Most Jews in Europe during the 1930's and mid-1950's lived in harsh, almost unbearable conditions. Many Germans believed that the Jews were the source of all the misfortunes and setbacks in life. Due to the beliefs of the Germans, the Jews were terribly mistreated. Germans wanted the Jews to be gone for good and that is why egregious places like Auschwitz were built. Even though most Germans thought that Jews were the source of all their problems; they did not deserve to be sent to terrible, deathly places like Auschwitz. In the 1930's, Germans belonging to the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, were power hungry. The Nazi's wanted to rule Germany and make the nation powerful. However, they only wanted Aryan people who were healthy, had blue
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The camp was based in Oswiecim, a city in present day Poland (Sheehan 6). During the arrival at Auschwitz you were forced to give up any personal or valuable belongings such as pictures, letters, gold teeth, and jewelry (Shuter 11). They were then assigned a number that was tattooed on their left arm and sewn into their prison uniforms (11). This number was used to identify the prisoner and keep track of those who died. Most families were separated from each other when they arrived and never saw each other again. They were then sent through a process called selection that decided if they were worthy of living, or if they were going to be sent to the gas chambers to be executed. Many of the women and young children were sent to death camps where they would be eliminated. Large groups of people were sent into gas chambers to be killed at one time. Then, the bodies were taken to a crematorium to be burned and turn into ashes (Shuter 6). Unlike the women and young children, strong young men were kept to work in the camps doing many different jobs (Shuter 8). Some of the jobs they did were working on construction projects, farms, coal mines, or in factories. Some of the jobs were toilsome, while others were not as complicated and
The camp was based in Oswiecim, a city in present day Poland (Sheehan 6). During the arrival at Auschwitz you were forced to give up any personal or valuable belongings such as pictures, letters, gold teeth, and jewelry (Shuter 11). They were then assigned a number that was tattooed on their left arm and sewn into their prison uniforms (11). This number was used to identify the prisoner and keep track of those who died. Most families were separated from each other when they arrived and never saw each other again. They were then sent through a process called selection that decided if they were worthy of living, or if they were going to be sent to the gas chambers to be executed. Many of the women and young children were sent to death camps where they would be eliminated. Large groups of people were sent into gas chambers to be killed at one time. Then, the bodies were taken to a crematorium to be burned and turn into ashes (Shuter 6). Unlike the women and young children, strong young men were kept to work in the camps doing many different jobs (Shuter 8). Some of the jobs they did were working on construction projects, farms, coal mines, or in factories. Some of the jobs were toilsome, while others were not as complicated and