A BrieI History oI the Holocaust and the Struggle oI the Jewish Race

Whitney Layne







Eng. Comp. 102-102
Mr. Neuburger
18 November 2011
Layne 1


Jews Iorced to carry Anti-Semitism signs
Isurvived.org


Throughout history genocides have occurred, although the most dramatic and well known
is the Holocaust oI World War II. It becomes a very important time Ior humans around the world
to remember. Learning more about the events that took place Irom the year 1918 to 1945 may
help one understand why it is so imperative to prevent history Irom repeating itselI.

Anti-Semitism
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the word anti-
Semitism means hatred or prejudice against Jews. Although it states the word came about in the
year 1879 and not only Iocused on Jews until much
later in the nineteen century when it became more
dominated towards the Jewish people. The Nazi
party in Germany designed a political platIorm
based on anti-Semitism and became able to use the
hatred oI Jews and the propaganda created, to
accomplish a war against Jews, even though in all reality the Jewish people had done nothing
wrong, AdolI Hitler, and the Nazi party established a way to create the idea that genocide oI the
Jews is the only way to stop the Jewish people Irom taking the Great Depression in witch
Germany Iound themselves Iacing, to complete destruction.(Anti-Semitism)
Most Gentiles in Germany at this time, unaware oI the truth, believed all oI the propaganda
Hitler and the Nazi party used to blind the people in Germany. Each time Hitler spoke he became
more convincing in his speeches, Iueling the anger Germans had against the economy towards

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Layne 2


The Nuremberg Laws
en.wikipedia.org
the Jewish race. This made the goals oI the Nazis possible to take place and using anti-Semitism
allowed them creates laws restricting Judaism Irom spreading throughout Germany.

Nuremberg Laws
In September, 1955 the Nazi party instituted the Nuremberg laws. According to
(UHMM),the laws did not deIine a Jew. However, many Germans who had not practiced
Judaism Ior years Iound themselves caught in the grip oI Nazi terror. The laws thereIore gave an
outline oI who the Nazi`s considered a Jew and
how the Nazi`s planned to separate the Jews Irom
the Gentiles. It also allowed the Nazi`s to start
restricting the rights oI the Jewish people even iI
they did not practice the religion. For instance; not
permitting Jews to marry non-Jews, practice law,
or treat non-Jews Ior any illness. The law became
a way Ior the Nazi`s to control every aspect oI the Jewish liIe and ultimately stop so called inter-
racial spreading.
Furthermore, USHMM explains that although Hitler thought his laws set in place allowed
certain justiIications in his reason to rid the world (or his country) oI the Iilth known as the Jews.
'For a brieI period aIter the Nuremberg, in the weeks beIore and during the 1936 Olympic
Games held in Berlin, the Nazi Regime actually moderated its anti-Jewish attacks and even
removed some oI the signs saying, 'Jews Unwelcome Irom public places.(The Nuremberg
Race Laws) Even though Hitler and the Nazi party had been determined to show their views oI
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Layne 3


Shop windows aIter Kristallnacht
Jewishvirtuallibrary.org
the Jewish race to be right and only way to run Germany, they did not want the rest oI the world
to see what the actions that they taken against the Jews.

Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht is also known as 'Night oI Broken Glass, According to the Yad Vashem
web site, 'Kristallnacht reIers to the glass oI the shop windows smashed by the rioters.
(Kristallnacht) It all began in early November
when a Jewish man by the name oI Herschel
Grynszpan killed a German oIIicial, and the Nazi
party took it out on all the Jewish people instead
oI the reIugee responsible. As the riots broke out,
the article states, 'The shop windows oI the
Jewish businesses were smashed, stores looted,
hundreds oI Synagogues and Jewish homes were burnt down and many Jews were physically
assaulted. (Kristallnacht) The riots showed that the Nazi party and its Iollowers had brutal
intentions against the Jews, and used this attack upon the business and homes to make the Jewish
people IearIul oI any retaliation.
In addition, Yad Vashem describes how Kristallnacht became the beginning oI the abuse
that the Jewish people ultimately had to Iace in the years to come. Although the oIIicial 'Death
Camps did not come about until sometime later, aIter the Night oI Broken Glass many Jews had
been stripped Irom their homes and taken to concentration camps that had already been set up by
the Nazi and the Germans in power at the time. This shows that iI the camps had already been set
up by the Nazi party then they had already decided to destroy the Jews. They just needed one
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Layne 4


Jewish Family in the Ghetto
Geschichteinchronologie.ch
thing to set their plan in motion. By using the death iI Ernst Vom Rath, the Nazi`s had been able
to justiIy the crimes and the brutal acts upon the Jewish people. Although most other countries
'.were shocked by the Kristallnacht program, and some governments began admitting more
reIugees as a result.(Kristallnacht) The eIIorts oI the others seemed to become useless as the
relentless abuse and extermination oI the Jewish kind became more Irequent with much more
intensity. (Kristallnacht)

Ghettos
According to the Columbia Electronic
Encyclopedia, the term 'Ghetto has originally just a
part oI a city in which the Jewish people resided and
it became 'A section oI a city where members oI
any racial group are segregated. Although the word
has been around since the early 14
th
Century, during
the rise oI the Nazi`s, a ghetto became a place where
people (mainly Jewish people) had been Iorced to be relocated to by extreme Iorce and not just
as means oI economic reasons. One oI the cities designated (Warsaw) is shown in the
Encyclopedia to be a very large area oI which one oI the largest ghettos to be established. As it
states, 'During World War 2 the city was occupied (1939-45) by German troops and subjected to
systematic destruction.(Ghettos) Starting out with about Iive hundred people and ending in two
hundred, shows to be a very hostile environment during the war. Even though one would see the
death camps as the main death oI the Jewish race during the Holocaust, the journal (Unbowed
Through the Gate oI Darkness) shows that large numbers oI Jews died in the Ghettos beIore they
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Comment |L3]: ls Lhls anoLher source?
Layne 5


reaching the death camps. The article also states 'German oIIicers were rarely seen in the
Ghettos although it was closely guarded, mainly by Czech Gendarmes.(Auschwitz)
In a 'Film UnIinished, is a Iilm that had been sitting in an archive Iorgotten about and
lost Ior some time, then aIter the war oI a documentary produced Ior no other reason than
propaganda oI liIe in the Warsaw Ghetto. Although a silent Iilm, it is a very moving Iilm
showing all diIIerent way oI liIe in the Ghetto. During this time it would seem the Nazi`s had
intended to show how selIish and dirty the Jewish people lived, and Iorgetting that the Nazi`s
had been the ones to put the Jews in a tragic situation in the Iirst place. The German troops aIter
rounding up the Jews Irom their homes and placed them in an unIamiliar and unwelcoming
liIestyle in the Ghetto. Although the Iilm did show the opposite sides oI the spectrum oI liIe in
the Ghetto, it tried very hard not to show the soldiers Iorcing the people to act the way they
wanted, proving that Hitler had to manipulate Iacts to get the German population to support his
distorted views on the Jewish race. According to David Abrams, a Holocaust survivor the
Ghettos seemed to be even worse than the death camp in regards to the living environments they
unIortunately been Iorced into. Not long aIter the Jews suIIered and died in the Ghetto the
German troops Iorced them onto trains and set their way to the death camps as many even died
on the train.(Film UnIiinshed)

Wannsee ConIerence-The Final Solution
According to Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team, the Wannsee
ConIerence, held in Berlin on January 20
th
1992, had been considered the 'Final Solution iI the
Jews. The men that participated included many oI the highly ranked leaders oI Germany at that
time but did not include Hitler. (The Minutes Irom the Wannsee ConIerence) The man described
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Layne 6


The building Wannsee ConIerence took place
Holocaustrearchproject.org
on the Holocaust History Page SS-Lieutenant Heydrich reported as the one who had conducted
the conIerence. 'Heydrich was an ambitious and meticulous oIIicer who relished responsibility
oI power. (The Wannsee ConIerence) BeIore the conIerence had taken place the Jew had been
concentrated in the Ghetto.
The Final Solution that the Nazi`s came up with to deal with the Jewish people created
by the conIerence established the idea to kill them
all. Extermination oI the Jews seemed to be the
only way the Nazi`s Ielt would ultimately
improved German liIe. During this time
'Heydrich wanted to be certain there was no
conIusion among the group that, now, the term
reIerred speciIically to the murder oI all European
Jews. (Holocausthistory.org) Although BrieI as
discussed by an SS oIIicer that attended the meeting the Wannsee ConIerence has shown to be
very crucial even in the attempted annihilation iI the Jewish race. Even though most oI the men
in the conIerence had already been involved in the extermination oI Jews by killing more than a
halI million people behind the Iront lines, according to Holocaust-history.org, 'This had
prompted a search Ior a more impersonal way oI killing larger numbers oI people.(The
Wannsee ConIerence) By January, 1942, the death camps in Belzac and Chelmno, with their
gassing Iacilities, had already under construction. Telling one that even without the conIerence it
already planned to move the Jews Irom the Ghettos to the death camps and that the Ghettos
proved to be a holding place Ior the Jews so that it would not be hard to round them up iI in a
concentrated area. 'The Wannsee conIerence was not called to decide the Iate oI the European
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Layne 7


Selection process getting oII the trains
Holocaust-education.dk
Jews but to clariIy all points regarding their demise. Holocausthistory.org states the true
meaning oI the conIerence had already decided. (The Wannsee ConIerence)

Selektion
Selection by deIinition is just picking one Irom another, but it played a big part in World
War 2, determining iI one would be sent to an immediate death or torturous work camp. Some
might come to the conclusion that one would be better oII in the work camp because they could
have a chance to live, but when looking at the Iacts oI the millions that died by being Iorced to
work or stoned to death might be more prominent
to have been selected Ior the immediate death.
According to David Abrams, a man that never
gave up hope and went through the selection
process with his grandIather, and they got
separated mainly because oI the age diIIerence
between the two. Most oI the selections in regards
to who would live or die only required one main oIIicer or doctor making the Iinal decision to
send the Jew to the leIt or right. The process oI selection Iocused on the separation oI the men
Irom the women, the young Irom the old and the strong Irom the weak. According to the
Neuburger`s time line selection, 'Most oI the time it was the last time anyone saw
Iamily,(proIessor Neuburger) Even though David Abrams states that he had been told many
times they would get to see them later, as they look into the sky oI Ash knowing he had been lied
to, makes selection process a very devastating memory Ior most survivors.(David Abrams)

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clLaLlon needed
Layne 8


Gas chamber at Auschwitz
Holocaust-education
Extermination Methods
AIter the selection process some oI the prisoner sent straight to their death or sent to work
to Concentration Camps. Ultimately the goal Hitler intended involved extermination oI the entire
population oI the Jews. Finding away to execute the Nazi`s plan seemed to have diIIerent
methods and the same outcome. Even though, most methods showed to be very eIIective
according to Erich Kul, 'During the Iive years that the Auschwitz extermination complex was in
existence, a total oI 667 prisoners managed to escape Irom its seventeen camps.(extermination
methods) Furthermore when the Jew heard oI
others escaping more attempts to get Iree
occurred, causing the Nazi`s to take more security
measures and kill the Jews at a Iaster pace.
Working at greater magnitudes meant the Jews
had very little Iaith in surviving, so it Iorced them
to work harder to escape. With the Nazi`s using
the gas chambers they had the capability to end the lives oI thousands oI prisoners a day.
Although most happened to be Russian or Polish, around a dozen Jewish victims are reported to
have made it without getting recaptured. The ones that did get recaptured however got publicly
murdered and their bodies put on display to show what could happen iI others would try the
same. (Attempts by Jewish Escapees to Stop Mass Extermination.)
Apart Irom the gas chambers, they executed the Jews by pumping deadly gas into the
underground showers; the Nazi`s used other methods. Some oI the ways that the SS-men used to
exterminate the Jews may have not oI been as eIIective, but worked on a lower level. Starving
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Auschwitz entrance
Scerdisndia.com
Jews and working them to death are a Iew oI a slower methods, and mass shootings, which may
have been harder emotionally Ior oIIicers doing the shooting.
Death Camps
A death camp during the Holocaust, Ior millions oI Jews, turned out to be the end oI their
existence on earth. According to (auschwitx.dk
website) 'Auschwitz-Birkenau became the killing
center where the largest numbers oI European
Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
Auschwitz is the place at which the trains
stopped, and where the mass murders using the
gas chambers became an everyday occurrence.
This death camp recorded to be the largest extermination camp, and ran by ReichsIuhrer SS
Heinrich Himmler. Although the camp; ran by Himmler, Hitler set the orders Ior the way it
murdered oI the prisoners. Most children upon arrival either by train or birth became immediate
victims, mainly because they served no purpose to Hitler, however JoseI Mengele did have a
distorted view on a diIIerent kind oI torturous use Ior many patience including children. 'JoseI
Mengele was nicknamed the Angel oI Death Ior the inhuman experiments he conducted.
Furthermore Mengele had colleagues at the camp with him, including Carl Clanberg, Dr. Herta
Oberhouser and many others. They just happened to not be as vindictive as Mengele. (Gate to
hell)
However almost no one made it out oI the death camps, the Iew that did still Iaced the
memories they encountered during the unimaginable time in their liIe. According to the
(USHMM) along with Auschwitz the Nazi`s had created around 20,000 camps between 1933
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selecLlons because he was an offlcer
Layne 10

Liberation oI Allach
Scrapbookpages.com
through 1945. Not until aIter Kristallnacht when the concentration camps became death camps,
in a way to complete 'The Final Solution. In 1941 the Nazi`s began to use the gas chambers in
vans, but not until 1942 when they began to use room, killing up to 6,000 a day. ThereIore not
much more than small Iractions had been able to survive this stage in the genocide. (Nazi
Camps)

Liberation
During the years oI the Holocaust there are several stories, such as Ann Frank, oI the
survivors that received support and shelter Irom the ones that risked their own lives to save
another. In addition (according to the Teachers Guide to the Holocaust) some oI the people that
protected the Jews got severely punished and still Denmark allowed 7,220 oI 8,000 Jews
remained hidden. Among Denmark, one could conclude other such as Sweden, Hungary, and
Oscar Schindler. Even with a memorial in Jerusalem, thousands oI people that risked their lives
to save the victims go unknown. Although so many oI the Jews during the war remained under
protection, the ones in hiding did not live Iree until 1945. 'As Allied troops entered Nazi
occupied territories, the Iinal rescue and liberation transpired.
(Rescued and Liberation)
Apart Irom the Jews that had the capability to stay
hidden until liberation remained the surviving Iew that had been
captured and tortured in the death camps. Once the Nazi`s had
word that the allies had started to take over Irom the east, the
oIIicers oI the camps took the remaining survivors on death
marches, trying to kill oII the Jews they had leIt. The guard
Comment |L27]: -o papernLheses
Layne 11


Jews aIter liberation
HartIord.edu
planned to try and carry out the 'Final Solution or to destroy the ones that could identiIy them
to the world. According to the devastation oI the events that took place in the camps, the ones
that did survive had been so badly treated they looked like the walking dead. (Liberation oI the
Nazi Camps)

AIter Liberation-Until 1948
Shortly aIter the camps had been liberated the remaining survivors did not have a place to
go. Stranded with little help, in an unIamiliar place, in which according to (UHMM) most had no
Iamily, no home, and no transportation to leave so they got placed into Iacilities, authorized by
the United Nations RelieI and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) The survivors became
displaced persons and the UNRRA allowed
them to Iind some way to rebuild, reunite, and
regain what has been ripped away Irom them
in such a brieI time. Although it took years
Ior many oI the DP`s to leave the camps
provided to them they moved on within,
creating new communities inside. Furthermore most oI the Jewish people returned to Iaith. With
Jews Iinally had the Ireedom to enjoy religion, 'religious holidays became major occasions Ior
gathering and celebrations. (UHMM-Displaced Persons) Even with poor quality oI the living
spaces provided, the Jews remained Iree. Allowing the DP`s to re-enter the society and
immigrate, Ior there became many that just did not want to go home in Iear oI history repeating.
ThereIore the U.S. and Great Britain had decided to put Iewer restrictions on the quota Ior
Layne 12


immigration. By allowing the mass amount oI DP`s to immigrate, helped on a road to a new
start. (Displaced Persons)
In conclusion the Jewish race Iaced horriIic persecution, and unIortunately lives lost
during the Holocaust become a point in history that remains burned into the minds oI many.
Looking back on Holocaust history allows one not to Iorget how tragic hate can be, and learning
about how the events occurred may prevent this genocide oI mass devastation Irom ever
happening again.

Work Cited
Abrams, David. "Holocaust Survivor David Abrams Testimony." Interview. Youtube.com. USC
Shoah Foundation, Jan. 2009. 11 Oct. 2011. Web.
"Auschwitz, Nazi Death Camp." The Holocaust, Crimes, Heroes and Jillains. 18 Nov. 2011.
Web.
Judaism & Jewish Life - My Jewish Learning. 18 Nov. 2011. Web.
Neuburger, Larry. "Holocaust Time Line." Personal interview. 26 Sept. 2011
Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. 18 Nov. 2011. Web.
The Holocaust History Profect Homepage. Web. 18 Nov. 2011.
"Holocaust Timeline: Rescue & Liberation." Florida Center for Instructional Technology. 18
Nov. 2011. Web.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 18 Nov. 2011. Web.

SEE SCORE BELOW

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