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An American Response: Should Auschwitz-Birkenau Have Been Bombed? A Case Study of the Role of Military in a Humanitarian Crisis. Authors: Jenny Buchanan, Kirsten Forkin, and Sandy Renken Schools: Lee’s Summit North High School, Lee’s Summit, MO; Vantage Point High School, Northglenn, CO; Freeman Public Schools, Adams, NE Grades: High School/Honors Middle School Subject: English/Social Studies Rationale for Lesson: The contentious debate around whether Auschwitz should have been bombed in 19441945 brings to light the difficulty of decisions in war- especially when the suffering and brutal murder of innocent civilians seems distinct from the war itself. With this lesson, students thoughtfully and analytically discuss the various parties involved, the primary source information available at the time, and survivor testimony. Students engage in examining and debating the same questions historians grapple with- "Should Auschwitz have been bombed?" and "What was America's responsibility in this decision?" This lesson also allows students to address the current issues of genocide today. Student Learning Goals: Students will synthesize information after analyzing various primary source documents. Students will gather more historical knowledge of the Holocaust by placing events in the context of World War II. Students will discuss what they believe the role of military should be in a humanitarian crisis. Students will evaluate the complexities of decisions made during war. The Lesson: Pre-Lesson Preparing for the lesson. Prior to the lesson, students must have experience in how to analyze a primary source document and it would be helpful for them to have previously participated in a jigsaw activity. Prepare a copy of the homework assignment "Background Information" for each student. (Handout #1) This should be handed out before the lesson is taught. Prepare a copy of each primary source document for each student group (Handout #'s 2-8). You may want to enlarge the photos in handout #4 to be 8 x 10" photos with one on each page. Please note there is a handout #5 and an alternate #5. Choose which reading you would like to use with your students and only copy that reading. Organize your students into two different types of groups. We have found that a grid written on the chalkboard works well for this. Across the top of the grid, list the four primary source documents (aerial photographs; Elie Wiesel's Night or Levi Primo's, 1 Survival At Auschwitz, depending on which source you use; World Jewish Congress letter, and the McCloy letter) Down the side, list the group numbers 1-5 depending on how many groups you will use. Now fill in the chart with student names. Prepare a copy of the graphic organizer "Should the United States Have Bombed Auschwitz-Birkenau?" for each student (Handout #2). You might consider copying the “Timeline of World War II and the Holocaust” (Handout #3) to the back, as an additional resource. Prepare a copy of the writing assignment and the rubric for grading for each student. (Handout #9-10) Prepare a copy of "Questions to think about while reading the arguments" to be handed out at the conclusion of the lesson. (Handout #11) The Lesson list step-by-step Write Student Learning Goals where students can see their expectations during this lesson. Prior to class, students should read "Background Information" (Handout #1) You may assign the Check for Understanding prompts as a written homework assignment or you may tell the students you expect them to be able to answer the questions orally when they return to class. At the start of class, as an introduction to the lesson, review the Check for Understanding Prompts from the homework assignment. If you have additional time and technical capability you may also choose to show the students the Animated Map of Auschwitz from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum web site. http://www.ushmm.org/lcmedia/viewer/wlc/animatedmap.php?Refld=AUSCHW Engage students in a very brief discussion, posing the question, what is a military’s role during war? Hand out the primary source documents packet (Handout #’s 2-8) Show the students the chart on the chalkboard and explain that everyone under the heading aerial photographs will be in a group with all of them analyzing the photographs, everyone under the heading World Jewish Congress letter, will be analyzing the World Jewish Congress letter. The same holds true for the other two groups. Hand out the graphic organizer "Should the United States Have Bombed AuschwitzBirkenau?" (Handout #2) Explain the following directions: In each group one student will be assigned the role of "reader" The reader will read the text and the questions that accompany it. Each group will also chose a "summarizer" After all students have given their comments, the summarizer will summarize the information and as a group they will decide what to put on their graphic organizer. Each student's organizer should contain the same information. Caution all groups to put information on their graphic organizer that will actually help the rest of the class make a decision about whether Auschwitz-Birkenau should be bombed. This is very important or the rest of the lesson will not work. Now have students move to their groups and begin working. Tell them they will have approximately ten minutes to complete this task. Once all groups have completed their reading and analysis of the primary document, explain to the students that they will be moving to new groups where they will be the "expert" on their document. Students should look at the chart on the chalkboard and read across the chart where you have labeled groups 1-4. These are the students in 2 their new group. Each group should have four students and each student should have a different primary source document. In these groups, students should a. Show and explain their document to the other group members b. Teach their classmates what the main idea and function of the document was. What did it reveal about what was occurring in Poland in 1944? Who's talking? What did they know or want? c. All students should take notes in the corresponding areas of the graphic organizer, about each document's intent, information, and function. Again, caution students to place information on the graphic organizer that will help them analyze if they think Auschwitz should be bombed. d. If their group finishes early, they should begin discussing the pros and cons of bombing Auschwitz. Inform students they will have approximately 20 minutes to complete this task and they may move into their groups. Once all groups are finished, bring the entire class back for a closing discussion. We found it helpful to point at a particular group and then a member from that group was responsible for answering question number one. For question number two, you would point at a different group. You may wish to use the following questions to guide your closing discussion: a. According to the reconnaissance photos, not labeled or enlarged until 30 years later, what solid evidence did the Allies have about what was occurring at Auschwitz-Birkenau? b. What would bombing the rail lines accomplish? c. The War Department says bombing Auschwitz-Birkenau can only be accomplished with use of the “diversion of considerable air support” and they are not sure how efficient the mission would be. How do you respond? d. What were the possible consequences of bombing the camps? e. What were the military objectives for the war? f. What action was the World Jewish Congress requesting of the America military and what reasons do you think fueled this request? g. How could a bombing by the Allies fuel a German propaganda campaign? h. Could bombing Auschwitz-Birkenau be considered a humanitarian aid effort? Post-Lesson (list step-by-step) At the conclusion of the lesson, give each student a copy of the handout "Questions to think about while reading the arguments” (Handout #11), along with the RAFT writing assignment and accompanying rubric (Handouts #9-10). Explain to the students that they will be using what they have learned to write a response to the question "Should the U.S. Have Bombed Auschwitz-Birkenau?” In order to complete the RAFT writing assignment, they will need to choose a role, an audience, the format they will use for the writing assignment, and the topic or their opinion on the role the Allies should take in this situation. Encourage students to refer back to their homework reading, their graphic organizers and primary source documents, the class and group discussions as well as the handout "Questions to think about while reading the arguments". Also, instruct students as to if the assignment should be typed, what are the length requirements, and when will it be due. It is imperative that students realize by the time the lesson is completed and before they begin their homework assignment that it was the I.G. Farben or Buna plant that was bombed by the Allies, not Auschwitz-Birkenau. Yet it is known that bombs did fall on Auschwitz unintentionally. 3 Handout #1 Background information An American Response: Should Auschwitz-Birkenau Have Been Bombed? The Situation During the spring and summer of 1944, the Germans and their Hungarian collaborators deported nearly 440,000 Jews-on more than 140 trains- from Hungary to the killing center AuschwitzBirkenau in occupied Poland. From May-July 1944, the gas chambers of Birkenau worked beyond capacity; at least 10,000 people a day perished. In less than three months (May-July, 1944) the largest remaining Jewish community in Europe had been completely decimated. The United States government knew about the killing center at Auschwitz-Birkenau and the scope and scale of the Nazi assault on European Jewry. American-Jewish organizations and the newly formed U.S. War Refugee Board, which had been created to organize and coordinate rescue efforts, repeatedly asked the U.S. War Department to bomb Auschwitz. Check for understanding: From spring to summer of 1944, while the Allies (including Americans) were debating whether or not to bomb Auschwitz, what was taking place? The Complex • Auschwitz IAuschwitz I, the main camp, was the first camp established near Oswiecim, Poland. The first prisoners at Auschwitz included German prisoners who had been incarcerated as repeat criminal offenders, as well as Polish political prisoners. Like most other concentration camps, Auschwitz I had a gas chamber and crematorium. At Auschwitz I, SS physicians carried out medical experiments in the hospital. They conducted pseudoscientific research on infants, twins, and dwarfs, and performed forced sterilizations, castrations, and hypothermia experiments on adults. • Auschwitz IIOf the three camps established near Oswiecim, the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp had the largest total prisoner population. It was 4 km from Auschwitz I and was formed of 3 blocks covering an area 1,600m x 850m. It was divided into more than a dozen sections separated by electrified barbed-wire fences and, like Auschwitz I, was patrolled by SS guards. Auschwitz-Birkenau also contained the facilities for a killing center. It played a central role in the German plan to kill the Jews of Europe. The camp included sections for women, men, a family camp for Roma (Gypsies). In total, approximately 1.1 million Jews were deported to Auschwitz. • Auschwitz IIIAuschwitz III, also called Buna or Monowitz, was established to house prisoners assigned to work at the Buna synthetic rubber works, located on the outskirts of a nearby Polish town. In the spring of 1941, the German conglomerate I.G. Farben established a factory in which its executives intended to exploit concentration camp labor for their plans to manufacture synthetic rubber and fuels. The SS had transported prisoners from Auschwitz I to the “Buna Detachment,” at first on foot and later by rail. With the construction of Auschwitz III in the autumn of 1942, prisoners deployed at Buna lived in Auschwitz III. Because of its importance to the German war effort, Auschwitz III was bombed multiple times by the Allies in late 1944. Auschwitz-Birkenau was not a target. Check for understanding: In 25 words or less, describe the primary differences between Auschwitz I, II, and III. 4 The Railways The European rail network played a crucial role in the implementation of the “Final Solution.” Jews from Germany and German-occupied Europe were deported by rail to the extermination camps in occupied Poland, where they were killed. A railroad spur had been built directly into the Birkenau camp and more than half of the Jews were gassed immediately upon their arrival. This spur was connected to cities and towns across Europe, allowing the Nazis and their collaborators to efficiently transport prisoners and those selected for death upon arrival. Bombing Accuracy In the book, The Bombing of Auschwitz: Should the Allies Have Attempted It?, the following statistics are reported- “The U.S Stragetic Bombing Survey (USSBS), an extensive investigation of American World War II bombing, revealed” the difficulty of precise and accurate bombing. “During 57 American raids against three German synthetic-oil plans, only 12.9 percent of the bombs dropped, fell within the plant perimeter (no less than 87.1% fell over the surrounding countryside). Of these, only 2.2% actually hit damageable buildings and equipment.” (Berenbaum and Neufeld 43). Check for understanding: How important were the railways to the systematic murder occurring in Auschwitz- Birkenau? Information Available to the Allies What did the Allies know and when? In order to analyze the Allies decision not to bomb Auschwitz, one must first look at what information was available to the Allies and when did they have this information. This may seem like a simple question, but as you begin researching, you find many different answers to the questions “What did the Allies know and when did they know it?” Some sources will argue that the Allies had information about the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews as early as 1942. Most sources will argue that it was not until early 1944 that the level of knowledge about Auschwitz and its role as an extermination camp was growing among the Allies. So how did the Allies acquire this information? Between April 7th and April 10th, 1944, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz and made contact with the Slovak resistance forces. Vrba and Wetzler were able to give great detail about the killing process at Auschwitz and created a report that included sketches of how Auschwitz and Birkenau were organized. This report was forwarded to Western intelligence officials, along with requests to bomb the camps. Part of the Vrba-Wetzler report was forwarded to the American War Refugee Board by Roswell McClelland, the board’s representative in Switzerland, and it arrived in Washington on July 8th and July 16th, 1944. The complete report did not arrive until November 1944. Another source of information, regarding Auschwitz, was aerial reconnaissance photographs that were taken by the Allies. Allied reconnaissance units under the command of the 15th U.S. Army Air Force flew several missions between April 4, 1944 and January 14, 1945. The photos were used to plan bombing raids, determine the accuracy of bombing sorties, or make damage assessments. Check for understanding: What information about Auschwitz was available to the Allies by 1944? 5 Handout #2 Name______________ Should the United States Have Bombed Auschwitz-Birkenau? Groups with the Same Reading: Steps1. Read/Analyze your documents. Discuss questions to consider. 2. Before writing below, decide as a group the important information in order to summarize the documents’ key points. 3. Write the details in the corresponding box. 4. Be prepared to share this information with the members of the other groups. You’ll be teaching them about your document’s information. Combined Group Discussion: Steps1. Begin with Group #1. Be sure to show your documents to the other group members. 2. Listen to their summarization and write the key information in the corresponding boxes. 3. If you finish before our class discussion, as a group, start considering your opinion regarding whether or not the U.S. should have bombed Auschwitz-Birkenau. #1: Photographs #2: excerpt from Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi or excerpt from Night by Elie Wiesel #3: World Jewish Congress Letter #4: McCloy Letter NOTE: The McCloy letter was a response to the World Jewish Congress Letter. 6 Handout # 3 Optional resource Timeline of World War II and the Holocaust July 29, 1921 Jan. 30, 1933 Sept. 1, 1939 Sept. 3, 1939 Sept. 17, 1939 Nov. 30, 1939 Jan. 25, 1940 Feb. 12, 1940 May 1, 1940 June 14, 1940 July 10, 1940 Nov. 15, 1940 March 1, 1941 March 7, 1941 April 17, 1941 June 22, 1941 Sept. 3, 1941 Oct. 23, 1941 Dec. 8, 1941 Jan. 20, 1942 March 1942 June 30, 1942 July 17, 1942 Aug. 1942 Nov. 8, 1942 Dec. 10, 1942 March 22 & 31, 1941 April 4, 1943 May 16, 1943 May 1943 June 11, 1943 July 9, 1943 March 19, 1944 April 7, 1944 May 15, 1944 June 6, 1944 Aug. 20, 1944 Aug. 25, 1944 Oct. 2, 1944 Oct. 14, 1944 Oct. 30, 1944 Nov. 25, 1944 Dec. 27, 1944 Jan. 18, 1945 Jan. 27, 1945 Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist "Nazi Party Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany Nazis invade Poland Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany Soviets invade Poland Soviets attack Finland Town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) chosen for concentration camp First deportation of German Jews in occupied Poland Rudolf Hoss chosen as Kommandant of Auschwitz Hitler enters Paris Battle of Britain begins Warsaw ghetto is sealed off Himmler makes first visit to Auschwitz & orders building of Birkenau British forces arrive in Greece Yugoslavia surrenders to Nazis Germany attacks the Soviet Union First test use of Zyklon B at Auschwitz Nazis forbid emigration of Jews from the Reich U.S. enters World War II Wansee Conference to coordinate the "Final Solution" deportation of Slovak and French Jews to Auschwitz A second gas chamber, Bunker II, is made operational at Birkenau Himmler visits Auschwitz and Kommandant Hess is promoted Deportation of Coatian Jews to Auschwitz U.S. invasion of North Africa First transport of Jews from Germany arrives in Auschwitz Crematoria IV and II open at Auschwitz Crematoria V opens at Auschwitz Jewish resistance in Warsaw ghetto ends Dr. Joseph Mengele arrives at Auschwitz Himmler orders liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in Poland Allies land in Sicily Allies occupy Hungary Vrba & Wetzler escape Auschwitz Begin deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz D-Day landings Allied bombers attacked Auschwitz III (rubber factory) Allies liberate Paris Warsaw Uprising ends Allies liberate Athens Last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz Himmler orders destruction of crematories at Auschwitz Soviet troops besiege Budapest Nazis evacuate 66,000 from Auschwitz Soviets liberate Auschwitz 7 Group #1 Handout #4 Aerial Photographs of Auschwitz All photos courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum These photos are from a series of aerial photographs taken by Allied reconnaissance units under the command of the 15th U.S. Army Air Force during missions dating between April 4, 1944 and January 14, 1945. The photos were used to plan bombing raids, determine the accuracy of bombing sorties, or make damage assessments. When analyzing these photos, it is important to remember that photos were analyzed for a specific purpose. The purpose was not to look at the camp, but to find enemy build-ups or military movements. They only concentrated on the Buna. On average, the daily intake of Allied photos was 25,000 negatives and 60,000 prints. In the end, over 5 million prints were in storage and more than 40,000 reports were made from these prints. Most photo analysts received very limited training in analyzing pictures and that training focused on identifying military equipment such as airplanes, tanks, and artillery. After the war, the Auschwitz reconnaissance photographs were stored in the archives of the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. until they were rediscovered in 1978 by two CIA photo analysts, Dino Brugioni and Robert Poirer. The photos were later declassified and transferred to the National Archives. A selection of the images were enlarged and annotated with identifying labels by the CIA in 1978. 8 Directions: Before filling out your graphic organizer, discuss/answer the questions below to guide your analysis of the photos. Your last step is to synthesize the information you find and fill out the graphic organizer. Photo #1 This is a photo of the I.G. Farben Complex that was taken on January 14, 1945. When was this photo taken? According to the CIA labels that were added in 1978, what objects or buildings are shown in this photograph? According to the photos, where did the bombs land? Based on your analysis, would it have been possible for the Allies to accurately bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau? 9 Photo # 2 This is an aerial reconnaissance photo showing Auschwitz-Birkenau. When was this photo taken? Is there any information from the background reading that can help you analyze these photos? What items in this photo would you expect to see at a death camp and would those analyzing photos in 1944 recognize these structures? Using both photographs, would you know this was a death camp if it were not labeled as such? Why or why not. 10 Group #2 Handout #5 Questions to consider while reading the excerpt: 1. What is being bombed? 2. What feelings did the author have during the bombing? 3. What feelings did others have during the bombing? 4. How did the bombing effect work and the lives of the inmates? Excerpt from Night by Elie Wiesel (p. 60-61) That was when we began to hear the planes. Almost at the same moment, the barrack began to shake. “They’re bombing the Buna factory,” someone shouted. I anxiously thought of my father, who was at work. But I was glad nevertheless. To watch that factory go up in flames—what revenge! While we had heard some talk of German military defeats on the various fronts, we were not sure if they were credible. But today, this was real! We were not afraid. And yet, if a bomb had fallen on the blocks, it would have claimed hundreds of inmates’ lives. But we no longer feared death, in any event no this particular death. Every bomb that hit filled us with joy, gave us renewed confidence. The raid lasted more than one hour. If only it could have gone on for ten times ten hours…Then, once more, there was silence. The last sound of the American plane dissipated in the wind and there we were, in our cemetery. On the horizon we way a long trail of black smoke. The sirens began to wail again. The end of the alert. Everyone came out of the blocks. We breathed in air filled with fire and smoke, and our eyes shone with hope. A bomb had landed in the middle of the camp, near the Appelplatz, the assembly point, but had not exploded. We had to dispose of it outside the camp. The head of the camp, the Lagerälteste, accompanied by his aide and by the chief Kapo, were on an inspection tour of the camp. The raid had left traces of great fear on his face. In the very center of the camp lay the body of the man with soup stains on his face, the only victim. The cauldrons were carried back to the kitchen. The SS were back at their posts in the watchtowers, behind their machine guns. Intermission was over. An hour later, we saw the Kommandos returning, in step as always. Happily, I caught sight of my father. “Several buildings were flattened,” he said, “but the depot was not touched…” In the afternoon, we cheerfully went to clear the ruins. 11 Group #2 Alternate Handout #5 Questions to consider while reading the excerpt: 1. What is being bombed? 2. What feelings did the author have during the bombing? 3. What feelings did others have during the bombing? 4. How did the bombing effect work and the lives of the inmates? Excerpt from Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi Page 117-119 But in August ’44 the bombardments of Upper Silesia began, and they continued with irregular pauses and renewals throughout the summer and the autumn until the definite crisis. The monstrously unanimous labour of gestation of the Buna stopped brusquely, and at once degenerated into a disconnected, frantic and paroxysmal confusion. The day on which the production of synthetic rubber should have begun, which seemed imminent in August, was gradually postponed until the Germans no longer spoke about it. Constructive work stopped; the power of the countless multitudes of slaves was directed elsewhere, and day by day showed itself more riotous and passively hostile. At every raid there was new damage to be repaired; the delicate machinery assembled with care just before had to be dismantled again and evacuated; air-raid shelters and walls had to be hurriedly erected to show themselves at the next test as ironically ineffective as sand castles. We had thought that anything would be preferable to the monotony of the identical and inexorably long days, to the systematic and ordered squalor of the Buna at work; but we were forced to change our minds when the Buna began to fall in pieces around us, as if struck by a curse in which we ourselves felt involved. We had to sweat amidst the dust and smoking ruins, and tremble like beasts, flattened against the earth by the anger of aeroplanes; broken by exhaustion and parched with thirst, we returned in the long, windy evenings of the Polish summer to find the camp upside down, no water to drink or wash in, no soup for our empty bellies, no light by which to defend our piece of bread against someone else’s hunger, or find our shoes and clothes in the morning in the dark, shrieking hole of the Block. At Buna the German civilians raged with the fury of the secure man who wakes up from a long dream of domination and sees his own ruin and is unable to understand it. The Reichsdeutsche of the Lager as well, politicals included, felt the ties of blood and soil in the hour of danger. This new fact reduced the complications of hatreds and incomprehensions to their elementary terms and redivided the camp : the politicals, together with the green triangles and the SS, saw, or thought they saw, in all our faces the mockery of revenge and the vicious joy of the vendetta. They found themselves in unanimous agreement on this, and their ferocity redoubled. No German could now forget that we were on the other side: on the side of the terrible sowers who furrowed the German sky as masters, high above every defence, and twisted the living metal of their constructions, carrying slaughter every day into their very homes, into the hitherto unviolated homes of the German people. 12 As for us, we were too destroyed to be really afraid. The few who could still judge and feel rightly, drew new strength and hope from the bombardments; those whom hunger had not yet reduced to a definitive inertia often profited from the moments of general panic to undertake doubly rash expeditions (since, besides the direct risk of the raid, theft carried out in conditions of emergency was punished by hanging) to the factory kitchens or the stores. But the greater number bore the new danger and the new discomforts with unchanged undifference: it was not a conscious resignation, but the opaque torpor of beasts broken in by blows, whom the blows no longer hurt. Entry to the reinforced shelters was forbidden us. When the earth began to tremble, we dragged ourselves, stunned and limping, through the corrosive fumes of the smoke bombs to the vast waste areas, sordid and sterile, closed within the boundary of the Buna; there we lay inert, piled up on top of each other like dead men, but still aware of the momentary pleasure of our bodies resting. We looked with indifferent eyes a the smoke and flames breaking out around us: in moments of quiet, full or the distant menacing roar that every European knows, we picked from the ground the stunted chicory leaves and dandelions, trampled on a hundred times, and chewed them slowly in silence. When the alarm was over, we returned from all parts to our posts, a silent innumerable flock, accustomed to the anger of men and things; and continued that work or ours, as hated as ever, now even more obviously useless and senseless. 13 Handout #6 Groups # 3 and # 4 World Jewish Congress & McCloy Letter Brief background about these lettersThe World Jewish Congress: In 1936, the World Jewish Congress was established with help from the American Jewish Congress. During World War II, the WJC organized rescue attempts of European Jews and sought to influence world leaders to take more steps to rescue Jews. John J. McCloy: Assistant Secretary of War, April 1941-November 1945. A couple of his responsibilities in this position were to recommended policies within enemy-held territories and coordinate military and civilian agencies requests in these enemy-held territories. Oswiecim: The three camps of Auschwitz were established near this Polish city. War Refugee Board: In January 1944 Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board (within the Treasury Department) to facilitate the rescue of imperiled refugees. Reminder: One group is analyzing the World Jewish Congress letter, which was sent to McCloy. The other group is analyzing the McCloy letter, which was a response to the World Jewish Congress letter. As you are reading the letter assigned to you, consider: Who sent this letter? What is the message being send? When was it sent? To what location are they referring? Why are they writing and responding in this way? 14 Group #3 Handout #7 15 Group #4 Handout #8 16 Handout #9 “Should the U.S. Have Bombed Auschwitz-Birkenau?” Writing Assignment Due ___________________ From what you have learned about Auschwitz, the photographs, the McCloy/World Jewish Congress letters, and the memoir excerpt, answer the following questions in the writing you will compose. Use examples from the documents that were analyzed in your response. Why bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau? What was the purpose? What were the possible risks for the United States in carrying out the bombing? What were the benefits? Are the arguments to bomb/not to bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau primarily military or moral in nature? Defend your answer. Overall, using what was known in 1944, what would you think to be the correct decision- to bomb or not to bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau? Should a country or organization ever bomb a country or region for humanitarian reasons? In what situations and at what cost? Before writing, choose from each category in order to focus your writing. Follow instructions under each category. TopicRoleAudienceFormatMaintain the voice and Determine who you Choose one of the Explain and discuss your information of the want to write to. Keep following written overall opinion as to writer’s role throughout them in mind as you formats to explain and whether Auschwitz should your piece. write. discuss your opinion. have/have not been bombed. Historian who has President Roosevelt in Letter to persuade I believe the United stumbled upon the same order to help him choose someone to act or States/Allies should have primary source a course of action for the change their opinion bombed Auschwitz (or documents. Jews remaining/being should do it, depending on deported to Auschwitz. the time period in which you are focusing). Allied soldier who Class of high school Editorial/Op. Ed piece I believe the United becomes aware of the students interested in for a nationally States/Allies should not situation of the this same topic. syndicated newspaper. have bombed Auschwitz. Hungarian Jews of (or should not do it, 1944. depending on the time period in which you are focusing) American journalist sent A parent/family member Journal entries I believe that there are to cover the World War interested in what you’re discussing opinions as arguments for both II in Poland. learning in school. information presents bombing/not bombing itself. Auschwitz. I truly can’t decide. A student who has just The general American Essay learned about Auschwitz public & the Holocaust A writer commissioned Activists calling for the to write a piece about U.S. to claim the Holocaust. responsibility for their actions during WWII & The Holocaust. Advisor to the Pres. Your U.S. Congress Roosevelt, asked to person, asking for an report back with inquiry or action options. 17 Handout #10 Name_______________________________________________ “Should the U.S. Have Bombed Auschwitz-Birkenau?” Written Assignment Scoring Rubric Introduction Body: Language: Conventions: Conclusion: Advanced-4 Introduction was polished and had a catchy opening that captured attention. It masterfully established the main points to be discussed. The organizational structure of the content and the development of a thesis was exceptionally clear. There was abundant use of compelling examples and evidence and it was presented in a thoughtprovoking manner. Language is stylistic and sophisticated. Varied sentences have effectively been incorporated. There is skillful use of transition words and phrases. Demonstrated control of the conventions with no errors. Proficient-3 Proficiently prepared introduction. It related to the topic and preview the main points to be discussed. Progressing-2 Partial introduction, but it failed to adequately preview the main points. Beginning-1 No introduction or thesis. Couldn’t discern main points. The organizational structure of the content was effectively clear. There is a clear thesis and numerous and interesting examples of evidence and support were present. The organizational structure of the content was moderately clear, there was a thesis, but it is somewhat confusing. It contained some examples of support, but they were not complete. Relied on basic vocabulary and revealed a limited awareness on how to vary sentence patterns. No transitions were present. Demonstrated occasional errors which do not hinder comprehension. The organizational structure of the content is barely discernable. It lacks a clear thesis and is absent of examples and evidence of support. It may contain irrelevant details. Used unsuitable language such as slang and did not vary sentence patterns. The conclusion superbly summarized the main points. It was very clear what plan of action you are calling for and it ends with a catchy statement. The conclusion effectively summarized the main points and it was clear what action you are calling for. Used appropriate language and varied some sentence structure. Made effect use of transition words and phrases. Demonstrated control of the conventions with minimal errors. A conclusion was present, but it minimally summarized the main points. Demonstrated frequent errors that make comprehension difficult. (Run on sentences, lack of subject/verb agreement) It lacked a concluding statement. There was no summation of points. Comments: Total Points: __________ x 3= _________________ 18 Handout #11 Dr. Will Meineke, USHMM scholar. Questions to think about while reading the arguments: Why bomb Auschwitz? What were the possible risks for the United States in carrying out the bombing? What were the benefits? Are the arguments primarily military or moral in nature? Are the military arguments convincing one way or the other? ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE BOMBING OF AUSCHWITZ The War Department argued at the time that Auschwitz was not within the range of Allied bombers. Assistant Secretary of War, John J. McCloy insisted in 1944 that the bombing of Auschwitz “could be executed only by the diversion of considerable air forces now engaged in decisive operations elsewhere.” “Such an operation,” he continued, “would be of such doubtful efficacy that it would not warrant the use of our resources.” The Allied bombing strategy was directed toward destroying Nazi fuel supplies, their synthetic oil industries, the oil fields of Romania, and their communication and transport lines wherever possible. American forces were engaged at the time with the battle for Italy and the invasion of northern and southern France—operations that were by no means assured of success. German air defenses and the difficulty of hitting four relatively small buildings from the air meant high risk of American casualties when compared to results expected from bombing the killing center. While Auschwitz had no air defenses, the nearby I.G. Farben works at Monowitz had almost 80 heavy guns, which could have fired on planes attacking the camp. The gas chamber-crematoria buildings at Auschwitz-Birkenau were mostly underground with only a small structure visible from the air. Low level attacks by heavy bombers on other targets such as Ploesti in Romania, for example, lost 30 percent of the attacking bombers to German fire. Bombing the rail lines from Hungary to Auschwitz would be just as ineffective and costly as targeting the camp itself. In the spring of 1944, it took the Germans about 6 hours to repair a single track rail line hit by a 250 pound bomb and just 3.5 hours for a 100 pound bomb. The rail line and all possible alternative lines would have to have been bombed every day to keep them closed. Unless all routes were simultaneously hit every day, alternative routes, repair gangs and other “make-do” efforts would negate the effort to stop the deportations. Humanitarian concerns about the plight of European Jewry were not a priority during World War II. Allied leaders did not discuss the Nazi genocide at any of the wartime conferences (Cairo, Teheran, Yalta, or even Potsdam). American authorities repeatedly spoke of a “refugee crisis” and of the massacre of “innocent civilians” without mentioning “Jews.” 19 McCloy was concerned at the time that the bombing of Auschwitz “might provoke even more vindictive action by the Germans.” Germany could escalate the terror and involve the Allies in an upward spiral of atrocities--German perpetrated massacres to be matched by Allied retaliatory bomb attacks on German cities. Both sides would then target innocent civilians for death and destruction. This would expose the Allies to charges of violating the rules of war and of war atrocities. Bombing during World War II was not very accurate. Any attempt to bomb the gas chambers at Auschwitz would probably have killed large numbers of prisoners since barracks were only 300 feet away. The Germans could claim that the bombing, not their killing operation, was responsible for the large number of deaths at Auschwitz. Innocent Jews should not be the deliberate victims of American attacks. Those that condemn the United States now for inaction would probably have accused the U.S. of complicity in the Holocaust had American bombs killed hundreds if not thousands of Jews at Auschwitz. Although bombing might facilitate a mass escape, but there was no haven for escaping Jews. Poland remained in the midst of German-occupied Europe. Escaped Jews could expect little aid from the local population-- anti-Semitism was pervasive in Poland and ethnic Poles were concerned with their own survival—and no mercy from the Germans. The genocide against the Jews had equal priority with the war for Germany. Even if the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau were destroyed, the Germans could still kill Jews through shootings and other means. The Mobile Killing Units, special killing squads that roamed behind the German lines during the invasion of the Soviet Union, killed larger numbers in less time than the extermination camp process. After gassing operations stopped at Auschwitz in November 1944, the Germans killed hundreds of thousands of people. There was no political consensus in the United States to support the bombing of Auschwitz. The Roosevelt administration did not want the American public to perceive the war as a “war to save Jews.” Which might have undermined public support for the war effort. Also, antisemitism in the Allied camp might have been aroused which would have interfered with mobilization for victory. Finally, since most Americans opposed the entry of additional Jewish refugees into the United States a more active rescue policy was problematic for the Roosevelt administration. Other non-military strategies for rescue appeared to be working. President Roosevelt’s repeated warnings that those who were responsible for the deportations would be punished after the war— the Hungarian government understood that Germany would lose the war-- and the actions of the U.S. War Refugee Board and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest, contributed to the survival of more than 100,000 Jews in Hungary. The best way to engage in rescue was to defeat the Nazis as fast as possible. Any diversion of military assets delayed the ultimate victory of Allied forces and ultimately cost more lives. Only the total, unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany—a task that took 4 years and the mobilization of the combined resources of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States—could save lives in German-occupied Europe. 20 ARGUMENTS SUPPORTING THE BOMBING OF AUSCHWITZ It was militarily feasible to bomb Auschwitz at the time. The U.S. War Department’s negative decision was not based on an analysis of air force operations. The department never looked into the possibility of carrying out such an attack and never consulted with the American Air Force commanders based in Italy, who were in the best position to strike Auschwitz. Fearing that military forces would be diverted to rescue missions, the War Department decided unilaterally on a policy of noninvolvement from the outset. Auschwitz was in range of U.S. Air Force bombers as early as May 1944, at the start of the deportations from Hungary. In July 1944, 400 American bombers actually flew above the rail lines through Hungary and on August 20, 1944 Allied bombers attacked Buna-Monowitz, a synthetic-rubber works less than five miles from Auschwitz. The camp remained untouched. The destruction of the rail lines through Hungary and the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau would have halted the killing operation and saved many thousands of lives. Bombing Auschwitz could have enabled a mass escape of thousands of prisoners from the camp. The Germans would have had to divert considerable manpower to recapture them. This would have aided the Allied war effort directly. Prisoners in Auschwitz supported a bomb attack on the camp. Recalling the bombing of nearby Buna-Monowitz one Auschwitz survivor said, “We were not afraid. And yet, if a bomb had fallen on the [barracks], it alone would have claimed hundreds of victims on the spot. But we were no longer afraid of death; at any rate, not that death. Every bomb that exploded filled us with joy and gave us new confidence in life.” The U.S. Air Force had flown bomb attacks against other concentration camps. The risk of loss in prisoner lives did not prevent the bombing in those cases and therefore cannot be used as an argument against the bombing of Auschwitz. On August 25, 1944, for example, the U.S. Air Force bombed the V-2 guidance works in the Buchenwald concentration camp in central Germany. 129 B-17 bombers dropped 303 tons of bombs. 315 prisoners died in the raid, 525 were seriously wounded and 900 were lightly wounded. Also, most of those wounded or killed were prisoners working in the guidance works at the time of the attack. Since the Germans were going to kill the prisoners at Auschwitz in any case, the bombing should have been carried out, despite the probable loss of life among the prisoners, for symbolic reasons—to demonstrate America’s determination to stop the mass murder of innocent civilians. The morale of anti-German resistance groups would have been bolstered by a successful attack on Auschwitz-Birkenau. The overwhelming power of Allied air superiority, extending even into Eastern Europe, would be decisively demonstrated, encouraging belief in final German defeat and strengthening the resistance against the German occupation regime in Poland as well as in the rest of Europe. The U.S. Air Force diverted resources from their strategic bombing campaign to drop supplies to the Warsaw Polish uprising in September 1944. Despite the strong objections of the commanders in the affected theaters of war, more than 100 Flying Fortresses took part in the operation on 21 September 20, 1944. They dropped almost 1300 containers of arms and supplies to the insurgents. Nearly 1,000 of these canisters fell into German hands. The flight path of the bombers took them over Auschwitz on their way to Warsaw. The political will was there to aid the uprising of ethnic Poles, but not to rescue Jews. Anti-aircraft defenses in the Auschwitz area were relatively weak during the peak of the deportations from Hungary. In fact, most of the almost 80 heavy guns defending the BunaMonowitz complex were added in August 1944, after the conclusion of the deportations from Hungary. An attack before August 1944 would have meant planes could fly lower; bombing would have been more accurate and losses minimized. Auschwitz should have been bombed to avoid the postwar charge that the United States was indifferent to the plight of European Jewry. The decision not to bomb Auschwitz has since become the symbol of American indifference and complicity in the Holocaust. 22