Concentration camps - Key Stage 3 - The Holocaust Explained A concentration camp is a place where people are detained or confined without trial. Prisoners were kept in extremely harsh conditions and without any rights. In Nazi Germany after 1933, and across Nazi controlled Europe between 1938 and 1945, concentration camps became a major way in which the Nazis imposed their control. The first concentration camps in Germany were set up as detention centres to stop any opposition to the Nazis by so called ‘enemies of the state’. These people included communists, socialists and social democrats, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, Roma, and so called ‘asocials’. However, after March 1938, when the Germans annexed Austria into German territory, many thousands of German Jews were arrested and detained in Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. After Kristallnacht (the ‘Night of broken glass’) in November 1938, the Nazis and their supporters arrested many thousands of male Jews above the age of 14 years.
Auschwitz Concentration Camp What Was Auschwitz? Built by the Nazis as both a concentration and death camp , Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi's camps and the most streamlined mass killing center ever created. It was at Auschwitz that 1.1 million people were murdered, mostly Jews. Auschwitz has become a symbol of death, the Holocaust , and the destruction of European Jewry. Dates: May 1940 -- January 27, 1945 Camp Commandants: Rudolf Höss, Arthur Liebehenschel, Richard Baer Auschwitz Established On April 27, 1940, Heinrich Himmler ordered the construction of a new camp near Oswiecim, Poland (about 37 miles or 60 km west of Krakow). Auschwitz I (or "the Main Camp") was the original camp. Auschwitz II (or "Birkenau") was completed in early 1942. Auschwitz III (or "Buna-Monowitz") was built last as "housing" for the forced laborers at the Buna synthetic rubber factory in Monowitz. Arrival and Selection Gas Chambers and Crematoria at Auschwitz The gas killed quickly, but it was not instantaneous.
World War II: The Holocaust - The Atlantic One of the most horrific terms in history was used by Nazi Germany to designate human beings whose lives were unimportant, or those who should be killed outright: Lebensunwertes Leben, or "life unworthy of life". The phrase was applied to the mentally impaired and later to the "racially inferior," or "sexually deviant," as well as to "enemies of the state" both internal and external. From very early in the war, part of Nazi policy was to murder civilians en masse, especially targeting Jews. Later in the war, this policy grew into Hitler's "final solution", the complete extermination of the Jews. It began with Einsatzgruppen death squads in the East, which killed some 1,000,000 people in numerous massacres, and continued in concentration camps where prisoners were actively denied proper food and health care. It culminated in the construction of extermination camps -- government facilities whose entire purpose was the systematic murder and disposal of massive numbers of people.
Anne Frank - Biography - Anne Frank was a teen writer who went into hiding during the Holocaust, journaling her experiences in the renowned work The Diary of Anne Frank. Synopsis Born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany, Anne Frank lived in Amsterdam with her family during World War II. Fleeing Nazi persecution of Jews, the family went into hiding for two years; during this time, Frank wrote about her experiences and wishes. Early Life Holocaust victim and famous diarist Anne Frank was born Annelies Marie Frank on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany. The Franks were a typical upper middle-class German-Jewish family living in a quiet, religiously diverse neighborhood near the outskirts of Frankfurt. Due in large part to the harsh sanctions imposed on Germany by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, the German economy struggled terribly in the 1920s. The Franks moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands, in the fall of 1933. Nazi Occupation Captured by the Nazis 'The Diary of a Young Girl' Videos
Voices of the Holocaust During the 1930s and 40s, the Nazis and their collaborators murdered six million Jews. Hitler's intention was to destroy all Jewish communities, and to build a 'master race' of Aryans. Many other 'non-aryans' were persecuted including Romanies, homosexuals, and the disabled, as well as those who were politically opposed to the Nazis. This terrible moment in history is now known as the Holocaust. It remains one of the most horrific examples in recent European history of indifference, inhumanity, prejudice and genocide. Voices of the Holocaust consists of oral history testimonies gathered from Jewish men and women who came to live in Britain during or after WWII. Further interviews with Jewish survivors of the Holocaust can be found on the Sounds website. Survivor testimonies Listen to personal stories from Jewish Holocaust survivors, and learn what life was like for Jews during Hitler's reign. Information cards Discover more about the background to the Holocaust. Reference Activities ShareThis
The Holocaust Library of Congress Resources Introduction: Nuremberg Race Laws | Kristallnacht | GhettosConcentration Camps: Dachau | Bergen-Belsen | AuschwitzRighteous Among the Nations: Gies | Schindler | Winton | Grueninger Primary Source and Analysis Tools | Library of Congress Resources Primary Source Sets | PDF Version Library of Congress Resources Exhibits Herblock! Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium. American Memory The Hannah Arendt Papers at the Library of Congress. American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940. America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945. Webcasts Holocaust Cantata. Breaking the Holocaust Silence: A Hidden Hasidic Text of 1947. Women Against Tyranny: Poems of the Resistance During the Holocaust. Emissary of the Doomed. Ibsen and Hitler: The Playwright, the Plagiarist and the Plot for the Third Reich. Prints and Photographs Posters: Artist Posters. Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. Exhibits
Children's Diaries during the Holocaust BACKGROUND At least 1.1 million Jewish children were murdered during the Holocaust. Of the millions of children who suffered persecution at the hands of the Nazis and their Axis partners, only a small number wrote diaries and journals that have survived. In these accounts, the young writers documented their experiences, confided their feelings, and reflected on the trauma they endured during these nightmare years. THE DIARY OF MIRIAM WATTERNBERG The diary of Miriam Wattenberg (“Mary Berg”) was one of the first children's journals which revealed to a wider public the horrors of the Holocaust. Wattenberg was born in Lódz on October 10, 1924. Shortly before the first large deportation of Warsaw Jews to Treblinka in the summer of 1942, German officials detained Miriam, her family, and other Jews bearing foreign passports in the infamous Pawiak Prison. Young journal writers of this period came from all walks of life. 2) those written by children living in hiding; and
People's Century | Master Race | Full Program Description Full Program Description Master Race Nazism overtakes German society Original broadcast: Monday, June 15 at 9pm (check local listings for re-broadcast dates) "A sea of swastikas. We were out in the streets and went to the Brandenburg Gate and watched the Nazis marching into power. Restaurants were open almost all night. People were drinking, there was a huge commotion. In Master Race, Germans talk candidly about the initial seduction of Nazism; Gypsies reminisce about life before Hitler; and Jews recall their persecution as Hitler's "Master Race" pursued its destiny -- and descended to the greatest depths of barbarism in human history. Berlin, 1933: With a unique blend of nationalism, militarism, and racial theory, Adolf Hitler persuades millions that they are a unique people -- a master race with a special destiny. An entire generation was taught to live the ideal German life the Nazi's prescribed. In March 1938, Germany absorbed Austria in direct defiance of the Treaty of Versailles.
Holocaust Timeline: The Rise of the Nazi Party While in prison, Hitler wrote volume one of Mein Kampf (My Struggle) , which was published in 1925. This work detailed Hitler's radical ideas of German nationalism, antisemitism, and anti-Bolshevism. Linked with Social Darwinism, the human struggle that said that might makes right, Hitler's book became the ideological base for the Nazi Party's racist beliefs and murderous practices. This site discusses many of the ideas contained within Mein Kampf. After Hitler was released from prison, he formally resurrected the Nazi Party. was elected president in 1925, and Germany stabilized. Hitler skillfully maneuvered through Nazi Party politics and emerged as the sole leader. The Nazi Party began building a mass movement. was the paramilitary unit of the Party, a propaganda arm that became known for its strong arm tactics of street brawling and terror. was established as an elite group with special duties within the SA, but it remained inconsequential until Heinrich Himmler
Hitler’s ‘master race’ children haunted by their past by Russell Grigg Article from:Creation29(4):32-34September 2007 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Richard Freimark. Between 1935 and 1945, there were born some 10,000 children in Germany and an estimated 9,000 in Norway as part of a Nazi genetic engineering plan to build up an Aryan ‘master-race’ or super-breed of humanity. This scheme was known as the Lebensborn or ‘Fountain of Life’ program. Special clinics were set up where SS men1 were encouraged to mate with blue-eyed, blonde Nordic girls who had no Jewish ancestry, in order to produce ‘racially pure’ German offspring. Social Darwinism in action This was social Darwinism or eugenics in action. The Germany of Hitler’s day was steeped in this social Darwinism. Darwin’s Origin of Species had been translated into German in 1860,8 followed by his Descent of Man in 1875 (which showed that Darwin was himself a social Darwinist!). Hitler and Darwin Evolutionary ideas infest all that is worst in Mein Kampf. Related articles
Nazi Racism For years before Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, he was obsessed with ideas about race. In his speeches and writings, Hitler spread his beliefs in racial "purity" and in the superiority of the "Germanic race"—what he called an Aryan "master race." He pronounced that his race must remain pure in order to one day take over the world. For Hitler, the ideal "Aryan" was blond, blue-eyed, and tall. When Hitler and the Nazis came to power, these beliefs became the government ideology and were spread in publicly displayed posters, on the radio, in movies, in classrooms, and in newspapers. The Nazis began to put their ideology into practice with the support of German scientists who believed that the human race could be improved by limiting the reproduction of people considered "inferior." Hitler and other Nazi leaders viewed the Jews not as a religious group, but as a poisonous "race," which "lived off" the other races and weakened them.
Third Reich Nazi Germany, also known as the Third Reich, is the common name for Germany when it was a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). On 30 January 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, by the President of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, beginning the process of eliminating all opposition and the consolidation of power to become the sole leader of Germany in August 1934. The state idolized Hitler as its Führer ("leader"), centralizing all power in his hands. Historians have emphasized the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Racism, especially antisemitism, was a feature of society in Nazi Germany. Germany made increasingly aggressive demands, threatening war if they were not met. Name The official name of the state was the Deutsches Reich ("German Reich") from 1933 to 1943, and the Großdeutsches Reich ("Greater German Reich") from 1943 to 1945. History Background
The Holocaust, Crimes, Heroes and Villains Concentration Camp - Magazine In Germany the words 'protective custody' have a double meaning. Originally the term meant the incarceration of people who were threatened by others and who were guarded for their own safety so that they might be protected from their enemies. Now, however, men in protective custody are mostly those who are brought, for the 'protection of the people and the State,' into a concentration camp without hearing, without court sentence, without the possibility of redress, and for an indefinite time. Frequently people sentenced by a court are taken into protective custody by the Gestapo after serving their prison sentence, often directly from the prison gate. Such, for example, was the fate of Pastor Niemöller, who, after being released from prison, was taken into the camp Sachsenhausen near Oranienburg, the camp with which we shall be concerned here. I do not understand, however, the attitude of Hitler and his followers in this matter. Then we were fitted out.