NAZI CAMP SYSTEM

INFORMATION ON THE NAZI’S

The Nazis Used the colored triangle system to identify each prisoners background

Jews were the main target in the holocaust Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and

troops captured from other countries were kept at the camps

Prisoners were mostly killed by starvation, gas chambers, and brutal punishment.

LIBERATION On July 23, 1944, the soviet soldiers entered

the Majdanek Camp in Poland. The Germans were forced to leave their

prisoners behind in their retreat from the camp. British, Canadian, American, and French troops

freed prisoners from the camps. According to Bill Barrett, an american army

journalist “there were 12 dozen bodies in the dirty boxcar, men and women alike. They had gone without food so long that their dead wrists were broomsticks tipped with claws. These were the victims of a deliberate starvation diet..."

THE SURVIVORS

For the survivors, returning to life as it had been before the Holocaust was impossible. Jewish communities no longer existed in much of Europe.

Although many Jewish survivors were able to build new lives in their adopted countries, many non-Jewish victims of Nazi policies continued to be persecuted in Germany.

On May 14, 1948, one of the leading voices for a Jewish homeland, David Ben-Gurion, announced the formation of the State of Israel.

PRISONERS OF THE CAMPS

As the Jews were the main targets of Nazi genocide, the victims of the killing centers were overwhelmingly Jewish.

Prisoners were required to wear color-coded triangles on their jackets so that the guards and officers of the camps could easily identify each person's background and pit the different groups against each other.

"ENEMIES OF THE STATE"

Although Jews were the main target of Nazi hatred, they were not the only group persecuted. Other individuals and groups were considered "undesirable" and "enemies of the state."

Jehovah's Witnesses, members of a small Christian group, were victimized not for reasons of race but because of their beliefs.

Homosexuals were victimized by the Nazis for reasons of behavior.

FORCED LABOR

In German-occupied areas, the Nazis singled out Jewish laborers for cruel treatment.

Jewish laborers were also subjected to humiliating treatment, as when SS men forced religious Jews to submit to having their beards cut.

DEATH MARCHES Prisoners were forced to march long

distances in bitter cold, with little or no food, water, or rest.

Those who could not keep up were shot. The Germans marched tens of

thousands of prisoners out of the camp toward a town thirty-five miles away, where they were put on freight trains to other camps.

About one in four died on the way.

LIBERATION Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate

concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war.

The prisoners who were still alive were living skeletons.

Left behind were victims' belongings: 348,820 men's suits, 836,255 women's coats, and tens of thousands of pairs of shoes.

THE SURVIVORS For the survivors, returning to life as it

had been before the Holocaust was impossible.

Jewish communities no longer existed in much of Europe.

When people tried to return to their homes from camps or hiding places, they found that, in many cases, their homes had been looted or taken over by others.

THE NUREMBERG TRIALS After the war, some of those responsible

for crimes committed during the Holocaust were brought to trial.

Nuremberg, Germany, was chosen as a site for trials that took place in 1945 and 1946.

Judges from the Allied powers -- Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States -- presided over the hearings of twenty-two major Nazi criminals.

RESEARCH SOURCES: Prisoners of the Camps:

http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007754

“Enemies of the State”: http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007727

Forced Labor: http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007732

Death Marches: http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007734

Liberation: http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007724

The Survivors: http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007736

The Nuremberg Trials: http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007722