ghettos and holocaust

8/8/2019 Ghettos and Holocaust

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Poland the war and ghettoPoland the war and ghetto



T he Warsaw GhettoT he Warsaw Ghetto



The city of Warsaw, capital of Poland, flanks both banks of the Vistula River.The city of Warsaw, capital of Poland, flanks both banks of the Vistula River.A city of 1.3 million inhabitants, Warsaw was the capital of the resurrectedA city of 1.3 million inhabitants, Warsaw was the capital of the resurrectedPolish state in 1919. Before World War II, the city was a major Polish state in 1919. Before World War II, the city was a major center of center of Jewish life and culture in Poland. Warsaw's prewar Jewish population of Jewish life and culture in Poland. Warsaw's prewar Jewish population of more than 350,000 constituted about 30 percent of the city's totalmore than 350,000 constituted about 30 percent of the city's total population. The Warsaw Jewish community was the largest in both Poland population. The Warsaw Jewish community was the largest in both Polandand Europe, and was the second largest in the world, second only to Newand Europe, and was the second largest in the world, second only to NewYork City.York City.

WARSAW GHETTOWARSAW GHETTOO n O ctober 12, 1940, the Germans decreed the establishment of aO n O ctober 12, 1940, the Germans decreed the establishment of aghettoghetto inin

Warsaw. The decree required all Jewish residents of Warsaw to move intoWarsaw. The decree required all Jewish residents of Warsaw to move intoa designated area, which German authorities sealed off from the rest of thea designated area, which German authorities sealed off from the rest of thecity in November 1940.city in November 1940.

The ghetto was enclosed by a wall that was over 10 feet high, topped withThe ghetto was enclosed by a wall that was over 10 feet high, topped with barbed wire, and closely guarded to prevent movement between the ghetto barbed wire, and closely guarded to prevent movement between the ghettoand the rest of Warsaw. The population of the ghetto, increased by Jewsand the rest of Warsaw. The population of the ghetto, increased by Jewscompelled to move in from nearby towns, was estimated to be over compelled to move in from nearby towns, was estimated to be over 400,000 Jews.400,000 Jews.

German authorities forced ghetto residents to live in an area of 1.3 squareGerman authorities forced ghetto residents to live in an area of 1.3 squaremiles, with an average of 7.2 persons per room.miles, with an average of 7.2 persons per room.



F ood allotments rationed to the ghetto by the German civilian authorities wereF ood allotments rationed to the ghetto by the German civilian authorities werenot sufficient to sustain life. In 1941 the average Jew in the ghetto subsisted onnot sufficient to sustain life. In 1941 the average Jew in the ghetto subsisted on1,125 calories a day.1,125 calories a day.

Czerniaków wrote in his diary entry for May 8, 1941: ³Children starving toCzerniaków wrote in his diary entry for May 8, 1941: ³Children starving todeath.´ Between 1940 and middeath.´ Between 1940 and mid--1942, 83,000 Jews died of starvation and1942, 83,000 Jews died of starvation anddisease.disease.Widespread smuggling of food and medicines into the ghetto supplemented theWidespread smuggling of food and medicines into the ghetto supplemented themiserable official allotments and kept the death rate from increasing still further miserable official allotments and kept the death rate from increasing still further ..

O n April 19, 1943, a new SS and police force appeared outside the ghetto walls,O n April 19, 1943, a new SS and police force appeared outside the ghetto walls,intending to liquidate the ghetto and deport the remaining inhabitants to theintending to liquidate the ghetto and deport the remaining inhabitants to theforced labor camps in Lublin district.forced labor camps in Lublin district.The ghetto inhabitants offered organized resistance in the first days of theThe ghetto inhabitants offered organized resistance in the first days of theoperation, inflicting casualties on the welloperation, inflicting casualties on the well--armed and equipped SS and policearmed and equipped SS and policeunits. They continued to resist deportation as individuals or in small groups for units. They continued to resist deportation as individuals or in small groups for four weeks before the Germans ended the operation on May 16.four weeks before the Germans ended the operation on May 16.The SS and police deported approximately 42,000 Warsaw ghetto survivorsThe SS and police deported approximately 42,000 Warsaw ghetto survivorscaptured during the uprising to the forcedcaptured during the uprising to the forced--labor camps atlabor camps at PoniatowaPoniatowa andandTrawnikiTrawniki and to theand to theLublin/Lublin/Majdanek Majdanek concentration camp. At least 7,000 Jewsconcentration camp. At least 7,000 Jewsdied fighting or in hiding in the ghetto, while the SS and police sent another died fighting or in hiding in the ghetto, while the SS and police sent another 7,000 to the Treblinka killing center.7,000 to the Treblinka killing center.



LODZ GHETTOLODZ GHETTO



O n 8 September 1939 LodzO n 8 September 1939 Lodzwaswas occupiedoccupied by German troops. In April 1940 the by German troops. In April 1940 thetown was retown was re--named Litzmannstadt, after the German generalnamed Litzmannstadt, after the German generalKarlKarl LitzmannLitzmannwho was killed near Lodz in 1915. 34% of the 665,000 inhabitants were Jews,who was killed near Lodz in 1915. 34% of the 665,000 inhabitants were Jews,

making Lodz an important centre of Jewish culture in Poland.making Lodz an important centre of Jewish culture in Poland.F rom the moment of occupation, the Jews suffered from persecution by SS andF rom the moment of occupation, the Jews suffered from persecution by SS and1,500 Volksdeutsche, the latter members of the approximately 60,0001,500 Volksdeutsche, the latter members of the approximately 60,000inhabitants of German origin.inhabitants of German origin.Economic plunder took place in two ways, the confiscation of Jewish propertyEconomic plunder took place in two ways, the confiscation of Jewish property

and enforced labor in as many as 96 newly built ghetto workshops and factories,and enforced labor in as many as 96 newly built ghetto workshops and factories,where starvation forced the Jews to work strenuously for a piece of bread andwhere starvation forced the Jews to work strenuously for a piece of bread andsome soup.some soup.This work as well as all other Jewish affairs within the ghetto was managed byThis work as well as all other Jewish affairs within the ghetto was managed bythe Judenrat (Lodz: Ältestenrat / Council of the Eldest), which was establishedthe Judenrat (Lodz: Ältestenrat / Council of the Eldest), which was established by the Germans inO ctober 1940. It was led by by the Germans inO ctober 1940. It was led byM ordechai Chaim RumkowskiM ordechai Chaim Rumkowski(official title: Ältester der Juden / Eldest of the Jews).(official title: Ältester der Juden / Eldest of the Jews).The Judenrat managed the inadequate food rations, 5 hospitals, 47 schools, theThe Judenrat managed the inadequate food rations, 5 hospitals, 47 schools, theallocation of quarters, the JewishO rder Service and even a ghetto prison.allocation of quarters, the JewishO rder Service and even a ghetto prison.



KARK O W GHETTOKARK O W GHETTO



From the Ghetto to the concentrationcamps



The Nazi Extermination CampsThe Rationalization of Murder

A clear distinction must be observed between the death camps, or killing centers,and the concentration camps.

In some sense, all of the concentration camps, and there were hundreds of them,were death camps in that thousands of inmates died of starvation, being workedto death, exposure to the elements, epidemics and disease, or simply being

executed for alleged crimes. However, the camps are classified on the basis of their primary, or intended, function.Many of the camps were established early in the Nazi regime under the "Protective

Custody" law of F ebruary 28, 1933 which authorized the police to make arrestson suspicion of criminal activity and incarcerated without benefit of legalcounsel or trial.

The first such camp was created at Dachau near Munich in the south (1933). Inthat same year, Buchenwald was established near Weimar in the central part of Germany and Sachsenhausen, near Berlin, in the north. Additional camps wereconstructed between 1934 and 1941 as the need for them rapidly increased.

The first inmates of these camps were Communists, democrats, socialists, politicalcriminals, homosexuals and, of course, Jews.



ChelmnoChelmno was a Nazi extermination camp in Poland on the river Ner, 37 M (60 KM)

from Lodz. The Germans called it Kulmhof.

Under the command of Hauptsturmfuhrerer Herbert Lange, Jews transported toCholmno were forced, or inticed, into vans, the doors were closed and latchedand the motors were started. A hose carried the carbon monoxide fumes into thevan. It usually required 10 or 15 minutes to murder all who were in the van.

The driver then drove the bodies to the pre-dug graves in the forest where Jewishworkers unloaded the bodies into the graves. The van then returned to the camp

and the operation was repeated.Estimates of the number of people killed at Chelmno vary from 170,000 to 360,000men, women and children, virtually all Jews.

Most authorities agree on the higher estimate. Despite this large number, few people in Poland or abroad ever knew of its existence, or were aware of thehundreds of thousands of victims it claimed.

The camp was closed in 1943 but reopened in April, 1944. Late in 1944 there were plans to shut down the camp; however, Soviet troops arrived before these planscould be implemented.

As the Soviet troops advanced, SS guards liquidated the remaining prisoners.



A uschwitz-BirkenauEasily the most notorious of all the killing centers, A uschwitz-Birkenauhad a dual function: a concentration camp where inmates were used asforced labor and an extermination center . T he main camp . The town of A uschwitz (Polish: O swiecim) is located approximately 37 miles west of K rakow, in Eastern Upper Silesia, which was annexed to Nazi Germanyfollowing the defeat of Poland, in September, 1939 and the site of themost notorious Nazi death camp . A

uschwitz was at the center of several major Polish cities, and was,therefore, ideal for the shipping of prisoners from German occupiedEurope . T here were eventually three camps at A uschwitz . T he first camp wasbuilt, on orders from Heinrich Himmler, shortly after Poland's defeat, in asuburb of O swiecim and was designed to hold about 10,000 politicalprisoners . Upon entering the gates of A uschwitz I, the prisoners saw over the mainentrance the words; " A rbeit Macht Frei" (work will make you free) . T hese words were to promote the false hope that hard work by theprisoners would result in their freedom . Indeed the camp, and later the"Buna" of A uschwitz III, made extensive use of slave labor; however,death was the only real escape .



GAS CHAMBER AND CREMATORIUM II

T he Crematorium II building, which contained a gas chamberand furnaces for burning corpses. Several hundred thousandJewish men, women and children were murdered here withpoison gas, and their bodies burned.T he bodies of Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners who died in theconcentration camp were also burned here. A ccording to

calculations by the German authorities, 1,440 corpses could beburned in this crematorium every 24 hours.A ccording to the testimony of former prisoners, the figure washigher. T he gas chamber and Crematorium II functioned fromM arch 1943 through November 1944.

A t the end of the war, in connection with the operationintended to remove the evidence of their crimes, the campauthorities ordered the demolition of the furnaces andcrematorium building in November 1944. On January 20,1945, the SS blew up whatever had not been removed.



Construction on Auschwitz-Birkenau began inO ctober, 1941 and was completedin March, 1942 although one provisional gas chamber, in a converted farmhouse,went into operation in January 1941. When these experiments provedinadequate, four large Krema, each containing a disrobing area, a gas chamber

and crematorium were constructed between March and June, 1943.The crematories and gas chamber equipments, constructed by Hoch und TiefbauAG Kattowitz, were delivered by the Erfurt firm J.A. Topf & sons. At it's peak,more than 20.000 people could be murdered and their bodies burned in a singleday. In fact, the single day highest output was 24,000.Jews comprised the largest number of victims; at least one-third of the estimated5 million to 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II died there.F or this reason, Auschwitz has come to symbolize Holocaust more vividly thanany other symbol.In addition to the Jews, however, large numbers of Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, gypsies, and homosexuals also died at Auschwitz.During peak operation from March, 1942 until November, 1944, trains arrivedalmost daily with transports of Jews from all over occupied Europe.O n the unloading ramp, new arrivals would undergo selection ( selektion ) by SSofficers .Most women, children, and those that looked unfit to work were sent tothe left; while most young men and others that were fit would be sent to theright. The left line meant immediate death at the gas chambers and the rightmeant probable death from hard forced labor.The selection split families - mothers from their children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters.



Those selected for forced labor were sent to a part of the camp called the"quarantine, " where their heads were shaved and the were issued prisonuniforms before being sent one of the labor camps nearby.

These prisoners were registered and received numbers tattooed on their left arm.Initially the numbers were tattooed on the left side of the chest. Approximately405,000 prisoners were registered in this way.The vast majority of the Auschwitz victims were not registered at all, those menand women who, upon arrival Auschwitz II, were led to the gas chambers andkilled there immediately.O nly about 65,000 of the tattooed inmates survived thecamp experience.Arrivals at the complex were separated into three groups.O ne group went to thegas chambers within a few hours; these people were sent to the Birkenau camp,where more than 20,000 people could be gassed and cremated each day.At Birkenau, Zyklon-B, a cyanide gas originally manufactured for pest-control.Before the bodies were burned the victim's hair was cut off and gold fillings andfalse teeth made of precious metals were removed.

The hair was used for making haircloth, and the metals were melted into barsand sent to Berlin. After the liberation tons of hair were found in campwarehouses. Laboratory analysis of the hair conducted by The Kracow Instituteof Judicial Expertise found traces of prussic acid, a poisonous component typicalof Zyklon -- proof that the victims were gassed..



A second group of prisoners were used as slave labor at large industrial factoriesfor such companies as I. G.F arben and Krupp. Some prisoners survived throughthe help of German industrialistO skar Schindler, who diverted them fromAuschwitz to his factory near Krakow and later at a factory in what is now theCzech Republic.A third group, mostly twins and dwarfs, underwent medical experiments at thehands of doctors such as Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death." Eva Moses Kor, asurvivor of Mengele's twin studies, remarked: "I was not on Schindler's list;however, I was on Mengele's list. And it was better to be on Mengele's list thanon no list at all."At the Auschwitz complex 405,000 prisoners were recorded as laborers between1940 and 1945.O f these about 340,000 perished through executions, beatings,starvation, and sickness.When the SS realized that the end of the war was near, they attempted to removeall evidence of the atrocities committed there. They dismantled the gaschambers, crematories and other buildings.They burned documents and evacuated all the prisoners who could walk to the

interior of Germany. When the Soviet army marched into Auschwitz to liberatethe camp on January 27, 1945, they found about 7600 survivors abandonedthere. More than 58,000 prisoners had already been evacuated by the Nazis andsent on a final death march to Germany.



J osef Mengele, German physician and SS captain: the A ngel of D eath,

In 1943, he was named SSgarrison physician(Standortartz) of Auschwitz.

In that capacity, he wasresponsible for thedifferentiation and selection of those fit to work and thosedestined for gassing.Mengele also carried outhuman experiments on campinmates, especially twins. Placeand date uncertain.



Mengele's Children: The Twins of Auschwitz

In May 1943, Mengele enteredAuschwitzas an educated, experienced, medicalresearcher. With funding for his experiments, he worked alongside some of thetop medical researchers of the time. Anxious to make a name for himself,Mengele searched for the secrets of heredity.The Nazi ideal of the future would benefit from the help of genetics: if Aryanwomen could assuredly give birth to twins who were sure to be blond and blueeyes then future could be saved.Mengele took his turn as the selector on the ramp, but unlike most of the other selectors, he arrived sober. With a small flick of his finger or riding crop, a person would either be sent to the left or to the right, to the gas chamber or tohard labor. Mengele would get very excited when finding twins.The other SS who helped unload the transports had been given specialinstructions to find twins, dwarfs, giants, or anyone else with a uniquehereditary trait like a club foot or heterochromatin (each eye a different color).Mengele's seeming omnipresence on the ramp stemmed not only from hisselection duty, but his additional appearance when it was not his turn asselector to ensure twins would not be missed.



As the unsuspecting people were herded off the train and ordered into separatelines, SS would shout "Zwillinge!" ("twins!").Parents were forced to make a quick decision. Unsure of their situation, already being separated from family members when forced to form lines, seeing barbedwire, smelling an unfamiliar stench - was it good or bad to be a twin?Some parents did announce their twins. Some relatives, friends, or neighborswould announce the twins.Some mothers tried to hide their twins. The SS and Mengele would search throughthe surging ranks of people in search of twins and anyone with unusual traits.

While many twins were either announced or discovered, some sets of twins weresuccessfully hidden and walked with their mother into the gas chamber Approximately three thousand twins were pulled from the masses on the ramp,most of them children; only around two hundred survived.



P rocessingAfter the twins had been taken from their parents, they were taken to theshowers. Since they were "Mengele's children," they were treated differentlythan other prisoners. Besides the obvious, suffering through medicalexperiments, the twins were often allowed to keep their hair and allowed to keeptheir own clothes.The twins were then tattooed. They were given a number from a specialsequence.2They were then taken to the twin's barracks where they were required to fill outa form. The form asked for a brief history and basic measurements such as ageand height.Many of the twins were too young to fill the form out by themselves so theZwillingsvater ("Twin'sF ather") helped them. (This inmate was assigned to the

job of taking care of the male twins.)O nce the form was filled out, the twinswere taken to Mengele. Mengele asked them more questions and looked for anyunusual traits.



Experiments

Generally, every day, every twin had to have blood drawn.Blood, often in large quantities, was drawn from twins' fingers and arms, andsometimes both their arms simultaneously.The youngest children, whose arms and hands were very small, suffered themost: Blood was drawn from their necks, a painful and frightening procedure. It

was estimated that approximately ten cubic centimeters of blood was drawndaily.6Besides having blood drawn, the twins were to undergo various medicalexperiments.Mengele kept his exact reasoning for his experiments a secret. Many of the twinsthat he experimented on weren't sure for what purpose the individualexperiments were for nor what exactly what was being injected or done to them.Each morning, the twins would wonder what was in store for them that day.Would their number be called? If yes, then the trucks would pick them up andtake them to one of several laboratories.



M easurementsThe twins were forced to undress and lay next to each other. Then everydetail of their anatomy was carefully examined, studied, and measured.

What was the same was deemed to be hereditary and was different wasdeemed to be the result of the environment. These tests would last for several hours.Blood : tests included mass transfusions of blood from one twin to another.E yes

In attempts to fabricate blue eyes, drops or injections of chemicals would be put in the eyes. This often caused severe pain, infections, and temporaryor permanent blindness.Shots and DiseasesMysterious injections that caused severe pain. Injections into the spine andspinal taps with no anesthesia. Diseases, including typhus and tuberculosis,would be purposely given to one twin and not the other. When one died,the other was often killed to examine and compare the effects of thedisease.



SurgeriesVarious surgeries without anesthesia including organ removal, castration,and amputations.

One day, my twin brother, T ibi, was taken away for some specialexperiments. Dr. M engele had always been more interested in T ibi. I amnot sure why - perhaps because he was the older twin. M engele madeseveral operations on T ibi. One surgery on his spine left my brotherparalyzed. He could not walk anymore. T hen they took out his sexualorgans. A fter the fourth operation, I did not see T ibi anymore.I cannot tell you how I felt. It is impossible to put into words how I felt.T hey had taken away my father, my mother, my two older brothers - andnow, my twin.

DeathDr M iklos Nyiszli was M engele's prisoner pathologist. T he autopsies became thefinal experiment. Dr. Nyiszli performed autopsies on twins whom had died from theexperiments or whom had been purposely killed just for after-death measurementsand examination. Some of the twins had been stabbed with a needle that piercedtheir heart and then were injected with chloroform or phenol which caused nearimmediate blood coagulation and death. Some of the organs, eyes, blood samples,and tissues would be sent to Verschuer for further study.



E va Sees M engele Sew twins together

Eva later recalled howa set of Gypsy twinswere brought backfrom Mengele's labafter they were sewnback to back . Mengele hadattempted to create aSiamese twin byconnecting bloodvessels and organs .

T he twins screamedday and night untilgangrene set in, andafter three days, theydied



Sobibor

Sobibor extermination camp was built inM

arch, 1942, in a forest near the villageof Sobibór in eastern Poland, on the Bug River. Initially, the camp was assigned toSS-Obersturmfuhrer, Richard T homella.In A pril he was replaced by Obersturmfuhrer Franz Stangl. With the assistanceof Christian Wirth, Stangl expanded the camp and its killing capacity. In A ugust,Stangl was transferred to T reblinka and was replaced by SS-HauptsturmfuhrerFranz Reichleitner. T

T he camp operated from M ay 1942 until October 1943. Its five gas chamberskilled an approximate total of two hundred and fifty thousand Jews. M ost camefrom Poland and from the occupied areas of the Soviet Union, Slovakia andWestern E urope (Bohemia, M oravia, Holland and France.

On 14 October 1943 about three hundred Jewish inmates assigned to the Sondercommando - special work assignment group at the camp rose in revoltkilling several SS supervisors and Ukrainian guards.Several inmates were killed during the rebellion or during the escape attempt. T henumber of inmates who managed to escape is not certain but all who stayedbehind were shot the next day.Following the revolt, the installations for mass extermination were destroyed andthe area planted with trees.Only about fifty prisoners of Sobibor survived to tell their story to the world.



A group portrait of the participants of the successful uprising in the Sobibor deathcamp.First row (from left): second: Yosef E rtman; third: Zelda (from Holland);sixth: Chaim Povroznik. Second row (from left): first: M eyer Zis; sixth: LeibFelhendler.

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