Why did the Holocaust happen?
Adolf Hitler, leader off the NAZI party had very strong anti-Jewish views. When Hitler came into power he made the lives of Jewish people, Gypsies, homosexuals, Disabled, and basically anyone else he didn't like very hard.
- http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitler.html
Why did the Holocaust Happen?
- http://www.sixmillioncrucifixions.com/Why_did_the_Holocaust_start.html
Jewish Life before the "Final Solution"
Yellow star of David worn by Jewish people.
When Hitler first came into power but before the Final solution was planned (the holocaust), Jewish people were treated terribly by the wider German community. Their rights to to public places was taken off them and all Jewish people had to wear a yellow star of david on their clothing so people knew they were Jewish. After Hitler had gained contol of Poland the NAZI's decided to create a law stating that all Jewish people to leave their homes and go live in the Ghettos. Many, Many people who were sent to live in the Ghettos did not survive due to Starvation, disease and poor sanitation.
Life in the Ghettos:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059
Life in the Ghettos:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059
The Concentration Camps
The first concentration, Dachau, was opened in March 1933.
Dachau concentration camp- http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005214
The concentration camps were forced labour camps that held thousands upon thousands of prisoners. The conditions inside the concentration camps were bad. Disease, starvation and death were common sites. The prisioners who were sent there were given little food that had no or little nutrition. The work was hard and usually pointless.
Normal daily life in a Nazi concentration camp- http://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/Camps/DayEng.html
Dachau concentration camp- http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005214
The concentration camps were forced labour camps that held thousands upon thousands of prisoners. The conditions inside the concentration camps were bad. Disease, starvation and death were common sites. The prisioners who were sent there were given little food that had no or little nutrition. The work was hard and usually pointless.
Normal daily life in a Nazi concentration camp- http://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/Camps/DayEng.html
The identification system of the concentration camps
The identification badge colours.
Prisoners in the camp were forced to wear different coloured badges so they could be identified easy.
Red: Political prisoners
Green: Criminals
Black: Anti-Socials
Pink: Homosexuals/sex offfenders
Blue: Emigrants
Purple: Jehovah's Witnesses
Jewish people wore a yellow triangle that faced upwards.
After a while the badge system was replaced with a tatto system where every prisoner was marked had a number printed onto there arm.
Red: Political prisoners
Green: Criminals
Black: Anti-Socials
Pink: Homosexuals/sex offfenders
Blue: Emigrants
Purple: Jehovah's Witnesses
Jewish people wore a yellow triangle that faced upwards.
After a while the badge system was replaced with a tatto system where every prisoner was marked had a number printed onto there arm.
The 'final solution'
The 'finial solution' was was another term for the mass extermination of the European Jewish race. Six camps, Sobibor, teblinka, Auschwitz birkenau, Majdanek and chelmno were built in Poland for the sole purpose of killing thousands of people. Over six million people were killed because of the final solution.
http://www.deathcamps.info/
http://www.deathcamps.info/
Who ran the Camps?
The commandants of the Death Camps:
Chistrian wirth- Commandant at Belzec Death Camp.
Franz Stangl- Commandant at Sobibor and Treblinka Death Camps.
Hans Bothamann- Commandant at Chelmno death Camp.
Rudolf Hoss- Commandant at Auschwitz Birkenau Death Camp.
Franz Reichleitner- Commandant at sobibor Death Camp.
Herbert Lange- Commandant at Chelmno Death Camp.
Karl Otto Koch, Max August Koegel, Hermann Florstedt, Martin Weiss and Arthur
Liebehenschel- All have been Commandants at Majdanek Death Camp.
Below are images of some of the Death Camp Commandants.
Commandants of the Concentration Camps
click on a camp name to find out more information
Mauthausen - Franz Ziereis
Belrgen Belsen- Adolf Hass, Josef Kramer
Buchenwald- Karl otto Koch
Dachau- There were many many commandants at Dachau
Dora Mittelbau-Otto Foerschmer and Richard Baer
Flossenburg-Jakob Weisborn, Karl Kunstler, Egon Zill and Maximillian Kogel
Janowska - Fritz Gebauer and Gustav Wilhaus
Kaiserwald- Georg Voldemare Sauer
Natzweilder struthof- Fritz Hartjenstein
Neuengamme- Max Pauly and Martin Weilb
Plaszow- Amon Goeth
Ravensbruck- Fritz Suhren
Sachsenhausen- had many many commandants
Stutthof- Max Pauly and Werner Hoppe
Belrgen Belsen- Adolf Hass, Josef Kramer
Buchenwald- Karl otto Koch
Dachau- There were many many commandants at Dachau
Dora Mittelbau-Otto Foerschmer and Richard Baer
Flossenburg-Jakob Weisborn, Karl Kunstler, Egon Zill and Maximillian Kogel
Janowska - Fritz Gebauer and Gustav Wilhaus
Kaiserwald- Georg Voldemare Sauer
Natzweilder struthof- Fritz Hartjenstein
Neuengamme- Max Pauly and Martin Weilb
Plaszow- Amon Goeth
Ravensbruck- Fritz Suhren
Sachsenhausen- had many many commandants
Stutthof- Max Pauly and Werner Hoppe
What Happened after the war?
Germany ended up losing the war and those camps that weren't liquidated by the Nazi's were eventually liberated by the Allies.
-more information: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005131
After the war a series of trials were held in Nuremburg, at these trials those Nazi members who had played a part in the holocaust were tried. Many of the major Nazi leaders such as camp commandants etc were sentenced to death by hanging or life imprisonment.
- more information: http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/warcrimetrials/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nuremberg_article_01.shtml
http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/gallery/n1945.htm
In some cases the people who had carried out the holocaust were bought to justice because of the nuremburg trials, others who were accused managed to escape overseas.
-more information: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005131
After the war a series of trials were held in Nuremburg, at these trials those Nazi members who had played a part in the holocaust were tried. Many of the major Nazi leaders such as camp commandants etc were sentenced to death by hanging or life imprisonment.
- more information: http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/warcrimetrials/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nuremberg_article_01.shtml
http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/gallery/n1945.htm
In some cases the people who had carried out the holocaust were bought to justice because of the nuremburg trials, others who were accused managed to escape overseas.