Holocaust

Why were the Jewish people targeted by the Nazis?

Answer explanation

Anti-Semitism

The Nazis used Anti-Semitism as a propaganda tool in order to gain support for their Party. Anti-Semitism had been deeply ingrained in Europe for centuries and was not exclusively a German prejudice. Jewish communities around the world had suffered from religious persecution for thousands of years and were frequently blamed for society's ills. They were often victims of massacres and pogroms. William Marr first used the term 'anti-Semitism' in 1879, as a way of describing anti-Jewish attitudes.

The Nazis exploited a variety of anti-Semitic myths, many of which had been entrenched in European culture for generations.

At the time of Hitler's rise to power, Germany was experiencing great economic hardship, and Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat, blaming them for the collapse of German society. This is one of the reasons the Nazis found so many willing adherents to the Nazi cause against the Jews. In 1937, the Christian church seemed to do relatively little to defend the Jews, apart from those who converted to Christianity. The Pope at the time denounced the Nazi's ideas of racial purity but did not condemn the anti-Jewish decrees implemented by the Nazis.

Examples of anti-Semitic incidents:

1190 - The Third Crusade

England showed support for the Crusades where the Jews were killed for supposedly murdering Jesus. Pogroms took place against Jews all over the country. The Jews of London were killed on the day of the King's coronation. In York, the Jews of the city took refuge in a castle, but with no hope of survival after three days' fighting, all five hundred of the Jews chose to commit suicide rather than be butchered by their attackers.

1290 - England's Edict of Expulsion

Jews were expelled from England. The hatred of Jews grew over the past century, beginning with the wearing of badges to identify they were Jewish (See image - yellow and blue figures are wearing badges the shape of two tablets). Their involvement in money lending did not do them any favour and King Henry III backed the claim they were child killers. The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by King Edward I of England on 18 July 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England. Oliver Cromwell allowed Jews back to England in 1657.

Other examples:

Until the 19th century, many European Jews were forced to practice specific jobs, such as money lending. They thereby took on a social role that was immediately despised and were accused of being corrupt and avaricious. (In fact, the Old Testament specifically demands fairness in all financial/business practices).

Jews were accused of murdering Christian children and using their blood in Jewish rituals. (In fact, the Old Testament has specific rules on Jews not having any contact at all with the blood of any kind).

Jews were accused of poisoning wells and spreading diseases such as the Plague. (However, historians now believe that, due to the rules of Kashrut (strict rules on how to keep and cook food) listed in the Old Testament, fewer Jews died of the Plague - this is why rumours spread that the Jews were the cause of the Plague).

The Nazis used many of these myths and stereotypes for their own propaganda purposes.

How many Jews are estimated to have been murderd during the Holocaust?

• 6 thousand

• 600 thousand

• 6 million

• 6 billion

Answer explanation

Heinz Herlinger was born on May 8th, 1932. He was born in Vienna, Austria to Jewish parents and an older brother Isreal, born May 9, 1924. In 1938, the Nazis occupied Austria. By 1939 his brother escaped the country, surviving the war. Heinz and his parents were not so lucky. Isreal later learnt his family were caught and deported in 1942. Heinz and his parents were sent to the Maly Trostenets extermination camp. Taken to the woods and forced to watch each other be shot. The memory of Heinz survived through his brother Isreal.

True or False

Josef Mengele performed medical experiments on the prisoners of Auschwitz II (Birkenau).

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Mengele Twins

Renate, her twin brother, Rene, and their German-Jewish parents lived in Prague. Shortly before the twins were born, Renate's parents had fled Dresden, Germany, to escape the Nazi government's policies against Jews. Renate and Rene wore matching outfits and were always well-dressed. Their days were often spent playing in a nearby park. In March 1939, the German army occupied Prague.

Just before Renate turned 6, her family was sent to Auschwitz from the Theresienstadt ghetto. There, she became #70917. She was separated from her brother and mother and taken to a hospital where she was measured and X-rayed; blood was taken from her neck. Once, she was strapped to a table and cut with a knife. She got injections that made her throw up and have diarrhea. While Renate was ill in the hospital after an injection, guards came in to take the sick to be killed. The nurse caring for her hid her under her long skirt, and she was quiet until the guards left.

Renate and her brother survived and were reunited in America in 1950. They learned that as one pair of the "Mengele Twins," they had been used for medical experiments.

What does "Arbeit macht frei" on the main gate of Auschwitz and other camps mean?

Answer explanation

In May 1940, Rudolf Höss arrived and became the first commandant of Auschwitz. While overseeing the camp's construction, Höss ordered the creation of a large sign with the phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei." Prisoners with metalworking skills set to the task and created the 16-foot-long, 90-pound sign.

The Inverted "B"

The prisoners who made the Arbeit Macht Frei sign did not make the sign exactly as planned. What is now believed to have been an act of defiance, they placed the "B" in "Arbeit" upside down. This inverted "B" has itself become a symbol of courage. Beginning in 2010, the International Auschwitz Committee began a "to B remembered," campaign, which awards small sculptures of that inverted "B" to people who don't stand idly by and who help to prevent another genocide.

Prisoners on arrival are sorted into two groups - live to work or die. What groups made up the die?

• Elderly

• Young children

• Medically infirm

• Mothers of young children*

• All of the above

Answer explanation

* Mothers of children in some selection queues may have been the only ones to whom the murderers offered a choice—that of going to die with their children. Even then, however, at moments of difficulty unparalleled in human history, children were sometimes torn from the arms of the few women who were selected for lives of slavery.

What is the name of the chemical used to in the gas chambers?

• Zyklon A

• Zyklon B

• Zyklon C

• Zyklon D

Answer explanation

Auschwitz-Birkenau was a complex, consisting of a concentration camp, a forced labour camp and an extermination camp. Eventually, it had a network of more than 40 satellite camps. Following tests in September 1941, the lethal gas Zyklon B was selected as the method of murder. Auschwitz initially had one gas chamber at the Auschwitz I camp, but this was soon expanded. By 1943, four new crematoria, with gas chambers attached, had been built in Auschwitz II. Approximately 1.1 million people were murdered in the Auschwitz gas chambers

What kind of rations were given to the prisoners?

Answer explanation

All concentration camps had limited rations except, Theresienstadt ghetto (see picture). The International Red Cross visited, the ghetto which was "beautified" in order to deceive the visitors and the outside world to the atrocities going on in the other camps.

Auschwitz prisoners with less physically demanding labour assignments received approximately 1,300 calories per day, while those engaged in hard labour received approximately 1,700.

What type of work did the prisoners engage in at the concentration camps?

Answer explanation

Within the camps, the Nazis established a hierarchical identification system and prisoners were organized based on nationality and grounds for incarceration.

Prisoners with a higher social status within the camp were often rewarded with more desirable work assignments such as administrative positions indoors. Some, such as the kapos (work supervisors) or camp elders held the power of life and death over other prisoners.

Those lower on the social ladder had more physically demanding tasks such as factory work, mining, and construction, and suffered a much higher mortality rate from the combined effects of physical exhaustion, meager rations, and extremely harsh treatment from guards and some kapos.

Prisoners also staffed infirmaries, kitchens, and disposing of bodies and other functions within the camp. Living conditions were harsh and extreme but varied greatly from camp to camp.