When did the formal killing start? Even though the Nazis took control in 1933 Formal killing...
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Transcript of When did the formal killing start? Even though the Nazis took control in 1933 Formal killing...
When did the formal killing start? Even though the Nazis took control in 1933
Formal killing doesn’t begin until 1941 Co-insides with the invasion on Russia
Then is practiced in Germany
Operation Barbarossa Systematic killing of Jews Use of the Einsatzgruppen
Special SS killing units These men were not thugs but professionals
Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers, etc
Operation Barbarossa Einsatzgruppen
Job was to search for opponents of the Reich Included Communists and Jews
Once they found them they were to execute them Four Units
A,B,C, and D Largest group had 1,000 men By 1943
1.25 million Jews killed 100’s of thousands of others
Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing
Einsatzgruppen Gathered men, women and children
Along the edges of Ravines Mines Ditches Pits
That the Jews had to dig
Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing
Einsatzgruppen Before Killing the Jews
Had the Jews hand over their possessions Had the Jews remove their clothing
Then they shoot the Jews and watch their bodies fall into the pits
Einsatzgruppen kept records Counted bodies and took pictures Personal diaries and letters of soldiers
Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing
Babi Yar Just outside Kiev, Ukraine
Late September 1941 Apprx. 34,000 Jewish men, women and children
Marched to a Jewish Cemetery Forced to hand over valuables and take off clothes 1 by 1 Shot in the back of the head Bodies piled up creating one massive grave
The Final Solution Nazis decide to change methods
Begin receiving reports that soldiers in the field are beginning to suffer psychological effects
Questioning orders Mess from shooting somebody Cost of ammunition The general public witnessing these events
They start to question
The Final Solution Start to conceal the killings
Killing vans Carbon monoxide Jews thrown in the back of the van Nazis would drive around until the Jews died Not very effective
Couldn’t kill that many Took a long time
The Final Solution “Instead of the killer coming to the victims,
the victims would come to the killing centers.”
Gassing reduced the direct contact between the killers and their victims Made the murder’s task easier
Distanced themselves Cattle Analogy (Interview with Prison Guard)
The Final Solution Extermination Camps are constructed
Not on German soil “While not all victims were Jews, all Jews were
victims.” Elie Wiesel (former camp inmate) Several killing centers, but 6 major ones do the
most killing
The Final Solution 6 Major Camps (all in Poland)
Chelmno Belzec Sobibor Treblinka Auschwitz-Birkenau Majdanek
The Final Solution Death Camps
All were located close to railways Hidden away from the public
Tucked out in the country
The Final Solution:Process
Jews would arrive in cattle cars Usually spent days in carts without food and
water When they got off the trains they were asked to
get into 2 lines (Auschwitz) Right Line = Death Left Line = Work; stay alive
The Final Solution:Process
Doctors were at the train platforms Generally Speaking
Women, old people and children were sent straight to their deaths
Men, if healthy and the right age, were temporarily spared
Forced to work in the camps
The Final Solution:Process
Once in lines Nazis didn’t want anyone to panic Always very calm
Some people knew their fate; most just quietly marched to their fate
Told that they were going to take showers “After the shower, you’ll get a hot meal.” Had hooks for their clothes Signs that said showers
The Final Solution:Process
Shift from carbon monoxide to Zyklon B Carbon Monoxide = 100 Jews 1-2 hours Zyklon B = 100 Jews 10-15 minutes
Shift from Mass Graves to Crematorium Why?
Mass Graves were: Smelling really bad Polluting the local water supply
The Final Solution:Process
Jews were forced to put the bodies into the ovens Distancing themselves (Nazis)
The Final Solution:Life in the Camps
One of the basic Nazi aims was to demoralize, humiliate, ruin us, not only physically but also spiritually. They did everything in their power to push us into the bottomless depths of degradation. Their spies were constantly among us to keep them informed about every thought, every feeling, every reaction we had, and one never knew who was one of their agents.
The Final Solution:Life in the Camps
There was only one law in Auschwitz - the law of the jungle- the law of self-preservation. Women who in their former lives were decent self-respecting human beings now stole, lied, spied, beat the others and - if necessary - killed them, in order to save their miserable lives. Stealing became an art, a virtue, something to be proud of. We called it "organization."
The Final Solution:Life in the Camps
Those who were working near the crematories had an opportunity to "organize" an occasional can offood, a pair of shoes, a dress, a cooking pot, a comb, which they then sold on the black market operating in the latrine for food, for special favors, and - if the buyers were men - for "love."
The Final Solution:Life in the Camps
But among those who had no connections among the crematory workers there were many who "organized" the piece of bread of their neighbor, regardless of whether she might starve to death as a consequence, or "organized" their bedfellow's shoes, no matter if her bleeding feet would condemn her to be cremated.
The Final Solution:Life in the Camps
By stealing bread, shoes, water, you stole a life for yourself, even if it was at the expense of other lives. Only the strong, the cruel, the merciless survived. The SS were, of course, greatly amused by these practices and encouraged them by showing special favors to some, so as to awaken the jealousy, the hatred, the greed of the others.
The Final Solution:Life in the Camps
Other ways to survive Visit the hospital Where you stood in the soup line Latrines at night