Adolf Hitler, born in 1889, was the founder and leader of National Socialism (Nazism) and is responsible for the death of 11 million people, primarily Jewish individuals, during World War II. Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria to a family of six. When Hitler was a teen his bad behavior led him to drop out of high school and move to Vienna (Nardo 15). After his mother's death in 1907, he moved to Vienna and applied to the Academy of Fine Arts but was rejected. During this time Hitler lived in and out of homeless shelters and developed his interest in Germany’s history and his hatred for Jews (Nardo 16). During World War I, he joined the German Army and though he was not in the front line of action he received the Iron Cross and Black
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Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the disabled were all victims of the Holocaust, but today it is most remembered for its effect on the Jewish community. Jews were deprived of their rights, terrorized in anti-Jewish riots, forced into ghettos, had their land taken away, and were sent to concentration camps (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). The concentration camps were designed to confine, terrorize and kill Holocaust victims. With around 27 main camps and more than 1,000 subcamps, the concentration camps were responsible for the imprisonment or deaths of 15 to 20 million people during the Holocaust (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). At the camps they separated families and forced slave labor on even the weak. The prisoners often were forced to work to their death, but it was common to die from malnourishment, and when they died their bodies were tossed aside and cremated. Auschwitz was among the most famous camps known for the large number of lives lost and its infamous gas chambers. But not all camps were the same, such as camp Ponar where it was known as “Holocaust by bullets”. Here murders were carried out at close range, with rifles and machine guns (Shaer). Motke Zeidel, a Jewish holocaust survivor, who spent two years in walled off Jewish Ghettos before being sent to Ponar. He recalls, “just around 90,000 people were killed here, lying in mass graves”, where the prisoners were forced to dig and bury the corpses (Shaer). By the end of the war, it is estimated that around 15 to 20 million Jews were imprisoned or killed at concentration camps (Columbia Electronic
Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the disabled were all victims of the Holocaust, but today it is most remembered for its effect on the Jewish community. Jews were deprived of their rights, terrorized in anti-Jewish riots, forced into ghettos, had their land taken away, and were sent to concentration camps (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). The concentration camps were designed to confine, terrorize and kill Holocaust victims. With around 27 main camps and more than 1,000 subcamps, the concentration camps were responsible for the imprisonment or deaths of 15 to 20 million people during the Holocaust (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). At the camps they separated families and forced slave labor on even the weak. The prisoners often were forced to work to their death, but it was common to die from malnourishment, and when they died their bodies were tossed aside and cremated. Auschwitz was among the most famous camps known for the large number of lives lost and its infamous gas chambers. But not all camps were the same, such as camp Ponar where it was known as “Holocaust by bullets”. Here murders were carried out at close range, with rifles and machine guns (Shaer). Motke Zeidel, a Jewish holocaust survivor, who spent two years in walled off Jewish Ghettos before being sent to Ponar. He recalls, “just around 90,000 people were killed here, lying in mass graves”, where the prisoners were forced to dig and bury the corpses (Shaer). By the end of the war, it is estimated that around 15 to 20 million Jews were imprisoned or killed at concentration camps (Columbia Electronic