Holocaust

Holocaust

What happened in Nazi Germany over the course of twelve years was the Holocaust. This tragedy not only involved mass killings of Jews, but Gypsies, homosexuals, and all other non-Aryan conforming races. The fact that the Holocaust ever happened should be a testament not to forget what happened, so that history never repeats itself.

In 1933, when Hitler first came to power as Chancellor of Germany, Jews were fired from jobs and their businesses were boycotted. Sterilization laws were passed, and the Nazis introduced the concept of the Aryan race. An Aryan is a pure white German with no other lineage marring the race. Over the course of three years, 1935 to 1938, black German children were brought to hospitals by the Gestapo to be sterilized, and Jews were barred from attending schools and universities. (Bakker 44) The Nuremberg laws were also passed. These stated that marriage, intercourse, hiring female Germans in the household under forty-five years old, or flying the colors of the Reich by Jews, was forbidden. The breaking of these laws resulted in severe penalties. (HaShoa 17)

On November 9th and 10th, 1938 came one of the worst German pogroms; Kristallnacht, which means 'crystal night', which is sometimes referred to as "Night of the Broken Glass". This was a "ghastly government-sponsored campaign of arson, mayhem and terror aimed exclusively at Jews and carefully organized throughout every village, town and city of Germany and the country which had been Austria." (HaShoa 35)

At this time, no one knew what was going on in Germany and only Hitler's Party knew what was coming. Once prisoners were in the concentration, labor and death camps, it got worse. Victims were plundered, often systematically. Food, clothing, money, medicine, gold teeth and hair were taken from victims. For a time, Jews were allowed to have some personal belongings, but after 1942, everything was taken. If a prisoner died, and the camp couldn't locate the family, the personal belongings were kept and given to soldiers. (Gutman 246)

The infamous Auschwitz camp was a concentration camp, a labor camp, and an extermination camp all at once. In November, 1943, it was divided into three parts. Auschwitz I, which was the main original concentration camp. Auschwitz II was known as Birkenau, a labor camp and extermination camp. Auschwitz III was mainly Monowitz and many other labor camps. (Furet 148) Bruno Bettelheim wrote on the Jewish response, "The only psychological phenomenon that seems pertinent in this report is the fact that these prisoners knew they were destined to die and still made almost no effort to revolt." (HaShoa 99)

There are several factors believed to be the answer as to why the Jews showed little resistance. A lack of knowledge was a key part. The Nazis went to great lengths to disguise the true meaning of, 'evacuation to the east.' It was also tempting to disregard reports of factories where Jews were being systematically murdered. The Jews were also isolated, and