Holocaust
http://www.jewishgen.org/forgottencamps/general/timeeng.html
Concentration Camps
It is estimated that over 20,000 camps were established to imprison minorities and Jewish people
Different types of Concentration camps
Forced Labor Camps
These camps basically worked the Jews to death
If you got hurt while working and could do nothing you would be sent to an execution camp
If you had a minor injury the Nazi soldiers would continue to make you work until you died
Transit Camps
These camps were temporary work stations.
People would work for the short time they were at the camp. Then, when the execution were vacant, they would be moved to the execution camps.
Execution Camps
These camps were exclusively for the purpose of killing people
When Labor Camps were getting too full, the Nazi’s would transfer the sick or “worthless” prisoners to these execution camps.
Hitler Treatment of Jews 1940- 1942
1940
May 7- Lodz (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto was sealed. Approximately 165,000 people in 1.6 sq miles.
May 20- One of the most famous concentration camp of World War Two was set up at Auschwitz.
June 4- Neuengamme Concentration camp opens
Nov 16- Warsaw Ghetto sealed: 500,000 people
1941
January 21-26- hundreds of Jews are killed after riots
February 1-Polish Jews are gathered to transfer Warsaw ghetto: 10,000 died of starvation
July 31- Heydrich appointed by Goring to implement the “Final Solution.”
July- August- Thousands and thousands of Russian and Jews are murdered by the Einsatzgruppen (extermination squads).
5,200 Jews murdered in Byalistok
2,000 Jews murdered in Minsk
5,000 Jews murdered in Vilna
5,000 Jews murdered in Brest-Litovsk
5,000 Jews murdered in Tarnopol
3,500 Jews murdered in Zloczow
11,000 Jews murdered in Pinsk
14,000 Jews murdered in Kamenets Podolsk
12,287 Jews murdered in Kishinev
Fall- Belzec extermination camps open
October- Establishment of Auschwitz II (Birkenau) for the extermination of Jews; Gypsies, Poles, Russians, and other minorities
1942
January 20- Wannsee Conference in Berlin: outlines the plan to murder Europe’s Jews
March 17- Extermination begins in Belzec: 600,000 Jews murdered by the end of 1942
May- Many camps start using gas chambers in extermination camps
July 22- Germans establish Treblinka concentration camp. Armed resistance by Jews in ghettos
Winter- Deportation of all Jewish people in Germany, Greece, and Norway.
1937-1939
1937
July 15: Buchenwald concentration camp opens
1938
March 13: Anschluss (incorporation of Austria): all anti-semitic decrees immediately applied in Austria
April 26: Mandatory registration of all property held by Jews inside the Reich
May: Flossenburg concentration camp opens.
August 1: Adolf Eichmann establishes the Office of Jewish Emigration in Vienna to increase the pace of forced emigration.
August 3: Italy enacts sweeping anti-semitic laws
September 30: Munich Conference: Great Britain and France agree to German occupation of the Sudetenland, previously western Czechoslovakia.
October 5: Following request by Swiss authorities, Germans mark all Jewish passports with a large letter "J" to restrict Jews from immigrating to Switzerland.
October 28: 17,000 Polish Jews living in Germany expelled; Poles refused to admit them; 8,000 are stranded in the frontier village of Zbaszyn.
November 9-10: Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass): anti-Jewish pogrom in Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland; 200 synagogues destroyed; 7,500 Jewish shops looted; 30,000 male Jews sent to concentration camps (Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen).
November 12: Decree forcing all Jews to transfer retail businesses to Aryan hands
November 15: All Jewish pupils expelled from German schools
1939
January 30: Hitler gives the Reichstag speech saying that if war erupts it will mean the killing of all European Jews.
March 15: Germans occupy Czechoslovakia
September 1: Germany invades Poland
October 12: Germany begins deportation of Austrian and Czech Jews to Poland.
October 28: First Polish ghetto established in Piotrkow.
November 23: Jews in German-occupied Poland forced to wear an armband or yellow star.
hitler orders the systematic murder of mentally and physically disabled in Germany and Austria
1940
May 7: Lodz Ghetto (Litzmannstadt) sealed: 165,000 people in 1.6 square miles.
May 20: Concentration camp established at Auschwitz.
June 22: France surrenders.
August 8: Battle of Britain begins.
November 16: Warsaw Ghetto sealed: ultimately contained 500,000 people.
Kristallnacht
Night of Crystal or Night of Breaking Glass
November 9-10, 1938
took place throughout Germany, Austria, and Sudetenland.
Kristallnacht was named that because of the shards of glass that lined the streets.
Synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed
The SS troops instigated the attacks.
They destroyed 267 synagogues and shattered the windows of about 7,500 Jewish-owned commercial establishments.
They would burn down Jewish buildings in front of
Nuremberg Laws
enacted on September 15, 1935
anyone with 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents was automatically considered a Jew
did not allow the marriage of Aryan and Jewish people
Jewish households were not allowed to have German maids under the age of 45
Jewish business owners were forced to register their businesses and then turn them over to Aryan people
lost citizenship
Jewish Businesses
April 1, 1933- a week after Hitler became dictator of Germany, he ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores. The unsuccessful boycott was followed by many robberies
April 7- "The Law of the Restoration of the Civil Service" was introduced which made 'Aryanism' a necessary requirement in order to hold a civil service position. All Jews holding such positions were dismissed or forced into retirement.
April 22- Jews were prohibited from serving as patent lawyers and from serving as doctors in state-run insurance institutions.
April 25- a law against the overcrowding of German schools placed severe limits on the number of young Jews allowed to enroll in public schools.
June 2- a law prohibited Jewish dentists and dental technicians from working with state-run insurance institutions.
May 6- the Civil Service law was amended to close loopholes in order to keep out honorary university professors, lecturers and notaries.
September 28- all non-Aryans and their spouses were prohibited from government employment.
September 29- Jews were banned from all cultural and entertainment activities including literature, art, film and theater.
October 1933- Jews were prohibited from being journalists and all newspapers were placed under Nazi control.
The steps Hitler took to eliminate the Jews.
Adolf Hitler believed that Germans were the aryan race and were the only blood that should be passed on in Europe, and even the world.
Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933
he was very anti semitic
The first Official concentration camp was in Dachau (there was what they called “wild camps” before then such as Papenburg, Esterwegen, and more
these camps were not death camp they were labor camps
on April, 1 Hitler put a boycott on jewish ran shops and businesses
on April, 7 laws for reestablishment of the civil service stopped jews from having civil service, university, and state positions
May, 10 Hitler held public burning of books written by Jewish
July, 14 Hitler passed a law excluding East European Jewish immigrants of German citizenship
1935 Jewish could no longer be part of the German armed forces which I would not see why they would want to be anyways
1936
March 3, Jewish Doctors could no longer practice medicine
July, 12 Sachsenhausen concentration camp opens.
Hitler’s treatment of the Jews 1943-1945
1943
March: Liquidation of Krakow ghetto
April 19: Warsaw Ghetto revolt begins as Germans attempt to liquidate 70,000 inhabitants
June: Himmler orders the liquidation of all ghettos in Poland and the Soviet Union
Fall: Liquidation of large ghettos in Minsk, Vilna, and Riga
October 14: Armed revolt in Sobibor extermination camp
1944
May 15: Nazis begin deporting Hungarian Jews; by June 27, 380,000 sent to Auschwitz
July 24: Russians liberate Majdanek killing center
October 7: Revolt by inmates at Auschwitz; one crematorium blown up
November: Kast JEws deported from Terezin to Auschwitz
November 8: Beginning of death march of approximately 40,000 Jews from Budapest to Austria
1945
January 17: Evacuation of Auschwitz; beginning of death march
January 25: Beginning of death march for inmates of Stutthof
April 6-10: Death march of inmates of Buchenwald
April 8: Liberation of Buchenwald
April 15: Liberation of Bergen-Belsen
April 22: Liberation of Sachsenhausen
April 23: Liberation of Flossenburg
April 29: Liberation of Dachau
April 30: Hitler commits suicide, liberation of Ravensbruck
May 7: Liberation of Mauthausen
Separating people/Identification
Reason behind them
badges sewn onto prisoner uniforms
easy identification for SS officers
Jews
started in 1938
identified by a yellow star
star was similar to the Star of David
two triangles forming the star would both be yellow
unless prisoner was included in another category
if so both colors would be represented in star
Criminals
marked with green inverted triangles
Political Prisoners
red inverted triangles
“asocials” (Roma gypsies, nonconformists, vagrants, other groups)
black triangles
in some camps Roma’s had brown triangles
Homosexuals
identified with pink triangles
Jehovah’s Witnesses
identified by purple triangles
Non-German Prisoners
identified by the first letter of the German name for their country
sewn onto their badge
What other groups of people were killed?
Polish citizens/Polish Christians
became prisoners inside their own country
healthy citizens were forced into slave labor
young Polish men were drafted into German army
blond haired children were Germanized and trained as Nazi supporters
Jehovah’s Witnesses
targeted due to their strong beliefs
didn’t believe in Nazi Ideology
wouldn’t recognize any God except Jehovah
asked to sign documents of loyalty to Nazi ideology
refused
forced to wear purple armbands
thousands imprisoned as “dangerous” traitors
they refused to take pledge of loyalty to the Third Reich
many were persecuted
Roma Gypsies
chosen for total annihilation(destruction) due to their race
Germans believed they were racially inferior, degenerate, and worthless
moved into special areas set up by Nazis
half a million were wiped out during the Holocaust
Courageous Resisters
many were killed because they refused to go along with Hitler’s plans
killed for acts of courage against the Nazis
Priests and Pastors
died for their beliefs
Hitler wanted to create new religion (Nazi Ideology)
many were forced into concentration camps
few survived, some were executed, but most died of starvation/disease
Homosexuals
Hitler’s plan had no room for homosexuals
many were persecuted, tortured, and executed
were required to wear pink triangles on their clothes
could be easily recognized
further humiliated in the camps
between 5,000 and 15,000 homosexuals died in concentration camps
Disabled
Nazis decided they were a waste of time and money
thousands were deemed useless and put to death
Blacks
Hitler considered them an insult to the German nation
many children born of African-German descent were sterilized
children were taken from homes and schools
medically sterilized
Spouses of Jews
given the choice of divorce or concentration camps
those that chose to remain married were punished
imprisoned in camps
many were killed or died
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