Auschwitz
Death Camp/Gas Chamber
On January 30, 1933 a man by the name of Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, a nation with a Jewish population of around 560,000. This day marked a page in history books that will always be remembered and even to this day, feared. Hitler gave the German people someone to look up to at a time when they needed it most. He got them excited. Hitler had a following of people that called themselves “Nazis.” The Nazis believed that Germans were the “racially superior” and that the Jews were “inferior” During the summer of 1935, signs began to appear outside of stores, restaurants and villages all over the world forbidding Jewish entry. “No Jews” they boldly stated. Jews were forced to even label themselves by attaching the yellow Star of David to all exterior clothing with the word Juden (Jew). Jewish people become more and more segregated as time went on. They were not permitted to go to public schools and banned from living, or sometimes even walking in certain parts of Germany. The Jews though, were not the only targets marked for total destruction due to racial reasons. Killings of the mentally ill, handicapped and those suffering from illnesses were also among those being killed. This was known as the “T-4” killings. The vast majority of these victims died in gas chambers located in death camps.
Forever embedded in the memories of Holocaust survivors and their families are names like Auschwitz, Chelmo, Treblinka, Sobibor, Maidanek and Belzec. These were the names of the death camps, all located in Poland. Out of all of them, Auschwitz, which opened its gates in 1942, was by far the largest. Its location, at the meeting point of major railroad lines made it a favorable location. In the late Spring of 1944, over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz via 48 trains. This deportation was most likely the largest of the Holocaust. Around the clock Jews from twenty countries were shipped to their deaths. About 900,000 of 1.3 million deportees to Auschwitz met their fate shortly after arriving. The remaining individuals entered the camp as prisoners and were given identification numbers which were tattooed on their arms. Many of the survivors refused to have this number removed, even after the end of the Holocaust because they believed it to be a part of who they were. Ninety percent of the victims in Auschwitz were Jews.
After being packed into cattle cars for long periods of time, deprived of food, water or basic sanitation they would arrive only to hear the false promises from the Nazi officials. They were told that they were part of a resettlement project and that showers, clean clothing and hot soup were among the things awaiting them at their final
destination.
“We were given no food. We lived on snow; it took the place of bread. The days were like nights, and the nights left the dregs of their darkness in our souls. The train was traveling slowly, often stopping for several hours and then setting off again. It never ceased snowing. All through these days and nights we stayed crouching, one on top of the other, never speaking a word. We were no more than frozen bodies. Our eyes closed, we waited merely for the next stop, so that we could unload our dead.”
---Elie Wiesel
When stepping off the train, prisoners saw a welcome sign that read Badeanstalten, or bath houses, were in all actuality were gas chambers.
There were five gas chambers in total at Auschwitz, all opened in the Spring of 1943. Four of the gas chambers could hold 2,000 victims at a time. The process was a
cruel and inhumane one. Men were separated from the women. The prisoners were then stripped of their clothing and their valuables were confiscated. They were
ushered into the gas chamber rooms, which were disguised as shower rooms, even down to fake shower heads hanging on the walls. Maximum capacity in these rooms was reached by making the prisoners stand as close as possible to everyone with their arms stretched up towards the ceiling, therefore allowing a greater number of individuals to enter. Once the room was completely filled to maximum capacity the doors were then locked and sealed from the outside. A poisonous gas called Zyklon B was then administered into the room through holes in the ceiling, causing everyone inside to become asphyxiated. The gas was lethal, but it did not kill the prisoners quickly. Once the victims realized they had been tricked and were not in a shower room, panic would break out. Individuals would climb over one another trying to find pockets of breathable air. Often times they would claw at the doors until their fingers bled, or pushed with all their weight on the doors to force them open. This cause the Nazis to often times screw the door shut from the outside during gassing to secure it.
“The motor which supplied the gas was switched on by a Ukrainian named Emil and by a German driver called Erich Bauer from Berlin. After the gassing, the doors were opened and the corpses removed…”
---SS-Oberscharfuhrer Kurt Bolender
The bodies were then disgraced even further by the removal of teeth, gold fillings and hair. The hair was used for making mattresses and ship rope. It was at this point that the bodies were then burned in crematories, which were ovens and furnaces, or buried in mass graves. They were taken to these destinations by fellow Jews awaiting their own demise. It is no wonder that we call this period the Holocaust since the word comes from Greek origin meaning “sacrifice by fire”. As many as 12,000 Jews were killed at this camp every day.
The last use of the gas chambers at Auschwitz were in the Fall of 1944. The Russians were closing in and the Nazis were pulling back. It was now their time to be afraid. On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. That same day, Americans freed over 30,000 inmates from various concentration camps. It was a small victory for such a devastating situation. A combined total of over 4,900,000 documented human beings lost their lives during the Holocaust, that does not include the undocumented but never forgotten. In the years that followed, various members of the Nazi regime were arrested and brought to justice. Some of them were punished for their crimes while others, still following Adolf Hitler’s lead, chose to escape their punishment and take their own lives. Many of the survivors found shelter and a new start in displaced persons camps.
With the fall of the Nazi regime, it seems there should be great reason to celebrate. Then the entire situation comes into view and the number of people who lost their lives during this horrible period of history becomes a reality, making celebration the farthest thought from anyone’s mind. There are still a few radical groups that exist in todays society that in their own little ways are trying to see if they can make history repeat itself. There are many extremist groups that still believe in segregation, not only by race and color, but religion, gender and culture. Let’s hope that we are smart enough to learn from our past mistakes and never live to see the type of devastation and number of lives lost as were lost in the Holocaust.
“”Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.” ---George Santayana
Death Camp/Gas Chamber
On January 30, 1933 a man by the name of Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, a nation with a Jewish population of around 560,000. This day marked a page in history books that will always be remembered and even to this day, feared. Hitler gave the German people someone to look up to at a time when they needed it most. He got them excited. Hitler had a following of people that called themselves “Nazis.” The Nazis believed that Germans were the “racially superior” and that the Jews were “inferior” During the summer of 1935, signs began to appear outside of stores, restaurants and villages all over the world forbidding Jewish entry. “No Jews” they boldly stated. Jews were forced to even label themselves by attaching the yellow Star of David to all exterior clothing with the word Juden (Jew). Jewish people become more and more segregated as time went on. They were not permitted to go to public schools and banned from living, or sometimes even walking in certain parts of Germany. The Jews though, were not the only targets marked for total destruction due to racial reasons. Killings of the mentally ill, handicapped and those suffering from illnesses were also among those being killed. This was known as the “T-4” killings. The vast majority of these victims died in gas chambers located in death camps.
Forever embedded in the memories of Holocaust survivors and their families are names like Auschwitz, Chelmo, Treblinka, Sobibor, Maidanek and Belzec. These were the names of the death camps, all located in Poland. Out of all of them, Auschwitz, which opened its gates in 1942, was by far the largest. Its location, at the meeting point of major railroad lines made it a favorable location. In the late Spring of 1944, over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz via 48 trains. This deportation was most likely the largest of the Holocaust. Around the clock Jews from twenty countries were shipped to their deaths. About 900,000 of 1.3 million deportees to Auschwitz met their fate shortly after arriving. The remaining individuals entered the camp as prisoners and were given identification numbers which were tattooed on their arms. Many of the survivors refused to have this number removed, even after the end of the Holocaust because they believed it to be a part of who they were. Ninety percent of the victims in Auschwitz were Jews.
After being packed into cattle cars for long periods of time, deprived of food, water or basic sanitation they would arrive only to hear the false promises from the Nazi officials. They were told that they were part of a resettlement project and that showers, clean clothing and hot soup were among the things awaiting them at their final
destination.
“We were given no food. We lived on snow; it took the place of bread. The days were like nights, and the nights left the dregs of their darkness in our souls. The train was traveling slowly, often stopping for several hours and then setting off again. It never ceased snowing. All through these days and nights we stayed crouching, one on top of the other, never speaking a word. We were no more than frozen bodies. Our eyes closed, we waited merely for the next stop, so that we could unload our dead.”
---Elie Wiesel
When stepping off the train, prisoners saw a welcome sign that read Badeanstalten, or bath houses, were in all actuality were gas chambers.
There were five gas chambers in total at Auschwitz, all opened in the Spring of 1943. Four of the gas chambers could hold 2,000 victims at a time. The process was a
cruel and inhumane one. Men were separated from the women. The prisoners were then stripped of their clothing and their valuables were confiscated. They were
ushered into the gas chamber rooms, which were disguised as shower rooms, even down to fake shower heads hanging on the walls. Maximum capacity in these rooms was reached by making the prisoners stand as close as possible to everyone with their arms stretched up towards the ceiling, therefore allowing a greater number of individuals to enter. Once the room was completely filled to maximum capacity the doors were then locked and sealed from the outside. A poisonous gas called Zyklon B was then administered into the room through holes in the ceiling, causing everyone inside to become asphyxiated. The gas was lethal, but it did not kill the prisoners quickly. Once the victims realized they had been tricked and were not in a shower room, panic would break out. Individuals would climb over one another trying to find pockets of breathable air. Often times they would claw at the doors until their fingers bled, or pushed with all their weight on the doors to force them open. This cause the Nazis to often times screw the door shut from the outside during gassing to secure it.
“The motor which supplied the gas was switched on by a Ukrainian named Emil and by a German driver called Erich Bauer from Berlin. After the gassing, the doors were opened and the corpses removed…”
---SS-Oberscharfuhrer Kurt Bolender
The bodies were then disgraced even further by the removal of teeth, gold fillings and hair. The hair was used for making mattresses and ship rope. It was at this point that the bodies were then burned in crematories, which were ovens and furnaces, or buried in mass graves. They were taken to these destinations by fellow Jews awaiting their own demise. It is no wonder that we call this period the Holocaust since the word comes from Greek origin meaning “sacrifice by fire”. As many as 12,000 Jews were killed at this camp every day.
The last use of the gas chambers at Auschwitz were in the Fall of 1944. The Russians were closing in and the Nazis were pulling back. It was now their time to be afraid. On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. That same day, Americans freed over 30,000 inmates from various concentration camps. It was a small victory for such a devastating situation. A combined total of over 4,900,000 documented human beings lost their lives during the Holocaust, that does not include the undocumented but never forgotten. In the years that followed, various members of the Nazi regime were arrested and brought to justice. Some of them were punished for their crimes while others, still following Adolf Hitler’s lead, chose to escape their punishment and take their own lives. Many of the survivors found shelter and a new start in displaced persons camps.
With the fall of the Nazi regime, it seems there should be great reason to celebrate. Then the entire situation comes into view and the number of people who lost their lives during this horrible period of history becomes a reality, making celebration the farthest thought from anyone’s mind. There are still a few radical groups that exist in todays society that in their own little ways are trying to see if they can make history repeat itself. There are many extremist groups that still believe in segregation, not only by race and color, but religion, gender and culture. Let’s hope that we are smart enough to learn from our past mistakes and never live to see the type of devastation and number of lives lost as were lost in the Holocaust.
“”Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.” ---George Santayana