about the flew the jew never possessed a state with definite

Unit II: READING #22

ABOUT THE flEW

Adolf Hitler

The Jewish people, despite all apparentintellectual qualities, is without any true

culture, and especially without any culture of its own.For what sham culture the Jew today possesses is theproperty of other peoples, and for the most part it isruined in his bands.

Thus, the Jew lacks those qualities whichdistinguish the races that are creative and henceculturally blessed.

The Jew never possessed a state with definiteterritorial limits and therefore never called a culturehis own...

He is, and remains, the typical parasite, asponger who like a noxious bacillus keeps spreading

DISCUSSION/QUESTIONS

as soon as a favorable medium invites him. And theeffect of his existence is also like that of spongers:wherever he appears, the host people dies out after ashorter or longer period.

Thus, the Jew of all times has lived in the statesof other peoples, and there formed his own state,which, to be sure, habitually sailed under thedisguise of “religious community” as long as outwardcircumstances made a complete revelation of hisnature seem inadvisable. But as soon as he felt strongenough to do without the protective cloak, he alwaysdropped the veil and suddenly became what so manyof the others previously did not want to believe andsee: the Jew.

222 Learn about Hitler and his theories. The last document writen by the Fuhrer just before his death was a plea tothe German people to carry on the “struggle” against the Jews. The document that brought his philospophy tothe attention of the world twenty years earlier. Mein Kampf (my Struggle), also uses that term in its title. Why didHitler view the world in terms of struggle? What does that suggest about the individual? What were his racialtheories? How did he become convinced that the Jews were the source of all evil? Relate these theories to theconcept of scapegoating. What events in Hitler’s own life may have created the need for a scapegoat?

Source: Chartock, Rose lIe and Jack Spencer Eds. The Holocaust Years: Society on Trial. New York: Bantam Books, 1978.

New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education

Unit III: READING #21

V\/ I lAf THE NAZIS BELIEi ED

What was so attractive about Nazism? Before answering that,we must first understand what the Nazis believed.

As one author has stated, “Nazism is an attitude towards life.”

1. The Nazis valued the community rather than the individual.

A. The overall goal was unity; as Hitler stated: “the preservation and fostering of living beings who arephysically and mentally alike.”

B. As befits the term “totalitarian,” the state would largely control the life of the citizen. As Robert Leyput it, “our state never releases the human being from the cradle to the grave.” Individuals were tobe measured by their usefulness to the state.

C. These values were supported by the words of others in German history. The philosopher Hegel hadsaid, “Everything that man is, he owes to the state ... all value which man has, all spiritual reality,he only has through the state.”

II. The Nazis valued authority and order.

A. Democracy as a workable system was dead. The people needed a mystical savior to lead them. Hitlerwas their charismatic salvation. He was “Der Fuhrer.”

B. When the Nazis went to the people, they gave “the whole people an opportunity to demonstrate andproclaim its support of an aim announced by the Fuhrer.” The Fuhrer was infallible. He gave thelaws to Germany.

C. As one Nazi stated, “The National Socialists believe in Hitler who embodies their will...Only what 315Adolf Hitler, our Fuhrer, allows or does not allow is our conscience.” “In thy service is perfectfreedom

D. The Nazis quoted the German writer Goethe, “I would rather commit an injustice than enduredisorder.” Thus, the emphasis was placed on order, control, discipline, duty, and sacrifice. “Throughthe door of death we enter the door of true life.... He who does not risk his life to gain it ever anewis already dead, though he still breathes, eats, and drinks. Death is only a departure for the sake ofa higher life. We are born to die for Germany.”

E. To justify Hitler’s decision making, the Nazis quoted Gerhart Hauptmann. “If only life would demandno more solutions from us,” Since people did not want to make decisions. Hitler would do it forthem.

Ill. The Nazis valued the concept of a select race.

A. The Germans were a superior race, a group they called the Aryan race.B. Germany was destined to lead the world. Nature and fate would produce events to make this

happen. The Aryan people would need more territory in which to grow. This desire to expandGerman boundaries was called Lebensraum,

C. Only those of true German blood could be citizens. The Nazis called them the Volk. Concern for theVolk lead to a glorification of German “ancestry.” Great Germans of the past, from Beethoven toWagner, were honored. The Nazis studied Teutonic mythology and took pride in the heroic exploitsof their ancestors. Praising the past led to an admiration for the medieval peasant. The peasantvirtues of simplicity, honesty, and physical labor were glorified.

D. As a result, Nazi education emphasized German history, biology, and physical education.E. One of the favorite images of the Nazis was the German painter Albrecht Durer’s “The Knight,

Source: Furman, Harry, Ed. The Holocaust and Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students.New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1983.


Death, and The Devil.” The Nazis saw themselves as heroic, loyal, and racially pure knights of theRound Table searching for the Holy Grail.

F. The Aryans would produce a Golden Age, a millennium which they called the “Third Reich.” TheFirst Reich was the Holy Roman Empire of Frederick Barbarossa, the Second Reich was under Ottovon Bismarck. The Third Reich would last a thousand years.

IV. The Nazis saw politics as a religion.

A. Hitler was looked upon as someone greater than Jesus.B. Acts against the state would be immoral in almost a religious sense.C. Nazism became a mission: “The Reich must direct the life of nations, individuals, and states. The

Reich signifies a mission.”

V. The Nazis valued emotion more than reason.

A. Thinking was criticized. A person should act spontaneously and directly.B. The Nazis referred to the educated middle class as “acrobats of the intellect,” “intelligent beasts with

paralysis of the spine,” and “hothouse plants incapable of achievement.” Hitler called them “rejectsof nature.” An SS paper stated that l.Q. was inversely proportional to male fertility. “Intellectualsvalidate their claim to existence within the community by a paucity of children.”

C. The Nazis emphasized physical force and strength. Sports were important to develop the body toserve the state. As one Nazi stated, “A young man who works with a spade for six months on thewestern fortifications has done more for Germany than an intellectual has done during his wholelife.”

D. War was the ultimate expression of man’s capacity for sacrifice, courage, and greatness. “Themeasure of the strength of a people is always and exclusively its readiness for military conflict.”

VI. The Nazis believed in the use of the “big lie” to manipulate people. As Hitler wrote, “A definitefactor in getting a lie believed is the size of the lie. The broad mass of the people, in the simplicity oftheir hearts, more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one.”

316 VII. The Nazis were strong nationalists.

A. The Nazis used incited appeals to German patriotism. Germany was a nation wronged by history.B. To return to its rightful place, Germany should disregard any sense of “morality” in international

life. They opposed German participation in any peace organizations such as the League of Nations.C. The Nazis were critical of all people except those of the “Volk.” The Poles were -racial anti-types”; the

British were worshippers of Mammon. Of the United States, Hitler stated, “One Beethoven symphonycontains more culture than America has produced in her whole history.” To Hitler, America was aPhilistine, mongrelized community descended from convicts and the unwanted dregs of society. TheRussians were just above the Jews.

VIII. The Nazis had a strong belief in the traditional family.

A. The family was “the germ cell of the state.”B. Women were not equal to men. Their purpose: Kindersagen, to be blessed with children. Women

were encouraged not to wear make-up (which was considered a conspiracy of the Jews) or pants.C. Women were encouraged to have many children. The display of contraceptives and their

advertisement would be banned, and birth control clinics would be closed. Abortions were called“acts of sabotage against Germany’s racial future,” and strict penalties would be given to doctorsperforming them. Men were encouraged to be adulterous if their wives were barren.

D. The Nazis, like many in the early twentieth century, were interested in eugenics. To prevent thespread of “bad genes,” the Nazis would recommend the sterilization of those suffering from physicalmalformation, mental retardation, epilepsy, deafness, and blindness.

Source: Furman, Harry, Ed. The Holocaust and Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students.New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1983.



Advocated by Nazis Opposed by Naziscommunity democracyunity equalitythe fuhrer individual freedommysticism Jewssalvation thinkingcharisma peaceorder internationalismdiscipline Marxism/Communismduty rationalismsacrifice a passive Jesusconformity modernityAryan birth controlblood integration of racesdestiny conscienceVolk intellectualLebensraum inquiryphysical labor abstract artheroismsense of missionstrengthwarpatriotism/nationalismSocial Darwinismmale dominanceforce/violenceeugenicscontrol

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

How do you feel about judging the value of someone by examining his or her usefulness to you?

2. What did the Nazis believe about the average person’s desire to make political decisions? Are theyright?

3. Why were the Nazis so critical of intellectuals? Is the development of the mind or the body moreimportant?

4. Do you think the values expressed by the Nazis were very unusual in their day? Discuss.

5. The following statement was made by Theodore Roosevelt in the early twentieth century:

Some day we wi11 realize that the prime duty, the inescapable duty of the good citizens of the right type isto leave his or her blood behind him in the world; and that we have no business to permit the perpetuation of citizens of the wrong type. The great problem of civilization is to secure a relative increase of thevaluable as compared with the less valuable or noxious elements in the population... The problem cannotbe met unless we give full consideration to the immense influence of heredity...! wish very much that thewrong people could be prevented entirely from breeding; and when the evil nature of these people issufficiently flagrant, this should be done. Criminals should be sterilized and feebleminded personsforbidden to leave off-spring behind them...The emphasis should be laid on getting desirable people tobreed.

What values are indicated by the statement? Do you agree with the statement?

6. What kind of society is created that downplays the role of morality and conscience?

Source: Furman, Harry, Ed. The Holocaust and Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students.New York: Anti.Defamation League, 1983.


(2ANONICAL AND NAZ][

ANTMEV\iISH MEASURES

Raul Hi/berg

Destruction of the European Jews

1’ Canonical (Church) Law÷ Nazi Measure

t Prohibition of intermarriage and of sexual intercourse between Christians and Jews, Synod of Elvira, 306÷ Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor, September 15, 1935

t Jews and Christians not permitted to eat together, Synod of Elvira, 306+ Jews barred from dining cars (Transport Minister to Interior Minister, December 30, 1939)

t Jews not allowed to hold public office, Synod of Clermont, 535+ Law for the Re-establishment of the Professional Civil Service, April 7, 1933

t Jews not allowed to employ Christian servants or possess Christian slaves, 3d Synod of Orleans, 538÷ Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor, September 15, 1935

11” Jews not permitted to show themselves in the streets during Passion Week, 3d Synod of Orleans, 538 219+ Decree authorizing local authorities to bar Jews from the streets on certain days (i.e. Nazi holidays),

December 3, 1938

‘ii” Burning of the Talmud and other books, 12th Synod of Toledo, 681÷ Book burnings in Nazi Germany

t Christians not permitted to patronize Jewish doctors, Trulanic Synod, 692-F Decree of July 25,1938

t Christians not permitted to live in Jewish homes, Synod of Narbonne, 1050+ Directive by Goring providing for concentration of Jews in houses, Dec. 28, 1938

1i Jews obliged to pay taxes for support of the Church to the same extent as Christians, Synod of Gerona,1073

-I- The “Sozialausgleichsabgabe” which provided that Jews pay a special income tax in lieu of donations forParty purposes imposed by Nazis, Dec. 24, 1940

t Jews not permitted to be plaintiffs, or witnesses against Christians in the Courts, 3d Lateran Council,1179

÷ Proposal by the Party Chancellery that Jews not be permitted to institute civil suits, September 9, 1942

Source: Hilberg, Paul. “Canonical and Nazi Anti-Jewish Measures,” and “Pre-Nazi and Nazi, Anti-Jewish Measures.” The Destruction oithe European Jews. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1985.


1’ Jews not permitted to withhold inheritance from descendants who had accepted Christianity,

3d Lateran Council, 2179

+ Decree empowering the Justice Ministry to void wills offending the “sound judgment of the people,”

July 31, 1938

t The marking of Jewish clothes with a badge, 4th Lateran Council. 1215, Cason 68 (Copied from the

legislation by Caliph Omar 11(634-44), who had decreed that Christians wear blue belts and Jews,

yellow belts.)÷ Decree of September 1, 1941

t Construction of new synagogues prohibited, Council of Oxford, 1722

+ Destruction of synagogues in entire Reich, November 10, 1938

t Christians not permitted to attend Jewish ceremonies, Synod of Vienna, 1267

+ Friendly relations with Jews prohibited, October 24, 1941

t Jews not permitted to dispute with simple Christian people about the tenets of the Catholic religion,

Synod of Vienna, 1267

Ii’ Compulsory ghettos, Synod of Breslau, 1267

-I- Order by Heydrich, September 21, 1939

1 Christians not permitted to sell or rent real estate to Jews, Synod of Ofen, 1279

÷ Decree providing for compulsory sale of Jewish real estate, December 3, 1938

t Adoption by a Christian of the Jewish religion or return by a baptized Jew to the Jewish religion defined

as heresy, Synod of Mainz, 1310

÷ Adoption by a Christian of the Jewish religion places him in jeopardy of being treated as a Jew, June 26,

220 1942

t Sale or transfer of Church articles to Jews prohibited, Synod of Lavour, 1368

t Jews not permitted to act as agents in the conclusion of contracts between Christians, especially

marriage contracts, Council of Basel, 1434

+ Decree of July 6, 1938, providing for liquidation of Jewish real estate agencies, brokerage agencies, and

marriage agencies to non-Jews.

t Jews not permitted to obtain academic degrees, Council of Basel, 1434

÷ Law against overcrowding of German schools and universities, April 25,1 933

QUESTIONS:What does the comparison between Church Law and Nazi Measures help us understand?

2. Which laws do you think were the most damaging to the Jews? Why?3. At what point would you have realized that the Nazi Measures were getting to a serious level?

What would you have done? What would you do today?4. Which items in our Bill of Rights or in our Constitution protect us from these measures?

Source: Hilberg, Raul. “Canonical and Nazi Anti-Jewish Measures,” and “Pre-Nazi and Nazi Anti-Jewish Measures.” The Destruction of

the European Jews. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1985.



PRiNA2I Ai\Tt

NAZI ANTH1EWISHr A’i’ I\ fl1(

U 1J

PRE—NAZI STATE DEVELOPMENT

Per capita protection tax (der goidne Opferplennig)

imposed upon Jews by King Ludwig the Bavarian,

13281337

NAZI MEASURE

221

The property of Jews slain in a German city 13th Ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Law

considered as public property, “because the Jews providing that the property of a Jew be confiscated

with their possessions belong to the Reich after his death, July 1, 1943

chamber,” provision in the 14th-century code

Regu/aejuris “Addecus”

Confiscation of Jewish claims against Christian 11th Ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Law,

debtors at the end of the 14th-century in November 25, 1941

Nuremberg

“Fines”: for example, the Regensburg fine for Decree for the “Atonement Payment” by the Jews,

“killing Christian child,” 1421 November 12, 1938

Marking of documents and personal papers Decree providing for identification cards, July 23,

identifying possessor or bearer as a Jew 1938 (RGB I 1, 922.)

Decree providing for marking of passports, October

5, 1938

Marking of houses, special shopping hours, and Marking of Jewish apartments, April 17, 1942.

restrictions of movement, 1 7th century, Frankfurt Decree providing for movement restrictions,

September 1, 1941

Compulsory Jewish names in 19th-century Decree of January 5, 1937

bureaucratic practice Decree of August 17. 1938

Source: Furman Harry, Ed. The Holocaust and Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students. New York: Anti-

Defamation League, 1983.

The Nuremberg Laws

A conference of ministers was held on August 20, 1935, to discuss the economic effectsof Party actions against Jews. Adolf Wagner, the Party representative at the conference,argued that such actions would cease, once the Government decided on a firm policyagainst the Jews.

Dr. Schacht, the Economics Minister, criticized arbitrary behavior by Party members asthis inhibited his policy of rebuilding Germany’s economy. It made no economic sensesince Jews had certain entrepreneurial skills that could be usefully employed to furtherhis policies. Schacht made no moral condemnation of Jewish policy and advocated thepassing of legislation to clarify the situation.

The following month two measures were announced at the annual Party Rally inNuremberg, becoming known as the Nuremberg Laws. Both measures were hastilyimprovised (there was even a shortage of drafting paper so that menu cards had to beused) and Jewish experts from the Ministry of the Interior were ordered to Nuremberg byplane.

The first law, The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor,prohibited marriages and extra-marital intercourse between “Jews “ (the name was nowofficially used in place of “non-Aryans “) and “Germans “ and also the employment of“German “ females under forty-five in Jewish households. The second law, The ReichCitizenship Law, stripped Jews of their German citizenship and introduced a newdistinction between “Reich citizens “and “nationals.”

The Nuremberg Laws by their general nature formalized the unofficial and particularmeasures taken against Jews up to 1935. The Nazi leaders made a point of stressing theconsistency of this legislation with the Party program which demanded that Jews shouldbe deprived of their rights as citizens.

The Nuremberg Laws on Citizenship and Race:September 15, 1935

The Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935

THE REICHSTAG HAS ADOPTED by unanimous vote the following law which isherewith promulgated.

ARTICLE 1.(1) A subject of the state is one who belongs to the protective union of the German Reich,and who, therefore, has specific obligations to the Reich.(2) The status of subject is to be acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Reichand the state Citizenship Law.ARTICLE 2.(1) A citizen of the Reich may be only one who is of German or kindred blood, and who,

through his behavior, shows that he is both desirous and personally fit to serve loyally theGerman people and the Reich.(2) The right to citizenship is obtained by the grant of Reich citizenship papers.(3) Only the citizen of the Reich may enjoy full political rights in consonance with theprovisions of the laws.ARTICLE 3. The Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction with the Deputy to theFuehrer. will issue the required legal and administrative decrees for the implementationand amplification of this law.Promulgated: September 16, 1935. In force:

September 30, 1935.

First Supplementary Decree of November 14, 1935On the basis of Article III of the Reich Citizenship Law ofSeptember 15, 1935, the following is hereby decreed:

ARTICLE 1.(1) Until further provisions concerning citizenship papers, all subjects of German orkindred blood who possessed the right to vote in the Reichstag elections when theCitizenship Law came into effect, shall, for the present, possess the rights of Reichcitizens. The same shall be true of those upon whom the Reich Minister of the Interior,in conjunction with the Deputy to the Fuehrer shall confer citizenship.(2) The Reich Minister of the Interior, in conjunction with the Deputy to the Fuehrer,may revoke citizenship.

ARTICLE 2.(1) The provisions of Article I shall apply also to subjects who are of mixed Jewishblood.(2) An individual of mixed Jewish blood is one who is descended from one or twograndparents who, racially, were full Jews, insofar that he is not a Jew according toSection 2 of Article 5. Full-blooded Jewish grandparents are those who belonged to theJewish religious community.ARTICLE 3. Only citizens of the Reich, as bearers of full political rights, can exercisethe right of voting in political matters, and have the right to hold public office. The ReichMinister of the Interior, or any agency he empowers, can make exceptions during thetransition period on the matter of holding public office. The measures do not apply tomatters concerning religious organizations.

ARTICLE 4.(1) A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich. He cannot exercise the right to vote; hecannot hold public office.(2) Jewish officials will be retired as of December 31, 1935. In the event that suchofficials served at the front in the World War either for Germany or her allies, they shallreceive as pension. until they reach the age limit. the full salary last received, on the basisof which their pension would have been computed. They shall not, however, bepromoted according to their seniority in rank. When they reach the age limit, theirpension will be computed again, according to the salary last received on which their

pension was to be calculated.(3) These provisions do not concern the affairs of religious organizations.(4) The conditions regarding service of teachers in public Jewish schools remainsunchanged until the promulgation of new laws on the Jewish school system.

ARTICLE 5(1) A Jew is an individual who is descended from at least three grandparents who were,racially, full Jews...(2) A Jew is also an individual who is descended from two full-Jewish grandparents if:

(a) he was a member of the Jewish religious community when this law was issued, orjoined the community later;

(b) when the law was issued, he was married to a person who was a Jew, or wassubsequently married to a Jew;

(c) he is the issue from a marriage with a Jew, in the sense of Section I, which wascontracted after the coming into effect of the Law for the Protection of German Bloodand Honor of September 15, 1935;

(d) he is the issue of an extramarital relationship with a Jew, in the sense of Section I,and was born out of wedlock after July 31, 1936.

ARTICLE 6.(1) Insofar as there are, in the laws of the Reich or in the decrees of the National SocialistGerman Workers’ Party and its affiliates, certain requirements for the purity of Germanblood which extend beyond Article 5, the same remain untouched....

ARTICLE 7. The Fuehrer and Chancellor of the Reich is empowered to release anyonefrom the provisions of these administrative decrees.

Unit IV: READING #9

tFHF NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS

Gerald Green

On November 4 1938, Ernst Vom Roth, a member of the German Embassy in Paris, was assassinated

by Herschel Grynszpan, a young Polish Jew. Grynszpan had received a letter from his sister in which

she stated that the Grynszpan family, together with all Polish Jews living in Germany, had beenarrested and deported to Poland. Seeking revenge for the suffering of his family, Grynszpan, who was17 years old, bought a hand gun, went to the German Embassy, and shot Vom Rath, who later died.

Supposedly in retaliation, the Nazis determined that all places of Jewish worship in Germany andAustria were to be destroyed. In reality, plans for such a riot had been made long before, and only

awaited the appropriate moment for execution. Thus, on November 9. 1938, a “spontaneous”

demonstration of anger was carried out. In fifteen hours, 101 synagogues were destroyed by fire, and

seventy-six others were demolished. Seventy-five hundred Jewish-owned stores were destroyed. The

streets were filled with broken glass; thus the name given to this event was Kristallnacht, or “The Night

of Broken Glass.” Then the government decided that the Jews would have to pay an “atonement

payment” for having caused the damage. Millions of dollars had to be paid by the Jews and theirinsurance companies to the Nazi government. A new stage In the process of death had begun. Thefollowing selection is taken from the docunovel Holocaust by Gerald Green. Although the charactersmay be fictional, the story is true.

The world now knows it as Kristallnacht—thenight of broken glass. It marked the true

beginning of the destruction of our people. I saw it;I was in the midst of it..,

The cowardly bastards came down the street onwhich Grandpa had his bookstore. Smashedwindows. Burned merchandise. Beat up any Jew theycould lay their hands on. Two men who tried to fightback were beaten to death on the spot —Mr. Cohen,the furrier, and Mr. Seligman, who ran a dry-goodsshop.

They broke the window with the gold lettering:H. PALITZ BOOKSTORE. Grandpa was a tough oldbird. Like my mother, he was convinced—even at thislate date!—that he was a better German than theywere, that his Iron Cross would protect him, thatsome miracle from Heaven would make them go away

So he came out of the store waving his cane,after the first brick had shattered the glass, andshouted at them to go away. The mob answered bythrowing his books into the street—rare editions, oldmaps, everything—and setting them afire. They calledhim an old kike, knocked him down, beat his backwith canes.

He kept protesting that he was Captain HeinrichPalitz, formerly of the Second Berlin Machine GunRegiment. It made them angrier. My grandmother

looked from the window, screaming for the police.Three Berlin policemen stood on the far corner andwatched as the gang, seven or eight, knockedGrandpa down again and again, turned his head intoa bloody pulp, ripped his jacket off.

One of them made him get on all fours and rodehim, as if he were a horse.

Then he saw Heinz MuIIer...Factory worker,union man, he was some kind of minor official in thelocal Nazi Party now. He was in civilian clothing,leading a singing gang. As usual, the Horst Wesselsong. They wanted Jewish blood.

They dragged Grandpa to his feet—the policewere still watching, smiling those flat, cold smiles—and Muller handed my grandfather a toy drum.

“You’re such a f— war hero, Palitz,” Muller said.“Lead the parade. Beat the drum, you old Jew liar.”

Behind grandfather were a half-dozen otherJewish store owners. Their shops had been smashed,looted, burned. The street was ablaze.

That bastard Muller! My grandmother watched,weeping, terrified, as Grandpa began to beat thedrum, and the Jewish merchants, with signs readingJUDE hanging on their necks, were paraded down thestreet.

And no one lifted a finger.My grandmother called our house and told us

413

Source: Green, Gerald. “The Night of Broken Glaus.” The Holocaust ond Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students,Hurry Furman, ed. New York: Anti.Defamation League, 1983 lout of printl.

Unit IV: READING #9

414 Martin Gilbert, with permission of Macmillan Publishing Company.

what was happening. We knew. We could hear glassshattering all over our neighborhood.

My parents stood frozen in the living room.“I shall call the police,” my father said. This is

intolerable. Yes, there are laws against us, but thiskind of violence...”

My father’s pathetic belief that there still wassome kind of justice in Germany almost made me cry.Being a just man, he could not believe otherwise.

“We must wait...wait and pray,” my mother said.“It can’t last forever. What good can it do them?”“You can wait.” I said. “I’m going out to get Grandpa.”

My mother grabbed my sleeve and tried to holdme back. She was used to having her way, forcing herchildren to bend to her will.

“I forbid it. Rudi! You can’t fight them all!”“Yes,” my father said. “They are looking for

excuses to kill us! We mustn’t fight back!”“They’ve got all the excuses they need,”I pulled away from my mother and ran down the

stairs. As I was putting on my sweater. Anna camerunning after me.

The street was a wreck. Every store had beensmashed. Most were on fire. Mr. Goldbaum, a jeweler,was playing a fire hose against the remains of his

shop. Everything he owned had been stolen.A truck came rumbling by. I grabbed Anna and

we hid in an alley. It was an open truck...There weremen parading up and down with signs denouncingthe Jews. Mr. Seligman, from whom my mother usedto buy draperies and bed linen, was lying face downin a pool of blood and broken glass.

The truck stopped and the hoodlums jumpedoff...

Then we saw the parade. Grandpa, his headbloodied, one eye closed, was being forced to lead it,beating on the toy drum. Every few steps, he and theother storekeepers would be beaten with clubs andchains...

I stepped out of the alley. Beyond the street thesky was turning orange with fires. I could hearwomen wailing. And more glass breaking, as if theymeant to break every dewishowned window inBerlin.

The mob seemed to be getting weary of its game.Muller’s gang began wandering off. Grandpa was stillstanding erect, refusing to cry, or beg, or plead.

I walked up to him and took his hands.“Grandpa. It’s me. Rudi.”

Anna came running out and took his arm.

Source: Green, Gerald, “The Night of Broken Gloss.” The Holocaust and Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students.Harry Furman, ed. New York: Anti.Defomation League, 1983 (out of print>.

Map 2. The destruction of synagogues throughout Austria and Germany was widespread. Reprinted from Atlas of the Holocaust by


Unit IV: READING #9

At the rear of the column of Jews, a drunkenyoung man was rifling pockets — stealing wallets,pens, watches. Muller shouted at him. ‘Hey. The partysays none of that. This is a patriotic demonstration,not a robbery.”

“That’s what you think. Muller,” the man said.You obey orders.” Muller shouted. Then he

looked at me in the dim light and walked toward me.There was a moment of recognition, almost human,in his eyes, and I wonder now, could there have beensomething decent in this man, something that wascrushed? After all, he was not, like some of the SS, agangster or a tramp, a rootless troublemaker: he hada trade, he knew respectable people. What hadimpelled him to become a brute? I’m not sure I knowyet: nor am I sure that it matters any more. Anhonorable man who turns criminal, especially if hemoralizes about it, is perhaps more to be hated thana habitual burglar or murderer,.

Muller asked if he knew me, and Grandpareplied that I was his grandson, Rudi Weiss. Inresponse, Muller slapped my grandfather’s face andsaid. “Shut up, you old kike.”

He’s an old man,” I said. ‘You want to fightsomeone, fight me. Not a mob, just you and me.Muller.”

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Five or six of them gathered around us. Annahugged Grandpa.

Muller rubbed his chin, glared at me throughthe haze of smoke. People were coughing, doubledover.

“Okay, Weiss. Beat it. Take the old s— with you.Get off the street.”

I suppose I should have been grateful to him,and to Hans. But something was building up in me.I knew what. Revenge. Some day I wanted the sheerjoy of smashing their faces, shaming them, lettingthem know they could not do this to us.

We helped Grandpa to his house. He and mygrandmother lived in an apartment over thebookstore. Once he stopped and picked up a burnedfirst edition of Johnson’s dictionary, then an earlyedition of Faust. He turned the charred pages sadly.

“Hem rich, Heinrich,” my grandmother wept.“How could they do this to an old man?”

He wiped blood from his forehead, stiffenedhis back. “I’ll survive.” He looked at the burnedbooks again. “But my books...”

“Anna and I will clean up,” I said. But I saw itwas useless. He would never sell a book or a printor a map again.

1. How do you react to Grynszpan and to his assassination of Vom Rath? Explain

2. What do the police do while the Grandfather is being attacked?

3. How do you think you would have reacted to this situation? Why?

415

Source: Green, Gerald. “The Night of Broken Glass.” The Holocaust ond Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students.Harry Furman, ed. New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1983 (out of print>.

Unit IV: READING #1.9

THE EINfSATZGRJJPPEN

Qn June 22, 1941, the German army invadedSoviet territory. They did not enter alone—

small units of SS and police, some three thousandmen in all, were also dispatched on specialassignment. Their task to kill the Jews on the spot—Jews, but not only Jews; communists, Gypsies,political leaders, and the intelligentsia were alsokilled. Order Police battalions, Waffen SS units, theHigher SS, and Police Leaders also carried out thesemass executions.

Their primary targets, Jews, were concentratedin the areas within easy reach of the German army.Almost nine in ten Jews were urbanized, living inlarge cities where the rapid advance of the army andthe swift action of the mobile killing units left themunaware of their fate, paralyzed, unable to act.

There were five stages to the killing. Theinvasion was followed immediately by the roundup ofJews and other intended victims. Those rounded upwere marched to the outskirts of the city where theywere shot. Their bodies were buried in mass graves—large ditches were filled with bodies of people whohad been shot one by one and buried layer uponlayer

The residents of these cities could see what was 439happening. They could hear the shots and the Two Jewish women. 1941. Bilderdienst Suo’deutscher Verlag.

victims’ cries. Most often, they remained neutral,neither helping the killer nor offering solace to the victim. Yet neutrality helped the killer never his victim.

Frequently, local pogroms were encouraged by the Wehrmacht and the SS, especially in Lithuania andLatvia. Every Jew killed brought the Nazis closer to their goal.

Auxiliary police comprised of local natives became indispensable to the understaffed killing units. Localcollaborators volunteered.

Before this phase of the killing ended, more than 1.2 million Jews were killed. Their bodies were piledhigh in mass graves throughout occupied Soviet territories.

Later still, in 1942 and 1943, when the war had turned against the Germans, SS kommando soldiersreturned to these sites of infamy to unearth the graves and burn the bodies, thus leaving no trace of the crime.

The men who ran the mobile killing units that rounded up and murdered Jews were not German criminalsbut ordinary citizens. In scholarly literature, there is a current debate whether they were ordinary men” orordinary ‘Germans” imbued with a racist ideology that sanctified these killings. According to Raul Hilberg, thegreat majority of the officers of the Einsatzgruppen were professional men, who were in no sense hoodlums,delinquents, or sex maniacs; most were intellectuals most were educated at universities. They brought to theirnew task all the skills and training which, as men of thought, they were capable of contributing. These menbecame efficient killers.

A handful of men had requested to be relieved of their unconscionable assignment; nothing happened tothem. The rest went along performing a difficult and disciplined task. The killers drank heavily. Alcoholsomehow made it easier

They spoke in euphemisms, never quite saying what they were doing. Their language never spoke of murderand killing but of special actions, special treatment, executive measures, cleansing, resettlements, liquidation,finishing off, appropriate treatment.

Berenbaum, Michael. “The Einsatzgrapper.” Witness to the Holocaust: An Illustrated Documentary History of the Holocaust in the Wordsof its Victims, Perpetrators and Bystanders. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. 1997. 112.116.

Unit IV: READING #19

The work of the Einsatzgruppen frightened the local inhabitants, Today it’s the Jews, tomorrow perhaps us.”In the documents, we will read the memo of Reinhard Heydrich authorizing the killing. We will read the

Nuremberg Trial testimony of Otto Ohlendorf, commander of the Einsatzgruppe D, explaining the actions andmotivations of the killer. He offered a simple explanation: he was just following orders. Asked his instructions,Ohlendorf replied directly: The instructions were that in the Russian operational areas of the Einsatzgruppenthe Jews as well as the Soviet political commissars were to be liquidated” He later clarified the meaning. ‘YesI mean ‘killed.” He detailed the confiscation process. Valuables were sent to Berlin, gold to the Ministry ofFinance. When asked how it was that the orders were carried out regardless of his personal scruples Ohlendortreplied: “Because to me it is inconceivable that a subordinate leader should not carry out an order given by theleaders of state.”

Himmler personally witnessed executions at Minsk, As they proceeded, Himmler became moreuncomfortable. Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski then stepped in to press for mercy, not for the victims, but fortheir executioners. He pleaded for the killers. Himmler was told by one of his commanders, “look at the eyes ofthe men in this kommando, how deeply shaken they are. These men are finished for the rest of their lives. Whatkind of followers are we training here? Either neurotics or savages.”

In part, it was to spare the perpetrators that a new and better form of killing—the concentration camp andits killing centers—was implemented.

440

eerenbaum, Michael. “The Einsatzgrapper.” Witness to the Holocaust: An Illustrated Documentary History of the Holocaust in the Words

of its Victims, Perpetrators and Rystanders. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. 1997. 112-116.


Unit 1V: READING #20

NAZI PAPERWORK OF THE

FINAL SOLUTION

0 RIG IN1S AND AUTI IEN’FICAFION

OF TIlE WANUSEE PROTOCOL

Commentary and documents courtesy of Robert Wolfe, Director;

Captured Cermans Records Staff, Nationa/Archives,

Washington, tiC.

Reproduced microfilm frames follow this article.Original documents are located in the National Archives, Washington. DC

Qn January 20, 1942, fifteen German officials,most of them ranking roughly at the level of

an American Cabinet Undersecretary, participated forsome two hours in an interagency meeting held in avilla at Am Crosse Wannsee 56-58 on the westernoutskirts of Berlin. The meeting was convened byReinhardt Heydrich, Chief of Security Police, tocoordinate the “final solution of the Jewishquestion,’ an attempted genocide already wellunderway.

A 15 page summary of the discussion—the so-called Wannsee Protoko/I—received from Heydrich bythe German Foreign Office on March 2, 1942, isnumbered 16,” the only surviving copy of thirtynumbered copies. Found in 1945 among thevoluminous records of the German Foreign Officecaptured by American troops at an evacuation site inthe Harz Mountains, this Wannsee summary is partof a two-folder file labeled EndlOsung derfudenfrage(Final Solution of the Jewish Question). These folderscontain 330 pages of documentation on that malignsubject, filed in approximate reverse chronologicalsequence from January 25, 1939 through November20, 1943. Extensive excerpts were entered intoevidence at some of the American-conducted warcrimes trials at Nuremberg under the documentdesignation NO 2685. The original records are nowdeposited in the German Foreign Office Archives inBonn.

In the immediate aftermath of the so-calledKristallnacht pogrom, Hermann Goring wasinstructed by Adolf Hitler to coordinate a program for“Aryanization of the German economy.” A meeting tothat purpose involving a number of cabinet heads,for whom Heydrich of the Security Police served as

expert adviser, was held at Goring’s Reich AirMinistry on November 12, 1938. The minutes ofparts of that meeting were reconstructed in August1945 from the 1938 stenograph notes by Dr. FritzDorr, a Reichstag stenographer (NurembergDocument PS-1816, Prosecution Exhibit USA 261).

On January 24, 1939, GOring took the next step,just a week before Hitler threatened (in a wildlyapplauded Reichstag speech recorded on newsreelsimmediately available to audiences around theworld): “If international finance Jewry...should againsucceed in plunging the peoples of Europe intoanother world war, the result will be.,.theannihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.” GOring, inhis capacity as head of the Four Year plan, wrote tothe Minister of Interior, the nominal head ofHimmler’s police:

(microfilm frame 3721131)

“Emigration of Jews from Germany is to bepromoted with all means. (A) Reich Centralfor Jewish Emigration is to be established...Direction of the Reich Central is to beassumed by the Chief of Security Police(Heydrich).

...As Rademacher’s notation of 8/12 indicates,the meeting scheduled for December 9, 1941 waspostponed indefinitely. (Govemor.General HansFrank already knew on December 16 that themeeting would be convened sometime in January1942, as a speech to his staff in Cracow on that dayattests: Frank Diary, vol. 17, Nuremberg Document

441

Source: “Nazi Paperwork of the ‘Final Solution’: Origins and Authentication of the Wannsee Protocol.” 50 Years Ago: From Terror to

Systematic Murder. Washington, DC: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1991.


2233). On January 5. 1942, Heydrich re-invited thesame officials for January 20. Signed copies, identicalexcept for annotations, of that invitation (andacceptances) are in both Luther’s Foreign Office andHofmann’s Race and Resettlement Main Office files.Heydrich’s renewed invitation reads:

(mircofilm frame 372039)

“The conference which had been scheduledfor December 9, 1941, concerning questionsrelated to the final solution of the Jewishquestion. I had to cancel at the last minutebecause of suddenly announced events andthe related preoccupation of some of theinvited gentlemen.

Since the questions to be considered permitno further delay. I therefore invite you anewto a discussion followed by brunch on 20January 1942 at 12 o’clock.

Berlin, Am Grossen Wannsee 56-58.

The circle of invited gentlemen listed in mylast letter of invitation remains unchanged.

Heil HitlerYour

[signed] Heydrich”

This copy bears a Foreign Office incomingcorrespondence stamp dated January 12, and anannotation in ink by Luther indicating it was to go toRademacher and be placed before Luther on themorning of January 13 (“January 18” crossed out).On the bottom is a notation dated January 21, theday after the Wannsee meeting, in what appears tobe Rademacher’s hand: “Protocol of the meeting isstill to be received. To the files.”

On the evidence of the foregoing contemporaryNazi paperwork surviving in the files of two fullyseparate Third Reich agencies, there can be no doubtthat the January 20, 1942, meeting at Am GrosseWannsee 56-58 did take place. Copy 16 of the 15page summary of the discussion, received by theGerman Foreign Office on March 2. 1942, wastransmated under a covering letter, dated February26, 1942:

(microfilm frame 372023)

“Dear Party Comrade LutherlAnnexed, I send you the protocol of thediscussion which took place on January 20.1942. Now that the base lines in respect tothe practical execution of the final solution to

the Jewish question have been gratifyinglyconfirmed and full agreement reign thereinon the part of the participating agencies,may I request you delegate your subjectadviser (Sachreferent) to the necessarydetailed discussions for the purpose ofreadying the draft wished by the ReichMarshal in which are to be listed theorganizational, technical, and materialprerequisites for taking in hand the tasks ofthe (final) solution.

The first discussion of this kind I intend to haveheld on March 6, 1942, 10:30 o’clock, inBerlin. Kurfurstenstrasse 116. May I ask youto cause your agent to get in touch with myassigned specialist, SS Lt. Col.(Sturmbannfiihrer Adolf) Eichmann.

Heil Hitler

I Annex l

Your[signed] Heydrich”

This covering letter bears a handwrittenannotation;

“Party Comrade RademacherPlease reply in writing that you are thedesignee and will attend.(initialed in purple pencil) Lu[ther]”

Shown are reproductions of two of the fifteenpages of the Wannsee Protocol listing the attendees[pages 1 and 2; microfilm frames 372024-51.

Among those attending were Heydrich, whopresided: Adolf Eichmann, who purportedly took thenotes from which the summary protocol was derived;the head of the Gestapo. Heinrich Muller; LutherHofmann; and Roland Freisler, the fanatic presidingjudge of the Peoples’ Court (the latter’s rantings, atthe trial of military and civilian participants in theJuly 20, 1944, attempted assassination of Hitler, arefrequently shown in television documentaries). Notshown here are pages 5, 9, and 10, from which thefollowing translations are excerpted:

(page 5, microfilm frame 372028)

“In view of the dangers of wartimeemigration and...the potentialities of the east,the Reich Leader SS and Chief of GermanPolice (Himmler) has prohibited the



442

emigration of Jews..This is henceforthreplaced, as a further potential solution, after

New Jersey Commtssion on Holocaust Education


appropriate prior sanction from the Fuhrer,by the evacuation of the Jews to the east.These actions are, however! only to beaddressed as alternative possibilities, buthere already will be accumulated thosepractical experiences, which in view of thecoming final solution of the Jewish questionare of weighty significance...Around 11million Jews come under considerationdivided among individual countries asfollows.”

(statsticaI chart, page 6, frame 372029)(page 7, frame 3720301

“Jews shall be assigned to work in a suitableway in the ceast. In large work gangs,separated by sex. Jews capable of work willbe put into road construction, wherebyundoubtedly a major part will fall out throughnatural attrition.”

(page 8, frame 372031)

“The eventually surviving remainder, becausethey undoubtedly will be the part with themost resistance, will have to be handledaccordingly, since they represent a naturalselection which, if turned loose, wouldprovide the nucleus of a new Jewishbuildup...Europe will be combed out fromwest to east.. .the evacuated Jews will first bebrought group by group into transit ghettos,from there to be transported to the east.”

Robert WolfeNational Archives October 11, 1990

443



Unit IV: READiNG #25

ART OF TRIP: OAI\/HP INMATES

Jt should not be surprising that the highest...Lexpression of human beings, their ability tocreate, is not deterred even by the most harsh ofcircumstances. Despite the worst of materials, someconcentration camp artists produced creative workwhich served as both consciously-drawn history ofwhat was happening but also as an expression of thespirit that remained unblunted by even theseconditions. Thus, this art is often considered anexample of spiritual resistance. The following are buta few examples of the art of camp inmates—bothduring and after their Holocaust experiences.

Born in what is now Czechoslovakia in 1893,David Friedman became a sign painter and then aprofessional artist. He survived Auschwitz becausethe Nazis had him paint their portraits. After the war,he lived in Israel and then the United States where hepainted billboards and created hundreds of drawings,paintings, and etchings on his Holocaust experiences.

Felix Nussbaum was born into a comfortablemiddle-class family in 1904, studied painting inGermany, and migrated in 1933. During the Naziinvasion of Belgium, he was arrested in Brussels anddeported. He was sent to Gurs, a transit camp in thefoothills of the Pyrenees (in France) in which 15,000internees were held in 1940. He escaped, but wasrecaptured and sent to Auschwitz where he isbelieved to have died.

David Ludwig Bloch was born in Germany in1910, studied art, was expelled from the AcademicArt Institute in 1938, and was sent to Dachau.Released in 1940, he fled to Shanghai. The two worksshown here. ‘The March,” and “The Righteous,” weremade after the war.

Karl Schwesig was an out spoken non-Jewishanti-Nazi who drew posters during the Spanish civilwar, moved to the Pyrenees in 1938, and was laterarrested and interned in Gurs. The drawingpresented here, “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite,” wasdrawn in the margins of stamps sent from Gurs. It isa wry comment on the contradiction between thefamous French motto and the real policy of theFrench government in collaborating with the Nazis inrounding up Jews.

1. What feelings does Nussbaum try to convey in his drawing? What common objects can you see

portrayed?2. Look closely at Bloch’s “The Righteous.” What is the artist saying? How do you think camp inmates dealt

with these feelings in the camps?3. What is the irony expressed in Schwesig’s mock postage stamps? Consider the difference between what

we sometimes say and what we do. Why would anyone in a camp try to convey a message in the form

of a postage stamp?4. There has been a good deal of recent debate about whether recently published Holocaust art books

really express the meaning of that experience to the contemporary viewer. How do you react to this

criticism? What is it about a work of art that makes it “powerful”? Which of these do you think is the most

powerful? The most poignant? The angriest? The most moving? How do you respond to them as works of

art?5. How do you react to Fritta’s birthday card to his son, Tommy?

Source:Furman, Harry, ed. “Art of the Camp Inmates.” The Holocaust and Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students.

New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1983 (out-of-print).

456

David Friedman, “Two Prisoners in K2, “original etching.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION


Unit 1V: READING #25

Bedrich Fritta was a Czech painter and graphicartist born in 1907. He went to Theresienstadt inDecember. 1941 Three years later he was arrestedwith other artists and eventually deported toAuschwitz where he died.

Finally, Max Lingner was born in Leipzig in1889. A soldier in World War 1, he was severely

wounded. He later participated in the GermanRevolution of November 1918. As a dedicatedsocialist, Lingner was arrested in 1939 and spent fiveyears in various internment camps and eventuallyGurs. Many of his Gurs paintings carry optimisticmessages at the bottom.

Bedrich Fritta, “To Tommy on his third birthday in Theresienstadt—January 22, 1941.” One of

ten drawings the artist made for his son’s birthday while they were both in Theresienstadt.

Three years later Fritta was transferred to Auschwitz where he died. Tommy was later adopted

by artistsurvivor Leo Haas.

457

1941.Max Lingner, “Three Women Behind Barbed Wire Fence,” Ours, David Ludwig Bloch, “The March.”

Source:Furman, Harry, ed. ‘Art of the Camp Inmates.” The Holocaust and Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students.



458

Karl Schwesig, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” Mockpostage stamps from Curs, March, 1941. Indian andcolored inks on perforated stamp margins. 1 1/2” x 1

David Ludwig Bloch, “The RighteOus.”

1,

Felix Nussbaum, “Camp Curs,” 1940.

Source:Furmcrn, Harry, ed. “Art of the Camp Inmates.” The Holocaust and Genocide: A Search for Conscience—An Anthology for Students.


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New jersey Commission on Holocaust Education


Source: Be1er,

HOLOGAUST PAINTINGS

}N]D DRAWINGS

/tzchak Belier

459

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I

4

A birthday present for the camp commander’s 10 year old son. Jewish babies are thrown into

the air, and he shoots them.

K1

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2 9*:-L_

To save gas the villains invented new ways to commit mass maurder

ltzchak. The Holocaust: Paintings and Drawings (Excerpts). Israel: Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, Ghettos Fighters’ House, Hakibbutz


460

Source: heifer, Itzchak. The Holocaust: Paintings and Drawings (Excerpts). Israel: Bell Lohamei Haghetaot, Ghettos Fighters’ House,

Hakibbutz Homeuchad Publishing House, 1995.

The most horrible acts of cruelty were performed by men whose beitbuckle caption read:

‘God is with us.”

“Here’s where you live, eat, and sleep. Here you will die.” With these words we are shown to our bunk.

There’s a dirty blanket for six of us sharing a space. The block is engulfed in near-darkness. Narrow

aisles separate the bunks. We are in the wonien ‘s camp at Birkenau, near Auschwitz.

New jersey Commission on Holocaust Education


461

They were taken to thepolitical section, to Sergeant-Major Bogger An interrogation by him meanttorture—their breasts weresinged, their fingernailsextracted. They know what toexpect; they would soon befree.

A dirty, rusty bowl of indefinable watery fiquid, called “soup, “must suffice for 4 prisoners.

Whoever swallows quickly will get more than her companions. The tin pot and the wooden ladles

rattle and pound, the precious liquid spills in the pandemonium. Later, in the Ravensbruck

Concentration Camp, we got soup at 3 a.m. They put a keg of soup on the middle of the room,

everybody pounced on it at once, the keg often overturned and the soup spilled. Everyone started

lapping it up off the floor The guard stood aside laughing heartily

Source: Belfer, Itzchak. The Holocaust: Paintings and Drawings (Excerpts). Israel: Belt Lohamei Haghetaot, Ghettos Fighters’ House,

Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House, 1995.


462

One of the most “popular” methodsfor executing Jews throughoutEurope was by having them dig amass grave and then shooting themas they walked across a plank laidover the grave. Many were onlywounded, and there was movementin the grave for many hours.

Helpless and terrified, old Jews are dragged outinto the streets and their beards cruelly plucked. Iremember my brother’s school principal, RabbiDr. Munk, having his beard plucked on a Berlinstreet in the middle of the day. He went to thesynagogue with a bandaged face, and prayed. Thebeard was a symbol of a Jew’s piety. If theintention was to humiliate him and hurt him tothe depths of his soul, they succeeded.

Source: Belier, ltzchak, The Holocaust: Paintings and Drawings (Excerpts). Israel: Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, Ghettos Fighters’ House,


New Jersey Cornnsissiors on Holocaust Education


Sosnowitz, 1942. The maternity ward. Theinfants are wrapped in pillow cases and thrownout of the window Their mothers are leddownstairs to a black death-car. The doctorsand nurses wash the blood off tables andfloors.

Another kind of entertainment—loosing fierce dogs on people.

463

Source: Belfer, Itzchak. The Holocaust: Paintings and Drawings (Excerpts). Israel: Beit lohamei Haghetaot, Ghettos Fighters’ House,


about the flew the jew never possessed a state with definite

Documents