The Holocaust
Above - Gateway to Auschwitz. Arbeit Macht Frei means 'Work Makes you Free.'
The Holocaust (Greek word for burned) was the rounding up of Jews, Gypsies, Foreigners and others in Hitler's opinion 'inferior' and sending them to various Ghettos and Concentration camps. Some of the concentration camps were called: Auschwitz, Auschwitz Birkenau, Monowitz, Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen, Neuengamme, Treblinka, Belzec, Buchenwald and many more.
Rudolf Vrba escaped from Auschwitz.
Concentration camps were different, however most of them consisted of these: wooden huts (about 80 per camp). In the huts were bunk beds which a maximum of 5 people would share. Gas Chambers would also be a common thing. Originally they were people's houses, but then the Nazis' came and turned the whole neighbourhood into a concentration camp. In these concentration camps the Nazis tried to exterminate the 'inferior' races. They managed to destroy 6,000,000 Jews, as well as 5,000,000 others, but paid a terrible price for it. Winston Churchill said; "This is the greatest, most horrible crime ever committed."
On April 7th 1944, Rudolf Vrba escaped from Auschwitz concentration camp, bringing the news of the exterminations. Later, on 27th May 1944, a man called Arnost Rosin also escaped from Auschwitz. They both ended up in Czechoslovakia.
People also went into hiding and some people helped them hide. One girl called Anne Frank hid with her family and their friends for 3 years. They were discovered on August 4th 1944 and they all died in concentration camps except for Anne's Father. Anne herself died in Bergen-Belsen in late February or early March 1945 of typhoid.
All before this, the Nazis had made laws that Jews had to follow like:
Jews were required to hand in their bicycles and radios.
Jews were not allowed to use telephones.
Jews cannot buy fresh milk and eggs.
Jews can be thrown out of their houses at any time.
On 20th January 1942, Reinhard Heydrich held a conference telling the other leading Nazi generals about the new policy called 'The Final Solution.' This was where the Nazis would send the Jews and other 'Sub-Human' races to camps all over Europe. Heydrich was later attacked and wounded in Prague several months later on 27th May. He died a week later on 4th June.
Near the end of WWII the camps were liberated by The Allies. The prisoners rejoiced and tried to get back into their original life. Unfortunately, this was hard for some of them and were in poverty for many years afterwards. During this time, The Allies were trialing all the Nazis who worked in the camps. Those Nazis were hung unlike some others.
On April 7th 1944, Rudolf Vrba escaped from Auschwitz concentration camp, bringing the news of the exterminations. Later, on 27th May 1944, a man called Arnost Rosin also escaped from Auschwitz. They both ended up in Czechoslovakia.
People also went into hiding and some people helped them hide. One girl called Anne Frank hid with her family and their friends for 3 years. They were discovered on August 4th 1944 and they all died in concentration camps except for Anne's Father. Anne herself died in Bergen-Belsen in late February or early March 1945 of typhoid.
All before this, the Nazis had made laws that Jews had to follow like:
Jews were required to hand in their bicycles and radios.
Jews were not allowed to use telephones.
Jews cannot buy fresh milk and eggs.
Jews can be thrown out of their houses at any time.
On 20th January 1942, Reinhard Heydrich held a conference telling the other leading Nazi generals about the new policy called 'The Final Solution.' This was where the Nazis would send the Jews and other 'Sub-Human' races to camps all over Europe. Heydrich was later attacked and wounded in Prague several months later on 27th May. He died a week later on 4th June.
Near the end of WWII the camps were liberated by The Allies. The prisoners rejoiced and tried to get back into their original life. Unfortunately, this was hard for some of them and were in poverty for many years afterwards. During this time, The Allies were trialing all the Nazis who worked in the camps. Those Nazis were hung unlike some others.