Leavitt 1

The Holocaust

Constance Leavitt

College English

Mr. Larry Neuburger

March 17, 2009

 Leavitt 2

Many people ask how could a thing like the Holocaust happen to the world and

what kind of person could do this to so many innocent people. The word Holocaust

means “sacrifice by fire.” (historyplace.com) Upon the death of German president Paul

von Hindenburg in August 2, 1934, Hitler assumed the powers of the presidency. The

army swore an oath of personal loyalty to him. Hitler's dictatorship 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. (page 1-3) Germany power in during

this time thought they were racially superior and Jewish people threatened their

community. (ushmm.org) Jews at this time is viewed as parasitic vermin only good

enough for eradication. After the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor on January

30, 1933, the Nazi state (also referred to as the Third Reich) quickly became a regime in

which Germans enjoyed no guaranteed basic rights. (page 2-4)

The Nazi seized control over the culture, economy, education, and law.

(ushmm.org) They wanted to gain power over religious beliefs and the Catholic and

Protestant churches gave them their support. Extensive propaganda is used to spread the

regime's goals and ideals. (page 4-5)

With Hitler having total power to do anything he wanted he began a mass killing

spree known as the Holocaust. (ushmm.org) He started it by first killing disabled people.

The term "euthanasia" meaning "good death" usually refers to the inducement of a

painless death for a chronically or terminally ill individual. Robert Wagemann a German

native was born with a bad hip from delivery. He recalls going to a “clinic” for a
 Leavitt 3

physical. While at the clinic his mother overheard the doctors talking about putting

Robert to “sleep”. The doctors went to lunch and during this time Robert’s mother

grabbed him, fleeing from fear that her son was about to be killed. Many people thought

that they were to undergo a physical and then a disinfecting shower. Little did they know

that poisonous gas was released in the showers to kill them. These clinics killed around

5,000 disabled infants, toddlers, and adults.(page 6-10)

Many people think that the Holocaust was just Jews being murdered.

(ushmm.org)But other groups of races were attacked too. Roma Gypsies, homosexuals,

African Americans, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Slavic people were also considered inferior

to the Aryan race. These groups of people had to wear certain symbols identifying what

they were. Jews had to wear yellow Star of David on the sleeves of their clothes. These

groups of people were sent to live in ghettos which were enclosed areas where they lived

in miserable conditions. They were simply separated from the non-Jewish community.

There were at least 1,000 ghettos in Eastern Europe at this time. Nazis used the ghettos as

a way to realize their goals to control the Jewish population. (page 7-11)

Some non-Jewish families tried to hide Jewish families from being caught by the

Nazis. ( history1900s.about.com) The most famous story about this is the story of the

Frank family. It was a typical family with a father, a mother, and two daughters. They

were Jewish so they hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam. Anne, their youngest daughter,

kept a diary during her two years of hiding out. It gave us a real insight on how someone

would feel during this time. It had all her daily experiences. They were caught after two

years of hiding and sent to camps where they would all die except for the father, Otto.

Their story is remembered through Anne’s diary. (page 4-6)

 Leavitt 4

With the decision at the Wannsee in 1942 to implement “The Final Solution” the

Nazis started to destroy the ghettos and send the Jews to “work camps”, also known as

killing camps. (ushmm.org) When they got to the camp they got a number which was

tattooed on their forearm. The first killing center was Chelmno; it was located in

Warthegau, Poland. In the beginning they were gassed in mobile vans. Nazis opened the

Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka killing centers. They are also known as Operation

Reinhard. People were separated into two groups. One where they immediately got killed

and the other where they got to live. Almost all of the deportees who arrived at the camps

got sent immediately to death in the gas chambers. Only a few exceptions of very small

numbers of people chosen for special work teams known as Sonderkommandos. The

largest killing center, Auschwitz, had four gas chambers. In one day Nazi troops could

kill up to 12,000 Jews a day. They used Zyklon B poison gas to kill them. (page 11-15)

As World War Two ended, Death Marches also helped Nazis kill Jews; the Nazis

evacuated the camps for a reason. (ushmm.org) There are three major reasons why they

evacuated; SS authorities did not want prisoners to fall into enemy hands alive to tell

their stories to Allied and Soviet liberators, the SS thought they needed prisoners to

maintain production of armaments wherever possible, and some SS leaders believed

irrationally that they could use Jewish concentration camp prisoners as hostages to

bargain for a separate peace in the west that would guarantee the survival of the Nazi

regime. Gestapo’s had strict orders which said if one could not walk anymore they had to

be shot. The Death March term is considered to be coined by the people who walked it.

(page 11-16)
 Leavitt 5

In the end six million Jews died and five million of the other groups died.

(ushmm.org) All together there were eleven million innocent people murdered by the

Nazis. (page 20-22) This could have occurred because people in those countries believed

every word Hitler said and they were afraid for their own life. The people killed during

the Holocaust will always be remembered through their stories.

 Leavitt 6

Works Cited

Gavin, Philip. "The Rise of Adolf Hitler." The History Place. 16 Feb. 1996. Sept. & Oct.

2008 <http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/runs.htm>.

Gilbert, Martin. "The Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 11 Mar.

2009. Sept. & Oct.2008

<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005143>.