The Death Camps

Death Camps

The Nazi's desire to kill every Jewish person in Nazi-occupied land led to the creation of death camps after the 'Final Solution' was designed at the Wannsee Conference. The head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, was responsible for running the death camps.

The Final Solution

After the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, the ‘Final Solution of the Jewish Question’ was decided.
- 6 death camps with gas chambers were built in Poland.
Out of all the Jews killed, 60% were killed after 1942, after the Wannsee Conference.
Most of the Jews killed during the Holocaust were from Central and Eastern Europe.

How were people transported to death camps?

Most Germans did not know exactly what happened at the death camps.
Most people would reach death camps like Auschwitz and Chelmno by train. Some people voluntarily paid for their transport tickets to the camps, assuming that they would not be killed there, but would just live in segregation.

Features of death camps

Most people at the death camps were killed in gas chambers.
- Zyklon-B gas or carbon monoxide gas was put into a gas chamber containing hundreds of people. People would have no oxygen and would die in minutes.
The bodies of the dead would then be incinerated and burned in the death camp's crematorium.

Who died at the death camps?

Anyone who did not conform to Nazi Aryan ideals or any political opponents of the Nazis including:
Jewish people.
Homosexual people.
Communist supporters.
Slav people.
Black people.
Prisoners of war.
Political opponents of the Nazis.
Roma (or gypsy) people.
Disabled people.

Nazi Death Camps in Poland

The 6 deadliest death (or extermination) camps were set up in Poland. These camps were: Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor, and Majdanek.

Chelmno

Chelmno was a camp just north of the Polish town, Lodz.
320,000 people were killed at the Chelmno camp using the poisonous gas, carbon monoxide.
Car exhaust fumes contain carbon monoxide. Exhaust fumes would be channeled into the van containing prisoners, who would die from a lack of oxygen.
This was viewed as a good and efficient way to kill the Jews and other minorities as it had a lower psychological impact on German soldiers, relative to other more brutal methods of killing.

Operation Reinhard

'General Government' was a zone in Poland created during Germany's occupation of Poland.
In October 1941, Operation Reinhard began. This was a plan to kill every Jew in the 'General Government' district of Poland.
After Operation Reinhard began, new extermination camps were built:
- March 1942: Belzec.
- May 1942: Sobibor.
- July 1942: Treblinka.

Resistance in the extermination camps

In the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943, Jewish prisoners killed 11 SS guards, led by Alexander Pechersky. 240 of the Jews who escaped Sobibor on the 14th of October 1943 died, however, 60 escaped and survived the war.
This was a rare positive story out of the death camps. 1.7 million Polish Jews died in the extermination camps.

Auschwitz

The Germans built a camp at Oswiecim, a small Polish village, in October 1940.
The Nazis used the insecticide gas Zyklon B to kill prisoners.
There were 4 different gas chambers at Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
1.1 million people were killed at the Auschwitz death camp. There was also a work camp at Auschwitz for forced labour.
Hungary lost more citizens at Auschwitz than any other country. 565,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered there.

Destroying evidence of the death camps

As the Soviet Red Army marched towards Poland, at the end of 1944, Himmler, the head of the SS ordered all gas chambers to be destroyed.
In January 1945, Auschwitz was abandoned. 56,000 prisoners were forced to march 40 miles to be pushed deeper into German territory. Thousands died on the march because temperatures were below 0 degrees.

1The Weimar Republic 1918-1929

1.1World War One

1.1.1WW1

1.1.2The Weimar Republic

1.1.3Early Challenges to Weimar

1.1.4Reparations & the Ruhr

1.1.5Weimar Recovery

1.1.6Weimar Living Standards

1.1.7Weimar Culture

1.1.8End of Topic Test - WW1 & Weimar

1.1.9Grade 9 - The Weimar Republic

2Hitler's Rise to Power 1919-1933

2.1Early Development of the Nazi Party

2.1.1Hitler & the Beginnings of the Nazi Party

2.1.2End of Topic Test - Start of the Nazi Party

2.2The Munich Putsch & the Lean Years

2.2.1The Munich Putsch

2.2.2The Lean Years, 1923-1929

2.2.3End of Topic Test - Putsch & Lean Years

2.2.4Grade 9 - Hitler's Rise to Power

2.3The Growth of Support for the Nazis

2.3.1The Impact of the Great Depression

2.3.2End of Topic Test - Great Depression

2.4How Hitler Became Chancellor

2.4.1Article 48 & Political Turmoil

2.4.2von Papen & Hindenburg's Pact

2.4.3End of Topic Test - Chancellory

2.4.4Grade 9 - How Hitler Became Chancellor

3Nazi Control & Dictatorship 1933-1939

3.1Creating a Dictatorship, 1933-1934

3.1.1The Rise of Hitler

3.1.2End of Topic Test - Dictatorship

3.2The Police State

3.2.1The Police State

3.2.2Repression & Concentration Camps

3.2.3The Nazis & Religion

3.2.4End of Topic Test - Police State

3.2.5Grade 9 - Dictatorship and Police State

3.3Controlling & Influencing Attitudes

3.3.1Propaganda & Censorship

3.3.2Nazi Art & Culture

3.3.3Church Opposition & Social Conformity

3.3.4Youth Opposition & the July Plot

3.3.5End of Topic Test - Controlling Attitudes

3.3.6Grade 9 - Controlling Attitudes

4Life in Nazi Germany 1933-1939

4.1Life in Nazi Germany

4.1.1Women in Nazi Germany

4.1.2Youths in Nazi Germany

4.1.3Employment & Living Standards

4.1.4End of Topic Test - Life in Nazi Germany

4.2The Persecution of Minorities

4.2.1Nazi Racial Beliefs

4.2.2The Persecution of the Jews

4.2.3The Death Camps

4.2.4End of Topic Test - Persecution

4.2.5Grade 9 - Life in Nazi Germany

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