Jewell 1

Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Caitlin Jewell

Mr. Neuburger Eng Comp 102-118 11 April 2013

Jewell 2 The Holocaust, also known as the largest case of genocide in history, begins with one small group of people that quickly leads to one of the most powerful political parties in Germany, the Nazi party. One can only wonder how the Nazi party gets away with the hatred and mass murder of six million Jewish people as well as another six million people a part of other opposing ethnic groups. This new government quickly grasps power and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler immediately begins making major changes. One must look closely at the processes that occur to accomplish such a gruesome way of getting rid of an entire population. Nazi rise to power After World War I Germany is in a state of depression throughout the late 1920s. According to Holocaust: A Call to Conscience, Adolf Hitler uses the Jews as blame for all of the problems Germany has been experiencing as well as blame for the depression state. The Nazis quickly rise to power and Hitler makes way through the political process to be named Chancellor of Germany in 1930. Furthermore the Nazi party overthrew the Weimar Republic which names Nazi

Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler\ Link: http://bit.ly/XMRW2k

the main government. Just a short time later Nazi is the only form of

government left in Germany (The Nazi Regime). Previously, before Hitler began his rise to power he writes a book, Mein Kampf or My Struggle, which describes the view he has on the Jewish race. Likewise, Hitler explains that all Jews need to be exterminated or removed from Germany completely for what they have done. This interpretation is known as anti-Semitism.

Kristallnacht

Jewell 3 On November 9th, 1938, the Nazis made a series of assaults on the Jewish homes and synagogues of Germany. These attacks are known as Kristallnacht or Night of Broken
Anti-Semitism graffiti Link:

Glass. According to Holocaust Education and

Archive Research Team (HEART), November 9th permission has been given to Hitler by Minister Joseph Goebbels to launch attacks on the Jewish homes of Germany after an assassination of German diplomat Ernst Vom Rath. Furthermore, Vom Rath had been shot two days earlier by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew, who is angry that his parents, together with tens of thousands of Jews of Polish citizenship living in Germany (Grynszpan's parents had lived in Germany since 1911), had been expelled from Germany without notice Kristallnacht). This marks the night when Jews are removed from the German community. Rounding up the Jews (ghettos) Kristallnacht easily made way for Hitlers next plan, getting Jews out of Germany. Over the course of a few days Jews have been rounded up, ransacked and stripped of any items they have and taken by train to a concentration ghetto. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) explains that ghettos are small city like confinements usually located in Poland. Jews are put
Nazi soldiers rounding up Jews Link: http://bit.ly/YXVpAb

in miserable conditions and many die from not getting the essentials they need to survive. Furthermore, Jews have to wear identifying arm bands or badges and do labor work for the German Reich (Ghettos). In the movie A Film Unfinished, a documentary about the Warsaw

Jewell 4 Ghetto, one can see thousands of Jews confined into a three mile radius of a city. Only the rich, which is about twenty people in one ghetto, are able to buy good food to live every day. These conditions force Jews to go above and beyond just to survive, even if it means risking their own lives. Resistance Not everyone is on board with what Hitler is doing to the Jews. These people became known as the Jewish Resistance, many of them trying help the Jews during the Nazi uprising. Jews smuggle in food, medicine, and clothes despite the fact they may get caught and killed. The Nazis little acts of restriction did not seem to stop the Jews from making their lives as simple as possible. According to Yad Vashem, the Jews make theaters, newspapers, schools, and even carried out daily prayer to
Jewish people in line in ghetto\ Link: http://bit.ly/11fi4X9

try and gain back some dignity rather than letting the Nazis

dehumanize them. A large amount even escape through illegal emigration or try to hide, but if caught, Nazis torture and publicly hang those who go against the law (resistance-Jewish). Death camps In order to carry out the killings of Jews, Nazis assembled six death camps located outside of Germany. According to A Teachers Guide To The Holocaust, the six camps are named Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibr, Majaneck and Chelmno. The main purpose of these camps are to kill the innocent Jews that are brought by the cattle cars. These camps remain being used from 1941-1944. By the end of 1943, the camps total up to around one

Jewell 5 million Jews killed and one million non-Jews killed, around half of the European Jewish population (The Camps). Extermination methods Extermination methods are the most efficient ways to get the job done. According to PBS, there were a few ways the Nazis killed the Jews. Other than mass shooting Nazis find it easy to load Jews into the back of sealed vans or trucks. The vans leave for a nearby forest but have carbon monoxide hoses leaking fumes into where the Jews were being held, and his made it easy because when the vans reach the destination the bodies
Link: http://bit.ly/qRqmQA Link: http://bit.ly/qRqmQA Link: http://bit.ly/qRqmQA

are unloaded and buried or burned. What would be

considered the most efficient way of killing are the gas chambers. By using a pesticide called Zyklon B, the chambers could dispose of four thousand corpses a day. Moreover, crematoria is a way to dispose of the bodies after the gas chambers. Often prisoners would have to move the bodies from the chambers to the furnaces where they were to be burned (The Killing Evolution).

Liberation In 1944, while the allied troops marched on toward the Nazis views of concentration camps that have been dismantled left more than just evidence of the heinous crime. Troops encountered ashes from the crematorium, corpses stacked on top of each other, and many people

Woman being helped by Allied troops. Link: http://bit.ly/13lpYlH

Jewell 6 suffering from starvation and malnourishment. The Jewish Virtual Library explains that the troops not only found bodies, but 800,000 pairs of shoes, 350,000 men's suits and 840,000 women's coats. Allies did not liberate the first camp until 1945. When this happens the Germans began emptying the camps of the surviving prisoners trying to hide the evidence. Soldiers could easily tell that the remaining survivors are living skeletons and quickly begin helping. An estimated 50,000 inmates are still living(Liberation). After liberation Immediately after liberation of the concentration camps, a lot had not seemed to change. The allied forces are helping with getting the surviving Jews back to good health. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Jews have mixed feelings about being completely free. A majority of the Jews felt somewhat guilty for surviving when so many, including relatives, did not survive. Some even decide to stay in the camps because they do not have anywhere else to go (Liberation). Also, USHMM states "that tens of
Israel's flag Link: http://bit.ly/12lR8Zs

thousands of homeless holocaust survivors migrated westward

to other European territories liberated by the western Allies." Moreover, in May of 1948 the state of Israel is formed and displaced Jewish refugees begin to immigrate to the fresh new state for a new start (The Aftermath of the Holocaust). These are the events that happened over the course of a decade and even years before with Hitler's famous book. The people of Germany were simply just doing what they were told. After all, Hitler makes the laws as Chancellor of Germany and the laws must be followed. One may think it would be impossible to systematically murder millions of people, but the Nazis'

Jewell 7 made it happen. Sometimes society always thinks of what is good and tries to do nothing but good, but there will always be evil. Todays society, one does not make evil their problem, society as a whole still likes to "bury their heads in the sand" and forget that anything evil is their problem, too. The whole population needs to stand up and forget what is out of their power and try to help each other. One needs to give help in order to receive it in return.

Jewell 8 Works Cited "Nazi Rise to Power." Holocaust: A Call to Conscience. Project Aladin, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Hart, Dr. Stephen A. "Liberation of Concentration Camps." BBC History. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State." PBS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. "Kristallnacht: Night of Broken Glass." Holocaust Research Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. "Antisemitism." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. "The Holocaust." History. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. "The Nazi Rise to Power." A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

"Holocaust Research Project Image Gallery." Holocaust Research Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 17
Apr. 2013. "The Aftermath of the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

"Resistance-Jewish." Yad Vashem. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. "Liberation." Jewish Virtual Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

Overall, this is fairly well done.

Jewell 9
Score Points Available

40 20 40 35 25 15 25 Total = 200

Content paper demonstrates understanding and confidence about topic Sources uses only primary and secondary sources In-Text Citations integrates sources within text with effective use of signal words and phrases Formatting properly uses MLA formatting Works Cited works cited page has the required number of sources and is properly formatted Pictures uses pictures to enhance the text with effective captions and source information Writing Mechanics Paper is free from errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.

35 20 35 30 15 15 22
Total Score

172