The Holocaust: A Brief Summary

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What is the Holocaust? When did is started and why is this a major event in history? Holocaust comes from the Greek origin meaning “sacrifice by fire”. The Holocaust slowly began in January 1933 and ended May 8, 1945. In January 30, 1933 Adolf Hitler was Chancellor of Germany. Germans believe that they were superior to Jews. They began boycotting Jewish shops and businesses. The Jewish population in 1933 was over nine million. At first it started as discrimination and then the Jewish community was persecuted. The Jews were treated less than human beings and murder. Adolf Hitler target was to get rid of all the Jews. During Hitler’s leadership he racially motivated ideology meaning that there should only be one race. Hitler wanted …show more content…
Nazis killed children of “unwanted” or “dangerous” groups according to their ideological view. Jewish children of the ages of 13-18 years old had a greater chance of not getting killed because they will be forced to hard labor. When children were in camps they will be use to work and to perform medical experiments. Jewish children will starve in the ghettos and were exposure to not enough clothing and shelter. The Germans were indifferent to the situation. Once the children arrive to the camps they were send directly to the gas chambers. Children will wear a striped uniform. The living conditions in the camps were not sanitary or healthy. Prisoners living in these camps were suffering from epidemics and contagious disease. The prisoners lived in old brick barracks. They will sleep in a wooden bunk bed. There were more than 700 people living in each barrack. The barracks didn’t have any heating and the facility was not sanitary. The camps will be dampness, leaky roofs, fouling of straw and straw mattress. Some prisoners will suffer from diarrhea which made living conditions harder to survive. There was not enough water for …show more content…
In 1944, the Allies started to advance on the Germans and take over their camps. Maidanek, a camp in Poland was liberated by the Soviets. After this liberation the Americans and other Allies remove Hitler from his power. Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945. By liberating this camp it mark a big milestone in the Holocaust. At the end of the war there were 50,000 to 100,000 survivors living in Europe. Once Hitler was no longer in power the amount of survivors increase to 200,000. Some were emigrated to Israel, Palestine, and the United States. The camps were in existence until 1957 once everyone was found a home. Since the Holocaust ended it was very hard for the survivors to heal. The survivors found it impossible to return home because in many of them lost their families. There were homelands created for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler knew he had been defeated in 1945. Hitler committed suicide in April 1945 before his capture. During that year other Nazis committed suicide. They did this because they prefer to end their lives than to be punished for what they believe. Hundreds more were caught and punished for being involved in the

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