Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Adam Moisson

English 102-102 Larry Neuburger 11 July 2012

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The Holocaust is one of those events in history that everyone needs to know about and for good reason. The Nazis undertook the greatest mass murder of modern time massacring nearly 11 million people. However, this did not just happen during the two year stretch of death camps. The Nazi party was able to do this through Hitlers ability to rise to power through antiSemitic rhetoric, mass propaganda and hiding the truth from the German people. In order to comprehend how the Nazis were able to complete this, it is necessary to understand the series of events that allowed the Holocaust to happen. Nazi Rise to Power Hitlers rise to power did not just start with his appointment as Chancellor on January 30th 1933, it started with Hitlers ideals fostering from his involvement in World War I (WWI). During WWI Adolf Hitler was a Lance Corporal dispatch runner, primarily running notes between the commanders from the rear to the front lines. According to David A. Meier
Hitler in WWI Hitler WWI http://binged.it/SGKaWv 1

of North Dakota University (NODAK), he was described as one of the lucky soldiers, somehow always

escaping injury or death. He later won the Iron Cross 1st class even though he was never promoted past corporal due, in part, to his awkward demeanor and lack of perceived leadership skills. However, Hitlers luck ran out in October 1916 when he took shrapnel from artillery fire, then again being temporarily blinded by Mustard Gas in 1918. (Adolf Hitlers Rise To Power, David A. Meier) When Hitler was sent back to the hospital from the Mustard Gas attack, his hatred festered when he learned the war was lost. The History Place describes the event saying

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He was sent home to a starving, war weary country full of unrest. He laid in a hospital bed consumed with dread amid a swirl of rumors of impending disaster. On November 10, 1918, an elderly pastor came into the hospital and announced the news. The Kaiser and the House of Hollenzollern had fallen. Their beloved Fatherland was now a republic. The war was over. Hitler described his reaction in Mein Kampf: "There followed terrible days and even worse nights I knew that all was lost...in these nights hatred grew in me, hatred for those responsible for this deed." Not the military, in his mind, but the politicians back at home in Germany and primarily the Jews. (The Rise of Adolf Hitler Hitler in WWI) This led into Hitler showing his frustration with the Government by leading the Beer Hall Putsch march on November 8th 1923. Hitlers march ultimately failed with 16 Nazis being shot and killed and many others arrested by the Bavarians, including Hitler. This lead to Hitlers hero status amongst the Nazi party, allowing him to be accepted as the head of the movement. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) describes the trial that took place, saying Although the judges convicted Hitler on the charge of high treason , they gave him the lightest allowable sentence of five years in a minimum security prison at Landsberg am

Hitler Rise to Power http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php? 1

Lech. He served only eight months. (The Beer Hall Putsch) USHMM also goes on to say that during this time Hitler took the chance to create his autobiography Mein Kampf and learn the lessons from the failed putsch. The main lessons he learned was that he needed the support of the army and that he needed to be the undisputed leader of the Nazi party, realizing that an overthrow would only merit a military response. He determined that his only chance to overtake

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the government was to win the popular vote and change the Weimar Republic from the inside out. (Beer Hall Putsch Munich Putsch) In 1932 Hitler ran for president against Paul von Hindenburg, narrowly losing the election. After, losing he ran for and won the seat of Chancellor in January 1933. Hitler then caught a break when Paul von Hindenburg died in August 1934, being chosen as the successor to presidential seat. Now in power, Hitlers earlier Enabling Act allowed him to begin his dictator ship. Nazis views on Jews Antisemitism
Hitler Shaking hands with Paul http://bit.ly/98Lcbk

According to Yad Vashim, hatred for Jews had been around for a while in Europe. The image of the jew as a murderer of Jesus and the fact that Jews had rejected Christianitys ebrace led to widespread hatred and suspecion. (Nazi Germany and the Jews 1933-1939 - Antisemitism) What Hitler did was just enflame that antisemitism and humiliate the Jews, blaming them for their problems. Along with this, Hilter forced the Jews to wear identification and separate them from normal society. All of this was done to further the agenda of Hitler. Nuremberg Laws
Anti- Semitism http://bit.ly/OTx830

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The Jewish Virtual Library describes what happened on August 20, 1935. A conference was held to debate the actions that should be taken against the Jews. A month later two measures were announced explaining the new Nuremberg Laws. The first measure was The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor, prohibiting marriages between Jews and Germans. The second law, The Reich Citizenship Law, stripped Jews of their German citizenship. (The Nuremberg Laws) Propaganda The main focus of Nazi propaganda was the average German people. USHMM goes on to say that Hitler forced his doctrines onto the German people causing them to think a certain way by spreading the ideals of National Socialism. Among them racism, Nuremberg Laws http://binged.it/LHL53J

anti-Semitism, and anti-Bolshevism. (Nazi Propaganda) The article also states, that following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Hitler establish a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. The main reason for creation was to make sure the Nazi message was spread through out Europe. (Nazi Propaganda) Kristallnacht Kristallnacht is translated into English as the Night of Broken Glass. According to the Holocaust Research Project, on November 9, 1938,
Nazi Propaganda

the progrom occurred that night throughout Germany.

http://bit.ly/MiVfcP

Hitler was out at a dinner party

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when he received news of Ernst Vom Rath was murdered by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17 year old Jew, two days earlier. The incident happened because Grynszpan was angry that he and his parents had been ousted from Germany. Over 7,500 Jewish businesses had their windows knocked out and 30,000 more Jews were arrested that night. (Kristallnacht) Rounding up Jews Ghettos The Holocaust Education and Archive Reasearch Team (HEART) describes the Jewish Ghettos as a place that were never intended to be used for long, just a place to hold the Jews before they were sent off to death camps. There were over 540 Jewish Ghettos through out the Nazi Empire. The mst famous was the Warsaw ghetto where 445,000 Jews inhabited only a few square miles of city. It is unknown how many, but many Jews died in the ghetto from starvation or disease before they were even shipped off to death camps. HEART goes on to say, As it became increasingly apparent where Nazi policy towards the Jews led, underground movements began to form in the ghettos. They were not always successful in organizing resistance, and even if they did, none had a hope of success. Resistance
Jewish Ghettos http://bit.ly/OkEg8P Kristallnacht http://bit.ly/PIx1so

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A Teachers Guide To The Holocaust University of South Florida talks about many ways the Jewish people resisted and fought back. One of the most profound incidences was in the Warsaw Ghetto on April 19, 1943. The Jewish Fight Organization (ZOB) fought with the Nazis for over a month. They used weapons that they had smuggled into the gettos, arming as many Jews as possible they fought back, but were ultimately defeated when the Nazis brought in their tanks and machine guns. In the process the Nazis started burning down the buildings and destroying everything in sight, killing many of the last 60,000 Jews still trapped in the Ghetto. A Teachers Guide describes it as The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the first large uprising by an urban population in German-occupied territory. (Resistance 1942-1944) Wannsee Conference According to USHMM, on January 20, 1942 the Wannsee Conference is where 15 Nazi Party and Government officials came together to decide on the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. The men who were there were Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Heinrich Muller, Adolf Eichmann, Eberhard Schongarth, Rudolf Lange, Otto Hoffmann, Roland Freisler, Wilhelm Kritzinger, Alfred Meyer, Georg Leibrandt, Martin Luther, Wilhelm Stuckart, Erich Naumann, Josef Bhler, Gerhard Klopfer. The Final Solution was the term for the systematic extermination of the Jews. USHMM goes on to say a the time of the Wannsee Conference, most participants were
Wannsee Conference http://bit.ly/OkG2Xs Jewish Resitance http://bit.ly/MSdbuc

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already aware that the National Socialist Regime had Engaged in mass murder of Jews and Other civilians in the German Occupied areas. (Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution.) It was apparent to men that 11,000,000 Jews would be slaughtered due to the Final Solution. Essentially the main conclusion drawn at this time was that gassing the Jews and others in death camps would be the most efficient and cost effective way to get rid of them. Selection According to Dr. Robert Jay Lifton the Jews were selected by a Doctor, however, there was nothing medical going on. The scenes were one of mass confusion with people being rushed out of the cattle cars and forced to throw all of their possessions on to the ground and line up in groups of five. (The Nazi Doctors, Selections on the Ramp) Families were forced apart never to see each other again. Selection was more of a process of getting rid of the sick and the weak first and the strong later. The strong and healthy could be used for physical labor. Extermination Methods Harry W. Mazal OBE describes in detail the many ways Nazis used to murder Jewish people. Many were killed by overwork, starvation and disease. The Jews who were not killed during selection were sentenced to hauling rocks in quarries up steep staircases in
Selection http://bit.ly/NMdABP

Mauthausen. Another method employed was shooting. Over one million Jews were killed by shooting. However, this took a great psychological toll on the SS soldiers doing the shooting and was deemed inefficient. The most horrifying, but most used, was the gas method. The Nazis used mobile gas vans and would dump the bodies once everyone in the back was dead. The gas Chambers were used more than any other method as it was the quickest, most efficient and cost

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effective way. The death camps in Poland were Treblinka, Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Auschwitz, Madjanek and Natzweiler-Struthof . The first four used carbon monoxide emanating from internal combustion engines in gas chambers. The last three used Hydrogen Cyanide in the form of Zyklon-B, a commercial preparation in purpose built gas chambers. (Methods of Murder) Liberation According to Yad Vashem the first camp to be liberated was Majdanek in July 1944 by the Soviet troops. British and American troops started liberating Nazi camps in sring of 1945, freeing tens of thousands of people as they went. They go on to say These prisoners had been living under extremely harsh conditions. Many were starving and others were very sick. Many of the people who had been liberated had suvived death marches, forced to march over long distances. (Liberation and Survival) Conclusion All in all, the Holocaust is an event that is quickly
Liberation http://bit.ly/OjdO19 Gash Chamber http://bit.ly/M5NGL8 Gas Chambers http://bit.ly/OkHUiY

becoming forgotten and it should not be. It is a significant event that should be taught to everyone in school, thus history may repeat itself. It is amazing how the murder of nearly 1twelve million people took place under the guise of Socialism and no one seemed to know what happened until after the Jews were liberated.

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Works Cited BJF. "Jewish Ghetto's During The Holocaust Www.HolocaustResearchProject.org." Jewish Ghetto's During The Holocaust Www.HolocaustResearchProject.org. Holocaust Research Project, 2006. Web. 23 July 2012. "The History Place - Rise of Hitler: Hitler in World War I." The History Place - Rise of Hitler: Hitler in World War I. The History Place, 1996. Web. 23 July 2012. "Holocaust History." Beer Hall Putsch (Munich Putsch). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 11 May 2012. Web. 23 July 2012. "Holocaust History." Germany: Establishment of the Nazi Dictatorship. United States Holocaust Museum, 11 May 2012. Web. 23 July 2012. "The Holocaust." Holocaust History. Yad Vashem, 2012. Web. 23 July 2012. "Holocaust Timeline: Rescue & Liberation." Holocaust Timeline: Rescue & Liberation. A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust, 2005. Web. 23 July 2012. "Kristallnacht." Holocuast Education and Research Team. Holocaust Research Project, 2007. Web. 23 July 2012. Medad, Yisrael. "Sh'ma, A Journal of Jewish Ideas | Israel's War of Liberation, 1944-1948." Sh'ma, A Journal of Jewish Ideas | Israel's War of Liberation, 1944-1948. Sh'ma A Journal of Jewish Ideas, 2012. Web. 23 July 2012. Meier, David A. "Adolf." Hitler's Rise to Power. North Dakota University, 2000. Web. 23 July 2012. "The Nuremberg Laws." The Nuremberg Laws. Jewish Virtual Library, 2012. Web. 23 July 2012. Roseman, Mark. "Holocaust History." Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution" United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2002. Web. 23 July 2012.