The holocaust 1933 - 1945
A Nazi Concentration Camp
The Holocaust refers to the period of time between January 30, 1933 - May 8, 1945, when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany . Hitler murdered over 6,000,000 Jewish people,1.5 million being children. Doing which, he destroyed 5,000 Jewish communities, in the end he destroyed 2/3 of the European population.
To facilitate the "Final Solution", the Nazis established killing centers in Poland, the country with the largest Jewish population. The killing centers were designed for efficient mass murder. Chelmno, the first killing center, opened in December 1941. Jews and Roma were gassed in mobile gas vans there. In 1942, the Nazis opened the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinkakilling centers to systematically murder the Jews of the General government .
The Nazis constructed gas chambers (rooms that filled with poison gas to kill those inside) to increase killing efficiency and to make the process more impersonal for the perpetrators. At the Auschwitz camp complex, the Birkenau killing center had four gas chambers. During the height of deportations to the camp, up to 6,000 Jews were gassed there each day.
Jews in Nazi-occupied lands often were first deported to transit camps such as Westerbork in the Netherlands, or Drancy in France, en route to the killing centers in occupied Poland. The transit camps were usually the last stop before deportation to an extermination camp.
Millions of people were imprisoned and abused in the various types of Nazi camps. Under SS management, the Germans and their collaborators murdered more than three million Jews in the killing centers alone. Only a small fraction of those imprisoned in Nazi camps survived.
To facilitate the "Final Solution", the Nazis established killing centers in Poland, the country with the largest Jewish population. The killing centers were designed for efficient mass murder. Chelmno, the first killing center, opened in December 1941. Jews and Roma were gassed in mobile gas vans there. In 1942, the Nazis opened the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinkakilling centers to systematically murder the Jews of the General government .
The Nazis constructed gas chambers (rooms that filled with poison gas to kill those inside) to increase killing efficiency and to make the process more impersonal for the perpetrators. At the Auschwitz camp complex, the Birkenau killing center had four gas chambers. During the height of deportations to the camp, up to 6,000 Jews were gassed there each day.
Jews in Nazi-occupied lands often were first deported to transit camps such as Westerbork in the Netherlands, or Drancy in France, en route to the killing centers in occupied Poland. The transit camps were usually the last stop before deportation to an extermination camp.
Millions of people were imprisoned and abused in the various types of Nazi camps. Under SS management, the Germans and their collaborators murdered more than three million Jews in the killing centers alone. Only a small fraction of those imprisoned in Nazi camps survived.
Gas chambers and the "ss"
A Nazi Gas Chamber
The Nazis constructed gas chambers that were filled with poison gas to kill those inside. At the Auschwitz camp complex, the Birkenau killing center had four gas chambers. During the height of deportations to the camp, up to 6,000 Jews were gassed there each day.
Jews in Nazi-occupied lands often were first deported to transit camps such as Westerbork in the Netherlands, or Drancy in France, in route to the killing centers in Poland. The transit camps were usually the last stop before deportation to an extermination camp.
Millions of people were imprisoned and abused in the various types of Nazi camps. Under SS management, the Germans and their collaborators murdered more than six million Jews in the killing centers alone. Only a small fraction of those imprisoned in Nazi camps survived. SS stands for Schutzstaffel which means 'protective squadron'.
It was first formed in 1923 as a unit of the the Nazi paramilitary SA or Sturmabteilung - Stormtroopers and did not become fully independent till 1934. The original task of the SS was to act as bodyguards for senior Nazis, but in 1925 it became Hitler's personal bodyguard. From 1929 onwards it was headed by Himmler and expanded considerably.
In 1934 the SS assumed sole responsibility for running the concentration camps and it became a central element in the Nazi terror apparatus. It was the SS that organized the Holocaust.
Jews in Nazi-occupied lands often were first deported to transit camps such as Westerbork in the Netherlands, or Drancy in France, in route to the killing centers in Poland. The transit camps were usually the last stop before deportation to an extermination camp.
Millions of people were imprisoned and abused in the various types of Nazi camps. Under SS management, the Germans and their collaborators murdered more than six million Jews in the killing centers alone. Only a small fraction of those imprisoned in Nazi camps survived. SS stands for Schutzstaffel which means 'protective squadron'.
It was first formed in 1923 as a unit of the the Nazi paramilitary SA or Sturmabteilung - Stormtroopers and did not become fully independent till 1934. The original task of the SS was to act as bodyguards for senior Nazis, but in 1925 it became Hitler's personal bodyguard. From 1929 onwards it was headed by Himmler and expanded considerably.
In 1934 the SS assumed sole responsibility for running the concentration camps and it became a central element in the Nazi terror apparatus. It was the SS that organized the Holocaust.