Evil on the Rise
Joan Williams
HIS 205
July 27, 2014
From what was a normal way of life to being humiliated at every turn, came the unimaginable death sentence. This all started shortly after Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933.
Adolf Hitler had a growing hatred for the Jewish people and blamed them for Germany losing World War I. In 1923 Hitler tried to overturn the government of Germany, which he failed to do. He was arrested for treason and was sentenced to five years in prison, where he wrote his book “Mein Kampf” which stated his plans to eliminate all Jews in the world. No one took his book seriously, many even laughed.
Hitler only served a small amount of time in prison and when he was released he continued to grow the Nazi Party. Hitler rose to power very quickly, becoming Prime Minister to Germany. With the death of President Hindenburg, Hitler became known as Furer who was in total control over every aspect of life throughout all territories occupied by Germany (Soumerai, & Schultz).
In 1933 Hitler set up the first concentration camp in Dachau that housed socialist, communist, and other political prisoners, it was also for Jews, Homosexuals, Priest, and ministers, etc… The camp was for anyone that Hitler felt was not a true German, which he said,” was the pure race”. In September 1939; Hitler used the inmates from the concentration camps for slave labor. In 1941 the Nazis had built six death camps for the purpose of killing the Jews (Richards. & Waibel).
In April of 1933, Hitler started taking steps to get rid of the Jews. First he started a national boycott against Jews and their businesses. He then passed several laws that would not let Jews to have certain jobs or rights to education. Then in 1935 the Nuremberg laws took away the Jews citizenships and forbid them to marry any non – Jew. The Nazi government than took every possible thing they could from the Jews. In November of 1938 that night the Nazis burned synagogues and totally destroyed businesses owned by Jews. The Jews were beaten and many killed. As many as 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps (Wordbook). Many were rounded up and put in the city ghettos, after suffering with unhealthily conditions here, the prisoners were then deported to the camps. Hitler had over 1500 camps of various types, of these 6 were killing camps.
The condition in the camps were much worse than those of the ghettos. The Jews were transported in freight cars without food, water, and had to be crammed in the cars, many died before they reached the camps.
Once they reached the camps they went through a selection process used to identify them. Families were separated, the old and disabled were sent to the showers, told that they need to get the feces, lice and other things cleaned up. They were told to pile their clothes neatly and to get in the showers, once inside the door was locked and T-4 gas was released killing everyone in about 20- 30 minutes. Their hair would be cut and any gold fillings would be removed. The Nazis took everything they could find (Wordbook).
The young able bodied men were set to labor camps to provide slave labor in the mines, factories, and mills. All prisoners were stripped of their belongings and were given wooden shoes and striped shirts with different colored triangles to identify where each was from. Each person was shaved bald so they could be easily identified if they tried to escape. Each prisoner was tattooed with a number.
The prisoners had to stand for roll a different times of the day, some times for several hours. The guards would walk counting to ten and would select who would die. They were forced to work long hours and were given very little food, sometimes they would get bread and soup made from potatoes peels, beets, and wood (Thorehill). They did not get enough calorie intake to sustain their bodies. Hitler enjoyed their suffering and wanted them to starve. Many died from starvation, others from disease, yet others were shot in mass killings. The prisoners would have to walk to the areas in which they worked no matter what the weather. They had no socks and many would get frostbite, if they became unable to work they were killed. The prisoners were put into barracks that held 250 -800 people. Two people slept in a bunk sharing one blanket (Soumerai, & Schulz). They kept their belongings with them at all times so they wouldn’t be stolen. In the infirmary experiments were made on the prisoners without the use of antisethia of any kind. Disease and rodents ran repent in the barracks, Starvation was a common occurrence. The prisoners lived in constant fear of being killed at random. Some of the young women were raped and then put to death. After prisoners were killed in the gas chambers they were put on an elevator and sent to the crematorium.