000 men By 1943

1.25 million Jews killed 100’s of thousands of others

Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing

Einsatzgruppen Gathered men, women and children

Along the edges of Ravines Mines Ditches Pits

That the Jews had to dig

Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing

Einsatzgruppen Before Killing the Jews

Had the Jews hand over their possessions Had the Jews remove their clothing

Then they shoot the Jews and watch their bodies fall into the pits

Einsatzgruppen kept records Counted bodies and took pictures Personal diaries and letters of soldiers

Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing

Babi Yar Just outside Kiev, Ukraine

Late September 1941 Apprx. 34,000 Jewish men, women and children

Marched to a Jewish Cemetery Forced to hand over valuables and take off clothes 1 by 1 Shot in the back of the head Bodies piled up creating one massive grave

The Final Solution Nazis decide to change methods

Begin receiving reports that soldiers in the field are beginning to suffer psychological effects

Questioning orders Mess from shooting somebody Cost of ammunition The general public witnessing these events

They start to question

The Final Solution Start to conceal the killings

Killing vans Carbon monoxide Jews thrown in the back of the van Nazis would drive around until the Jews died Not very effective

Couldn’t kill that many Took a long time

The Final Solution “Instead of the killer coming to the victims,

the victims would come to the killing centers.”

Gassing reduced the direct contact between the killers and their victims Made the murder’s task easier

Distanced themselves Cattle Analogy (Interview with Prison Guard)

The Final Solution Extermination Camps are constructed

Not on German soil “While not all victims were Jews, all Jews were

victims.” Elie Wiesel (former camp inmate) Several killing centers, but 6 major ones do the

most killing

The Final Solution 6 Major Camps (all in Poland)

Chelmno Belzec Sobibor Treblinka Auschwitz-Birkenau Majdanek

The Final Solution Death Camps

All were located close to railways Hidden away from the public

Tucked out in the country

The Final Solution:Process

Jews would arrive in cattle cars Usually spent days in carts without food and

water When they got off the trains they were asked to

get into 2 lines (Auschwitz) Right Line = Death Left Line = Work; stay alive

The Final Solution:Process

Doctors were at the train platforms Generally Speaking

Women, old people and children were sent straight to their deaths

Men, if healthy and the right age, were temporarily spared

Forced to work in the camps

The Final Solution:Process

Once in lines Nazis didn’t want anyone to panic Always very calm

Some people knew their fate; most just quietly marched to their fate

Told that they were going to take showers “After the shower, you’ll get a hot meal.” Had hooks for their clothes Signs that said showers

The Final Solution:Process

Shift from carbon monoxide to Zyklon B Carbon Monoxide = 100 Jews 1-2 hours Zyklon B = 100 Jews 10-15 minutes

Shift from Mass Graves to Crematorium Why?

Mass Graves were: Smelling really bad Polluting the local water supply

The Final Solution:Process

Jews were forced to put the bodies into the ovens Distancing themselves (Nazis)

The Final Solution:Life in the Camps

One of the basic Nazi aims was to demoralize, humiliate, ruin us, not only physically but also spiritually. They did everything in their power to push us into the bottomless depths of degradation. Their spies were constantly among us to keep them informed about every thought, every feeling, every reaction we had, and one never knew who was one of their agents.

The Final Solution:Life in the Camps

There was only one law in Auschwitz - the law of the jungle- the law of self-preservation. Women who in their former lives were decent self-respecting human beings now stole, lied, spied, beat the others and - if necessary - killed them, in order to save their miserable lives. Stealing became an art, a virtue, something to be proud of. We called it "organization."

The Final Solution:Life in the Camps

Those who were working near the crematories had an opportunity to "organize" an occasional can offood, a pair of shoes, a dress, a cooking pot, a comb, which they then sold on the black market operating in the latrine for food, for special favors, and - if the buyers were men - for "love."

The Final Solution:Life in the Camps

But among those who had no connections among the crematory workers there were many who "organized" the piece of bread of their neighbor, regardless of whether she might starve to death as a consequence, or "organized" their bedfellow's shoes, no matter if her bleeding feet would condemn her to be cremated.

The Final Solution:Life in the Camps

By stealing bread, shoes, water, you stole a life for yourself, even if it was at the expense of other lives. Only the strong, the cruel, the merciless survived. The SS were, of course, greatly amused by these practices and encouraged them by showing special favors to some, so as to awaken the jealousy, the hatred, the greed of the others.

The Final Solution:Life in the Camps

Other ways to survive Visit the hospital Where you stood in the soup line Latrines at night