In 1939, Jews were subjected to a curfew. And also in this year the Gestapo took away all radios from the Jews. The Jews had been through a lot during 1933 and 1939, the treatments got worse and worse as the years progressed from 1939.
Word count= 450 words.
Why did the treatment of the Jews change from 1939-1945?
The treatment of the Jews changed drastically between these years. One reason was because of the amount of territory owned by Hitler and the Nazi Party. Other reason is because Germany was short of labour and they had to fire Jews from their work so that German people could have them. The treatment changed also because of the Wannsee Conference, which will be explained.
The treatment of the Jews changed in some cases because of the war. In March 1939, Germany invaded Poland. This caused a conflict between many surrounding countries. The treatment also changed because in September 1939, war broke out. In Poland there were just over three million Jews and Hitler wanted to gain control of all of them because he wanted to get rid of them because he wanted to create a master race in each of the countries.
In 1940 Polish Jews were made to live in walled off parts of towns and these were also known as ghettoes. These ghettoes became overcrowded because they were filled with thousands of Jews cramped into them. Because they were overcrowded disease spread very quickly and many began to die. Also in this year Germany had invaded Norway, Denmark, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg. This meant the take-over of more Jews contained in the invaded countries.
The treatment began to change drastically in 1941 because mass murder began in Eastern Europe as special killing squads moved around the lands killing any Jews they came across. This death count became over 10,000 Jews and Communists, Gypsies. In December of this same year the first death camp began gassing Jews and Gypsies at Chelmno in Poland.
In 1942 the treatment changed because the murder of the Jews began to spread throughout to the occupied land, which were Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.
In 1943 the above death camps were considered to have completed what they had set out to do and then had destroyed all traces of the crimes they had committed. They also built forests over the land of the ruins of the camps.
In 1944 Deportation of the Hungarian Jews took place and they were sent to be murdered in Auschwitz, they were killed by gassing because the Germans told them that they would be taken a shower and it was a shower of gas. Also in this year the death marches took place and Jews were made to walk for miles, which took roughly about seven days. If any of them fell behind or fell down then they would be shot. Also the other Jews in the death march would be killed if they turned round to see the murders.
In 1945, allies invaded Auschwitz but found no evidence of there being a camp there.
Word count: 456 words
In what ways did the Nazis try to eliminate all Jews in Europe in the years from 1941 onwards?
Between 1939 and 1941 the German army occupied most of Europe and as a result of this the Nazi government had control over a large number of Jews. At first, the Nazis forced the Jews in large towns and cities to live in ghettoes, which were fenced off from the rest of the population that were not Jews. Life in the ghettoes was terrible because they were crammed full, there was little food for everyone, little fresh water and very limited medical supplies. The Nazis had no compassion towards the Jews and they didn’t care if they starved to death. In the ghettoes thousands did die. They died from starvation and diseases all because the Nazis had crammed too many people into the small ghettoes. The diseases that killed so many are typhoid and tuberculosis. The walls of the ghettoes were lined with barbed wire and anyone caught trying to escape was shot.
Many Jews also died in the transportation from the ghettoes to the camps because they were so tightly packed in and also because they dehydrated from lack of water.
However, by 1941, the problem of what to do with the millions of Jews in ghettoes across Europe was getting out of hand. The Nazis could not simply continue to let the Jews in the ghettoes starve because this could cause uprisings, which would distract Germany from the business of winning the war.
The Nazis also saw the opportunity to eliminate the Jews from Europe altogether. Therefore, at the Wannsee Conference (January 1942) it was decided that all Jews under Nazi control should be eliminated ("The Final Solution"). They were to be transported by train to special death camps (such as Auschwitz, Belsen, Treblinka and Dachau) at which large gas chambers had been built. Indeed, the "efficiency" of several camps had been tested during 1941 in preparation for the "Final Solution". Often, Jews were taken straight from the trains directly to the gas chambers. At other times, those who were fit enough to do hard labour were given work to do until they grew too weak to be of any use; then they were gassed. The bodies of the victims were incinerated in large ovens also sited at the death camps. In the death camps Jews would arrive at the camp and they were ordered out of the railroad cars and told to march over to a German officer. An officer would decide which person went right and which went left of him. The weaker people were sent to the right and went straight to the gas chamber. The healthier ones were sent to the left to the barracks to become labourers. Sometimes the officer asked individuals what age they were and what kind of work they did. Giving the right an answer to the officer saved some lives for a while. They were told to get rid of their clothes, take a bath, and then were sent to have their hair cut off. They were then given camp uniforms. The men were separated from the women. Some children remained with the mother or the father. There was no rule about children. Medical experiments were taking place on many Jews. They would conduct research on twins, gypsies and anyone who was weak or nearly dying.
After being treated like this the Jews were then made to go on long death marches and during these marches thousands would die because they fell behind or because they turned around and watched an officer kill another prisoner.
Most of the Jews were eliminated by gas chambers, some died from being shot and many died from either disease or starvation.
Word count: 608
Final Word Count: 1,500