Discrimination In Holocaust

When people think of the Holocaust, they often times think of the bad images they have seen, and the many deaths associated with this tragic event. In some cases, many people around the world do not believe that the Holocaust occurred. Unfortunately, the Holocaust was an inhuman event that did happen in World War II, initiated by Adolf Hitler. Many people seem to think that only the Jews were discriminated against, but there were many more races effected by Nazi Germany. Everyone persecuted in the Holocaust were what we call today, “othered”. Meaning that they were set out from other people, in terrible living conditions, for any reason, and not allowed in the norms of regular life. Which made them face hardships that they have never imagined.

This event took place in 1938. “Nearly 1,000 synagogues were set on fire, and 76 were destroyed. More than 7,000 Jewish businesses, and homes were looted, about one hundred Jews were killed, and as many as 30,000 Jews were arrested, and sent to concentration camps to be tormented, many for months.” (Technology). The Nazi’s furthered their persecution against the Jews by forcing them to pay for the damages of “The Night of Broken Glass”. Making this event the beginning of the persecution the Jews would be facing.

Then, on September 1st, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France, had obliged by treaty to help Poland, declaring war on Germany. Now World War II had begun, and the harsh persecution of the Jews were being implemented into the war plans. Not only did Hitler have plans to demolish the race of the Jews, but also other competing countries he was fighting against. “Therefore, Hitler sent more than just his army into the Soviet Union; he sent mobile killing squads called Einsatzgruppen. These squads were to search out, and kill Jews, and other “undesirables” en masse.”

All the concentration camps in Europe were liberated by Americans, and many of the Jews who were still alive were transported to displaced person facilities. The prisoners left in the concentration camps were barely staying alive. Many of these prisoners, were dying from starvation, and disease. “Soviet forces were the first to approach a major Nazi camp, reaching Majdanek near Lublin, Poland, in July 1944. 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.” (Museum). Liberators confronted unspeakable conditions in the Nazi camps, where piles of corpses lay unburied, and shown to the public. Only after the liberation of these camps was the full scope of Nazi horrors exposed to the world. This was when many people actually started to believe what had happened in Germany. The small percentage of inmates who survived resembled skeletons because of the demands of forced labor and the lack of food, compounded by months and years of maltreatment. Many were so weak that they could hardly move. Disease remained an ever-present danger, and many of the camps had to be burned down to prevent the spread of epidemics. Survivors of the