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The leaders, the ghettos, the camps German dictator. Joined the Nazi Party after WWI and rose to power. January 30, 1932 he was appointed Chancellor and shortly after he had taken total dictatorial control of Germany. Head of the SS and main advisor to Hitler. He is considered the architect of the “Final Solution.” He used the SS to carry out his plan in the concentration camps and the death camps. He oversaw the deaths of millions of Jews and undesirables. Director of the Reich’s Central Office of Jewish Emigration. He was tasked with all of the scheduling of the “Final Solution” of the Jews…every train, every deportation was scheduled through him to keep the machinery efficient. Nazi leader and deputy under Hitler. Participated in the Beer Hall Pusch. Staunch supporter of Hitler, he even edited Mein Kampf. He was a minister in Hitler’s cabinet. Propaganda Minister. He was responsible for “nazifying” every aspect of German life in order to brainwash the citizens of the Reich. He produced Nazi films, took over radio and created pogroms such as Kristallnacht, boycotts and book burnings to further the cause of the NSDAP. Founder of the Gestapo and the Luftwaffe. He commanded the SA. In 1932, the was made Reichstag president to represent the Fuhrer in other countries. However, when the Luftwaffe couldn’t defeat Britain, he was stripped of all titles and forced into retirement. Chief of the Nazi Security Service. He controlled many of the anti-Jewish policies. In 1941, he ordered the Einsatzkommando units to murder 1 millions Soviet Jews and officials. He was assassinated by Czech partisans in 1942. Then, the operation for extermination of Polish Jewry was named Aktion Reinhard after him. German doctor who was the chief physician at Auschwitz. He had total control over who would live and who would die. He would send prisoners to the right to LIVE and to the left to DIE. He also performed medical experiments on children, dwarves and others. SS Officer and commander of the Plaszow labor camp. The movie, Schindler’s List, was based on Oscar Schindler’s dealings with Goeth. At trial, he was accused of shooting between 30-90 Jews from his balcony along with sending thousands to their deaths at Auschwitz and Belzec. No citizenship. No ownership of land or business. No valuables. Must hand them over to the Reich. No freedom to come and go as you please. Give up cars, bicycles, using public transport and even walking on the sidewalk. Only allowed to buy from certain businesses during certain hours. Curfews enforced with arrest. Only Jewish schools and then NO schooling. Names changed to include Israel for men and Sara for women. Wear a Star of David on ALL clothing. No going to parks, cinemas, theaters. No communication with any non-Jews. No religeous services. Report to the Gestapo when your turn for resettlement comes. “We were deprived of our citizenship. We were deprived of our address. Then of our home, then of our family, then of our name, then of our life.” Anschluss – meaning union or annexation. Germany annexed Austria on March 13, 1938. While Germany and Austria viewed this as a cultural and social reunification, the West saw it as an invasion. Schutzstaffel or SS – originally bodyguards for Hitler, they eventually became the most ruthless of all the Nazis. They were run by Heinrich Himmler and were in charge of the camps. Each had to be proven Aryan and it was demanded that they marry only Aryan women. Himmler also forced them to have at least 4 children once married. Gestapo – the Secret State Police. This was a political police force. But, under Nazi rule, they became the terror of the German people. In 1936, it was absorbed into the SS under Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich. The section headed by Adolf Eichmann was in charge of sending the Jews to concentration camps. Gestapo officers headed the einsatzgruppen. Partisans – Groups of organized guerilla fighters who aimed to damage the German war effort by attacking military targets, often using the forest for cover. Einsatzgruppen / Einsatzkommando – “mobile killing units” of the SS. They would travel around the eastern front and in Soviet Russia with the soldiers and would shoot any Jews, partisans and officials they came across. They destroyed most of the Jewish population in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine. They are responsible for 2 of the largest mass murders between June 1941 and early 1942. In Vilna, the capitol of Lithuania, the einsatzgruppen killed more than 33,000 Jews in the Ponary forest just outside of the ghetto. In Babi Yar, a huge ravine on the outskirts of Kiev in the Ukraine, 33,771 Jews were rounded up, marched out to the small valley and shot on September 30, 1941. Resettlement – being forced to move East to either a ghetto or directly to a concentration camp. Volksdeutcher – German living outside of Germany. Often used as spies in conquered countries. Euthanasia Program – Established as so-called “mercy killings.” These were performed by Nazi doctors on the mentally handicapped, mentally ill, the infirm, the aged and habitual criminals as well as anyone else who was deemed “unfit” by Nazi standards. Four centers were established in Germany. Victims were either gassed, shot or killed by lethal injection. This was the Nazi way of purifying the Aryan race. Eugenics – The science that attempts to improve the traits that people inherit in order to weed out undesirable characteristics. It’s aim was to perfect future generations. Himmler was obsessed with these ideas. Children were taught “raceology” classes in school to help them determine who was a Jew. Judenrein – German term for “free of Jews” Untermensch – German for “sub-human” Mischling – “mixed blood” or “mongrel” Pogrom – An assault on a Jewish community Kindertransport – A program to allow children in Germany, Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia to be sent to Great Britain (at great cost to the parents) to await the end of the war. Ghetto – a small area of a larger city where Jews would be forced to move through “resettlement” programs. They were separated from the rest of the populace by walls or fences. Ghettos were extremely overcrowded and unsanitary. Many Jews died of starvation and disease as a result. Judenrat – Jewish council established in each ghetto by the Nazis. They were in charge of the Jewish Police and making sure that Nazi commands were met. They scheduled deportations, meted out the food rations and found work for those that were able. Jewish Police – Jews within the ghetto chosen to enforce Nazi laws and deportation lists. They were often seen as traitors to their own people. Some hoped to win favor with the Nazis by being cruel. Umschlagplatz – train station gathering point for deportation. Deportation – “resettlement in the East” but truly to the camps. Lodz, Poland – was the first ghetto and the model. It had a health dept., hospital and factories for those able to work. This worked well until refugees were sent from all over the eastern front and it became overcrowded. Warsaw, Poland – it was the largest of them all. 30% of the city’s population was Jewish and was crammed into 2.4% of its area. At it’s peak, it was home to more than 500,000 Jews. The Judenrat was led by Adam Czerniakow and he established housing block committees, soup kitchens (to dole out the rations) and orphanages for those who had lost their parents. There were schools, religious services and even cultural events to keep a sense of normalcy. However, the numbers of inhabitants began to rise. During this time, resistance organizations within the ghetto began forming and planning. In the summer of 1942, more than 30,000 Jews were rounded up by the Jewish Police, SS soldiers and German police for deportation. Czerniakow had heard the rumors by this time that the deportees were being taken to Treblinka (a death camp). He was then instructed by the Nazis that he should prepare to empty all of the orphanages within the ghetto by the next morning. He wrote in his diary: “The SS want me to kill children with my own hands.” In desperation, he killed himself. Between July and September 1942, 265,000 Jews had been deported to Treblinka. By this time, only 50,000 Jews remained in the ghetto. The resistance fighters formed the Jewish Fighting Organization or ZOB and along with the exiled Polish government’s own resistance fighters (Zegota), they formed a plan. On April 19th, 1943, the Nazi Colonel von Sammern ordered the soldiers to go into the ghetto and get the 8,000 Jews who had not shown up for deportation. Within 90 minutes, the Germans were sent running from the ghetto. Jews were hiding in the buildings, sewers, on the roofs and hurtling Molotov cocktails and shooting at the soldiers with guns smuggled into the walls. The Germans cut off the electricity, water and gas to the ghetto. The next time they came in, they encountered hidden mines. Finally, a decision was made to smoke them out and the ghetto was set on fire block by block. In all, the resistance was able to hold the Germans outside the ghetto for almost a month. All Jews who survived the Uprising were either shot or sent to death in Treblinka. • “What really matters is that the dream of my life has become true. Jewish self-defense in the Warsaw ghetto has become a fact. Jewish armed resistance and retaliation have become a reality. I have been witness to the magnificent heroic struggle of the Jewish fighters. Transit / Concentration camps – These camps were merely a stop along the way to a final destination. Ex. Westerbork and Theresienstadt Labor camps – These camps were for workers. Those of ablebody could find themselves working for the German war effort in factories, quarries, mines, etc. BMW, Volkswagen, Krupp and Siemens made use of the slave labor in their factories. Ex. Plaszow and Auschwitz-Buna Extermination camps – There were 6 of them and they had one purpose: To wipe all European Jews from the face of the Earth. They were: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor, Majdanek and Belzec. Appell – The roll call of the prisoners. Sometimes, it would take hours to complete and was done before the sun came up and after it went down in all kinds of weather. It was called in order for all to be counted and/or for prisoners to witness special punishments or deaths. Arbeit Macht Frei – German for “Work makes you free.” This was posted on the gates outside the camps to deceive prisoners about the camp’s function. Canada – The name given to the storage buildings by the prisoners who worked in them. They held clothing and other possessions of the arriving Jews. Crematorium – Ovens built in concentration camps to burn and dispose of the large number of murdered bodies. • Kapo/Capo – A prisoner within the camp who was elevated to a position to oversee work duties in that camp. Many are remembered negatively by survivors. • Lebensraum – German for “living space,” this was the excuse used by Hitler for taking over territories for the “superior” Aryan race. • Night and Fog – German term for political prisoners from Western Europe who disappeared without a trace. • Yiddish – the language spoken by many Jews in Eastern Europe; a combination of German, Hebrew and dialects of the countries in which the Jews were living. • Zyklon B Gas – A chemical developed as an insecticide, the pellets of which were shaken down an opening in the “showers” or gas chambers. The Nazis found this to be the quickest, cheapest and most reliable way to commit mass murder. • Final Solution – At the Wannsee Conference, Jan. 20, 1942, it was a term used to define the mechanical extermination of all European Jewry. The plan was set and put into action. • Classification • Humiliation • Ghettoization • Deportation • Dehumanization • Annihilation • The largest death camp, located in southwestern Poland in the town of Oswiecim. Established in 1940, it grew to incorporate the slave labor camp, Buna-Monowitz, the death camp Birkenau, and many other sub-camps. It was liberated in January 1945 by Soviet troops. • A Nazi concentration camp in Germany. It was initially a camp in which prisoners for potential exchange with other countries were incarcerated. As the war was ending, the Nazis marched thousands of prisoners from camps in the east to Bergen-Belsen. It was liberated by British troops in April, 1945. • Also knows as Auschwitz II, it was the primary Jewish camp of Auschwitz and the site of 4 gas chambers. • Nazi concentration camp in central Germany. It was built in 1937 for the internment of German political prisoners. Buchenwald was liberated by its own inmates in April 1945, just a few hours before the arrival of US troops. • The first concentration camp, it was opened by the Nazis in 1933 near Munich, Germany and was primarily used to incarcerate German political prisoners until late 1938, when large numbers of Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and other supposed “enemies of the state and anti-social elements” were sent as well. It was liberated by US troops in April 1945. • A Nazi concentration camp in northern Austria, it was established in April, 1938. Approximately 120,000 prisoners perished there, including some 38,000 Jews. It was liberated by US troops on May 5, 1945. • Nazi extermination camp in eastern Poland, it was built in March 1942. From May 1942, until October, 1943, approximately 250,000 Jews were murdered there. After a prisoner revolt on October 14, 1943, the Nazis dismantled the camp. • Nazi concentration camp in northwestern Czechslovakia, it was established in 1941 and was shown to the Red Cross inspectors as a “model camp.” Hitler called it “My gift to the Jews” but it was no gift. When the Red Cross came for inspection, all of the sick had been sent off to Auschwitz, building had been painted, the inmates fed and even fake restaurants built to fool the world. • Of the approximately 144,000 Jews sent to Theresienstadt, some 33,000- almost 1 in 4- died there, and about 88,000 were sent to Auschwitz and other death camps. By the end of the war, only 19,000 were alive. About 15,000 children were amond the prisoners, of whom it is estimated only 150 survived to see liberation. • Nazi extermination camp that opened in July, 1942, 50 miles northeast of Warsaw. At least 750,000 Jews were murdered there, more than 250,000 of them from the Warsaw Ghetto. On August 2, 1943, a planned prisoner revolt occurred. Although they killed several guards, most of the 200 or more escapees were either caught or killed. The Nazis dismantled the camp in October 1943.