Many debates still arise surrounding the Holocaust. One such debate is whether the Allies could have and should have carried out a bombing on Auschwitz. During WWII, the leaders of the Allied forces were confronted with the decision of whether to bomb the crematoriums at Auschwitz II (Auschwitz-Birkenau). These crematorium were the biggest complex of mass murder the Nazis used during the Holocaust. The decision not to bomb Auschwitz was a hard one for the Allies, but was ultimately the right decision. Not only was it the right decision, it is unlikely that the Allies had the ability to carry out a successful bombing mission on the crematoriums. Ultimately, bombing Auschwitz would have proved to be a regrettable choice for the Allies, a choice that may have changed the outcome of the war and undoubtedly increased the loss of innocent life. The Auschwitz complex was located in Poland and was composed of three main camps (Auschwitz). Auschwitz I, the central camp, was constructed in 1940 and covered approximately 15 square miles (Auschwitz). Auschwitz II, Auschwitz- Birkenau, was constructed in 1941 and became the extermination camp of the Auschwitz complex. In 1943, four large crematorium buildings were constructed (Auschwitz). The Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoriums were the targets of the proposed bombings during WWII. . Auschwitz III was constructed in 1943 and was primarily a labor camp (Auschwitz). These camps composed the largest and most infamous Nazi death camp. The Allied forces did not have the resources to carry out a strike. The Allies, especially the Air Force, were heavily engaged in actions elsewhere; any non-military mission could have possibly cost the Allies the winning of the war, and would have, at th... ... middle of paper ... ...an And The Controversy Over The Bombing Of Auschwitz." Journal Of Ecumenical Studies 40.4 (2003): 370-380. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2014 Rice, Rondall. "Bombing Auschwitz: US 15Th Air Force And The Military Aspects Of A Possible Attack." War In History 6.2 (1999): 205. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. Rubinstein, William D. The Myth of Bombing Auschwitz. The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies Could Not Have Saved More Jews from the Nazis. London: Routledge, 1997. 157-81. Print. "The United States and the Holocaust: Why Auschwitz Was Not Bombed." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. . Vanden Heuvel, William J. "America, FDR, And The Holocaust." Society 34.6 (1997): 54. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
In this paper, we will explore the camp that is Bergen-Belsen and its workers, the camp system, liberation and trial. The notorious detention camp, Bergen-Belsen, was constructed in 1940 and “was near Hanover in northwest Germany, located between the villages Bergen and Belsen” (jewishvirtuallibrary.org), hence the name. Originally, the “camp was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners” (jewishvirtuallibrary.org) but, Bergen-Belsen rapidly grew. “In the first eighteen months of existence, there were already five satellite camps.” (holocaustresearchproject.org).
“To kill the Jews, the Nazis were willing to weaken their capacity to fight the war. The United States and its allies, however, were willing to attempt almost nothing to save them” (Pp 5). If we would have put half as much energy into loving the Jews as Hitler spent hating the Jews we could have made a great difference.
"The United States and the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.
Berenbaum, Michael. "Why Wasn't Auschwitz Bombed?" Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
The events which have become to be known as The Holocaust have caused much debate and dispute among historians. Central to this varied dispute is the intentions and motives of the perpetrators, with a wide range of theories as to why such horrific events took place. The publication of Jonah Goldhagen’s controversial but bestselling book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust” in many ways saw the reigniting of the debate and a flurry of scholarly and public interest. Central to Goldhagen’s disputed argument is the presentation of the perpetrators of the Holocaust as ordinary Germans who largely, willingly took part in the atrocities because of deeply held and violently strong anti-Semitic beliefs. This in many ways challenged earlier works like Christopher Browning’s “Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland” which arguably gives a more complex explanation for the motives of the perpetrators placing the emphasis on circumstance and pressure to conform. These differing opinions on why the perpetrators did what they did during the Holocaust have led to them being presented in very different ways by each historian. To contrast this I have chosen to focus on the portrayal of one event both books focus on in detail; the mass shooting of around 1,500 Jews that took place in Jozefow, Poland on July 13th 1942 (Browning:2001:225). This example clearly highlights the way each historian presents the perpetrators in different ways through; the use of language, imagery, stylistic devices and quotations, as a way of backing up their own argument. To do this I will focus on how various aspects of the massacre are portrayed and the way in which this affects the presentation of the per...
Rubenstein, Richard L. After Auschwitz: History, Theology, and Contemporary Judaism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1992. Print.
Rosenbaum, Alan S. Is The Holocaust Unique?. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2008. 387. Print.
Even when US troops liberated the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps, the stories still never made it to the front page of the paper and people still did not believe in the reliability of the stories (Leff 52). In 1943, a survey w...
Tent, James F. In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Nazi Persecution of Jewish-Christian Germans. Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2003.
When World War 2 broke out in 1939, the United States of America was facing the dilemma of whether or not to intervene in the massacre known as the Holocaust. Some people believe that the United States did all they could to help the victims of the war. Some believe that America did hardly anything. But, there is stronger evidence pointing towards the fact that the United States did not do enough to stop the killing initiated by Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi army.
...the time of the Holocaust, as described by Breitman, Feingold, and the other authors. The articles, essays, and chapters included in the book went into detail about how FDR could have and should have responded differently to the Holocaust. The book is a series of essays based on the original conference, and because they were written to inform and not entertain, it left the book dry and confusing. As a student who is studying this time period in history, I found it difficult to understand what the different sources were referring to. I believe that this book would be great as a reference, source for differing opinions, and provision of new information of FDR and the Holocaust for an academic scholar. For me, the scholarly reading level that the book was written in was at times overwhelming and I would not recommend it to the average reader interested in the topic.
Levi, Neil, and Michael Rothberg. The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2003. Print.
Dwork, Deborah, and R. J. Van Pelt. Holocaust: a History. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.
Most narratives out of the Holocaust from the Nazis point of view are stories of soldiers or citizens who were forced to partake in the mass killings of the Jewish citizens. Theses people claim to have had no choice and potentially feared for their own lives if they did not follow orders. Neighbors, The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland, by Jan T. Gross, shows a different account of people through their free will and motivations to kill their fellow Jewish Neighbors. Through Gross’s research, he discovers a complex account of a mass murder of roughly 1,600 Jews living in the town of Jedwabne Poland in 1941. What is captivating about this particular event was these Jews were murdered by friends, coworkers, and neighbors who lived in the same town of Jedwabne. Gross attempts to explain what motivated these neighbors to murder their fellow citizens of Jedwabne and how it was possible for them to move on with their lives like it had never happened.
Auschwitz I was built in 1940, as a site for Polish political prisoners. This was the original camp and administrative center. The prisoners’ living conditions were inhumane in every respect, and the death rate was quite high. Auschwitz I was not meant ...