Concentration Camps: The Holocaust

In the camps more than one million people died during World War II, other sources say 1.1 million died in Auschwitz. There are many reasons of death caused by the Nazis in Auschwitz such as in the gas chambers, the Nazis use Zyklon-B as a way to murder the Non-Aryans, once they were murdered they were put into a crematorium which was used to burn the bodies. If the Jews or Non-Aryans disrespected or did not follow the Nazi’s commands they were either shot or hanged if the non-Aryans were not fed enough they either starved to death or got sick and died. One source said 2.1 to 2.5 million Non-Aryans died in the gas chambers. On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Krakow and liberated the Auschwitz Death Camps.

During World War 2, the most evident traits of totalitarianism were the Nazi’s military terror that led to the Warsaw ghetto, Hitler’s persecution of the Jews that resulted in death camps like Auschwitz, and Stalin’s control of individuals that caused famine across millions. Hitler and the Nazis used military terror in World War 2 to force Jews into the Warsaw Ghetto, which resulted in starvation and death. Military terror was a tactic used by rulers to gain obedience through violence. Many times leaders have a special police force to protect the government's interests and scare the people into abiding by their rules. In Germany, Hitler used military terror to enforce his leadership with the help from the Nazi party.

The Holocaust occurred in Europe in the early 1940’s (Altman 1). Constructed by Adolf Hitler, Germany’s first and only Führer, the Holocaust is a horrible event (Introduction). Jewish people were treated in cruel and brutal ways. Over six million died in concentration camps, ghettos, or death marches (Rice 11). The Holocaust is a time in history when millions of people were persecuted in Europe by being sent to live in ghettos and eventually being deported to concentration camps where they were systematically annihilated until the Allied forces liberated the remaining survivors.

Not only was this camp filled with political prisoners but with artists, various intellectuals, some handicapped, and many homosexuals. According to Hitler, these types of people were considered unfit for the community of Germany. The first prisoners were approximately 200 Communists who were taken into what was called "protective custody," and were called the "enemies of the state." According to The Holocaust Research Project, Dachau became a useful training facility for the SS (or Schutzstaffel, which is German for “Protective organization”) and Dachau saw those with different convictions as lower-ranking and to deal with them, Nazi’s would kill them. Prisoners were used in medical experiments as well as slave labor to produce

Hitler, being the dictator of Germany, implemented many anti-Semitic laws which targeted the Jewish people of Germany. Jews were carted away into prison or segregated areas by the cartful each day on the streets. Furthermore, Jews were not allowed to do simple actions, such as take pictures or play sports. They were regarded by the government as “subhuman”. The hate grew even stronger on November 19, 1938 when the Nazis destroyed every synagogue or Jewish owned store in Germany.

From 1940 to end on Jews were systematically move to the death camps specifically built to exterminate the Jews. Schindler’s List displays this by showing how the Jews were sent to forced labour camps such as the Plaszow. When they arrived to these labour and concentration camps, they were separated by gender as told “men to the left, women to the right”, this separated families causing more effective discomfort to the Jews. In the labour camps, many Jews were shot often resulting in death because they were not working to the satisfaction of the Nazis or SS officers who were in charge of that labour camp. If any Jews were seen as unhealthy they were sent to death camps.

Many people were sick and underfed (Warsaw). Illness was also a constant looming threat because partly of the food, and that the ghettos were always damp and wet (Allen 38). Many Jewish organizations around the world tried to help ghettos in Germany and Poland, but the help wasn’t enough (Warsaw). Arguably the worst and definitely the biggest ghetto during the war was Warsaw Ghetto. An estimated 83,000 Jews and minorities died in the ghetto, mainly due to sickness and starvation.

Some camps were just full of hatred for example 1 million people died at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp 90% of those were jews. The main cause in this camp was gas chambers. A gas chamber was a small chamber with poison pellets thrown in and that killed

Like many genocides the Holocaust was one of the worst recorded in history. The Holocaust happened during World War II when Hitler became the leader of Germany in 1933. The War was mostly present in Europe, East Asia or the Pacific Islands but the Holocaust, which was a genocide of Jews, took place in Europe. Nazi’s and SS officers would storm the houses of Jews and move them into ghettos eventually ending up in a concentration camp. Some would die on their way there but mostly all the deaths occured in the camps.

Hitler devised a long systematic plan that went on to wipe out 6 million European Jews, two-thirds of the Jewish population (Strahinich 7). Nations across the world saw this evil and banded together to fight against Germany and their Nazi party, with the goal to liberate the Holocaust prisoners and bring an end to Hitler’s cruel ways (Byers Overview 101). The Holocaust is a time in history when millions of people were persecuted in Europe by being sent to live in ghettos and eventually being deported to concentration camps where they were systematically annihilated until the Allied forces liberated the remaining survivors. Jews were not treated the same as other German citizins by the Nazi party. This act of hatred or maybe even racism was called Anti-Semitism.