Persecution of Jews increased during World War two as Nazis invaded more countries; which contained thousands of Jews. The increased number of Jews meant that the problem increased greatly. The ways in which the Nazis dealt with the Jews gradually changed throughout the years. First it started by isolating them from society, then exportation out of Europe, then ghettoisatiion;which failed because of the mass number of people. Later on they brought in methods such as the Einsatzgruppen, Concentration and labour camps and gas chambers. In this essay I will write about each of these methods that contributed to the elimination of Jews from 1941 onwards.
The Einsatzgruppen wasformed by Himmler and Heidrich. The Einsatsgruppen was a special action group known as mobile killing squads. The special actions that this group referred to were mass murders. Their operations marked the opening stages of the planned extermination of Jews in Europe. They were the heralds of the Holocaust. These squads were sent with armies to remove Jews in conquered countries. One way they went about this was mass shootings, these shootings took place in secluded and isolated areas. The Jews would be lined up and shot, sometimes they were forced to dig their own grave before being shot. To make sure that no one would find out about these mass killings they destroyed all evidence by burning the bodies or burying them. It was not long before that the Nazis figured out that it was less efficient as it was taking up too much time, too many men, wasting too many bullets and it seemed to have a psychological damaging effect on the men. This lead them to introduce other methods.
The use of harmful gas to kill humans was the action they took next. The SS discove...
... middle of paper ...
...or long hours. On their arrival they had to shower in freezing or boiling conditions, they got their hair shaved off so they would all look alike. They were not called by their names but by a number that was painfully tattoos onto their arm. They were given uniforms which had to be on during the time they spent in the camps. Their identity was stripped from them. In these camps they worked producing goods, clothes, jewellery, war products or anything that benefited the Nazis. Just like in the Ghettos, the Jews had to live in inhumane conditions. There was not enough food, a lack of hygiene as a result people died from starvation and illnesses. They were forced to work for more than 10 hours a day without any breaks. Those who couldn’t cope were killed. The Jewish prisoners that survived were those who helped the Nazis with the disposal of dead bodies and the cleaners.
The. This was also known as the mass murder of the Jews (Genocide). The persecution of the Jews was applied in stages. After the Nazi party achieved power, state enforced racism resulted in anti-Jewish. legislation, boycotts, “Aryanization,” Kristallnacht (Night of Broken).
Poland was devastated when German forces invaded their country on September 1, 1939, marking the beginning of World War II. Still suffering from the turmoil of World War I, with Germany left in ruins, Hitler's government dreamt of an immense, new domain of "living space" in Eastern Europe; to acquire German dominance in Europe would call for war in the minds of German leaders (World War II in Europe). The Nazis believed the Germans were racially elite and found the Jews to be inferior to the German population. The Holocaust was the discrimination and the slaughter of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its associates (Introduction to the Holocaust). The Nazis instituted killing centers, also known as “extermination camps” or “death camps,” for being able to resourcefully take part in mass murder (Killing Centers: An Overview).
Dehumanization was a big part of these camps. The Nazis would kick innocent Jewish families and send them to concentration or death camps. The main way they dehumanized these Jewish people is when they take all their possessions. In Night they go around taking all there gold and silver, make them leave their small bags of clothing on the train, and finally give them crappy clothing. All this reduces their emotions; they go from owing all these possessions to not having a cent to their name. If I was in that situation I would just be in shock with such a huge change in such a short amount of time. The next way they dehumanized the Jewish people were they stopped using names and gave them all numbers. For example in Night Eliezer’s number was A-7713. Not only were all their possessions taken, but also their names. Your name can be something that separates you from another person. Now they are being kept by their number, almost as if that’s all they are, a number. If I was in their place I would question my importance, why am I here, am I just a number waiting to be replaced? The third way they were dehumanized was that on their “death march” they were forced to run nonstop all day with no food or water. If you stopped or slowed down, you were killed with no regards for your life. The prisoners were treated like cattle. They were being yelled at to run, run faster and such. They were not treated as equal humans. If the officers were tired, they got replaced. Dehumanization affected all the victims of the Holocaust in some sort of way from them losing all their possessions, their name, or being treated unfairly/ like animals.
Killing Squads managed to find a fast killing tactic. This is a crucial part of the topic because figuring out how Killing Squads kill could show why they were able to kill so many Jews, Gypsies, and Communist leaders. Killing Squad were also called death squads,mobile killing units, and Einsatzgruppen. The killing squads were often made of the German S.S and police personnel (USHMM). This means that the killing squads did have some military experience. Killing Squads act swiftly,usually tanking the Jewish population by surprise (USHMM). This is also why they were called mobile killing units. Killing Squads would enter towns and gather the people, usually in vast open areas. Open areas are easier to dig the mass graves that the dead would be put it. After victims gave their valuables to the killing squad and undressed, they were gassed in vans, shot it trenches, or shot in prepared pits (USHMM).People gassed in vans were killed by the carbon monoxide produced by the van because the exhaust pipes were blocked. These research findings reveal the harsh tactics of killing squads. The squads don't care how the Jews died, as long as it was cheap.
While being forced to live in Auschwitz they endured many cruel and harsh punishments. The main form of punishment was the gas chambers. These chambers were cells that were made underground and were able to be sealed. Zyklon-B was the poison used to gas and kill the Jewish people. “It takes about 10 minutes to kill 2,000 to 3,000 people in the gas chamber.” (Saldinger p.57) After gassing they would then be extracted from the chamber and taken to the crematorium where the bodies would be disposed of. Sometimes it wasn’t even the guards who would dispose of the bodies, most of the time it was the prisoners who were forced to extract their own people from the chambers. This was just one of the many forms of punishment; there were many more and some were just as bad.
At the start of Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror, no one would have been able to foresee what eventually led to the genocide of approximately six million Jews. However, steps can be traced to see how the Holocaust occurred. One of those steps would be the implementation of the ghetto system in Poland. This system allowed for Jews to be placed in overcrowded areas while Nazi officials figured out what to do with them permanently. The ghettos started out as a temporary solution that eventually became a dehumanizing method that allowed mass relocation into overcrowded areas where starvation and privation thrived. Also, Nazi officials allowed for corrupt Jewish governments that created an atmosphere of mistrust within its walls. Together, this allowed
Jewish people weren’t the only ones sent to concentration camps. People such as people with disabilities, Homosexuals, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Communists, and Socialists (Byers.p.12). Everyone that was sent to concentration camps was sent via train cars (www.historychannel.com). They had no food, water, or restrooms for up to 18 days. Many people died from the lack of food and water (Byers, p.15).
They were stripped of their political rights and taken from their homes and friends with limited to no warning and uncertain what was next to come. An abundance of people were forced to one of the thousands of concentrations camps where they were separated from their families and directed to either a labor camp, where many would suffer, or to a death camp, where were they would unfortunately be executed immediately. In 1933, Hitler finally was named Chancellor of Germany and began to organize what he called the “Final Solution” (Balson). He and his Nazi party believed Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally ill were violating racial purity in Europe and devised a way to slowly kill them off and remove them from Germany and the rest of the world (Balson). Many people know and understand the events occurring during the Holocaust, but they probably don’t realize there was a plethora of steps in setting up concentration camps, persecuting the targeted groups, and keeping Hitler’s and the Nazis’ intentions a secret.
The inmates usually lived in overcrowded barracks and slept in bunk “beds”. In the forced labour camps, for instance, the inmates usually worked 12 hours a day with hard physical work, clothed in rags, eating too little and always living under the risk of corporal punishment” (Holocaust | Concentration Camps). Only 7,000 emaciated survivors of a Nazi extermination process that killed an estimated six million Jews were found at Auschwitz” (Rice, Earle). Most of these deaths occurred towards the end of the war; however, there were still a lot of lives that had been miraculously spared. “According to SS reports, there were more than 700,000 prisoners left in the camps in January 1945.
so, in that period, where Hitler was at the height of his control, 5 -
At the camp, the Jews were not treated like human. They were force to do thing that was unhuman and that dehumanized
The Einsatzgruppen were broken down to cover more area and to cause more chaos. Their techniques for killing were horrific, and in some cases could even tax the mind of the executioner. They were responsible for most of the murders of Jews during World War 2. Almost every huge massacre site they were at it killing undesirables.
The Treatment of Jews Under Nazi Power Whilst in prison, Adolf Hitler wrote ‘Mein Kampf’ in which he declared
Discrimination Against Jews in Germany Once Adolf Hitler had gained complete power of Germany as a dictator. In March 1933, he set up policies to bring the country's people into the country. line. The'separate'. His desire to do this was fuelled by the belief that the German people were a superior race above all others, called the Aryans.
And when he got there he saw that it was full of Brown shirt thugs who