The Holocaust

By: Jimin Son

February 22nd, 2016

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Introduction
Ethnic cleansing has been defined as an attempt to eliminate an unwanted ethnic
group or population from the homeland through deportation, displacement, or even
mass killing, in order to establish a more secure, ethnically homogeneous state. Although
several campaigns to cleanse a territory for ethnic or religious reasons have existed
throughout history, such as The Serbian Campaign, the rise of extreme nationalism
during the 20th century led to an unprecedented level of brutality and violence - the Nazi
Holocaust annihilation of some six million European Jews. The Holocaust was a
prominent event in that it was a racial period where the Nazis introduced a new scale of
possibility of wiping other people off the face of the earth; the heart, and mind of the Jews
did not matter, their blood mattered - the ultimate extension was the death of over six
million people sanctioned by a government who had organized the massacre fueled by
extreme nationalism.

Where did it occur?

Although the Holocaust started in Germany in 1933, it did not only occur in
Germany, but also countries in Western Europe that were under the Nazis control. On
March 12, 1938, Austria was annexed into Germany by the Nazis. On March 15, 1939,
Czechoslovakia was invaded by Germany as well. The invasion of both Austria and
Czechoslovakia brought over half a million Jews under the control of the Nazis. However,
the German invasion did not stop there. On September 1939, Germany invaded Poland,
where more than 10% of its population consists of Jews. Between the 1939 and June 1941,
several other countries in Europe, such as Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France,
Denmark, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Norway were occupied. Consequently, many millions
of Jews were under the Nazis control.

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Although Germany
established its first
concentration camps in
Berlin, Germany soon
expanded the camps and
established several
concentration camps
across countries in
Europe that were under
Germanys control,
especially in Poland. As
shown in the map,
concentration camps were
all over Europe, as well as
extermination camps and
cities with ghettos. Thus,
the Holocaust was not a historical event that happened in one place, but also in other
countries, massacring a total of more than six million Jews all over the continent
manipulated by one force - the Nazis force.
Who was involved?
The dominant group during the Holocaust was the Germans as the subordinate
group - Jews - were segregated in several different ways. Although over 6 million Jews
were eliminated from all over Europe, the Jews living in Poland were the dominant group
that were killed by the Germans, as half of the total number of Jews killed took place in
Poland. Other than Jews, political prisoners who were against Nazis, civilians and soldiers
from the Soviet Union, Catholics from Poland, Serbs, disabled people, homosexuals,
Gypsies, and Slavic people were also killed. Hitler stated that the destruction of the weak
and sick is far more humane than their protection. It was reported that more than 6
million Jews were assassinated during 1933 until 1945. Poland, a country that consisted of
more than 10% Jews, was one of the first places to have built the Chelmno, also known
as the death camp, starting from 1941, which drastically increased the number of
deaths. In other words, the Because of the number of Jews concentrated in Poland was
why there were the most so much people killed.

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The reason that over 11 million Jews were living in Europe before the Holocaust was
because of the Diaspora, where Jews were dispersed from Jerusalem in 70 C.E. The Jews
scattered to different places; most of them fled to Mesopotamia, while others fled to lands
around the Mediterranean, arriving in Europe. Since the Jews were the immigrants, it was
easy for the GermansGermans to exclude them from the European society. during the
Holocaust.
Howd we get here?
After Germany'sits defeat in World War 1, Germany they werewas humiliated by
the Versailles Treaty, which left Germany a massive amount of debt towards France,
drastically reducing ed its military, and a recognition of its guilt for the war. This caused
Germany to suffer economic instability, which grew even worse after the Great Depression
of the New York stock market crash in 1929. As the economic crisis hit the debt-ridden
German nation, it caused very high unemployment followed by massive inflation, leading
to serious poverty.
Adolf Hitler - one of the defeated German soldiers returning back - believed that one of
the fastest ways to restore the economy was to militarize the country by producing
weapons, therefore providing jobs for people, and taking over economic success by
invading other countries. In order to put his plans into action, he planted hope within the
exhausted Germans by giving them a reason to fight, a reason to live, through false hope
and ideals - putting all the blame on the Jews for the economic slump in Germany. The
population of Jews, which consisted of 0.8% of the German population, 500,000 out of a
total population of approximately 62 million, where 9 out of 11 million Jews lived in
Eastern Europe. These Jews were generally better educated and were largely concentrated
in urban areas. Hitler believed that it was the Jews that were influencing the economic
crisis in Germany, and later in the Holocaust, the Nazis seized valuables es from the Jews
in an effort to eradicate their economic influence. This is the reason that the Germans felt
hatred towards the Jews, since it was the Jews thatbecause they were more superior than
the citizens of their ownat country. Thus, in Hitlers eyes, the Jews were a barrier that was
blocking the economy of Germany, and the only way was to murder them. Evidence of
Hitlers hatred toward Jews can be seen through his book, Mein Kampf, where he spoke of
the existence of a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. Hitler wrote The

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nationalization of our masses will succeed only when, aside from all the positive struggle
for the soul of our people, their international poisoners are exterminated.
Another reason that Hitler blamed the Jews for Germanys fall downfall was because it
was the Weimar Republic who fulfilled the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The Weimar
Republic was a new democratic government of Germany declared in February 1919 after
World War 1. FurthermoreO, one of the most influential political figures of the Weimar
Republic, was Walter Rathenau, was a Jewish. He was instrumental in bringing political
divide? AND weakening nationalism?, which explains why Jews were blamed for
Germanys defeat in World War 1.
What techniques were used?
When Hitler gained control in 1933, Jews within Germany were forced to sell their
property to non - Jews. SA (a group that Hitler set up that were known as the storm
troopers, which would not only protect Hitler and Nazi meetings from opponents, but
even disrupt rival political groups.)boycottboycott and campaigns against the Jews to earn
property reduced incomes, leaving many Jewish businesses without stock. (SA is a group
that Hitler set up that were known as the storm troopers, which would not only protect
Hitler and Nazi meetings from opponents, but even disrupt rival political groups.) From
1936, the Nazis would even increase the rates and rentals for only Jewish" people.
Reports state that as Hitler came into power sincein January 1933, and within 5 years, two
- thirds of the Jewish - owned businesses had moved out; hence, only one third of the
Jewish population were remaining in Germany.
Starting from 1938, conditions became worse for Jews. As Germany invaded Poland in
September 1939, beginning World War 2, starting from 1940s, the Nazis began to make
ghettos in Poland for the Jews living therein Poland. Thus, they started isolating Jews
became isolated Jews from all over Europe. Furthermore, since Polands population
consisted of more than 10 percent Jews, numbering about three million, most killings were
occurred in Poland, where they were deported to the ghettos, and isolated from society.
These ghettos lacked basic necessities such as food, water, space, and being sanitary,
which were all factors that led to death.
During the Holocaust, the Nazis established concentration camps all across Europe. These
camps were initially made for political opponents against the Nazis. However, by the
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beginning of World War 2, these concentration camps had expanded in order to exploit
labour where Jews should be worked to death. The prisoners were exposed to
dangerous labor that contributed Germany economically in war, as they exploited labour
from the prisoners. Such labors included coal mining, and construction where the Jews
had to build an expansion of the concentration camps. Many concentration camp
prisoners died from the horrible living conditions or were worked to until their death.
By 1941, the Nazis began massive killing operations which were aimed at entire Jewish
communities, building Chelmno, the first extermination camp (also called death camp), in
order to "eliminate" Jews. In 1942, three more death camps were built all in Poland
(Treblinka, Sobibor, and Belzec) and used solely for mass murder. Around this time,
killing centers were also added at the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Majdanek.
Starting from June 1941, gas vans were also one of the techniques that were used to mass
murder Jews. Since the gassing were less costly and was able execute a mass murder, up to
6,000 Jews were killed in one day. These systematic killings occurred in gas chambers
where carbon monoxide gas wasere generated by diesel engines. The victims were forced
to enter the chambers while holding their arms in order to fit the maximum number of
people in a chamber - the tighter the gas chamber, the faster the speed of death.
There were also several gruesome experiments conducted by a number of German
physicians on the concentrated camp prisoners. The experiments waswere divided largely
into three categories: experiments aimed at facilitating the survival of Axis military
personnel, developing and testing treatment methods for injuries and illnesses, and
research on racial differences. In the first category, in order to determine the maximum
altitude from which crews of damaged aircraft could parachute safely, prisoners would be
forced to enter a low-pressure chamber where scientists would conduct freezing
experiments to find the effective treatment for hypothermia. Prisoners were also tested on
making various methods of making seawater potable. In the second category, the Jews
were tested on for treatments of diseases such as malaria, typhus, and fever. The
Ravensbrueck camp was where bone-grafting experiments were held and experiments to
test the efficacy of newly developed sulfa (sulfanilamide) drugs. At Natzweile and
Sachsenhausen, prisoners were subjected to phosgene and mustard gas in order to test
possible antidotes. In the third category, medical experiments were conducted in order to
differentiate how different races could overcome various diseases. There were also so

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many other experiments conducted in order to find out an inexpensive way forto mass
sterilizeation of the Jews, and other races that the Germans thought undesirable.
TAs seen above, the techniques used towards the Jews during the Holocaust were not only
gruesome, but were highly organized. It shows the extent to.which of how far the Nazis
were willing to go to execute their plans to kill all the Jews in Europe.
How bad did it get?
The amount of money estimated to be stolen from Jews between 1933 until 1945 was
approximately $US 8 billion. Most of the property was privately owned. Furthermore,
imprisonment in a concentration camp implied inhuman forced labour, brutal
mistreatment, hunger, disease, and random executions. It was estimated that 3.3 million
Jews were killed in the gas chambers, about 500,000 died in the ghettos of Eastern Europe
of hunger, disease, exhaustion, and as victims of terror. It is estimated that 2 million were
killed by the Einsatzgruppen (part of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass
killings primarily by shooting during World War II), 3.3 million in gas chambers, and
about 500,000 in the ghettos of Eastern Europe due to hunger, disease, exhaustion, and as
victims of random terror.
FurthermoreT, the magnitude of people killed during the Holocaust is evident when
compared to the number of people killed during World War 1. The following table shows
the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust across Europe. As seen in the table, over 6
million Jews were killed within the periods between 1933 - 1945. Compared to the death of
12 million people during World War 1, over 6 million Jews were killed during the
Holocaust; thus killing one ethnic group as much as half of the population killed during
World War 1.
Howd it end?

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The Holocaust finally ended in 1945, after 12 years. Adolf Hitler was removed from power
when Russian, British, and American troops invaded Poland and Germany in the final
stages of World War 2. The surviving Jews were freed as soon as the allies discovered the
extermination
camps. After the
war, there were
only 50,000 100,000 survivors
out of 11 million
Jews. The Jews
were later
emigrated to Israel,
and other countries
such as the United
States. Other Jews
stayed in camps
built for displaced
people.

Image Gallery

Concentration Camps

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Gas Chamber

Horrible conditions in the

concentration camps

Personal Evaluation
Through this research? Project?, I have learned about the Holocaust and more specifically
and into depth. I was especially the shockinged in the plans the Germans have made to
kill a specific ethnic group by using violence. Although I do understand the difficult
circumstances Germany was going through after the defeat from World War 1, attributing
all the blame to towards the Jews does not seem to be necessary. I, however, do understand
Hitler into some extent. I believe that a government is supposed to protect a country, and
promise security towardsfor its citizens. As Hitler had promised German citizens that
there will be hope in the country,and when Hitlerh seized power in 1933, the countrys
economy did prosper rapidly. Thus, Hitler He was able to accomplish what he had
promised the Germany, a s in the start: to secure Germany citizens and helpfor Germany
to become great again. FurthermoreT, the Jews were not only hated by Germans, buty;
Jews were a problemmany people all around Europe back then. The Jews were tax
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collectors, bank owners, and always had their hand in someones pockets, such s giving
extremely high interest rates on loans. Thus, the in a perspective of a German, their hatred
towards the Jews can be logically understood in that Jews were economically more
sustained than the Germans, and in the same time since the Weimar Republic, which
consists of Jewish politicians, signed the Treaty of Versailles,it put Germany inunder
pressure.
To sum up, I do agree that Hitlers actions of killing 6 million Jews is not something to be
praised for; however, it can be understood into some extent. Hitlers attempt to protect
Germany, bringand restore up its economy once again, and giveing hope to theits citizens
were all factors that could be accomplished due to strong nationalism. However, as
mentioned, howthrough unity nationalism can fuel a fire so great that to ignite - going to
an ultimate stance to over murdering over 6 million people in this case Jews can end up
dead is horrific - and this at the very least is not correct at most a reflection on the moral
decay of society..

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