Research Paper Holocaust Overview

Whitney Kelley

Mr. Neuburger Eng. 102-127 9 December 2012

Kelley 2 It is difficult to imagine someone wishing to eliminate an entire race. Human life isnt something we usually take lightly. Some might wonder what would make someone view a certain group of people so differently. During World War II and the years before there was a man who felt that some people were less than others. That man was Adolf Hitler. Through his rise to power, Hitler was able to turn many against the Jewish people. Due to his radical views millions of lives were lost and destroyed. It seemed that the rest of the world ignored the sudden uprising. There were many things that led to the Holocaust. Some were not as obvious as others. In order to begin comprehending this tragedy one must know of the years before. Within these years lies a story of how such a thing could arise with little conflict. The Fall of Germany

Kelley 3 World War I was a rough time for Germany. The nation had been led to believe that they were winning the war. According to The History Learning Site only a handful of military leaders such as Ludendorff; a high ranking German general, and Hindenburg; Chief of the Greater German General Staff, knew the true state of Germany's military downfall. The British navy had blocked their ports to the north
Treaty of Versailles http://bit.ly/16P2uz

which hindered trade for Germany (Impact of World War One on the Weimar Republic). Due to Germanys dwindling military numbers they

did not stand a chance when the Allies launched a massive attack. Within a few short weeks the German army collapsed. Many German citizens had still been led to believe they were winning the war. The loss came as quite a shock to most of Germany. Aside from the large hit to the German military there was also massive loss for many civilians. Citizens faced starvation and homelessness as most of the farmers had lost their lives in the war. While Germany was already trying to cope with losing the war and being impoverished they were also forced to sign treaties with the European Allied Powers. One of these treaties was the Treaty of Versailles. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) states that this ensured that Germany would never be able to regain their power thus preventing them from instigating another war. On May 7, 1919 German leaders signed the treaty. This forced Germany to concede territories to Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. The part of the treaty that buried Germany further in debt and loss was known as the War Guilt Clause. This forced Germany to accept complete responsibility for starting World War I; therefore, Germany was reliable for all material damages. The holders of this treaty knew that the debt could not be paid for and feared Germany would retaliate, so to further prevent their enemy from regaining strength Germany was granted

Kelley 4 a limited military. There were to be no more than 100,000 men in the army, Navy vessels were restricted to less than 100,000 tons, and finally Germany was forbidden to maintain an Air force. Due to the treatys harsh guidelines many German people saw this as Dictated Peace. The treaty did not seek to settle the disputes that had instigated the war; it instead made tensions rise between Germany and the Allies (Treaty of Versailles). Nazi Party Begins Many men found the new left-winged Democratic government that had formed as a result of this treaty was not the way to regain Germany to its former strength. A small party of men formed and began their own rebel force known as the German Workers Party (GWP.) GWP espoused a right-wing ideology states A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler discovered this party and joined their ranks. Due to his charisma, determination, and captivating speeches Hitler quickly rose to leadership within the GWP. He encouraged national pride, militarism, and wished to make a pure nation. He began to uncover anti-Semitic feelings that had prevailed in Europe for centuries. As Hitler gained more followers he changed
Beer Hall Putsch http://bit.ly/RS1KXI

the name of the German Workers Party to, the National Socialist, German Workers Party, shortened to the Nazi

party (or NSDAP.) By 1920 the Nazi party had gathered nearly 3,000 members. Hitler became the official party leader (Fhrer) in 1921. The time came when Hitler felt the party should attempt to overthrow the current government. So in 1923 the Nazi Party attempted an armed overthrow of authorities in Munich, known as the Beer Hall Putsch. The mission failed miserably and the Nazi Party seemed doomed to fail. Many of its leaders were imprisoned for their acts of treason. Hitler was given a trial for his crimes and used the courtroom as a propaganda platform

Kelley 5 for the Nazi views. The trial lasted 24 days and by the end of this Hitler had gained support and sympathy for his cause. Furthermore, the right-wing judges sympathized with Hitler and sentenced him to five years in prison, with eligibility for early parole. One year later Hitler was released from prison knowing that his party had support from many citizens in Germany (The Writing of Mein Kampf). Hitlers Rise to Power As the Nazi Party grew stronger the democratic government foresaw the danger of their strength. In 1932, German President Paul von Hindenburg was re-elected. Hindenburg knew that much of the public was falling in with the National Socialist ideology and would not support him as their leader. Though Hindenburg did not agree with the extreme Nazi views he agreed to try to appease the people and denounced his Chancellor, Heinrich Bruining, for Franz von Papen who was willing to lift the ban on Nazi practices and, according to the History site, unilaterally cancel Germanys reparation payments imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Though this helped pave the road for the Nazi party Hitler wanted the Chancellorship for himself. Papen lost support of many people due to his authoritarian views. People were still sore on many authority figures after the lies they had been told about World War I. Papen, however, realized this and made peace with Hitler to appoint him as Chancellor and himself as Vice Chancellor. As much of the government had lost support of the public Hitler had begun to gain many followers. He was able to gather large crowds and gain support anywhere he went. Alas in 1933 Hitler was announced Chancellor of Germany. The Nazi party was on the rise. But this was still not enough for Hitler. In order to do what he planned he would need more power. In February 1933 Hitler blamed a terrible fire in Reichstag on communists. He convinced Hindenburg to sign a decree suspending individual and civil liberties. Hitler used this to silence his political opponents with false arrests

Kelley 6 which helped him gain power even faster. Almost all opposition was gone when one man, Ernst Roem, began voicing his disapproval of the Nazi Party. Hitler had him executed without trial. This encouraged many reactionary forces to urge Hitler to further consolidate his power by merging the presidency and the chancellorship. This would make him the commander of the army as well. A plebiscite vote was held on August 19th. Many people feared Hitler and wanted to see their country as powerful as it once was. Due to this Hitler brought in a 90 percent majority vote. He was now a dictator who was free to force his views on the nation (Adolf Hitler Becomes President of Germany).

Changing the Nation As Hitler was now in control of almost every aspect of the nation he felt it was time to change things to what he felt was best. Hitler wanted to see the country restored to its greater success. He immediately got Germany back on its feet economically. He began making the country produce weapons as war is one of the best ways to make money. He nearly eliminated unemployment due to the production of arms. Now he had the support of the people as well as the military. With all this support Hitler could
Adolf Hitler Becomes President of Germany

enact his much darker plans. In 1935 Hitler

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composed something known as the Nuremberg Race Law. This Law, according to the History Place, deprived German Jews of their rights of citizenship. The new law restricted Jews in many ways. Jews were
Nuremberg Race Laws http://bit.ly/1slphC

Kelley 7 no longer aloud to marry anyone who was an Aryan (A blond haired, blue eyed German.) This law was soon followed by the Law for the Protection of Genetic Health of the German Blood and Honor. This forced anyone wishing to marry to submit a medical examination to prove they were fit enough to marry. Furthermore, the new laws caused much confusion. It was unclear how to know who was a full Jew. The Nazis issued instructional charts to help distinguish Jews from Mischlinge (Germans of mixed race) and Aryans. As the law became more widely recognized Jewish people were forced to wear symbols on their clothing so everyone could see who was a Jew. Not only did they have to wear this on their clothing, but their homes and businesses had to display this symbol. With symbols pinpointing who was a Jew it would be easy to determine which businesses were the ones Hitler and his Nazis wanted to ruin (The Nuremberg Race Laws).

Kristallnacht On the night of November 9,, 1938, many were awakened by the sounds of shattering glass and the smell of smoke. Throughout Germany Nazi troops were destroying the homes and businesses of Jewish citizens. The Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) indicates that the Nazis destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses, set fire to more than 900 synagogues, killed 91 Jews and deported 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps. Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) provided the Nazi government an opportunity to completely remove
Kristallnacht http://bit.ly/aHp3P6

Kelley 8 Jews from German life. This event provided solidity in everything Hitler had been saying since 1933. Hitler did not like the Jews, his government did not like the Jews, and they would be wiped out of the nation if left for Nazis to decide (Kristallnacht). World War II Begins Germanys Nazi government was gaining support and power fast. Hitler felt they needed to expand. On March 13, 1938, Germany took over Austria. This had been specifically disallowed in the Versailles Treaty. Still, this was not enough; and on September 28-29, 1938, the French and British handed Germany a large part of Czechoslovakia. Hitler was eager to gain power and in 1939 took the rest of Czechoslovakia. After gaining both of these countries Hitler felt it would be easy to continue expanding. He wanted Poland. To gain Poland Hitler signed a pact with the Soviet Union (The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.) This stated that if Poland were attacked, the Soviet Union would not fight back. Ask.com states that Germany could not appear to be the aggressor and that on the night of August 31, 1939, Nazis took a prisoner from one of the concentration camps, dressed him as a Polish soldier, and staged an attack to appear as if the man had attacked a German radio station. Furthermore with Germany appearing innocent Hitler could invade Poland. So on September 1, 1939, the Germans defeated Poland and divided it into three regions. Yad Vashem includes that approximately 1.8 million Jews were trapped in the German-occupied zone of Poland, and more than a million Polish Jews in the eastern areas of Poland came under Soviet rule (World War II Starts). Hitler saw that his country was powerful and knew they could now stand for themselves in war. So after invading Poland the Germans freed themselves of the restraints that had been placed on them during peacetime. No longer would the nation bow to the demands of other nations. The country was strong enough and wealthy enough to retaliate. Hitler still wanted more expansion. German troops kept advancing deeper into Poland. Great Britain and France sent Hitler and

Kelley 9 ultimatum- either withdraw German forces from Poland or Great Britain and France would wage war against Germany. While the two countries waited for their response Germany kept advancing into Poland. Great Britain and France saw this and declared war on Germany. World War II had now begun (The Outbreak of World War II and Anti-Jewish Policy). The Final Solution As the war waged on millions of Jews were captured by Nazi troops. An estimated nine million Jews were under Nazi control out of the 11 million in Europe. Many began to question what would be done with the incarcerated Jews. There had been many methods practiced to get rid of them. Nearly 1.5 million Jews had been machine-gunned; but this was not an efficient way to kill so many people. It was messy, too slow, and too much money was being used for ammo. So on January 20, 1942, Nazi officials embarked on a policy called The Final Solution which was decided upon at a conference held in Wannsee, near
World War II Begins

Berlin. There it was decided that the Final Solution would be mass murder using gas chambers; a more efficient way to murder the Jews. If they did not use

http://bit.ly/TanTiV

The Final Solution http://bit.ly/T2i9rg

gas chambers it was just not possible to kill as many people as was needed very efficiently. According to Simple to Remember, there were six death camps set up. There was: Auschwitzresponsible for 1.5 million murders, Chelmno- responsible for 320,000 deaths, Treblinkaresponsible for 870,000 deaths, Sobibor- responsible for 250,000 deaths, Maidenek- responsible for 360,000 deaths, and Belzec- Responsible for 600,000 deaths (The Final Solution). With the new efficient ways to murder, millions of Jews were wiped out. These deaths camps were cold,

Kelley 10 cruel, and heartless. It had begun to appear as if nothing could be done to save the millions of innocent lives lost. Liberation As the Nazi death camps spread their plague Allied forces planned on taking them down. With the United States brought into the war from the bombing of Pearl Harbor, they would have a much stronger military. USHMM states that on June 6, 1944 (known as D-Day), Allies launched the single largest invasion force in world history, landing nearly 150,000 soldiers on the beaches of Normandy, France. By the end of the month more than 850,000 American, British, and Canadian troops had come ashore to end the Nazis reign of terror. As the Allies moved across Europe they stumbled upon concentration camps, mass graves, and many other sites of Nazi crimes. The first to overrun a major Nazi camp was the Soviet forces. They discovered Lublin/Majdanek, near Lublin, Poland. Furthermore USHMM states that the soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, where they discovered approximately 7,000 prisoners, some were even young children who had been left behind when the Nazis evacuated. As the Allies marched on they witnessed more terror and death. US troops liberated Buchenwald, Dachau, and Mauthausen, along with hundreds of smaller sub-camps. The Allies were winning. Nazi troops were falling fast and their government was falling. As Allied troops annihilated the Nazis, Hitler decided to hide underground in his bunker. He remained there until April 30th; where he and his wife, of only two days, took cyanide pills and shot themselves with Hitlers service pistol, killing both of them. With the suicide of the Nazi Party leader it was very clear that the party would not rise again. Many had not known of the seriousness of the camps Jews had been held in. The world soon saw what horrors had been hidden and was disgusted with what had been done. The Allies had won, and the world saw what

Kelley 11 hideous crimes had been committed. USHMM also states that on May 8, 1945, less than one year after D-Day, Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender became official, and the world could celebrate the liberation of Europe from Nazi rule (Liberation). The Long Wait The Allies had rescued tens of thousands of Jewish people. They provided them, with food and clothing. But most Jewish people were afraid to return home as many parts of Europe still showed extreme anti-Semitism. They simply could not return home. So the Allies were faced with a difficult problem; where were they going to place all of these people. USHMM states that tens of thousands of homeless Holocaust survivors migrated westward to other European territories liberated by the western Allies. There they were housed in hundreds of refugee centers and displaced persons (DP) camps (The Aftermath of the Holocaust). These people had gone from one camp to another. At least after being liberated they were properly cared for. But they had no home, nothing that was theirs, and nowhere to go. Many
Liberation http://bit.ly/j4YY1n Displaced Persons http://bit.ly/RS4jZV

Jews aimed to facilitate the exodus of Jewish refugees from Europe to Palestine. Until 1948 the displaced Jews were trapped with no place to call home. But finally in May of 1948 the State of Israel was established and refugees streamed into the new state. Also included, is that possibly 170,000 Jewish displaced persons had immigrated to Israel by 1953. Finally, after years of waiting they had a place to call home. The long wait had ended.

Kelley 12 Many things will happen in this world that are out of our control. Things will go unnoticed and unheard of. But we learned from the Holocaust that we should open our eyes and listen a little harder. From 1935 to 1948 millions of people were murdered, abused, and left homeless. Though the Allied troops rescued many of them there is no way to make up for what was lost. Millions of innocent people were killed due to ignorance. We can only hope that we as the human race can learn from this. Hatred for race, religion, sexual orientation, and physical ability will get us nowhere. Nothing like the Holocaust will ever happen again. The world is no longer blind to such things. But we need to use what we learned to eliminate hate on all levels. The only reason to learn of such a horror is to hope that we can use this to adapt as a people and become better and stronger. If the world betters itself from this experience then the millions of lives lost were not for nothing.

Kelley 13 Works Cited "Adolf Hitler Becomes President of Germany." The History Place. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. "Adolf Hitler Commits Suicide in His Underground Bunker." The History Place. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. "THE AFTERMATH OF THE HOLOCAUST." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. "Kristallnacht." The American Experience. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. "LIBERATION." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. "The Nuremberg Race Laws." The History Place. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. "Nuremberg Race Laws." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. "The Outbreak of World War II and Anti-Jewish Policy." Yad Vashem. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. Rosenberg, Jennifer. "World War II Starts." About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. Spira, Ken. "The Final Solution." Simple To Remember. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. "Treaty of Versailles." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 11 May 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. Trueman, Chris, BA. "Impact of World War One on the Weimar Republic." History Learning Site. N.p., 2. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. "The Writing of Mein Kampf." About Nazism. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.

Kelley 14 Whitney, You strayed from the subheadings I asked you to research, but I enjoyed a more detailed account of how the Nazis came to power. Your paper is informative and fairly well organized. You do a nice job of integrating your sources in-text. However, sometimes, you started out writing under a new subheading and presented some information that should probably be sourced, but just as I would think uh-oh, along would come your sourcing. All-in-all, your paper demonstrates a solid effort on your part, and you should be proud of it. Good luck to you in your future endeavors. See below for your score.

Kelley 15 Points Available Score

40

Content paper demonstrates understanding and confidence about topic Sources uses only primary and secondary sources In-Text Citations integrates sources within text with effective use of signal words and phrases Formatting properly uses MLA formatting Works Cited works cited page has the required number of sources and is properly formatted Pictures uses pictures to enhance the text with effective captions and source information Writing Mechanics Paper is free from errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.

35

20

17

40

35

35

32

25

25

15

15

25

20 Total Score

Total = 200

176