Holocaust Education - Recently Updated Pages

U.S.A At War

Kestrelwing522 — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:34:30 CDT

The people of the United States of America wanted to stayneutralas long as they could. Though the bombing of Pearl Harbor changed their minds. On December ~ gotta go now- will finish page later... ~

Adolf Hitler

Kestrelwing522 — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:10:51 CDT

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

Adolf Hitler was the ruler of Germany from 1933 to 1945. He established a brutal totalitarian regime under the ideological banner of National Socialism, or Nazism. Adolf Hitler was the leader of the German National Socialist party from 1920 and chancellor of the Reich from 1933. He was the man who planned the extermination of the Jews in Europe.

Early Years
Hitler was born into the family of an Austrian customs offficial of moderate means in the samll town of Braunau am Inn on April 20, 1889. He was the fourth child of the third marriage of Alois Hitler. Alois Hitler was 51 years old when Adolf was born. Adolf's mother, Klara Polzl, was 28 years old.

About six years after Adolf's birth, his father retired and moved near Linz, Austria. Adolf received good marks in elementary school, but he was a poor student in high school. His low marks angered his harsh, ill-tempered father. Alois wanted his son to have a career as a civil servant. But the boy wanted to be an artist.

Alois Hitler died in 1903, and Adolf left high school 21/2 years later at the age of 16. His mother drew a widow's pension and owned some property. Adolf did not have to go to work. He spent his time daydreaming, drawing pictures, and reading books.

In 1907, Hitler went to Vienna, the capital of Austria-Hungary. He wanted to be an art student, but he failed the entrance examination of the Academy of Fine Arts twice. His mother died in 1907. Adolf had an income from the money his mother left her children and inherited some money from his aunt. He also claimed an orphan's pension. Sometimes he sold his drawings and paintings. He lived comfortably and idly during most of his stay in Vienna, considering himself an artist.

World War I
In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich, Germany. The Austrian Army called him for a physical examination, but he was found unfit for service.

World War I began in August 1914. Hitler volunteered immediately for service in the German Army and was accepted. He served valiantly as a messenger on the Western Front for most of the war, taking part in some of the bloodiest battles. He was wounded and twice decorated for bravery. But Hitler rose only to the rank of corporal. When Germany surrendered in November 1918, he was in a military hospital recovering from temporary blindness that resulted from his exposure in battle to mustard gas. He was deeply shaken by news of the armistice. He believed that the unity of the German nation was threatened and that he must attempt to save Germany.

After World War I, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty held Germany responsible for the war. It stripped the nation of much territory and restricted the German Army to 100,000 men. It also provided for a 15-year foreign occupation of an area of western Germany called the Rhineland. But the harshest part was the demand that Germany pay huge reparations (payments for war damages). The sums demanded by the treaty were so great that they made peace difficult.

The Nazi Party
In the autumn of 1919, Hitler began to attend meetings of a small nationalist group called the German Workers' Party. He joined the party and changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party. The group became known as the Nazi Party. The Nazis called for the union into one nation of all Germans, including the Austrians and German minorities in Czechoslovakia and other countries. They demanded that citizens of non-German or Jewish origin be deprived of German citizenship, and they called for the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler was a skillful politician and organizer. He became leader of the Nazis and quickly built up party membership. This was partly due to his ability to stir crowds with his speeches. Hitler attacked the government and declared that the Nazi Party could restore the economy, assure work for all, and lead Germany to greatness again.

On Nov. 8, 1923, at a rally in a Munich beer hall, Hitler proclaimed a Nazi revolution, or putsch. The next day, he tried to seize the Bavarian government in what became known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler, supported by the German General Erich F. W. Ludendorff, led over 2,000 storm troopers on a march against the Bavarian government. But state police opened fire and stopped the procession, killing 16 marchers. The plot failed. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.

While he was imprisoned, Hitler began writing his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle). In the book, he stated his beliefs and his ideas for Germany's future, including his plan to conquer much of Europe. Territories lost in World War I would be recovered. Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia where Germans lived would be added to Germany. The growing German nation would seize lebensraum (living space) from Poland, the Soviet Union, and other countries to the east.

Hitler also wrote that Germans represented a superior form of humanity. They must stay "pure," he said, by avoiding marriage to Jews and Slavs. Hitler blamed the Jews for the evils of the world. He accused them of corrupting everything of ethical and national value. He said: "By defending myself against the Jews, I am doing the Lord's work." Democracy, said Hitler, could lead only to Communism. A dictatorship was the only way to save Germany from the threats of Communism and Jewish treason.

Hitler's Rise to Power
In 1932, five major elections were held in Germany as its leaders struggled to give the nation political stability. In the July elections for the Reichstag (parliament), the Nazis became Germany's strongest party, receiving nearly 38 per cent of the vote. Leaders of the other parties offered Hitler Cabinet posts in exchange for Nazi support. But as leader of the strongest party, he refused to accept any arrangement that did not make him chancellor (prime minister) of Germany.

The majority of the German people and the leading politicians did not want Hitler to become chancellor. They understood that he would make himself dictator and set up a reign of terror. Germany's president, Paul von Hindenburg, also had serious misgivings about Hitler. But the 85-year-old Hindenburg, persuaded by his friends and his son Oskar, accepted Hitler's promise to act lawfully if he were named to form a government. On Jan. 30, 1933, Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor.

By mid-July 1933, the government had outlawed freedom of the press, all labor unions, and all political parties except the Nazis. The Gestapo (secret state police) hunted down the enemies and opponents of the government. People were jailed or shot on suspicion alone. By the time Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler ruled Germany completely. He assumed the title Fuhrer und Reichskanzler (leader and reich chancellor).

The Nazis used the press, radio, and films to flood Germany with propaganda praising the New Order, Hitler's term for his reordering of German society and for his plans to reorder the rest of Europe. The regime applauded military training, rearmament, national pride, and industry. Jews were forced out of the civil service, universities and other schools, and the professions and managerial positions. In 1935, German Jews were declared citizens of lesser rights. Thousands left the country. Many who stayed were sent to concentration camps along with hundreds of thousands of political suspects.

Germany Prepares for War
From 1933 onward, Hitler prepared Germany for war. He rearmed the nation, first secretly, then in open violation of the Treaty of Versailles. No nation acted to stop him, and so Hitler's steps became bolder. Hitler planned to establish Germany as the world's leading power and to destroy the Jewish people.

In 1936, Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, again violating the Treaty of Versailles. His generals had opposed this dangerous challenge to France. But Hitler guessed correctly that France would not stop him. The stationing of German troops in the Rhineland was the first of the Nazi dictator's victories without war.
In March 1938, Hitler's troops invaded Austria. Austria then became part of Germany. In September, France and Britain consented to Hitler's occupation of the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia that had belonged to Austria-Hungary before World War I ended. After this move, Hitler said he wanted no more territory. But after each success, he planned a new take-over. He took control of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939.

Poland came next on Hitler's list. But Britain and France took action to try to stop any further German expansion. They guaranteed Poland's independence, saying that they would go to war against Germany if Hitler attacked Poland. Hitler doubted that they would do so. In August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed treaties of friendship. They promised mutual cooperation, trade privileges, and neutrality in case of war with other countries. In a secret part of the treaties, the two nations planned to work to divide Poland and much of the rest of eastern Europe between themselves. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later.

World War II
Hitler's armies overran Poland in just a few weeks. In the spring of 1940, they easily conquered Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Benito Mussolini, Italy's dictator, declared war on France and Britain on June 10, 1940, when the defeat of France seemed certain. On June 22, 1940, France signed an armistice with Germany.

In June 1941, the attack on the Soviet Union began. At first, the German forces made rapid progress. But their advance began to slow in November. By December, it was halted outside Moscow. An unusually bitter winter, Soviet reinforcements, and supplies sent by the United States helped the Soviet forces stop the Germans and begin to push them back during the winter. Renewed German attacks in 1942 and 1943 could not break through. During the Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted for five months during 1942 and 1943, the Soviets wiped out an entire German army of 300,000 men. This German defeat was a major turning point in the war.

As his power lasted, Hitler directed the storm troopers, Nazi officials, and members of the army and the civil service in a campaign of mass slaughter. About 6 million Jews—over two-thirds of the Jews of Europe—were murdered. More than 3 million Soviet prisoners of war were starved and worked to death. Hitler's victims also included large numbers of Gypsies, Poles, Slavs, Jehovah's Witnesses, priests and ministers, mental patients, and Communists and other political opponents.

Early in 1945, the Allies marched into the heart of Germany against rapidly dwindling opposition.

By April 1945, Hitler had become a broken man. His head, hands, and feet trembled, and he was tortured by stomach cramps. Eva Braun, Hitler's mistress since the 1930's, joined him at his headquarters in a bomb shelter under the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. She and Hitler were married there on April 29. The next day, they killed themselves. Aides burned their bodies. Hitler committed suicide two days after his ally, BenitoMussolini, of Italy, wasassassinated. Seven days later, Germany surrendered.

Joseph Goebbels

aesook06 — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:36:17 CST

Born October 29, 1897 and died May 1, 1945. He was born in Rhenish town of Rheydt. He was the son of lower middle class parents. They were Catholics. He had four siblings. He graduated with a doctorate from University of Heidelberg. He was rejected from the military because he had a clubfoot. After college he tried to establish himself as a journalist and writer but was not successful.

He was part of the Hitler regime. His position was Minister of People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda. He had control of most matters relating to propaganda. He knew that for propaganda to work it had to be understood at the people’s level. Goebbels was the main mover of the Nazi’s anti-Semitic campaign. He would issue orders against the Jews.

At one book burning he announced the end of an “era of Jewish hyperintellectalism.” This was in May 1933. His goal was to remove Jews from German cultural life. He wanted Berlin to be free of Jewish population. He used films to spread the word of how Jews were responsible for the German economy.

Goebbels's main role was to develop a cult that worshipped Hitler. This would also help hold together the Nazi Party. He used his skills to encourage the Germans to fight a “total war” until the end.

Just prior to his death Hitler made Goebbels chancellor because of his devotion to the Nazi cause. Goebbels and his wife committed suicide on May 1, 1945 after poisoning their six children. This ended the reign of terror.

Wannsee Conference

merlesafe — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:16:05 CDT

The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform heads of German government departments that had responsibility for various policies relating to Jews, of Reinhard Heydrich's appointment as the sole executor of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question," and to obtain their agreement to subordinate their policies to him. In the course of the meeting, Heydrich presented a plan, approved by Hitler, for the deportation of the Jewish population of Europe to German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, and the use of the Jews fit for labor on road-building projects.

The Nazi leadership, at the height of their power and influence, adopted an increasingly radical view of the "Final Solution." Following a meeting with Adolf Hitler to discuss the "Jewish question," Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring and the SS Chief Heinrich Himmler, gave a written authorization to Chief of the Reich Main Security Office, Reinhard Heydrich to "make all necessary preparations: for a "total solution to the Jewish question" in all the territories under German influence; to coordinate the participation of all government organizations whose cooperation was required; and to submit a "comprehensive draft" of a plan for the "Final Solution to the Jewish question."

To show that this was a meeting of administrators to discuss implementing a policy already decided at the political level, and not merely a keg party, those invited were mostly state secretaries - senior bureaucrats in the government ministries. Ministries represented were Interior, Justice, the Four Year Plan and Occupied Eastern Territories. The list of attendees is as follows:

SS-Bergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich (Chief of the RSHA and Reichsprotektor of Bohemia-Moravia), presiding
Dr. Josef Buhler (Government of the General Government)
Dr. Roland Freisler (Reich Ministry of Justice)
SS-Gruppenfuhrer Otto Hofmann (Race and Resettlement Main Office, RSHA)
SA-Oberfuhrer Dr. Gerhard Klopfer (NSDAP Chancellery)
Ministerialdirektor Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger (Reich Chancellery)
SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Dr. Rudolf Lange (Commander of the SD for Latvia)
Reichsamtleiter Dr. Georg Liebbrandt (Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern territories)
Martin Luther (Foreign Office)
Gauleiter Dr. Alfred Meyer (Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern territories)
SS-Gruppenfuhrer Heinrich Muller (Chief of AMT IV Gestapo), Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)
Erich Neumann (Director, Office of the Four Year Plan)
SS-Obenfuhrer Dr. Karl Eberhard Schongarth (SD, assigned to the General Government)
Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart (Reich Ministry for the Interior)
SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Adolf Eichmann (Head of Referat IV B4 of the Gestapo), minutes secretary

Heinrich opened the conference with an account of the anti-Jewish measures taken in Germany since the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, based on a briefing paper written for him the previous week by Eichmann, the leading German expert on the practicalities of solving the "Jewish question." Heydrich reported that there were approximately 11 million Jews in the whole of Europe. He stated that a "final" solution would have to be found. He reported that "another possible solution of the problem has now taken the place of emigration, i. e., the evacuation of the Jews to the East."

The "evacuated" Jews, he said, would first be sent to "transit ghettos" in the General Government, from which they would be transported to the East for appropriate labor, in the course of which action a large portion would be eliminated by natural causes. The possible final remnant would have to be treated "accordingly." No one at the meeting can have doubted the meaning of these expressions. Heydrich concluded the meeting by pointing out that to avoid legal and political difficulties, it was important to define who was a Jew for the purposes of "evacuation." He then outlined categories of people who would be exempted. Afterwards, drinks were served while the attendees ordered Chinese food and watched Bulgarian pornography, considered the best at the time.

The Wannsee Conference made no fundamental decisions about the extermination of the Jews. Such decisions, as everybody at the meeting understood, were made by Hitler. Heydrich was there as Hitler's emissary to tell them about it - nor did the conference engage in detailed logistical planning.

What, then was the purpose of the meeting? It is largely believed that Heydrich's main goal was simply to impose his own authority on the various ministries and agencies involved in Jewish policy matters. It was also important to obtain the consent of the Foreign Ministry and the Four Year Plan, the ministries most likely to object (on diplomatic and economic grounds) to the mass killing of the Jews. Secondly, it has been theorized that Heydrich wished to make the top representatives of the ministerial bureaucracy into accomplices and accessories to, and co-responsible for the plan he was pursuing.

Eichmann recorded that Heydrich was pleased with the courage of the meeting. He "gave expression to his great satisfaction," and allowed himself a glass of cognac, although he rarely drank. He "had expected considerable stumbling blocks and difficulties," Eichmann recalled, but instead he had found "an atmosphere of agreement in a form which had not been expected."

Ironically, the enormous importance which has been attached to the conference by postwar writers was not evident to most of the participants at the time. The Wannsee Conference lasted only 90 minutes and for most of its participants, it was one meeting among many in a busy week.

Evian Conference

saferstein — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:44:53 CDT

Evian Conference, July 6-14, 1938

Context:
From 1933-1938, Hitler implemented his policy of juderein, riding Germany of its' Jewish population. German policies systematically removed Jews from all aspects of civilized life. Access to food, shelter, employment, education, clothing, transportation were dramatically curtailed. Violence against Jews increased culminating in transporting them to ghettos, concentration camps and death camps. Even as Hitler wanted to ride Germany of Jews, their numbers continually increased as the Nazi war machine conquered country after country that contained Jews. Eventually millions of Jews lived in German controlled territory.

While some Jews offered fierce resistance agaisnt the Nazis, many more sought escape from the terror by emigrating to other lands. Hitler exclaimed, " I can only hope that the other world which has such deep sympathy for these criminals (Jews) will at least be generous enough to convert this sympathy into practical aid. We on our part are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries, for all I care, even on luxury ships" (Encyclopedia Judaica, 2nd Ed, Vol 6).

Germany intended to expel its Jews, under the policy of spoliation, without any property. The Jews, without resources, were to be unwelcomed by the rest of the world.

The Germans, thusly, created a "refugee problem" for the western world. President Franklin D. Roosevelt acknowledged the international nature of the "problem" and conceived the Evian Conference. July 6-14, 1938 calling for a coordiated response to the growing pressures Jewish emigration posed for the U.S. and 31 other countries.

Despite the obvious moral imperative, almost all western countries did not deem it in their best interest to open their borders to the persecuted Jews. The Great Depression cuased their economies to suffer and struggle with high unemployment rates. they were ill disposed to admit people into their countries who would compete for jobs and probably add to welfare roles. Xenophobia, racist, isilationist and anti-semitic attitudes prevailed. The Evian Conference was a failure. The Jews were trapped with no place to go.

Britain did not want Palestine discussed as destination for Jewish emigrants during the conference for fear of arousing Arab passion. Sadly, even some Jews argued agaisnt large numbers of Jews emigrating to Palestine because of the country's limited capacity to absorb them.

The nations of the world refused to admit the Jews. Hitler duely noted the refusal. On September 12, 1938 he declared to the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg:
"They (the world) complains of the boundless cruelty with which Germany seek(s) to rid itself of Jewish elements. However the countries with icy coldness assured us that obviously there was no place for Jews in their territroy. So no help is given, but morality is saved" (History in Dispute, Vol 11: The Holocaust).

Hitler was wrong. Morality was not saved. The Nazis sought to destroy morallity with cruelty. The nations that refused to admit meaningful numbers of Jews would destroy morality through indifference.

Displaced Persons Camps

saferstein — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:18:45 CDT

After World War II ended, many Jews had no place to call home. They typically reported to military personnel who attended to their immediate needs. Allied forces took care of their needs by improvising shelter, nutrition, and basic health care.

A number of displaced persons camps became permanent homes for these individuals. Conditions were varied and sometimes harsh. Rations were still restricted, curfews were mandated, and as refugees found new homes, many camps were shut down.

Displaced persons often moved from camp to camp looking for family. Sometimes they moved looking for more food and better accommodations.

After a time, certain countries began to offer displaced persons an opportunity to find new homes around the world. Some of the countries were Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. By 1953, over 250,000 refugees were still in Europe. Most of them were old, infirm, crippled, or otherwise disabled. Many found resolution through suicide.

The last displaced persons camp closed in Fohrenwald in 1957.

Sources:
www.albionmich.com/history/notebook

Fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/Resource/gallery

Chelmno

saferstein — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:14:07 CDT

Chelmno (German Kulmhof) was the first Nazi camp which used gas for mass extermination in mobile units. Chelmno was located on the Ner River 37 miles from Lodz, Poland. Between December, 1941 and spring 1943 Jews in the Warthegau district were sent for extermination. Chelmno also operated from June to July, 1944. It ceased to exist on January 18, 1945 when prisoners were then sent to Auschwitz where many more prisoners could be killed using Zykon B gas. Estimates of the victims at Chelmno range from 170,000 to 320,000 people. Included in these figures are 60,000 Jews from Ludz and 11,000 West European Jews. Although Jews were the primary victims they were not the only victims to be killed there. An unknown number of soviet prisoners of war, 5,000 gypsies, and 88 Czechoslovakian children from Lidice were also among the victims.

Jacob Grojanowski (the name may be a pseudonym) arrived at Chelmno on January 6, 1942. He escaped on January 19, 1942 and gave a detailed report to Emanuel Ringelblum's Oneg Shabat group, the underground archive. This report was passed on to the Polish goverment-in-exile and was known in London by June, 1942. In December, 1942 a detailed article on Chelmno was published in the Amercian jewish publication The Jewish Frontier.

The cmap was staffed by a unit called the Sonderkommando Kulmhof which consisted fo 20 security police (Sicherheitspolizei) and 120 regular uniformed police (Schutzpolizei). The camp was under the direction of Sonderkommando Herbet Lange and later by Sonderkommando Hans Bothman.

Chelmno consisted of two parts. The Schloss, an old palace which was surrounded by a high fence and theWaldlager which was located. 2.5 miles away in the Rzuwowski forest. The victims were told they were being sent to work. Signs were posted directing victims: "to the Showers" and "To the Doctor." the prisoners were directed toward a ramp which led into a large hermetically sealed Renault truck. The doors were closed and the victims were gassed. The truck was then driven to the Waldlager where mass graves and cremation ovens were located.

From August, 1944 until January, 1945 the Germans worked at removing evidence of the exterminations. As the Soviet troops approached, the SS men began execution of the Jewish workers. Resistance by the workers caused the deaths of two German soldiers. Two Jewish prisoners survived, Simon Srebhnik and Mordechai Padchlebnik.

From 1947 to 1950 trials were held in Poland of two staff members, Walter Piller and Hermann Gielow who were sentenced to death. From 1962 to 1965 twlelve of the camp's staff were placed on trial in West Germany. They were found guilty and received sentences ranging from light punishment to thirteen years in prison.

Bibliography
Berenbaum, Michael. "Chelmno." Encycopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berembaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 4.2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 589-590. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Holocaust Documentation & Educ Ctr. 14 May 2008
http://go.galegroup.com
"Chelmno" The Holocaust Encyclpedia Ed. Walter Laqueur. New Haven, CT: Yale Unviersity Press, 2001
Krakowski Shmuel. "Chelmno." Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Ed. Israel Gutman. 4 vols. New York: MacMIllan Publishing Co., 1990.

Zyklon B

HDEC — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:51:07 CDT

Zyklon B is a gas made up of hydrocyanic acid, together with a stabilizer and irritant. It was developed in Germany in the late 1920s. Hydrocyanic acid was discovered in 1786 by Swedish pharmacist and chemist Carl W. Scheele. Zyklon B was originally used as a pesticide; the original purpose of the preparation with the irritant was for using it as a fumigant. It was used to kill rats and insects, especially lice. Extreme caution was used because it was very dangerous to humans, even in small quantities. The gas was absorbed onto granules and packed in canisters, which would diffuse as soon as they were opened. Extreme caution had to be taken, and even with that, deadly accidents did occur.

Poison as a means of death during war has been used throughout history. It has been concluded that cyanide was used in ancient Egypt. The Greeks also used poisoned food to kill criminals in the first century C.E. Using gas to kill enemies during war goes as far back as the fourth century B.C.E. However, in World War I, it was used in a larger scale by the German Army. By the end of World War I, poison gas killed more than 100,000 people, which included not only soldiers, but civilians as well.

Zyklon B was not the first means of genocide used by Nazis. During the first years of the war the Nazis starved, killed, and burned Jews. They also used carbon monoxide fumes from engine exhausts and drugs to kill Jews. However, the Nazis realized that diesel fuel, by which the gas is produced, may have been harder to obtain as the war went by. At the same time, the Nazis needed a way to fulfill the policy of mass extermination. And so they began experimenting with Zyklon B gas. They first experimented with Zyklon B in September 1941 with hundreds of Soviet prisoners and others that they felt were "unfit to work."

As the war continued, the use of Zyklon B continued to spread throughout concentration camps. It was used in Gusen-Mauthausen, Neuengamme, Lublin-Majdanek, Sachsenhausen, Stutthof, and Ravensbruck. In the spring of 1942 seven metric tons of the gas was used in Auschwitz and twelve metric tons the following year. At the peak of its use, more than 12,000 Jews were killed each day at Auschwitz alone.

Zyklon B was sold in Germany under its original brand name until 1974. Gas as a form of killing was used again in the 1960s by Egypt against Yemen, and then in the 1980s by Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran. Gassing has been prohibited since the nineteenth century; however, it was still used. Under international criminal law, using poisonous or other gases during armed conflicts is deemed a war crime. German war criminals as well as doctors who contributed to experimentations using gasses were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Two German industrialists, Bruno Tesch and Karl Weinbacher of the Tesch and Stabenow Company, were sentenced to death for supplying Zyklon B to the concentration camps. Poison gas causes unnecessary suffering. It is a crime against humanity.

SOURCES:

Baskin, Steven I. "Zyklon B. " The Holocaust Encyclopedia. Ed. Walter Laquer. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.

Zyklon B. "Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scriber's Sons, 2006.2821-2823. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIV. 15 May 2008

Rudnicka Paulina. "Gas." Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Ed. Dinah L. Shelton. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005.387-390. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIV. 15 May 2008

Partisans

saferstein — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:44:16 CDT

Partisan Warfare Partisan warfare is also called irregular warfare. It refers to organized military activities or groups not part of regular armies. The word is derived from party or party follower and used mostly in central and eastern Europe. They are sometimes considered historically as more organized form of organized resistance with clear political goals. Partisans are highly dependent on the local population for personnel recruitment, logistical support and communication. In remote areas they are especially able to control locals and establish complete rule.

The natural environment is a precondition for partisan warfare often lacking military strength they must limit their activity to forests and mountains.

Partisan warfare did not have its roots in the 20th century but is a byproduct of the establishment of standing armies in the 18th century. It was especially evident during the American Revolutionary War.

The historical picture of partisan warfare was very diverse during World War II. The first armies attacked in spring of 1940. The largest resistance group in Poland was the Polish Underground State-centered around home army and supported by the government in exile. The second largest movement was the right winged National Armed Forces. Both groups followed a strategy of unarmed resistance. Occupied Soviet Union also established a partisan movement. In summary Partisans killed tens of thousands of soldiers of the German army.

Partisan warfare moved to Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia in 1942. In France the Communist underground began an attack on the German occupation. The Greek resistance had to fight against three powers at the same time (German, Italian & Bulgarian). In Italy the resistance came about because of German occupation.

Jewish partisans made up part of the resistance in Europe against Nazi Germany in WWII. Being accepted into a partisan unit was based on physical strength, military experience and the possession of arms. The forests and swamps of eastern Poland, Lithuania, Belorussia, and the Ukraine, the mountainous area of the Alps, Yugoslavia, Slovakia and Greece were their natural bases.

Jews joined partisans as a path of revenge from their murderous enemy and to save themselves and other Jews. Throughout occupied Europe Jews joined the partisan movement. Jews fought in Jewish and non-Jewish units some fought passing as non-Jews. A central condition of establishing a partisan unit was contact with the inhabitants of the surrounding area (for food, emergency refuge, sources of intelligence, horses, etc.). But Polish, Lithuanian, Belorussian and Ukrainian country side was hostile towards the Jews. Most could not be trusted and often turned Jews over to the Germans or killed them.

Despite obstacles Jewish partisans existed. They were organized in the ghettos: Jewish Fighters Organization in Vilna, The organizations in Bialystok, (remnants of the Jewish fighting Organization after the Warsaw uprising). There were about 15,000-20,000 Jewish partisans in the area under the control of the Soviet command. A Jewish Brigade was formed (merged with an existing Jewish group).

In 1943 the forests surrounding Bialystok consisted of mainly Jews. Women active in the underground helped supply them. The most famous unit here was Pobeda (Victory) unit. In autumn of 1943 its membership reached more than a thousand.

The Jews of Minsk organized the underground in the Minsk ghetto. They were key organizers in partisan movements in Soviet territory. Jews fought, joined and founded partisan units in Italy, France, Slovakia and Bulgaria.

Jews held outstanding roles in the ranks of the Resistance in positions of leadership. At the time of the Liberation of France there were at least three Jews among the 16 members of the National Committee.

At the end of the war Zionist partisans were one of the first to plan and organize illegal immigration of the Jews of the Holocaust over the boarders to Palestine. On their way to Palestine they organized and became known as:” Soldiers, Pioneers-Partisans”. An organization of partisans and ghetto fighters exists in Israel today and has expanded worldwide.

Sources:
Merriman, John and Winter, Jay. Partisan Warfare. “Europe since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. Vol.4. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s sons, 2006. 1985-1992 Gutman, Israel. “Partisans.” Encyclopedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 15. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.

Holocaust

saferstein — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:40:32 CDT

The HOLOCAUST (1933-1945) was a 12 year period of persecution and mass murder of Europe's Jews, six million of whom were killed while the world did little except offer verbal protest. The word Holocaust, which comes from the Greek word holokauton, translates as "burnt offering" or "sacrifice". The German chancellor, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Socialist (Nazi) Party targeted other groups as well, killing millions of Polish and Soviet civilians, prisoners of war, handicapped individuals, gypsies and homosexuals. However, the word Holocaust, since the 1960s has predominately referred to the genocide of the Jewish people. The Nobel Prize winning authorof Night, Ellie Wiesel, has been credited with introducing the word into commom usage.

Pre-War Period

As Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933, Germany's Jews were targeted almost immediately. Germany was in economic and social turmoil following World War I, with rampant unemployment and inflation. National humiliation from losing the war led to a rise of modern nationalism, which included the controlling and segregating of those groups see as alien. Hitler chose the Jewish people as scapegoats and vowed to make Germany "free of Jews". The initial plan was to deport the Jews and almost half of Germany's population of 500,000 Jewish people had emigrated elsewhere by 1939. When many countries closed their doors to the refugees, Hitler resorted to other forms of persecution. Jews were eliminated form public life and many professions, denied citizenship and educational opportunities, and mixed marriages with the "Aryan" citizens were prohibited. Later, Jewish businesses were confiscated and "Jews not wanted" signs became common. On November 10, 1938, widespread attacks occurred against Jews, their property and synagogues. At least 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps. Hundreds of shops, warehouses, homes and synagogues were destroyed. This night became known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass.

World War II

Hitler's hate campaign against the Jews intensified with the Nazi invasion of Poland. Jews were forced into crowded ghettos with no resources and no communication with the outside world. Many were transferred to forced labor camps and others were sent to dig mass graves and then shot or gassed by mobile murder squads. When these methods became too slow and too public, extermination camps were set up and sometimes added to existing labor camps. This program was carried out with the use of propaganda, secrecy and deception. Even the gas chambers of the concentration camps were disguised as showers to decieve the prisoners as to their true fate. This phase of Hitler's plan was called "The final Solution". Jews from surrounding coutnries were sent by open cattlecars and forced marches to the death camps. Millions of Jews, including 1.5 million children died from disease, starvation, shootings, hangings, beatings, torture and inhumane medical experiments as well as from the death camps. Uprisings in the Warsaw Ghetto and the Treblinka concentration camp were examples of resistance, as well as the resistance of fighters who attempted th thwart the Nazis by blowing up bridges and train tracks and aiding those in the ghettos, when possible. When the Nazis surrendered to the Allied forces in 1945, the Holocaust came to an end. Allied troops who liberated the camps were shocked at the atrocities that were discovered. One third of the world population of Jewish people had perished.

After the War

Many of those who survived the Holocuast spent time in displaced persons camps as they had no homes or families to return to. In time the survivors' stories began to emerge in writings, and art. Museums were dedicated to the victims' memories and rememberance days were introduced. Some of the perpetrators of the Holocaust atrocities have been brought to trial.

Sources

Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scrobner's Sons, 2006.

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. Ed. Robert Kastenbaum. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference, 2002.

Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. Vol. 6. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2005.

Encyclopedia Judaica for Youth. Ed. Rabbi Dr. Raphael Posner. Vol. 3. Jerusalem:Keter Publishing House, 1982.

Jan Karski

saferstein — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:22:45 CDT

Jan Karski (1914-2000)

Jan Karski was born Jan Kozielewski studied law and diplomatic sciences at the Jan Kazimierz University in Luov, Poland. Jan Karski served as a courier between the goverment in exile and the underground. Jan Karski was asked to go to London concerning the extermination of the Jews in Poland. Two Jewish leaders in exile in London from the Warsw Getto, Menachem Kirschenbaum and Leon Feiner asked Jan Karski to call upon Jewsih leaders in the free world to stage a hunger strike in the offices of the British and Amercian authorities. Jan Karski himself dressed as a Latvian camp guard witnessed the brutality from a safe distance, the unloading of Jews from the deportation wagons. Jan Karski later met several leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto but, felt these meetings would not produce any results. Unhappy about the appeal to world leaders of the Polish Jewry extermination, Jan Karski personally reported to President Roosevelt in 1943. Jan Karski felt President Roosevelt listened to him but, when it came to Jewish part no action would be taken by President Roosevelt. Karski also met with supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter whom also did not believe what Karski was addressing. Karski's frustration with the Allied leaders soon lead to silence. Jan karski was persuaded by Elie Wiesel in 1980 to again speak about the massacre of the Jews.

Jan Karski was deeply distressed by the fact that all those great leaders, presidents, ambassadors, church officials who said they were shoked about the extermination of the Jeews, they lied. "They knew or didn't want to Know." This is what shocked me.

Sobibor

saferstein — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:10:47 CDT

Sobibor, a Nazi death camp located in the Lublin District of Poland, began construction in March of 1942 and operated from May 1942 to October 1943. It measured 1.312 by 1.969 feet in area. 250,000 Jews and non-Jewish prisoners of war were put to death in its 5 gas chambers during that period. Richard Thomalla and, later, Franz Stangl were commanders of the camp. It was staffed with Ukrainians and German SS soldiers. Anywhere from 300 to 1,000 Jewish prisoners provided the labor for the operation. When they became too weak to work they were killed and new, stronger prisoners took their place.

Prisoners were brought by train directly into the camp. Everything was immediately taken away from them, they were stripped of clothing, and the women's hair was shaved off. The hair and belongings were sorted and sent to Germany. The process in the gas chambers took 15 minutes. The chambers could gas as many as 500 people at one time. The bodies were either put in mass graves, burned in piles, or burned on old iron rails.In July 1942 three more gas chambers were added to bring the killing capacity to approximately 1,200.

On October 14, 1943 the Jewish prisoner/laborers staged a revolt. Although they had little to no weapons they managed to kill some German and Ukrainian soldiers. The leaders of the revolt were Alexander Pechersky, a Russian Jew and his deputy, Leon Fedlhendler. Approximately 300 prisoners escaped but only 50 survived after the prison guards opened fire.

Immediately after the revolt the camp was closed down, 250,000 Jews had been eliminated in Sobibor. By the time the Russian army came to liberate the camp all the inmates were dead, the guards were gone, and most evidence of the mass murders had disappeared. Trees had been planted over the site.

In 1965 and 1966 eleven Sobibor officials were tried in the U.S.S.R. and Germany. One committed suicide, one received a life sentence, five were given light sentences, and four were acquitted. After the war a monument was built on the site.

In 1997 Thomas Blatt wrote a memoir, From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival, about his experiences as a young boy in that death camp and the revolt he survived. He begins by relating his family's story of their Holocaust journey. At Sobibor he was chosen to be a laborer and he tells of his daily battle to survive the outrageous work demands and cruelty of the guards. Even though he escaped during the revolt the rest of his family was dead. This book is the promise he made to himself to tell the world his horrific story.

Bibliography

Dombrowska, Danuta and Michael Berenbaum. "Sobibor." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 18.2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 700-701. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Holocaust Documentation & EducCtr. 14 May 2008
<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=holl3302>.

Rothkirchen, Livia. "Sobibor." The Holocaust Encyclopedia. Ed. Walter Laqueur. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001

Harran, Marilyn J. "From The Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival." Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature. Ed. Thomas Riggs. Detroit: St. James Press, 2002. 441-442. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIV. 15 May 2008 <http://0-galegroup.com.novacat.nova.edu/ps/strar.do?p=GVRL&u=novaseu_main

http://yad/magazine/data6/Sobibor.html

http://www.deathcamps.org/sobibor/sobibor.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Sobibor.html

Europa Plan

saferstein — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:02:08 CDT

The "Holocaust" (Greek for sacrifice by fire) as we have come to understand and know it was a methodical, brutal, state-sponsored persecution of groups categorized by the anti-Semitic Third Reich as "racially inferior". They targeted groups included but was not limited to Jews, Gypsies, the mentally challenged, homosexuals, Jehova's Witness and others. The Nationalist Socialist Party headed by Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933 and convinced many sympathizers that the root cause of many ills that had befallen Europe and particularly Germany was due largely to the practices, functions, presence and existance of the Jewish community.

Hitler unfolded a formula to institute a "cultural revolution". His vision for a better world and a greater Germany was to generate a master race free from detractor groups. To do so included the extermination of those who could rebate the proliferation of a pure race and the betterment of a Nazi State. Hitler's conclusion was the implemantation by his collaborators of a program termed as the "Final Solution".

Hitler also plunged Germany into WWII and the darkest period of modern history. As the war raged on, concentration camps were established to brutalize, exploit, and murder entire populations.

Much of the world responded slowly to the process of rounding up people and exporting them to slave and extermination camps. However, a strategy formulated by a semi-underground convocation of activists known as the "Working Group" (Pracovna Skupina) was put into play. Their idea was to rescue Slovak Jews from deportation to extermination camps by bribing Nazi officials with considerable sums of money.

An SS officer and former journalist named Dieter Wisliceny was designated as the adviser of Jewish Affairs to the goverment of Slovakia. He was contacted and offered a ramsom of an estimated $40,000 to $50,000 to cease and desist from the process of deporting Jews. The deportation came to a stop. However, there is no clear evidence that it was indeed Wisleceny's intervention that garnished positive results. Nevertheless, the Working Group members believed that their efforts paid off. Encouraged by this an activist named Rabbi Michael D. Weissmandel proposed to also end the extermination process in Poland and to aid those who had already been deported. Two prominent members of the Jewish movement, Gisi Fleischmann and Andrej Steiner had established ties with Wislilceny and based on that contiguity, the undertaking became known as the "Rabbi's Plan", "The Great Plan" or the "Europa Plan". The contigency proposed that the Jews of the "Free World" raise between $2 million and $3 million in hard currency and instiute the rescue effort.

The ramsom effort continued from the fall of 1942 to August 1943. The activists also attempted to aid Greek Jews by establishing a dialogue between the SS and various Hungarian Jewish leaders. However, the arrangement fell apart when the lack of agree payments did not materialize.

Jewish organization institutions in Swithzerland and Istambul declared that the money was not made available because the transfere of funds to Axis countries was strictly prohibited. These efforts by Pracovna Skupinia and others has at times been met with resentment and derision. Although, the intended effort was generally fruitless since only a handful of people were ramsomed, it was grand gesture that left the well-intentioned activist bitter, depsondent and rejected by a portion of the free communities.

Source: Yad Vashem The HOlocaust Martyrs' and Heroes Remembrance Authority

Emmanuel Ringelblum

saferstein — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:37:45 CDT

Emmanuel Ringelblum was born in the Polish town of Nowy Soncsz in 1900 and died as a victim of the Holocaust in 1944. He was the historian of the Warsaw Ghetto. The University of Warsaw awarded him a Ph.D. in 1927. He taught history at a high school.

In 1938 the American Jewish " Joint Distribution Committee" sent him to the frontier town of Zbaszyn where 1700 Polish nationals living in Germany were deported to Poland. Ringelblum collected testimony from the deportees, directed relief work and gathered information on Nazi Germany.

In October 1939 he started the Oneg Shabbat ( Enjoyment of the Sabbath). They published a collection of clandestine newspapers in various languages. This material was transmitted to London and to the West. In addition, he created biographical notes on some of the most important people living in the camp. He preserved the collections of material in containers that were buried in three or more catches. After the war, only two catches were recovered and became the property of the "Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw."

Ringelblum wrote his own diary by the end of 1939. This dairy was retrieved from the ruins and it was published as Notes From the Warsaw Ghetto in 1952. He was sent to a labor camp at Poniatow. He escaped, captured by the Nazis. In March 1944 Ringelblum and his wife and their son were executed.

Sources

Patterson, David. "Ringelblum, Emmanuel." Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature. Ed. thomas Riggs. Detroit: St. James Press, 2002. 262-263. Gale Virtual Library.

Eck, Nathan and Michael Berenbaum. " Ringelblum, Emmanuel." Encyclopedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vo. 17.2nd ed. detrorit: Macmillan Reference USA. 335-336. Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Judenrat

saferstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:59:42 CDT

Poland was invaded by Hitler's army on September 1, 1939. Within several months the Polish Jews were isolated from Polish society and forced into ghettos where their living conditions soon became intolerable.

Each community was required to form a Jewish Council, or the Judenrat, which was a racial organization instead of a relighious one like the Kehilla, consisting mostly of former leaders of the Jewish community. In small communities the Judenrat had twelve members, and in larger townd they numbered 24.

The responsabilities of the Judenrat were those of a local government. They were required to provide forced labor for German factories, and eventually to deliver Jews to the trains bound for the death camps. some were collaborators, however many believed that by cooperatin with the Nazis they would save lives.

Jewish leadership was an important instrument of German control. To the Jews Jewish leaders imposed German rule on the ghettos and supposedly represented their needs to the Germans. Some heads of council were laid back and permitted Laissez-faire, as did Adam Czerniakow of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The head of the Judenrat in the Lodz Ghetto was Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski. He played a very active part in the deportation of Jews from Lodz. He tried to satisfy the demands of the Germans to perfection, sending thousands to theri death. He was willing to consent to the deportation of children scarifying some while terying to save more. On September 4, 1942, he gave a speech to "fathers and mothers give me your children, give me your victims so that we can avoid having other victims- 100,000 Jews can be saved: (Encyclopedia Judaica, second edition, volume: Holocaust.) However, only about 5,000- 10,000 Jews credited him with their survival.

The remaining Jews of Lodz were deported on August 1944, and Rumkowski was considered evil in Jewish history.

Bibliography
Encyclopedia Judaica, second edition volume 9; Holcaust, pp334-335

Rescuers, Humboldt Education

Buchenwald

saferstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:46:52 CDT

Buchenwald was one of the major Nazi concentration camps set up in 1937 at Buchenwald on the Ettersberg Hill near Weimar. It remained one of the major camps throughout the history of the Third Reich and one of the largest on German soil. It consisted of 130 satellite camps and units and althouhg not per se and extermination camp, Buchenwald was considered the worst of the camps before World War II where prisoners were starved, mistreated and worked to death in the camp quarry and adjancent factories.

Camp prisoners worked primarly as forced labor in local armament factories which included Jews, political prisoners, (communists, homsexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and prisoner's of war. The first commandant of Buchenwald was an SS officer Koch and his infamous wife Ilse Koch known as the "Butcher of Buchenwald"). Both were known for their murderous rampage. Koch was later accused of fraud and theft, arrested by the SS and executed in Auschwitz. Ilse Koch was later put on trial at Dachau for crimes agaisnt humanity. She was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment but later committed suicide in her Bavarian cell in 1967.

The official goal of Buchenwald was the destruction of prisoners by work. Thousands of prisoners and inmates were murdered by work, torture, beatings or simply starvation and lack of hygiene, many died from typhus contamination. thousands more, especially Soviet POWs, were murdered in the infirmary by lethal injections and medical experiments. Buchenwald also held more than 10,000 Jews who were brought in 1938 and suffered far more than the non-Jews. The mass arrival of prisoners from death marches overwhelmed Buchenwald, among these included Shelomo Wiesel and his son Eliezer. In 1942, keeping with the general order, all Jewish prisoners with the exception of 200 building masons, were transferred to Auschwitz for extermination.

At the beginning of April 1945, as liberation drew near, the SS evacuated several thousand Jews. Some 25,000 people were killed during this forced evacuation form Buchenwald and its satellite camps. An undergroud movement took over the camp as the Germans left. American troops entered Buchenwald on April 11, 1945 liberating around 21,000 Jews. General George Patton, ordered the citizens of Weimar marched through the camp as the visit was filmed, these citizens witnessed the mass murders and corpses of thousands. Of the 238,380 prisoners the camp held, 43,045 had died or been murdered, not including 13,000 prisoners transferred to Auschwitz or other extermination camps.

The population of the surrounding area, especially those from Weimar were largely informed of the camp and knew of the atrocities. The SS keep the residents informed and the economy was connected with the camp as forced labor worked int the twon. Many profited at the expense of the inmates who were ill-treated and died from exhaustion. Only some of the responsible SS men, thirty-one with direct functions to inmates deaths were put on trial at a U.S. court in Dachau in 1947. Individual perpetrators like Ilse Koch was tried and convicted by Soviet or German courts.

Soruce: websites http//www.thirdreichruins.com/buchenwald.htm
"Buchenwald Memorial" Internet homepage at www.buchenwald.de/

Majdanek

saferstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:22:32 CDT

Majdanek, located on the southeastern outskirts of Lublin, Poland, began operation in 1941, on the orders of Heinrich Himmler, as one of the largest prisoner-of-war and extermination camps in Eastern Europe. It was originally set up for Soviet Prisoners following an agreement with the Wehrmacht under which these prisoners would be handed over to the SS for the "Germanization" of the east. Imrpisoned and deported Belorussians, Poles, and Jews from throughout Europe soon joined the population, with a maximum capacity for 35,000 inmates.

Majdanek covered about 667 acres of uncultivated land. It had a double barbed-wire fence connected to a high-voltage transmission line, with nineteen watchtowers, each 20.5 feet high, equipped with mobile searchlights and 130 illumination fixtures. It contained 227 buildings (twenty-two of which were prisoner barracks), seven gas chambers, two wooden gallows, and a small crematorium. In September 1943, a large crematorium, containing five furnaces, was added.

Close to 500,000 people, from twenty-eight countries and belonging to fifty-four different nationalities, passed through Majdanek. Of these, some 360,000 perished. Sixty percent of them died as a result of the harsh conditions, starvation, disease, exhaustion, forced labor, torture, and beatings. Forty percent were put to death in gas chambers or were executed.

In July, 1944, in the face of the advancing Red Army, Majdanek was liquidated. About 1000 prisoners were taken away, half of them reaching Auschwitz. Before abandoning the camp the staff destroyed documents and set fire to some of the buildings and the large crematorium. In their haste to withdraw, the Germans could not destroy the camp entirely, so clear remnants of the barracks, gas chambers, and crematoria remained.

When the camp was liberated on July 24, 1944, only a few hundred prisoners of various nationalities were still alive. The liberation of Majdanek was covered widely with intense press coverage. Western correspondents entered the death camp and wrote stories about it.

In July, 1944, the Polish-Soviet Nazi Crimes Investigation Commission began to investigate the crimes that had been committed at Majdanek. Only a few of the 1300 staff members were brought to trial after the war. In November, 1944, six SS men were tried in Lublin. Four were hanged and two committed suicide before sentence was passed. From 1946-1948, ninety-six additional men were tried, and between 1975-1980, sixteen former staff members, including six women were tried.

In October, 1944, a national museum and research institute was established on the site of Majdanek. It maintains the remains of the camp as well as a permanent exhibition, which includes one of the barracks filled with more than 500,000 shoes taken from prisoners. It also administers an archive, publishes a journal, and edits research works on the history of the camp.

Bibliography
Dombrowska, Danuta and Michael Berenbaum. "Majdanek." Encyclopedia Judaica.
Ed. Michael Berembaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 13,2 ed Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 407-408.

"Majdanek" The Holocaust Encyclopedia. Ed. Walter Laqueur. New Haven, Ct: Yale University Press, 2001.

Mankowski, Zygmunt. "Majdanek." Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Ed. Israel Gutman. 4 vols. New York: Mackmillan Publishing Co., 1990.

Auschwitz

saferstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:55:50 CDT

Auschwitz, the largest and deadliest death camp in Europe during World War II, was the location of the death of between 1.6 million and 2 million prisoners. While most of the inmates were Jews, more than 100,000 non-Jews were also killed at Auschwitz. German technology was "thoroughly modern" and Germany was the most advanced nation at this point in history, both technologically and culturally. Germany and Poland had been the two nations with the largest Jewish populations in Western / Central Europe; today, the nation in W. Europe with the most Jews is France, along with Russia in E. Europe / Asia.
For those not shot, many were killed in gas chambers. There were a total of 52 ovens built among five crematoria.
David Wongczewki was the first inmate to die, but not the last. Inmates had virtually no rights, and were expected to work (if able) on a starvation diet, consisting of an occasional slice of bread and disgusting coffee or potato peel. Prisoners had very little clothing, meaning they would be freezing terribly in the winter. Those unable to work would be subjected to quick death, those that looked healthier had a chance to survive awhile longer. Several "Schindler" Jews were mistakenly sent to Auschwitz in a paperwork mistake. Terms such as "special treatment" and "final solution" describe NAZI terms for the Jewish question, in which Hitler and other German leaders viewed Jews as "subhuman."
German residents of the newly occupied town were to receive superb living conditions, with beautiful shops, restaurants, hotels, etc. For the prisoners, it was a different story. Not only were Jews and other Nazi "undesirables murdered at Auschwitz, but also Soviet and Polish prisoners were killed there as the NAZIs ignored international rules. (the Geneva Convention)
Jews were divided as to whether Auschwitz should be bombed by the allies, but it didn't happen.

Some argued it was the quickest hope for escape and survival, was others argued it was immoral for the allies to risk killing inncoent prisoners. The U.S. Government had been saying the best hope for the prisoners was the quickest ending (victory) of World War II. Bombs were dropping at nearby military / economic targets; however none were planned to drop on the death camp itself. Apparently, a few bombs did drop though as mistaken "collateral" damage, killing nearly 100 at the camp.
Regular transports arrived daily into Auschwitz from all over Europe, though as a percentage of overall populations, Polish, German, and E. European Jews lost substantially more than W. Europe. France lost 17% of its Jewish population, while Poland lost more than 90%. Denmark saved more than 90% of its Jewish population, although the loss of one innocent individual in genocide, especially a child, is just one too many.
It is important to learn the mistakes of the past to prevent them in the future. One big current positive is Germany, Poland, W. Europe, and Israel are allies with each other and the United States, though, unfortuntely genocide is still continuing elsewhere in the world today. If children learn at a young age to treat others (everyone!) the way they want to be treated, maybe there is hope for the future.
Thanks to the following sources:
Dwork, Deborah and Van Pelt, Robert. "Auschwitz". Encyclopedia Judaica. Detroit: 1973
Cryer, Robert. "Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity" Oxford: 2002
Hilberg, Raul. "Auschwitz". The Holocaust Encyclopedia. New Haven: Yale, 2001

Sachsenhausen

saferstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:50:40 CDT

Sachenhausen

Sachsenhausen was a death camp of significant importance. It was established in 1936 in the outkirts of northern Berlin; though not very well known to the average person like Treblinka or Auschwitz/Birkenau, it was a major contributor to the sinister Final Solution. Sachenhausen had 44 sub-camps and external komandos. How could the German population at large claim that they were not aware of what was happening within the
confines of their own territory.?

As early as 1936 Himmler himself writes in a letter that Sachsenhausen was intended doe wartime use. The day following Kristallnacht 1,800 prisoners entered the facility and 450 prisoners were murdered right after their arrival. One can safely infer, that the foundation for the Final Solution was part of the Nazi regime since they took power over Germany. The population increased consistantly since 1936 thr 1944. Between the years of 1943 to 1944 the number of prisoners practically doubled.

The management of Sachsenhausen was conferred to the zealots of SS who amplified the scope of the murderous operation. Thousand of prisoners who were killed in this camp were not even registered.

The slave labor of this camp built a brick wall in 1938. In 1943 the prisoners were assigned to different factory unit manufacturing arms for the Nazi regime. How ironic! Even though murders and executions happened frenquently, Sachsenhausen had been meant to be training ground for the SS and holding camp for prisoners who would eventually be transferred.

Sachsenhausen was liberated by the Soviet in April 27th 1945. At the time of liberation only 3,000 prisoners too weak and malnourished to walk were found. The majority had already been taken by the SS. During the Soviets occupation of berlin the camp was used to house political prisoners. Today the camp is a memorial to those who perished in it.

Sources given to me:
"Sachehausen," TheHolocaust Encyclopedia. Ed. Waler Laqueur.
New Haven, CT: Yale University press, 200l.

Reshef, Yehuda and Michael Berebaum. Sachenhausen -Orianienburg. Encyclopedia Judaica.Ed. Michael Berebaum and fred Skolnik Vol.17 2n ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.637.Gale Virtual Reference
Library. Gales. Holocaust documentation & educ. Ctr 14 May
2008<Hrp://go galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p+GVRL&u=holl3302>

Bibliography

Szalet, T. Experiment "E" a Report from Extermination Laboratory.
New York 1945

Todeslager Sachenhausen: Ein Docukumentarbericht vom
Sachenhausen-prozess. Berlin, 1948

Vam Dam , H. G. and R. Giordano, eds KZ Verbrechen vor deutschen Gerichten: Dokumente aus den prozessen gegen Sommer(KZ Buchenwald):Sorge, Schubert (KZ Sachenhausen): Unkelbach (Ghetto in Czennstochau): Der Prozess zu Ulm. Frankfurt, 1962.

Falk Pingel
Sources gathered by me from the internet

Http://www.jewshgen.org/forgattencamps/Camps/SachsenhausenEng.htmllkll

Http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsenhausen_concentration_camp

Ghetto

saferstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:49:33 CDT

The name of a district in 16th Century Venice where Jews were segregated from the majority Gentile populations. From 1940-1944, Jews were required to move into ghettos in German occupied European cities where the occupiers imprisoned them before they were systematicallly murdered. The word ghetto may possibly be derived from the Hebrew word "Get" which means separation or divorce.

During the second World War in Poland, Ghettos acted as a place of transition. Jews were herded into small parts of an urban center, usually an area that had predominately Jewish population before the war. Walls were built to restrict movement in or out of the ghetto and to prevent non-Jews from viewing the horrors and degredation within the Ghetto.

The original goal of the ghetto was to drastically reduce the number of Jews by malnutrition, overwork and crowding, and unsanitary conditions. Since the Jewish population was not diminishing fast enough a decision was made in 1942 to begin transferring remaining Jews to death camps, mostly via cattle cars on trains. The majority of the initial survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto were shipped to Treblinka Concentratioion camp for immediate execution.

During the transition period between being imprisoned in the ghettos and sent to the camps, many Jews were employed in factories making munitions and other goods used by the German army. The Ghetto factories allowed some ghettoes to remain operational longer before final liquidation. The Lodz (Poland) was not liquidated until August of 1944, ten months before the war ended.

Security within the confines of the Ghettoes was handled in most cases by a Jewish police force who took its orders from the German Gestapo. The Jewish police were also responsible for filling the transports of trains leaving the Ghettoes for the camps. At the end of the war, the German Gestapo chief Himmler said that he was sorry to have to order the liquidation of the Jewish police since they were one of the best police forces he had ever worked with.

There was heroic resistance in many o the Ghettoes except Lodz, where its Ghetto was sealed in such a way as to prevent any smuggling of arms into the Ghetto. A well-planned organized revolt took place in the Warsaw Ghetto during January of 1943. Many German, Lithuainian and Jewish police were wounded or killed. According to the official archive of the second world war fo the Soviet Union, German Panzer Divisions, which were headed to Stalingrad were detoured to Warsaw to quell the uprising As a result, Red army forces were able to surround and annihialate Von Paulus's sixth army at Stalingrad, turning the European theatre of the war permanently in favor of the Allies.

1. Official Soviet Archive of the Second World War.

2. The Kovno Ghetto Diary, 1990

3. Chronicles of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-44. (1984)

4. Meed, Vladka. On Both Sides of the Wall: Memoirs from the Warsaw Ghetto, 1972.

5. Cholawski, Shalon. Soldiers from the Ghetto, 1980.