Zyklon B Thesis

“Everyone! Into the showers” a guard was standing by the entrance that led to total darkness. There was a line of people entering the chamber in a systematic manner. Once kids and old people filled the chamber, the metallic doors were shut and locked from the outside. A sound came after the heavy doors were shut, it was not the noise of water, but the sound of Zyklon B being released and quickly seeping into the lungs of the prisoners. Screams resounded in the chamber, but it was just a muffled sound outside the iron doors. Fifteen minutes passed before the doors opened, revealing an empty, silent room full of dead corpses. Zyklon B was the toxic gas used in German Death Camps during the Holocaust. Zyklon B was significant during the Holocaust

Zyklon B became a popular substance to be used in Extermination Camps. The use of Zyklon B on Death Camps gave a negative image of the toxic gas and it promptly became the symbol of death.In September, 1941, Germany gassed with Zyklon B about 850 prisoners from the Soviet War (USHMM “Gassing Operations”). Nazis could have used any other tactic to assassinate adversaries. However, Nazis decided to use Zyklon B because it was effective to kill in a large scale. Those who were misfortunate and died intoxicated with Zyklon B not only ran the misfortune of being targeted, but also of dying in a horrid

It took from 10 to 20 minutes for Zyklon B to kill a room full of people; about one million people were killed in gas chambers (Bartel 24). Zyklon B gassings were an effective way for massive killings in no time. By the fact that it took little effort to kill hundreds of people in less than half an hour shows the deadly menace of Zyklon B. As reported by Gale Student Resources, prisoners were separated. Those who were fit to work were sent to Labor Camps; those who did not met the qualifications to work, they were transferred into Relocation Camps. Prisoners that were transposed to Relocation Camps were later killed in gas chambers (Concentration Camps). Zyklon B made the system in which Concentration Camps operated to be more efficacious. Concentration Camps used prisoners’ labor to make a revenue for Nazi Germany, while those who were incapable to perform labors were killed in large numbers. Zyklon B made the whole execution process more effective. Zyklon B was a remarkable element that helped shape the meaning and outcome of the Holocaust. The significance that Zyklon B had during the Holocaust was due to its effectiveness, its use to kill Jews, and its capability to dehumanize anyone that was killed by the toxicity of Zyklon B. Zyklon B was modified from a pesticide that helped humanity to a toxic gas used to end humanity, becoming a factor that contributed to the Holocaust’s end result for