The Nazi Takeover

Candy Roller

English Comp 102

Mr. Neuburger

14 July 2011

Portrait of Adolf Hitlerhttp://binged.it/nHwC9n

Roller 2

In the 1930’s Germany was under a lot of stress with the falling stock market,

unemployment, and world hunger. Germany was falling in to a quick depression. The

unemployment rate doubled in a few years. Then there was the rise of the Nazis and the

takeover of Adolf Hitler.

The Nazi Takeover

According to Macrohistory.com, in the article Hitler Appointed Chancellor (HAC) in

1930 the parliamentary coalition that governed Germany fell apart, and new elections were held.

The biggest winner in these elections was Adolf Hitler’s National

Socialist Party. Together the social Democrats and the Communist

were large enough to takeover and make a government. The

president of German republic, Hindenburg selected the Catholic

Center Party to form a government instead. Hindenburg attempted

to restore balanced budgets, high interest rates and remaining on the

gold standard. The economy continued to get worse. HAC confirms

this made Hitler look great with his love for Germany. People liked

the way he thought and stood for what he believed in. He wanted change, NO more Socialist or

Communist. People want his radical change, his nationalist.

Hitler was shooting for a big change. His party posters read, “If you want your country to

go Bolshevik, vote Communist. If you want to remain free Germans, vote for the national

Socialist” (HAC). Hitler was a dedicated German. He went directly to the people claiming no

more big business, for a “positive Christianity” (HAC). Hitler claimed he would fight for new

land, help every class of people (but not the Jews), and help the unemployed and the labor

An Anti-Semitism picture of a drawing the hanging of Jews

http://binged.it/nqOTo7

Roller 3

movement. People loved what they saw and heard. Germans wanted the radical change. He

even preached his hatred for Jews. In the (HAC) article they state not one prominent industry in

Germany had a Jew as an owner or director, but Hitler continued to hammer away at what he

described as the Jewish aspect of capitalism, appealing to those who believed the myths about

Jews and believed in the socialism of his National Socialist German Workers Party. Hitler lost

the election, but the National Socialist became the biggest political party in Germany. Hitler still

achieved his goal. Hitler was not elected chancellor but appointed into it. The conservatives

believed they could control Hitler by limiting his powers.

Anti-Semitism

Holocaust scholar Helen Fein defines anti-Semitism in discoverthenetworks.org article

Anti-Semitism as “a persisting latent structure of hostile

beliefs towards Jews as a collective manifested in

individuals as attitudes, and in culture as myth, ideology,

folklore and imagery, and in actions – social or legal

discrimination, political mobilization against the Jews,

and collective or state violence – which results in and/or

is designed to distance, displace, or destroy Jews as

Jews.”

Anti-Semitism dates back further than the fourteenth century. Jews were being blamed

for everything that they could be blamed for. Furthering the Anti-Semitism article the death of

Christ was blamed on the Jews. Say one Jew killed somebody or even a non-Jew the entire

Jewish group was to blame. Even plagues were blamed on the Jews. The article claims Jews

The Nuremberg Laws on display (Project Paladin)http://binged.it/oyEM9w

Roller 4

were accused of being unloyal to their own nation and be more loyal to Israel. They were held

responsible for the actions of the state of Israel. The Israel Jews had double standards

requirements of behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic people. In

additions to this it claims Israeli Jews as the overseers of an apartheid state (Anti-Semitism).

Nuremberg Laws

The Nuremberg Laws came into effect in September 15, 1935. In the Jewish Virtual

Library the two laws, the article Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor

(Law for Protection) and the Reich Citizenship Laws

(RCL). The first law has seven sections. There were to

be no marriages between races, or kindred blood of any

kind. The public prosecutor would process annulments

for anyone who was already marriage. The marriages

were to be voided. It furthers into no sexual relations

between races. Jews could not employ female citizens of German or kindred blood. Jews could

not display the national flag or national colors, only Jewish colors. If Jews did not follow by

these laws they would be punished by hard labor, imprisonment, or fines. A lot of the time it

would be a combination of all of them ().

The second laws stripped Jews of their citizenships, only a person who belonged to the

protective union or who was obligated to the Reich was considered a German Citizen. Only the

citizens of the Reich could have political rights. The Reich was the only way to be or get a

citizenship (RCL).

Kristallnacht

Kristallnachthttp://binged.it/mReTaK

Roller 5

According to pbs.org an article on Kristallnacht explains that on November 7th, Hershel

Grynszpan killed Ernst vom Rath the third secretary of

Germen Embassy in Paris. The Germans used this as the

reason to begin the Kristallnacht. Germans wanted the

Jews to pay for the death of Rath. Germens destroyed

Jews homes and business. They arrested as many Jews as

they could to fill the jails (they wanted wealthy ones).

Jews could not reopen their business unless opened by a non-Jews. They were banned from

society. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels “We shed not a tear for them [the Jews.]" He

went on to comment on the destruction of synagogues saying, "They stood in the way long

enough. We can use the space made free more usefully than as Jewish fortresses."

(Kristallnacht). This was the beginning of moving the Jews to concentration camps, ghettos, and

death camps. Kristallnacht was an eye opener to the world. President Roosevelt said,

“"The news of the past few days from Germany has deeply shocked public opinion in the United States... I myself could scarcely believe that such things could occur in a 20th century civilization." The president also instructed that the 12,000-15,000 refugees already in the U.S. on temporary visitor visas could remain in the country indefinitely” (Kristallnacht).

Rounding up Jews to the ghettos

The Minsk Ghetto (TMG) was an area of thirty-four streets, alleys, and cemeteries. The

holocaustresearchproject.org says barbed wire,

watchtowers, and around the clock surveillance

surrounded the ghetto. A 1.5 square meter was allowed

per person (not including children). The places were

Picture of the barbed wire around the ghettohttp://binged.it/oYuK2U

Roller 6

gutted houses with no floors or windows. There was also a strict curfew from 2200 to 0500

hours. Over 100,000 Jews were gathered to the ghetto. The Soviet Union killed 5,000 Jews in

August 1941, the remaining Jews had to pay a ransom for their lives, and then report to roll call

every Sunday. Jews were forced to wear yellow tags on their chest and backs and a white house

number badge.

Adolf Eichmann was in charge of the SS officers in

charge of the department responsible for deportation and emigration. Eichmann heard about the

Minsk Ghettos killings and head straight there. Eichmann states,

“There were the piles of dead people. They were shooting into the pit – it was a rather large one, so I was told, perhaps four to five times the size of this room, perhaps even six or seven times. I didn’t think much about it because I could hardly express any thoughts about it – I only saw it and that was quite enough – they were shooting into the pit and I saw a woman, her arms seemed to be at the back, and then my knees went weak and I went away.” (TMG)

People in this ghetto were destined for death, the men were registered to labour along with

Soviet prisoners. On 21 July 1941, 45 Jews were roped together and ordered to be burned alive

by 30 Russian prisoners. The Russians refused to carry out this orders so all 75 people were shot

to death. Germans started coming up with a new ways to mass murder the Jews most popular

were the gas chambers. On 7 November 1941 twelve thousand Jews were killed so Germans

could start moving more Jews in from other locations. They would arrive by train when the

carriage doors were opened the beatings would start. Jews say it was told chaos, whether it was

man, women, or child. On the 20 November 1941 another seven thousand were murder because

they were making preparations for escaping. The gas chambers/gas vans were the way to kill

more Jews at once. The Germans order the Jewish council to handover five thousand Jews for

deportation, the council suggest small children and elderly. The trains were waiting, the

Germans went after the five thousand Jews. Reaching a children’s nursery the Germans gave the

The people that signed the Final Solutionhttp://binged.it/nu2dcL

Roller 7

order to take the children to the Jewish council building. It was a trap the Germans had dug a pit.

The Germans through the children into sand and watched them disappear. Germans threw hand

full’s of sweets to the screaming children as they watched them sink in the sand. Over the next

year they killed tens of thousands Jews. Only a few Jews that entered in to the Minsk Ghetto

make it out alive in July 1944 when the ghetto was liberated (TMG).

The Final Solution

Wannsee Conference is where Germans came up with the final solution. It happened

January 20, 1942. According to aish.com article The

Final Solution (TFS) Nazis wanted to set a new

course to completely eliminate the Jewish people.

Wannsee is a small town outside Berlin. This

document contained sixteen signatures from all upper

ministries of the German establishment. Most of these people had PhD’s or MD’s. They were to

be considered genius and brilliant intellects. “One of the last things Hitler did, just before

committing suicide, was to apologize to the German people for not finishing the job” (TFS).

The Final Solution was a document drawn up to explain the murder of eleven million

Jews explains aushwitz.dk article The Wannsee Conference (TWC). Germans wanted to do this

through evacuation, deportation to the camps, liquidation, and ghettoization. “The document's

cool, factual tone and carefully tallied numbers are precisely what is meant by the phrase "the

banality of evil." The Protocol of the Wannsee Conference is a horrifying document and

ultimately six million Jews were to fall victim to the plans” (TWC). This document tracked how

Roller 8

many Jews were in each country, where they were to be deported too, and how to be killed. Even

the Jews with mixed blood were involved in the document (TWC).

Selektion

Selektion is defined by Shoah Resource Center as a term used by the Nazis to denote the

sorting of deportees or prisoners into groups, those who were to do forced labor, or those who

were to be killed.

Buzzle.com claims in article Concentration Camps During the Holocaust (CCDH) that

the Jews were stuffed in to trains for days with no food or water. If the Jewish people would not

get off the train they would be forced of by gun or physical abuse. This generally did not leave

many Jews to enter the camps. Families were separated, men were put to work, and women

were to work or maintain the house. Children were sent to school most the time. Then they

would see a doctor at the entrance of the camp that would decide if the Jew could handle the hard

work labor or if they were to be sent to death. The doctors would point right or left to decide

their fate. Then the survivors would get a tattoo to be recognized by because names no longer

existed (CCDH).

Methods of mass murder

The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (DCHGS) says in the Method of

mass murder that there were many methods used. The main ones were mass shootings, gassing

trucks, and extermination camps.

Jews being shot into the graves they had to dig.

http://bit.ly/njL6AL

The entrance of Auschwitz death camphttp://binged.it/pZigqk

Roller 9

The mass shooting was the first method used. Germans would shot any Jew they wanted

at anytime or place. The way Germans did this was by making

the Jews dig their own graves. Then shooting them into it groups at

a time. Then the second method came along gassing trucks

because Germans want to be able to kill more people at a time.

Jews were forced into a seal truck where the gas exhaust was led

back into the truck. Then the Jews would suffocate to death.

There were an estimated fifteen gas trucks used. Germans thought

this would be a good way to keep the murderer from becoming

emotional hit by the killings. Germans wanted to make the killings even more effective to they

start using extermination camps. They forced Jews into large gas chambers, and then would

pump them full of Zyklon B or exhaust fumes. In five of the extermination camps the sole

purpose was to kill Jews, gypsies and the undesirables. At least three million Jews were killed in

these camps effectively, quickly and secretly as possible (DCHGS).

Death Camps

There were several main death camps Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau, Chelmno,

Sobibor, Belzek, and Majdanek according to article The Camps (TC) in frank.mstu.edu. Further

in the article it claims there were hundreds of concentration camps that might have well been

death camps it seems the same thinks happened at all of them. The death camps were large and

had large gas chambers. These death camps could kill

in masses the estimates are at Chelmno 320,000 -

Auschwitz 1,200,000 - Belzek 600,000 - Sobibor

250,000 - Treblinka 700,000 – Majdanek 1,380,000 –

Children being released after liberationhttp://bit.ly/aw0tDG

Roller 10

Stutthof 65,000. They had crematorium where they would burn all the bodies. Auschwitz

actually had three camps in it. When you walked in the words “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work will

make you free) were engraved but only for a false hope. There were 890,000 Jews gassed upon

arrival, with no chance of living. The death camps were cruel you could die any day from

“starvation, being worked to death, exposure to the elements, epidemics, and disease, or simply

being executed for alleged crimes” (TC).

Liberation

The United States holocaust Memorial Museum claims in the article Liberation of Nazi

Camps (LNC) that allied troops moved across

Europe to fight against the Nazi Germany. Soviet

forces were the first to find a major Nazi camp.

Germans were surprised so they torched all the

camps, the only thing left standing were the gas

chambers. In 1944 to 1945 most camps were

liberated and evacuated. Most of the allied troops found decaying bodies, a lot of belongs, and

very few survivors. Most camps had to be burned down because of the disease. Most people

found alive did not make it because of malnutrition.

“Liberators confronted unspeakable conditions in the Nazi camps, where piles of corpses lay unburied. Only after the liberation of these camps was the full scope of Nazi horrors exposed to the world. The small percentage of inmates who survived resembled skeletons because of the demands of forced labor and the lack of food, compounded by months and years of maltreatment. Many were so weak that they could hardly move. Disease remained an ever-present danger, and many of the camps had to be burned down to prevent the spread of epidemics. Survivors of the camps faced a long and difficult road to recovery (LNC).”

Aftermath of the Holocaust

Camps survivors after liberationhttp://bit.ly/ieMCZn

Roller 11

The Jews fear for there lives because of Anti-Semitism. According to the United

Holocaust Memorial Museum in the article the aftermath of the Holocaust (Aftermath). They

were traumatized by what they had been through. Tens

of thousands of holocaust survivors migrated westward

toward Europe territories liberated by the western

allies. Allies had put together refuge camps, the United

State, Great Britain, and France overseen these camps.

Many countries pulled together to place the refugees.

Many of the survivors migrated to Israel in May 1948. By 1953 170,000 Jewish displaced

persons and refugees had immigrated to Israel. Many countries jumped in to help Canada,

Austria, New Zealand, Western Europe, Mexico, South America, and South Africa. Lots of

organizations were put together to try to help the Jews come together and get their lives back.

Works Cited

"The Aftermath of the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 17 July 2011.

<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005129>.

"The American Experience.America and the Holocaust.People & Events | "Kristallnacht" | PBS." PBS: Public

Broadcasting Service. Web. 17 July 2011.

"The Camps." Middle Tennessee State University. Web. 17 July 2011.

<http://frank.mtsu.edu/~baustin/holocamp.html>.

Cowen, Tyler. "Anti-Semitism." Discover the Net Works. Web. 17 July 2011.

Roller 12

Ellis, Rabbi Eliahu, and Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky. "Wannsee Conference: The Final Solution." Judaism - The Jewish

Website. Web. 17 July 2011.

"Hitler and Germany: 1927 to 1935." MacroHistory : World History. Web. 17 July 2011.

Lalwani, Puja. "Concentration Camps During the Holocaust." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. 27

Apr. 2010. Web. 17 July 2011.

"Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor." Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage. Web. 17 July

2011.

"Liberation of Nazi Camps." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 July 2011.

"Methods of Mass Murder." The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Web. 17 July 2011.

"The Minsk Ghetto Http://www.HolocaustResearchProject.org." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team.

Web. 17 July 2011.

"Wannsee and The Final Solution." The Holocaust, Crimes, Heroes and Villains. Web. 17 July 2011.

<http://auschwitz.dk/Wannsee.htm>.