The Final Solution

1. The Final Solution

2. When did the formal killing start? • Even though the Nazis took control in 1933 • Formal killing doesn’t begin until 1941 • Co-insides with the invasion on Russia • Then is practiced in Germany

3. Operation Barbarossa • Systematic killing of Jews • Use of the Einsatzgruppen • Special SS killing units • These men were not thugs but professionals • Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers, etc

4. Operation Barbarossa • Einsatzgruppen • Job was to search for opponents of the Reich • Included Communists and Jews • Once they found them they were to execute them • Four Units • A,B,C, and D • Largest group had 1,000 men • By 1943 • 1.25 million Jews killed • 100’s of thousands of others

5. Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing • Einsatzgruppen • Gathered men, women and children • Along the edges of • Ravines • Mines • Ditches • Pits • That the Jews had to dig

6. Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing • Einsatzgruppen • Before Killing the Jews • Had the Jews hand over their possessions • Had the Jews remove their clothing • Then they shoot the Jews and watch their bodies fall into the pits • Einsatzgruppen kept records • Counted bodies and took pictures • Personal diaries and letters of soldiers

7. Operation Barbarossa:Methods of Killing • Babi Yar • Just outside Kiev, Ukraine • Late September 1941 • Apprx. 34,000 Jewish men, women and children • Marched to a Jewish Cemetery • Forced to hand over valuables and take off clothes • 1 by 1 • Shot in the back of the head • Bodies piled up creating one massive grave

8. The Final Solution • Nazis decide to change methods • Begin receiving reports that soldiers in the field are beginning to suffer psychological effects • Questioning orders • Mess from shooting somebody • Cost of ammunition • The general public witnessing these events • They start to question

9. The Final Solution • Start to conceal the killings • Killing vans • Carbon monoxide • Jews thrown in the back of the van • Nazis would drive around until the Jews died • Not very effective • Couldn’t kill that many • Took a long time

10. The Final Solution • “Instead of the killer coming to the victims, the victims would come to the killing centers.” • Gassing reduced the direct contact between the killers and their victims • Made the murder’s task easier • Distanced themselves • Cattle Analogy (Interview with Prison Guard)

11. The Final Solution • Extermination Camps are constructed • Not on German soil • “While not all victims were Jews, all Jews were victims.” Elie Wiesel (former camp inmate) • Several killing centers, but 6 major ones do the most killing

13. The Final Solution • 6 Major Camps (all in Poland) • Chelmno • Belzec • Sobibor • Treblinka • Auschwitz-Birkenau • Majdanek

14. The Final Solution • Death Camps • All were located close to railways • Hidden away from the public • Tucked out in the country

15. The Final Solution:Process • Jews would arrive in cattle cars • Usually spent days in carts without food and water • When they got off the trains they were asked to get into 2 lines (Auschwitz) • Right Line = Death • Left Line = Work; stay alive

18. The Final Solution:Process • Doctors were at the train platforms • Generally Speaking • Women, old people and children were sent straight to their deaths • Men, if healthy and the right age, were temporarily spared • Forced to work in the camps

19. The Final Solution:Process • Once in lines • Nazis didn’t want anyone to panic • Always very calm • Some people knew their fate; most just quietly marched to their fate • Told that they were going to take showers • “After the shower, you’ll get a hot meal.” • Had hooks for their clothes • Signs that said showers

20. The Final Solution:Process • Shift from carbon monoxide to Zyklon B • Carbon Monoxide = 100 Jews 1-2 hours • Zyklon B = 100 Jews 10-15 minutes • Shift from Mass Graves to Crematorium • Why? • Mass Graves were: • Smelling really bad • Polluting the local water supply

21. The Final Solution:Process • Jews were forced to put the bodies into the ovens • Distancing themselves (Nazis)

23. The Final Solution:Life in the Camps • One of the basic Nazi aims was to demoralize, humiliate, ruin us, not only physically but also spiritually. They did everything in their power to push us into the bottomless depths of degradation. Their spies were constantly among us to keep them informed about every thought, every feeling, every reaction we had, and one never knew who was one of their agents.

24. The Final Solution:Life in the Camps • There was only one law in Auschwitz - the law of the jungle- the law of self-preservation. Women who in their former lives were decent self-respecting human beings now stole, lied, spied, beat the others and - if necessary - killed them, in order to save their miserable lives. Stealing became an art, a virtue, something to be proud of. We called it "organization."

25. The Final Solution:Life in the Camps • Those who were working near the crematories had an opportunity to "organize" an occasional can offood, a pair of shoes, a dress, a cooking pot, a comb, which they then sold on the black market operating in the latrine for food, for special favors, and - if the buyers were men - for "love."

26. The Final Solution:Life in the Camps • But among those who had no connections among the crematory workers there were many who "organized" the piece of bread of their neighbor, regardless of whether she might starve to death as a consequence, or "organized" their bedfellow's shoes, no matter if her bleeding feet would condemn her to be cremated.

27. The Final Solution:Life in the Camps • By stealing bread, shoes, water, you stole a life for yourself, even if it was at the expense of other lives. Only the strong, the cruel, the merciless survived. The SS were, of course, greatly amused by these practices and encouraged them by showing special favors to some, so as to awaken the jealousy, the hatred, the greed of the others.

28. The Final Solution:Life in the Camps • Other ways to survive • Visit the hospital • Where you stood in the soup line • Latrines at night