The Holocaust: The Role Of Resistance Movements In Nazi Germany

What is clear is that the genocide of the Jews was the decade of Nazi policy, under the rule of Adolf Hitler. The "Final Solution" was implemented in stages. After the Nazi party rise to power, state-enforced racism resulted in anti-Semitism, boycotts, Aryanization, and finally the "Night of Broken Glass" pogrom, all of which aimed to remove the Jews from German society.. Liberation- The Liberation was the release of the concentration camp inmates. In 1944, Allied forces entered Majdanek, and “rescued” the Jews. The USSR, and the USA came through Germany and Poland and set the camp’s inhabitants free.

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. The first step in the Holocaust was moving the Jews to ghettos. Ghettos were temporary holding places for Jews. The Nazis wanted the concentration camps to exterminate the majority of the Jews, but the ghettos gave more opportunities for natural death (Byers 73). Many Jews were also forced to do labor in the ghettos, which sometimes caused natural death (Byers 73).

Thousands of twins died during this time because of Mengele’s obsession of twins and of the many unknown experiments that they had to go through. Gypsies were sent to auschwitz because of the persecution directed towards them. During the Holocaust many German people disliked the Gypsies. They believed that they were less than they were and said that they had an increased criminal rate. Many said the same about the other groups that were victims of the Holocaust as well.

Many wanted and even attempted to regain their freedom, just as Aung San Suu Kyi did in Burma. Hitler persecuted Jews, homosexuals, and Gypsies. He thought Jews were an inferior race and a threat to racial purity and community. He started killing Jews and putting them in concentration camps to stop the threat. They started taking away the Jews rights, starting with stripping Jewish lawyers and doctors of their clients, dissolving businesses, and confiscating property.

At the end of World War II, the Nazis had seized the lives of six million Jews, with over one and a half million of them being children and teenagers. The Nazis advocated killing children since children were often regarded as non-productive, as well as symbolizing the continuation of Jewish existence in German society; therefore, they were among the first victims who were sent to their deaths in order to ensure the total destruction of the Jewish people. In the book Sevek and the Holocaust: the Boy Who Refused to Die, the memoir of an adolescent Jew during the time of the holocaust, shows the real struggles children faced during the holocaust to survive, even though they were unwanted and considered dangerous to the Nazis. Sevek, along with

To emphasize on the statements above the Holocaust caused approximately 6 million deaths of innocent Jews and other “unsatisfactory” members of society including the handicapped and gypsies. In the upcoming paragraphs I plan to highlight the detrimental effects of the “Final Solution” had on the majority of the Jewish Population and the heinous crimes that were directly targeted towards the Jews who were unfortunate enough to be placed in the Nazi work/ death camps.

In 1943, the tide of World War II began to turn against Nazi Germany. Losses in North Africa and the massive defeat at Stalingrad destroyed the myth of German military invincibility and stiffened anti-Nazi resistance, even in the killing centers and concentration camps of occupied Europe. In the Treblinka death camp, news of the German defeats filled the Jewish prisoners with both hope and trepidation. Many feared that the SS would soon liquidate the camp and its remaining prisoners so that all evidence of their heinous crimes would be destroyed. To forestall this event, a group of Jewish prisoners, calling themselves the “Organizing Committee,” began planning an uprising and mass escape.

Psychological Techniques: Effective or Ineffective? Throughout the course of the Holocaust, which lasted from 1933-1945, Nazis used a variety of different psychological techniques to lure, and ultimately exterminate about six million Jewish people. Some of these techniques include the foot-in-the-door technique, public executions, living conditions, emotional fear, among other techniques such as seemingly harmless activities like dancing with joyful music, false hope, and the separation of families. In addition to these psychological effects used on the actual prisoners, Nazis also used propaganda to further instil the anti-semitic ideology into the German citizens; this also led to the Holocaust. Clearly the Nazi propaganda and psychological

Jews were moved to these ghettos in 1935. The first ghetto in Poland was named Warsaw. This was one of the largest ghettos and held four hundred thousand Jews. In 1941, German soldiers were commanded to destroy most of the ghettos because it was part of Hitler’s plan to seize the Jews population. The soldiers would shoot and burn the ghettos to the ground.

The lifestyle they experienced was inhuman and very difficult to even find a way to keep yourself alive many of these marches had a 50% death rate, according to “Encyclopedia Judaica” . During the marches, if you began to fall behind the SS soldiers had strict orders to club you, or shoot you. The soldiers mad them run the whole time as fast as they could. If you tripped or fell you would risk getting trampled to death by the other inmates who were running. “Night,” by Elie Wiesel states, “The SS made us increase our pace... Why not?

On September 1, 1941 Hitler ordered all of the Jews to wear a yellow star. If they removed it and were caught they were imprisoned and taken to labor camps or shot on the spot. Catchers searched for hidden Jews everywhere. If Catchers found them they would be taxed large amounts of money. Jews didn’t have much money already especially since they had taken over their businesses and workplaces, so being taxed was not good for them.

The paradox of being half ugly is shown all throughout Hitler 's actions. In WWII the entire Jewish population was the target for Hitler and his Nazis party. This led to millions of jews being persecuted and killed. One example of the ugliness of the war would be the discrimination and the hatred of other races. While in power Hitler created concentration camps to contain Jews and people not of German background.

Within the German conservative elite and the German military 's General Staff people who opposed the rules of the Nazi’s would be executed. In July 1944, a massacre happened to the people who tried to assassinate Hitler. These resulted in Hitler to get angry and start torturing more Jews and killing them. Soon more citizens from different countries heard about the news and created more Jewish resistance to help in the war. It says “After the German occupation of Denmark in April 1940, a resistance movement began operations there; its activities included killing informers, raiding German military facilities, and sabotaging rail

The Germans quickly got a hold of the situation by killing almost all of prisoners involved in the revolt and hung the Jewish women who smuggled in the explosives used to destroy the crematorium and gas chamber. In October of 1942, the third camp, Auschwitz III, was established. It was also known as Buna or Monowitz. This camp housed imprisoned laborers that were designated for working at synthetic rubber factories. Out of all the concentration camps, there was only one location where prisoners received tattoos.

With such dreadful conditions, the Jews began initiating resistance and uprisings. Even though the prisoners knew loss was unquestionable, they fought bravely and certain. The Jews wanted the future generation to know that they would never give up without a fight. The Nazi officers kept watch of the prisoners every second; the inhumanity of the guards murdered the spirit of the Jews. Because of the environment of the camps, a countless number of Jews died every day.