The Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust refers to the killing of about six million Jews by the Nazis government and their collaborators. This began when Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 until the end of World War II in May 1945. Hitler and his associates in the Nazis often conversed about solving the Jewish puzzle, it is what they meant by this that changed over time. The implementation of the mass killings by Nazis needed a well-coordinated and cooperation of state agencies in all German controlled regions around Europe. This prompted a meeting, the Wannsee Conference; a high-level meeting of German authorities to deliberate on the issue dabbed, “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”. In that meeting there was no mention of mass killings but they had a secrete resolve to eliminate eleven million Jews through this operation[1].

Implementation of the Final solution

To meet their objectives regarding the question of the Jews, Nazis established killing centres and since the plan coincided with an ongoing war the effects would not be easily noticed. General Odilo of Lublin District was tasked with the implementation of the plan to systematically eliminate the Jews. Operation Reinhard was introduced and three killing centers established in Poland; Belzec, Sabibor and Treblinka with a main mission of committing mass murders. The executions were made by firing squads where it is estimated that SS and police murdered at least 152,000 people most of which were Jews. In Autumn 1941, mobile gas vans were introduced by the SS and the police to augment the shooting squads in the concentration centers. This further raised the number of those murdered in these camps to nearly 2.7 million; they were either killed by asphyxiation by poisonous gas or by killer squads[2].

Death marches

Death marches was another strategy that also led to elimination of many Jews. Here the prisoners were forced to walk over long distances, under inhumane conditions, a period during which captives were mistreated by the soldiers accompanying them and often murdered. Hitler’s regime organized numerous death marches during the Holocaust most of which occurred towards the end of world war mostly during the evacuations of concentration camps. As the allies continued to conquer in the west while Soviet advanced on the East in the summer of 1944, Nazis started evacuating their killing centers. The camps in eastern and central Poland and those in Baltic states were evacuated first. It was followed by the marches from Budapest towards the Austrian border, in these marches’ men, women and children had to forcefully travel long distances in the company of armed guards who mistreated them. The marches took about a month, a period in which thousands perished from hunger, disease, exhaustion and extreme environmental conditions. Several others died along the way from being executed by police[3].

How the Jews reacted

The Final Solution was so strategic that it made resistance nearly impossible. The Nazis applied the tactics like propaganda to further their agenda, threats on their victims, separation of members, starvation of captives as well as deceiving the slave laborers of saving them from deportation. Amidst all these, the Jews still did manage to recollect themselves to fight for their rights following their initial shock. They used the Central Committee for Help and Reconstruction established in 1933 to push for the welfare of the affected Jewish community. The National Representation of the German Jews also formed at the same time worked together with the agency to push for the Jews voices.

Being the minority group

they couldn’t have managed to stage an opposition against the authoritarian Nazis regime. So, they resorted to negotiations between the Jewish leadership and the government concerning the status of Jews in Germany a gesture that proved futile. The leadership thus shifted their focus to deepen the Jewish conscience and strengthening of the bonds among them in solidarity to their predicaments. With discrimination against the Jews, their organization focused their efforts on the social work and aid to the needy brothers. Food and other basic needs were often smuggled into the ghettos and concentration camps. An education system specifically for the Jews was also created that fostered adult education as well promoting artistic work through the Kulturbund. Though the Nazi regime came to limit their range of activities, the small scope allowed them to survive in the difficult times. They were able to resist Nazis in the ghettos and camps by preserving their cultural identity, a part from schools they also had prayer groups as well as organized artistic groups[4].

Conclusion

Of all the literature examined in this text, the collection of documents from Arad and colleagues proved most significant, it involves a compilation of more than 200 sources taken from individuals directly connected to the Holocaust. It brings out the destruction of the Jewish community more clearly than other sources. This enable the reader to get the first-hand experience on the injustices that prevailed at the time thus spurring their understanding of these past events. From the documentation of military orders, decrees, speeches, diary excerpts among other primary sources I can clearly see how the whole process was planned and executed. Hitler had premeditated the killing of the Jews and he only lacked the opportunity to execute his plans. The war presented this perfect timing for the plan after he ascended power. Though he faced many obstacles his resolve was only getting stronger and the result was massive when he rose to power and the ongoing war helped to conceal the planned atrocities.

Bibliography

Bergen, Doris L., War & genocide: a concise history of the Holocaust. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.

Documents on the Holocaust, Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union, Y. Arad, Y. Gutman, A. Margaliot (editors), Yad Vashem, 1981.

Arad, Yitzhak, Israel Gutman, and Abraham Margaloit, editors. Documents on the Holocaust: Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.

[1] Bergen, Doris L., War & genocide: a concise history of the Holocaust, (Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 229 - 241.

[2]Documents on the Holocaust, Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union, Y. Arad, Y. Gutman, A. Margaliot (editors), Yad Vashem, 1981, pp. 228-229.

[3] Arad, Yitzhak, Israel Gutman, and Abraham Margaloit, editors. Documents on the Holocaust: Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.

[4] Arad, Yitzhak, Israel Gutman, and Abraham Margaloit, editors. Documents on the Holocaust: Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany and Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.