Holocaust
It was the biggest genocide to ever take place in human history. Most history teachings are based upon factual records but many horrors of the Holocaust went undocumented and can only be understood through the court hearings, diaries, stories, drawings, and first hand experiences of the survivors. Holocaust history focuses on Jews but all undesirables were included in the genocide including: handicapped, Jehovah witnesses, homosexuals, and gypsies. After World War l, Germany was pounded with war reparations.
They didn’t only lose the war; they lost their pride and nationalism to their country. Germany’s was limited to an army of 100,000 men, and limited to even fewer ships. They suffered a great amount of territorial losses, and the worst of all, they had to accept the humiliation of being held solely responsible for the war. The losses, the destruction, and the depression after World War I was all rested upon the shoulders of the Germans. (Hosted) Along with these harsh war reparations, the world was suffering from the Great Depression. Their entire middle class was wiped out and they were undergoing ass unemployment.
Their fragile democracy didn’t stand a chance in restoring their nation. Social unrest gave the rise to countless radical parties and the democracy fell to pieces. Germany was longing for stability and direction, and desperate for a powerhouse to restore organization. Unfortunately many found this hope in Hitler. Hitler was an unhappy child growing up but his youth was nothing out of the ordinary. He grew up in Austria, but he moved to Vienna in his later years. In Vienna, Jews were given the equal opportunity to express their talent, providing Hitler with the opportunity to develop his racism towards the group.
He had little social life; he believed that art, military, and music were the only important things in life. He was intelligent, and a great speaker, which would later become very useful to him. (Hitler in color) World War I enabled Hitter’s rise to power. Germany was in ruins and desperate for any power to take over, and Hitler was there to step in and relate to them. He shared their misery and hatreds and knew how to attract crowds. His convincing and motivational speeches that spoke of Germany on the track to coming a world power again gained people’s vote.
Hitler promised the people of Germany a future. He promised to reinitialize the Rangeland, reclaim German territories, and bring power back to Germany. Disparity among the people caused them to overlook the harsh terms of the Nazi way of life. Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January of 1933. He became the head of state and the head of government, in the now totalitarian government of Germany. During Hitter’s regime, also commonly known as the “Third Reich” or “Nazi Germany’, Hitler restored jobs to over a million people.
He created public works programs and he funded them with military spending. This gained him a lot of support from his people who had been suffering from a financial depression, and economic chaos. Opposition to the government was nonexistent. Civil service members swore to an oath in which the vowed to be unconditionally obedient to their Ruler. Whatever Hitler did was the law. The government even controlled opinions and artwork; there was no room for any up rises or outbreaks. In classrooms, the youth were taught to obey Hitler. Hitler created a Nazi Youth Group that became very popular among the children.
The best of the best were recruited for his group: the athletes, the educated, and the well-off in Hitter’s Nazi Youth Group skyrocketed from 50,000 members to 5 million members. In late 1936, it became mandatory for all children to Join the Nazi Youth Group. The children were taught of superior traits, and how the Jews were at fault for the unfortunate times that their country had been suffering. School teachings included racism, anti-Semitism, and obedience to the state. At eighteen, it was mandatory for all boys to enlist in Hitter’s army.
The people of Germany were taught by a young age o obey Hitler. It was as the whole country was brainwashed into the thoughts of their new leader. At first Jews and other undesirables were Just separated from society and denied certain rights. They were not allowed to intermarry with non-Jews and they couldn’t practice certain professions such as: teachers, nurses, lawyers, etc. Eventually all undesirables were to be eliminated from society all in all. Hitler created “camps” that would separate the Jews from the rest of the population so they could no longer affect their nation’s success and prosperity. Urban) On November 9th, 938, Non-Germans flooded the streets where Jewish businesses and homes were located. They threw glass through windows, burned down homes and stores, demolished the streets, and murdered and beat thousands of Jews. The night will forever be remembered in history as Circumstantial. On this night, 30,000 Jews were arrested and placed into concentration camps. The first concentration camp to come about was Dachas in Germany near Munich. At the camp, violence and terror kept the inmates in order. Upon entering the camp they were humiliated; they were stripped of their clothes and had their heads shaved.
Some were killed immediately. Some were used for slave labor. The camps lacked hygiene and basic medical care so many caught diseases, which spread from inmate to inmate. Along with diseases, the Jews were barely fed, if ever, and rarely given water. Malnutrition and poor living conditions took a toll on the camp’s inmates. This torture and terror on a daily basis was the new life of misery that these Jews were unable to escape. (Dillon) Other concentration camps emerged. The most notorious were: Chanteuses near Berlin, Buchwald near Whimper, Lightener near Murderers, and the most tourism of all, Auschwitz.
Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp. It was in southern Poland alongside a military base, and also conveniently located right along a railway making transportation of Jews very easy for Hitter’s civil service. It was right in the center of all of Rupee’s German-occupied countries. The Jews were greeted with the message “Work will set you free! ” Upon entering, Nazi doctors examined the Jews. If they were determined useless, they were directed to the shower-disguised gas chambers. This group included young children, women, and elderly. If they were en as useful, they were directed to the slave labor side of the camp.
The ones who didn’t get put to immediate death usually died shortly after from overworking and disease. “Some Auschwitz prisoners were subjected to inhumane medical experimentation. The chief perpetrator of this barbaric research was Josef Mangle (1911-79), a German physician who began working at Auschwitz in 1943. Mangle, who came to be known as the “Angel of Death,” performed a range of experiments on detainees. For example, in an effort to study eye color, he injected serum into the eyeballs of dozens of children, causing them excruciating pain.
He also injected chloroform into the hearts of twins, to determine if both siblings would die at the World War II began to take a toll on Hitler but he refused to admit defeat. This caused mass destruction and damage to Germany’s infrastructure, and the massive bombing of major cities. Hitler even began to destroy his own buildings so his enemies could not enjoy the pleasure of defeating him. When he was forced to face the fact that the Allied Powers were soon to defeat him, Hitler committed suicide. (A +E Networks) When the Soviet entered Auschwitz, many buildings and records in the concentration camp had already been destroyed.
Buildings were torn down and documents were disposed of. Many Jews had been shipped out of the camp along the railway to other camps. Some of the evidence may have been destroyed but the true horrors that took place in this camp could never be covered up and remained behind in the shaved hair, children’s shoes, piles of bones and corpses, and misery drawn across the survivor’s faces. The thousands of frail Jews left behind at Auschwitz were skin and bones, hopelessly waiting for someone to save them. They may have survived, but they will forever carry with them the mental and physical cars from the horrors of the Holocaust.
