Holocaust
Holocaust
Holocaust
Sam Hendrickson
College English
Mr. Nueburger
The code name by the Germans and Adolf Hitler for the extermination of the Jews before and
during World War II was the “Final Solution”. The “Final Solution” also included the Gypsies or
Roma, homosexuals, people with physical or mental disabilities, prisoners of war, artists, Russians, Poles,
Catholic Priests, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and anyone against the political power of Adolf Hitler. In the book
Hitler and the “Final Solution” Hitler says, “Once I am in power my first and for most task will be the
In the article from ushmm the origin of the “Final Solution” the plan to exterminate the Jewish
people remains uncertain. What is clear is that the genocide of the Jews was the culmination of a decade
of Nazi Policy, under the rule of Adolf Hitler. The “Final Solution” was implemented in stages. After the
June 1933 Nazi party rises to power, state-enforced racism resulted in anti-Jewish legislation, boycotts,
“Aryanization,” and finally the Night of Broken Glass all of which aimed to remove the Jews form German
Society. After the beginning of World War II, anti-Jewish policy evolved into a comprehensive plan to
In the article from the IB Holocaust ProjectThe Final Solution, Adolf Hitler’s plan to exterminate
the Jews of Europe. His anti-Semitic ideas were so strong that he released his hatred by murdering
them. The first step taken for this was the Wannsee Conference (1942), in which everything was
planned. Hitler asked Rhinhard Heydrich, an aide to Heinrich Himmler, to organize this conference.
Concentration camps were of top priority to discuss in the conference. First of all, the Nazis would
trap the Jews in ghettos; then they were taken to death camps. Auschwitz, located in southern Poland,
was the main and most important concentration and extermination camp. About one to three million
people were killed here, which is about one-third of all the Jews killed in the Holocaust. The other
important camp was Treblinka, located 80km from Warsaw, Poland. First it was established as a slave
labor camp in 1941, then in 1942, it became a death camp. From July to September of 1942 300,000
Jews had been taken from Warsaw to Treblinka. By May of 1943 the entire population of Warsaw had
been transported to Treblinka and other camps. Two years later by, July 11, 1945, 800,000 Jews had
There were many different ways in which the Nazis massacred the people; such as crematoriums,
electrocution, phenol injections, flame-throwers, hand grenades, and gas chambers—hydrocyanic gas,
carbon monoxide gas. The most common ones were the crematoriums and the gas chambers.
The process of killing became routine, the prisoners had to leave all their personal belongings and
were made to form two lines, men and women separately. These lines advanced towards an SS officer
who would conduct the selection, directing people either to one side, for the gas chambers, or the other,
which meant designation for forced labor. Those who were sent to the gas chambers were killed the same
day and their corpses were burned in the crematoriums or, if there were too many for the crematorium to
process they were burned in an open surface. Victims not sent to the gas chambers were sent to the
quarantine. First they went to the camps sauna. Inside the quarantine their hair was shortened and
property removed. The average life expectancy of the prisoners who went to labor camps was only a few
months. They had dreaded roll calls that would last for hours. If anyone fainted or fell down, they had to
An incoming train generally consisted of fifty to sixty cars (6000-7000 people). Twenty cars were
brought in at a time it initially took three to four hours to liquidate all the people in the cars. As they
The Jewish population in September, 1939, in the following countries, Poland, Occupied USSR,
Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Belgium, Greece, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Lithuania,
Holland, Austria, Italy, Bulgaria, and other countries, was 8,301,000. The number of Jews murdered was
5,978,000, 72% of the population. These statistics are from the IB holocaust Project: The Final Solution.
According to the Third Reich: Overview, the Nazi rise to power brought an end to the Weimar
Republic, a Parliamentary democracy established in Germany after World War I. Following the
appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor on January 30, 1933, the Nazi state quickly became a regime in
which Germans enjoyed no guaranteed basic rights. After a suspicious fire in the German Parliament on
February 28, 1933, the government issued a decree which suspended constitutional civil rights and
created a state of emergency in which official decrees could be enacted without parliamentary
confirmation. Upon the death of German president Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler assumed
the powers of the Presidency. The army swore and oath of personal loyalty to him. Hitler’s dictatorship
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rested on his position as Reich President (head of state), Reich Chancellor (head of government), and
Fuehrer (head of the Nazi party). According to the “Fuehrer principle,” Hitler stood outside the legal state
and determined matters of policy himself. There were no checks and balances. He alone decided policy.
From The Holocaust-A Guide for Teachers by Gary M. Grobman, questions have been raised
whether or not the Jews were like sheep led to the slaughter. For most of the Jews who died in the gas
chamber the issue of resistance was not an issue at all. The Jews were unaware that the Final Solution
was being implemented. Stripped of weapons, facing starvation and disease, the prospect of deportation
combined with offers of food was incentive for Jews to board the trains which took them to the ir deaths.
Most believed what they were told that they were going to be relocated to work. For virtually all, the
reality that they faced immediate death did not occur until the doors of the gas chambers were sealed, the
lights turned off, and the smell of gas was perceived. By then, it was too late. Those who did resist,
either by running from the trains or attacking their captors faced certain death. For others deciding not to
fight or commit suicide but rather to make an attempt at survival amidst the hopelessness and despair of
this situation was their resistance. Those that did resist found that the Nazi’s practiced the doctrine of
collective responsibility. Thus, if a Nazi solider was murdered by a Jew, not only was that Jew executed,
but also his family, and perhaps a hundred other Jews. As a result, few Jews even considered carrying
My Grandfather, John Kraft, grandparents moved from Germany to Russia and then to the United
States. The first wave of his family went to Russia during the period of Catherine the Great. John’s
grandparents decided to move from the wheat fields in Russia to the United States during the First World
War because the Russians began to crack down on the people. A cousin of his during that time watched
while the Russians burned his wife and daughter alive. So the decision was made to immigrate to the
United States. John’s Aunt went to Russia a few years ago to try to find their family. But when Hitler went
through Russia everything was bombed or plowed under. Many records were lost during that time.
John set up many ports for King Van Lines in Germany, during that time he became good friends
with two German men that had been in Hitler’s army. He asked the question “How could they allow this to
happen to the Jewish people?” The former solders told him they had no idea what was happening. The
camps were very isolated with only one road leading to them. John has been to the concentration camp
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Buchenwald he described it as being silent, stark, no birdsong, or sounds whatsoever. He says the
silence was of death, and he has never felt of or heard that silence before or after that day. He calls it the
sound of silence, it was deafening. There were no smells that he could recall, but he remembers the long
hallway of concrete leading to the crematoria’s. They are still there. He believes that the camps are an
embarrassment to the German people, they are trying to put them into the past, and while keeping things
intact as a reminder so they wouldn’t forget. There are still crates left where they sorted the clothes and
valuables of the Jews. Once you are there you never forget. It was an uncomfortable tour. He asked the
tour guide why no one raised their voices when they saw the atrocities. The German guide told him that
the Germans got rid of any dissidents quickly. The Germans have planted pine trees where the mass
graves were located. He describes the breeze that went through the trees gave him goosebumps. The
guide that day told John that the ground was all blood soaked.
John stayed at a chateau that Hitler had stayed to have conferences with his Generals. He said it
was very beautiful on a lake a very fabulous place. Hitler had many places that he went to and never at
the same time. So no one could find him during the War. John talked to a man that had been there at
that time. He was probably eighty years old with a long pipe and gray beard and hair. He had seen Hitler
during that time and was still working at the same chateau. That is how he found out about the chateau
he was currently staying at. John didn’t make judgments about the war he had family and friends that had
fought on both sides of the war. He himself had been in the Korean War and was shot down twice over
Korea. So it became a friendship with fellow solders that, led him to the concentration camps and to see
things that other tourists never see, because of his attitude of acceptance.
We must be viligant so another Hitler never has the power to take over our basic rights and
privileges. We have to express ourselves and take a side, and are not led like sheep to the slaughter.
Works Cited
"Mosaic of victims overview." United States Holocaust memorial museum. 20 May 2008. 2 Sep. 2008
<www.ushmm.org/wlc/article>;.
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<http://cghs.dadeschools.net/holocaust/fsolution.htm>;.
Dougherty, Jon E. "Less than one million jews died in the holocaust." Rense. 4 Sep. 2008
<http://www.rense.com/general25/less.htm>;.
<www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/holocaust/grobres.html>;.
McFee, Gord. "When did Hitler decide on the solution?." When did Hitler decide on the solution? 2 Jan. 1999. 4
McFee, Gordon. "Are Jews Central To The Holocaust?." Are Jews Central To The Holocaust? 27 Aug. 2008
<www.holocaust-history.org/jews-central>;.