Introduction World War II (WWII) was another destructive war in the history of mankind. 40 million people were killed. Among the deaths, 6 million were Jews. During the war, the Jews were hatred among the Soviets, Fascists, and mostly Nazis. They were deported into concentration camps and killed with gas chambers. This massacre was called the ‘Holocaust’.
The root of Jews persecution: Anti-Semitism The Jews were accused of guilty of Christ’s death and the ritual murderers of Christians since the Middle Ages. After the French Revolution, most Jews in Europe were accorded equal rights due to Enlightenment. However, after the 19th century, they were suspected to be responsible for the unfavourable effects of individualisation and were blamed
…show more content…
By June 1940, the Nazis controlled almost whole Europe. By 1939, more Jews, and even people with other religions (e.g. Muslims) were deported to Poland. Through these operations, limitless Jews were murdered by the SS police. Germany’s allies did same as well. Their captives were either executed or sent to camps. In early stages of WWII, Nazis established more than 30,000 labour camps and concentration camps for prisoners and Jews of other countries in German occupation. Prisoners had to be tattooed or wore designated uniforms for identification. They worked extraordinarily hard till death. With more and more prisoners in camps, German authorities began to establish ghettos for accommodation. In February 1940 first ghetto was established in Lódz, Poland. The Germans appointed representatives for organising internal governance. Ghettos conditions were terrible, and they were soon saturated. In addition, several deadly pogroms occurred, including the Iaşi pogrom (29 June 1941), Lviv pogroms (30 June - 2 July, 25-29 July 1941), and Jedwabne pogrom (10 July 1941), resulting in thousands of …show more content…
Nazi’s plan of deportation had to change spontaneously. To discuss the ‘solution to Jewish problem’, Nazi officials held a meeting in Wannsee, Berlin on 12 December 1941. They agreed 11,000,000 Jews would be eliminated by forced labour and mass execution. To reduce transportation costs, execution camps would be built in remote areas with railway access near German-occupied Poland. The victims were packed into special sealed trains. Each was allotted a one-way third-class ticket. They packed their assets to ‘start a new living’. The largest camp was Auschwitz in southern Poland. It was made up of 3 camps:
• Auschwitz I:
The administration and labour centre, where coordinating train arrivals and preparations were held. Political prisoners and Jews were housed here to have hard labour. Strong men were selected for labour and producing armaments, others were executed.
• Auschwitz II:
The extermination centre at Birkenau. At least 1,000,000 Jews died by gas chambers working whole day.
• Auschwitz III:
A huge slave labour plant for productions. The work practices were inhuman. More than half of labour died