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Research Paper
Holocaust Overview
Laura Creed
English 102-102
Mr. Neuberger
25 July 2012
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The Nazi Party Members 1922
http://bit.ly/Nt0vdM
When one hears someone mention The Holocaust most do not understand what really
happened, how it began, and how innocent people were killed. The point of having history is to
learn from the mistakes that occurred and to not let it happen again, and The Holocaust is no
exception. The Holocaust is an event that most people cannot wrap their head around because it
is so shocking, upsetting and even disturbing. In order to comprehend this tragic event one needs
to know the series of events that occurred that allowed the Nazi to systematically murder over 11
million people.
Nazi Rise to Power
The World War I ended in 1918 leaving the German population infuriated that they were
disarmed and forced to pay reparations to France and Britain after signing the Treaty of
Versailles. The Germans felt as if they were betrayed and
stabbed in the back. According to A Teachers Guide to
the Holocaust (TGH), Adolf Hitler joined a small political
part in 1919 and rose to leadership through his strong,
emotional and captivating speeches. In some of Hitlers
speeches he encouraged national pride, militarism, and a
racially pure Germany. He also railed against the Treaty of Versailles and delivered anti-
Semitic tirades, blaming the Jews for Germany's problems. Since Hitler was a great speaker by
the end of 1920 the Nazi Party otherwise known as the National Socialist Party, had around
3,000 members and he became the leader also known as The Fhrer. The Fhrer ended up being
the foundation for all legislation. Hitlers power was unlimited along with his personal power, it l
was equated with the destiny of the German nation. (Rise of the Nazi)
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Nazis Views on Jews: Anti-Semitism
While Hitler was trying to form the Nazi Party, he also was trying to form his members
into being anti-Semitic towards Jews. Since Hitler was a strong speaker the members of the Nazi
Party started to believe that the Jews are not a true German also
considered as non-German. According to the website About Nazism,
Hitler wrote a book calledMein Kampf, and in the book he writes about
how he notices the Jews on the streets for the first time and then he
asks himself, Was that a German? (qtd. in Adolf Hitler; Mein
Kampf). He divides the human race up based on physical appearance.
Hitler openly announces his hatred for the Jews and why there is a need
to remove all of them so the German race can continue to expand.
Hitler is very detailed in why there is a need to expand the German race, and believes that the
Jewish genes are unworthy, and thats one of the reasons why they needed to be eliminated. The
bookMein Kampfwas not popular until after Hitlers rise to power, the book he wrote then
gained fame and virtually became for every Nazi the Bible. (Adolf Hitler; Mein Kampf)
Nuremberg Laws
After Adolf Hitler was announced the Chancellor of Germany, in 1935, the Nazi Party
announced here were going to be new laws that would need to be followed. Hitlers plan of
trying to make German the master race was moving in the direction he wanted. His power and
authority kept growing over the Jewish and German people. The website United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum (USHMM) describes that the first law called Protection of German Blood
and German honor, prohibited marriages and sexual activity between Jews and the German
people. Another law in the Nuremberg laws called the Reich Citizenship Law is where Jews
Hitlers bookMein Kampfhttp://bit.ly/MI1mGW
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were stripped of their German citizenship. These laws were stricter than they seem, being Jewish
was not based on religious beliefs. Anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents was
defined as a Jew, regardless of whether that individual identified himself or herself as a Jew or
belonged to the Jewish religious community
(The Nuremberg Race Laws). The photo in this
paragraph is the sign that was distributed over
Germany showing the standards of determining
whether or not you were Jewish. Another thing
that made the Jews stand out was they were
forced by the government to have a red J stamped
on their identity card, making it more visible and easier to spot Jews in the community. (The
Nuremberg Race Laws)
Propaganda
In 1933 Hitler wanted to persuade the German people more about Jews. He established a
Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
which was led by a man named Joseph Goebbels. The Nazi
Party used propaganda to motivate those who disagreed of
the mass murder of the Jews, to get more support and to
make their army of believers stronger. This made the
atmosphere around the Jews filled with violence and terror.
The website Holocaust Education and Archive Research
Team (HEART) explainsthat "The function of propaganda
is to attract supporters, the function of organization to win
The Nuremberg Laws that was posted to show the
determination of a Jew.
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Propaganda That Was Used.
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members... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes
them ripe for the victory of this idea...." (Nazi Propaganda). Hitler made sure that the
propaganda went through movies, flags, radio, cartoons, books, posters and music so that
everyone was always around his mass plan to have the German race be the main race. Hitler
wanted the propaganda to be everywhere, he saw propaganda as a transport of political
salesmanship in a mass market of people, and argued that it was a way of conveying his
message. (Nazi Propaganda)
Kristallnacht
After the Nuremberg Laws
a rush of hatred filled the air. According to the website Jewish
Virtual Library: A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise ADOTACE), it
explains why the Chief of Propaganda named Joseph Goebbels decided to attack the Jewish
people. In October a 17 year old boy found out that his familys possessions were confiscated
and they were forced to move over the Polish border. The boy opened fire killing the Third
Secretary of the German Embassy in Paris
Ernst Vom Rath; he intended toassassinate the
German Ambassador. In November 1938
gangs of Nazi troopers rampaged throughout
Germany freely attacking the Jewish people at
their work places, in their homes, and even in
the streets. Joseph Goebbels then decided to
attack the Jews he called his pogrom the Night of Broken Glass also known as Kristallnacht.
At least 96 Jews were killed and hundreds more injured, more than 1,000
synagogues were burned (and possibly as many as 2,000), almost 7,500 Jewish
Kristallnachtalso known as The Night of Broken Glass
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businesses were destroyed, cemeteries and schools were vandalized, and 30,000
Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. (Kristallnacht)
The Kristallnacht ADOTACE explains that this was the beginning of the first large wave of
Jewish people that were capture and sent to concentration camps. (Kristallnacht)
Rounding up the Jews
After the unexpected Kristallnacht, the roundup of Jews did not happen overnight an
months to complete. According the website The Guardian, many of the Jews were warned before
they started to round up the Jews. Twenty-eight thousand
people, including Jews of foreign origin, French Jews,
and other French subjects regarded as suspects were
wanted by the French and German authorities How the
Jews in France were Rounded Up). The children did not
get away easily, if they were over the age of three they
were taken away from their mothers. Most of the children were left on the streets with nothing.
None of the neighbors were able to help them, in matter of fact they were forbidden to taken
them in and if anyone found out they would most likely be killed because of it. Most of the Jews
were rounded up by trains and were taken to concentration camps. If they were not taken to
concentration camps they were taken to Ghettos where they had to live without barley anything
to survive off. (How the Jews in France Were Rounded Up) In these Ghettos they had to live in
secluded area where they could not leave. The website My Jewish Learning describes that
approximately 450,000 Jews were crowded into an area of 1.3 square miles that was the
Warsaw ghetto. Other major ghettos were located in Krakow, Bialystok, Lvov, Lublin, Vilna,
Kovno, Czestochowa, and Minsk (Ghettos under the Nazis). The living conditions for the Jews
This is one way the Jews were rounded up.
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Where the Final Solution Conference was held. In the
villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee.
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in these ghettos included lack of food, water, and living space. The Jewish people in the ghettos
were forced by the German forces to wear arm bands with a yellow Star of David on it. One of
the main reasons the Jewish people were put in these ghettos was because it made it easier to
gather them and kill them. (Ghettos Under the Nazis)
Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution
The "Wannsee Conference" as it became known after the war, was a meeting that took
place in January of 1942. This meetings goal was to end the lives of all Jews which is where
they came up with the Final Solution. The full title
of the Conference was The Final Solution of the
Jewish Question in Europe. According to the website
USHMM, the SS men controlled the German police
force and the concentration camp systems. The
meeting consisted of fifth teen high-ranked Nazi Party
and German government in the villa in the Berlin
suburb of Wannsee. One of the most important people at the meeting was named Reinhard
Heydrich; he was a SS General at the time. Heydrich announced that During the course of the
Final Solution, the Jews will be deployed under appropriate supervision at a suitable form of
labor deployment in the East (Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution"). The purpose for
the Final Solution was to kill multiple Jews at one time, instead of letting them die of sickness,
starvation, weather conditions and weakness. The point of the Wannsee Conference was clear to
its participants, to further the coordination of a policy aimed at the physical annihilation of the
European Jews.
Selection Process
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=100051437/31/2019 Laura Creed-Research Holocaust Overview-Graded
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Once the Jews made it to the concentration camps, the selection process began
immediately after the Jews were taken off the
deportation trains. The website Holocaust Memorial
Day Trust explains that during the selection process
people would arrive daily. The Jewish women and men
were all separated before they did the examination. A
Nazi physician would examine each person to see if
they were healthy enough to survive forced labor. If
they were healthy enough to do forced labor they
were
usually worked to death from long hours
and no food. The disabled, elderly, babies, young children, and pregnant women rarely had a
chance of surviving the section because of their condition. Those who were selected for death
were led to the gas chambers. If there were people panicking while in line for the gas chambers
the German forces would simply tell them that they were going to take a shower to remove lice
from their bodies. The Jews did not know that they were being led to their death. (Life in the
Camps)
Extermination Methods
There were many concentration camps that Jews were sent to. There was a reason for
different concentration camps, some camps were
extermination camps, and most were working labor
campsbutoverall the camps had the same intention,
killing all Jews. The website Holocaust Education
explains the killing methods used against Jews. The
most popular method of mass murdering was the gas chamber. The Jews would go in massive
The Selection Process
http://bit.ly/OiCYNo
Gas chamber building at Birkenau.
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groups to take a shower and wouldnt come back. The web atrial states In Majdanek, on 3-4
November 1943, between 17,000 and 18,000 Jews were killed in one day as part of a mass
shooting (Extermination camps). There were different ways to kill the Jews,and besides gas
chambers some other methods were firing squads, and mobile gas vans. The easiest way for the
SS men to kill the Jews was the gas chambers. (Extermination camps)
Liberation
On June 6, 1944 was the day the Nazi power was starting to come to the end, this day
was also known as D-Day according to the website USHMM. The U.S General Dwight D.
Eisenhower had a plan to end the German Nazi power. Eisenhowers great plan needed many
troops; some came from Canada, and Britain. This plan was called the Great Crusade, the
destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of
Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and
security for ourselves in a free world (Liberation). The Soviet
forces found prisoners of 7,000 people that were left in the
concentration camps to die, once they found them they
provided them with the food and the needed medical support
that they needed. When the Soviet troops entered the concentration camps, they discovered some
frail survivors, piles of corpses, bones, and human ashes. Some of the German Nazis found out
that Eisenhowers army was coming so they made the Jews go on walks that lasted for miles
hoping to kill more before they could make it there. The article explains On May 8, 1945, less
than one year after D-Day, Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender became official, and the
world could celebrate the liberation of Europe from Nazi rule (Liberation).
After Liberation
Liberation days in Holland, in 1944.
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Life after liberation was also very hard, for many of the survivors. Ten of thousands died
of over-eating, epidemics and exhaustion according to the website Yad Vashem. Many of the
Jewish survivors feared to go back to their former
homes because they didnt want to be reminded of
how it all began. Since there was so much
antisemitism where they lived they feared it would
start all over again. The survivors who decided to go
back to their homes didnt find any of their personal
belongings. Hitler himself committed suicide after the end of the war and was never held fully
accountable for the deaths and destructions he helped with. Many of the Jews were placed in
Displaced Persons camps because they had nowhere to go. Soon after the Jews disbursed
throughout the world and started to live their own lives.There were millions of people murdered
throughout the course of the Holocaust because of the German Nazis. (After Liberation)
The Holocaust is history that must not be repeated. We cannot fully understand how the
conditions were because we did not live in that time era but educating our society on this topic
will prevent it from happening again. The Holocaust will remain the most one of the most tragic
and devastating periods of our history and will never be forgotten.
Jews with soldiers of the Soviet Red Army in
Latvia after its liberation.
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Works Cited
Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf."Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf. About Nazism, n.d. Web. 18 July 2012.
"After Liberation." The Holocaust. Yad Vashem the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes'
Remembrance, n.d. Web. 23 July 2012.
"Extermination Camps."Holocaust Education. The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide
Studies, n.d. Web. 23 July 2012.
Glazer, Susan D. "Ghettos under the Nazis."Modern History: Ghettos. My Jewish Learning, n.d.
Web. 23 July 2012.
"The Holocaust: A Learning Site for Students." The Nuremberg Race Laws. United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), n.d. Web. 22 July 2012
"Holocaust History."Antisemitism. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), n.d.
Web. 16 July 2012.
"Holocaust History."Liberation. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), n.d.
Web. 23 July 2012
"Holocaust History." Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution" United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum (USHMM), n.d. Web. 23 July 2012.
"Holocaust Memorial Day Trust."Life in the Camps. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 July 2012.
"Holocaust Timeline: The Rise of the Nazi Party."Holocaust Timeline: The Rise of the Nazi
Party. A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust, n.d. Web. 16 July 2012.
"How the Jews in France Were Rounded Up." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 09
Feb. 1942. Web. 23 July 2012.
"Kristallnacht." Jewish Virtual Library: A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative
Enterprise. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 July 2012.
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"Nazi Propaganda."Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team (HEART). N.p., 2009. Web.
22 July 2012.