Transcript Group 5

Stages of
Holocaust
Room
Five
Museum Entrance
Punishments
End of the Holocaust
Concentration
Camps
What is the
Holocaust
Welcome to the Museum of
The Holocaust
Curator’s
Offices
Keonya’s Office
Hi my name is Keonya Lee and I am the
groups Curator for this museum. In my group
I have Maria Maldonado and Maddie Roman.
I am in period five and group five. I go to
Kendyl Depoali Middle School. And I am 13
years old. I hope you enjoy the museum!
[email protected]
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Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham,
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What is the Holocaust
Room 1
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Entry
Stages of the Holocaust
Room 2
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Entry
Concentration Camps
Room 3
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Entry
Punishments
Room 4
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Entry
End of the Holocaust
Room 5
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Entry
Clothing
On arrival at concentration camps prisoners had their clothing
taken away, often to be replaced by a striped uniform (now
known as striped pajamas). Men would wear a vest, trousers, hat
and coat. Women would be supplied a smock type dress.
On their feet prisoners wore wooden or leather clogs. As socks
were not supplied, clogs would rub on feet and ankles, causing
foot sores. This could be very dangerous, as the conditions in
barracks and around the camp were extremely poor. Prisoners
could very easily get an infection, which could then lead to
death.
Clothes would be changed approximately every six weeks. As
prisoners would have to work and sleep in the same clothes,
they would be very dirty.
Prisoners were identified by a number printed on their clothing
and also an inverted triangle with lettering to signify the reason
for imprisonment. Criminals were marked with a green triangle,
political prisoners with red, homosexuals with pink, whilst
Jehovah’s Witnesses wore a purple triangle and asocial
(including Roma) wore a black triangle.
In some camps, Jews were usually marked by a yellow triangle
over a red triangle to form the Star of David. However, in others
a yellow star identified them as being Jewish.
Clothing Link
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Exhibit
Star of David
The Star of David -- known in Hebrew as
"Magen David" -- consists of two
overlapping equilateral triangles that
together form a hexagram, or six-pointed
star. As part of their effort to isolate and
persecute Jews, the Nazis forced Jewish
citizens to identify themselves by wearing
star-shaped badges.
Star Of David Link
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Exhibit
Transportation
Deportation and transportation to camps often
took days. Individuals, families and whole
communities together with their personal
belongings were packed into cattle trucks.
They were locked in and transported for days.
They had no information. They did not know
where they were going, the length of the
journey or what would happen to them when
they eventually arrived at their destination.
The conditions on the journey were appalling.
Transportation Link
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Exhibit
Camps
During the Holocaust, the Nazis
established concentration camps across
Europe. At first, these concentrations
camps were meant to hold political
prisoners; however, by the beginning of
World War II, these concentration camps
had transformed and expanded in order to
house vast numbers of non-political
prisoners whom the Nazis exploited
through forced labor. Many concentration
camp prisoners died from the horrible
living conditions or from being literally
worked to death.
Camps link
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Exhibit
Definition Stage
During the definition stage, the Jews were
forced to wear the Star of David as
identification and the Nazis put a “J” on every
Jews passport so they could recognize a Jew if
one tried to leave the country. There was little
violence, only because the Nazis didn’t want to
scare the Jews. They needed full cooperation.
Definition link
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Exhibit
Expropriation Stage
During the Expropriation Stage, the Nuremburg
laws were created so the Jewish people were
denied equal rights. They were denied
citizenship, prohibited from public office and
denied marriage rights to non-Jews.
Expropriation Link
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Exhibit
Concentration Stage
During the Concentration Stage, Jews
were moved to the ghetto and were not
allowed to play outside and they were kept
inside fences. They were forced to share
living spaces with many other people and
were forced to give up all of their precious
belongings. Later, Jews were taken on
trains to concentration camps where a lot
of people were separated from their
families and killed.
Concentration Link
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Exhibit
Annihilation Stage
During the Annihilation Stage, hundreds of
Jews were killed in concentration camps.
But Hitler was planning something called
The Final Solution. The Final Solution was
where they planned on wiping out the
remaining Jewish population in Europe by
killing the Jews in larger amounts. They
used mass shootings, gas chambers, and
other things that would kill more Jews in a
faster amount of time.
Annhilation Link
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Exhibit
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Auschwitzs-Birkenau was one of the largest death
camps across Europe. Historians estimated the
number of deaths at Auschwitz's, there were about
2.1 million to 4 million deaths and most of them were
Jews and there death in the gas chambers. The word
Auschwitz’s now a days has a meaning of terror,
genocide, and The Holocaust. The Germans killed
about 960,000 out of the 1.1 to 1.3 million Jews
deported to the Nazis concentration camps. Other
victims includes 74,000 Poles, 21,000 Roma, 15,000
Soviet prisoners of the war and at least about 10,000
from other nationalities. “Work Set’s You Free”
Holocaust Concentration Camps Photo
Gallery
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Exhibit
Berlin Marzhan
“The Concentration Camp was one of the most
notorious death camps of the Nazi regime,
located just north of Berlin”.
This camp was built in the summer of 1936, by
prisoners from the Emsland camps and was
used to train SS officers who went on to
command other camps. In January 1945, there
were more than 65,000 prisoners here including
13,000 women. A total of 105,000 Jews died in
this camp. Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was
liberated by the Allies on April 22nd, 1945. The
Soviets then used it as a prison camp until 1950
Berlin Link
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Exhibit
Warsaw
The Warsaw concentration camp was an
associated group of the German Nazi
concentration camps, including an
extermination camp, located in Germanoccupied Warsaw, capital city of Poland.
Its main target was the Polish population
of the city. Immediately after Poland’s
surrender in September 1939, the Jews of
Warsaw were brutally preyed upon and
taken for forced labor. In 1939 the first
anti-Jewish decrees were issued. The Jews
were forced to wear a white armband with
a blue Star of David and economic
measures against them were taken that led
to the unemployment of most of the city’s
Jews.
Warsaw Link
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Exhibit
Dachau
Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp,
opened in 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler
(1889-1945) became chancellor of Germany.
Located in southern Germany, Dachau initially
housed political prisoners; however, it
eventually evolved into a death camp where
countless thousands of Jews died from
malnutrition, disease and overwork or were
executed. In addition to Jews, the camp’s
prisoners included members of other groups
Hitler considered unfit for the new Germany,
including artists, intellectuals, the physically
and mentally handicapped and homosexuals.
With the advent of World War II (1939-45),
some able-bodied Dachau prisoners were used
as slave labor to manufacture weapons and
other materials for Germany’s war efforts.
Additionally, some Dachau detainees were
subjected to brutal medical experiments by the
Nazis. U.S. military forces liberated Dachau in
late April 1945.
Camp Link
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Exhibit
Gas Chambers
The Nazis started their use of poison gas in
1939, as a tool for killing mentally and
physically disabled patients in hospitals. They
called this euthanasia, because they felt that
these people were deemed to be unworthy of
living, but it was essentially part of their
systemic murder. There were six different killing
centers throughout Nazi-occupied Europe that
were established for this specific purpose.
People were killed using chemically-created
carbon monoxide or lethal injections. The gas
seemed to be quicker and easier, though, so it
was often the preferred option.
Gas Chambers Link
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Exhibit
Labor
A WVHA decree of March 31, 1942 established a minimum
working day of eleven hours in all concentration camps. At
Auschwitz, labor was one of the means used to destroy
prisoners. They labored in various sectors of the economy.
Initially, they worked at building the camp: leveling the
ground, erecting new blocks and buildings, laying roads, and
digging drainage ditches. Later, the industries of the Third
Reich made increasing use of cheap prisoner labor. The
pace of the work, the starvation rations of food, and constant
beatings and abuse exacerbated the death rate. The
German IG Farbenindustrie cartel, which built the BunaWerke synthetic rubber and fuel factory at Monowice near
Oswiecim, had priority in obtaining prisoner labor. The
majority of the Auschwitz sub-camps were located near the
mills, mines, and factories of Silesia. Prisoners dug coal,
produced armaments and chemicals, and built and expanded
industrial plants.
Labor Link
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Exhibit
Executions
Executions were one means of physically
liquidating prisoners and people brought
from outside the camp. At first, people
were shot to death in the pits near the
camp from which gravel had been dug.
From the autumn of 1941 until the autumn
of 1943, most of the executions by
shooting took place in the courtyard of
Block No. 11 in the main camp. Most of the
victims here were Poles, who received
sentences of death by shooting from, for
instance, the Gestapo summary court
Executions Link
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Exhibit
Starvation
Prisoners in the camp received meals three
times a day: morning, noon, and evening.
Factors influencing the nutritional value of the
food included the official nutritional norms in
the Nazi concentration camps. In practice,
Auschwitz prisoners with less physically
demanding labor assignments received
approximately 1,300 calories per day, while
those engaged in hard labor received
approximately 1,700. After several weeks on
such starvation rations in the camp, most
prisoners began to experience organic
deterioration that led to the so-called
"Muzulman" state, extreme physical exhaustion
that ended in death.
Starvation Link
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Exhibit
Hitler Dead
About 2:30 in the morning of April 30, Hitler came out of his private
quarters into a dining area for a farewell with staff members. With
glazed eyes, he shook hands in silence, then retired back into his
quarters. Following Hitler's departure, those officers and staff members
mulled over the significance of what they had just witnessed. The
tremendous tension of preceding days seemed to suddenly evaporate
with the realization that the end of Hitler was near. A lighthearted mood
surfaced, followed by spontaneous displays of merry-making even
including dancing.
At noon, Hitler attended his last military situation conference and was
told the Soviets were just a block away. At 2 p.m., Hitler sat down and
had his last meal, a vegetarian lunch. His chauffeur was then ordered
to deliver 200 liters of gasoline to the Chancellery garden.
Hitler and his wife Eva then bid a final farewell to Bormann, Goebbels,
Generals Krebs and Burgdorf, other remaining military aides and staff
members.
Hitler and his wife then went back into their private quarters while
Bormann and Goebbels remained quietly nearby. Several moments
later a gunshot was heard. After waiting a few moments, at 3:30 p.m.,
Bormann and Goebbels entered and found the body of Hitler sprawled
on the sofa, dripping with blood from a gunshot to his right temple. Eva
Braun had died from swallowing poison.
As Soviet shells exploded nearby, the bodies were carried up to the
Chancellery garden, doused with gasoline and burned while Bormann
and Goebbels stood by and gave a final Nazi salute. Over the next
three hours the bodies were repeatedly doused with gasoline. The
charred remains were then swept into a canvas, placed into a shell
crater and buried.
Hitlers Death Link
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Exhibit
Records
After 1945
By May 1945, the Germans and their collaborators
had murdered six million European Jews as part of a
systematic plan of genocide—the Holocaust. When
Allied troops entered the concentration camps, they
discovered piles of corpses, bones, and human
ashes—testimony to Nazi mass murder. Soldiers also
found thousands of survivors—Jews and non-Jews—
suffering from starvation and disease. For survivors,
the prospect of rebuilding their lives was daunting.
With few possibilities for emigration, tens of
thousands of homeless Holocaust survivors were
housed in displaced persons (DP) camps. In the
following years, many international and domestic
courts conducted trials of accused war criminals
Records Link
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Exhibit
Holocaust is over
Camps were built for Jewish displaced persons, who
couldn't return to their homes because of the horror
and threats of danger from lingering anti-Semitic
residents of the countries. They were emigrated to
Israel, Palestine, and the United States primarily,
while some went to other countries. These camps
were in existence until 1957 when all the DPs
(displaced persons) had been re-homed.
When the Allied forces finally invaded Germany in
1945, Adolf Hitler knew he had been defeated.
Whether out of cowardice and fear of punishment, or
based on Nazi ideals of death before dishonor, Adolf
Hitler committed suicide in April of 1945 before the
Allies had a chance to capture him. Thousands of
Nazis committed suicide during this year, as they
were taught that it was a more favorable option than
being captured and punished for their beliefs.
However, hundreds more were caught and punished
for their involvement in the Holocaust.
Holocaust End Date Link
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Exhibit
What happens next ; Liberation
As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of
offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter
tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Many of
these prisoners had survived forced marches into the interior
of Germany from camps in occupied Poland. These
prisoners were suffering from starvation and disease.
Soviet forces were the first to approach a major Nazi camp,
reaching Majdanek near Lublin, Poland, in July 1944.
Surprised by the rapid Soviet advance, the Germans
attempted to hide the evidence of mass murder by
demolishing the camp. Camp staff set fire to the large
crematorium used to burn bodies of murdered prisoners, but
in the hasty evacuation the gas chambers were left standing.
In the summer of 1944, the Soviets also overran the sites of
the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka killing centers. The
Germans had dismantled these camps in 1943, after most of
the Jews of Poland had already been killed.
Liberation Link
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Exhibit
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was the youth
organization of the Nazi Party in Germany.
Its origins dated back to 1922. From 1933
until 1945, it was the sole official youth
organization in Germany and was partially
a paramilitary organization; it was
constituted of the Hitlerjugend proper for
male youth aged 14 to 18, the Deutsches
Jungvolk for younger boys, and the
League of German Girls.
Hitler Youth
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Exhibit
Nazi Propaganda
The Ministry's aim was to ensure that the Nazi message was
successfully communicated through art, music, theater, films,
books, radio, educational materials, and the press.
There were several audiences for Nazi propaganda.
Germans were reminded of the struggle against foreign
enemies and Jewish subversion. During periods preceding
legislation or executive measures against Jews, propaganda
campaigns created an atmosphere tolerant of violence
against Jews, particularly in 1935 (before the Nuremberg
Race Laws of September) and in 1938 (prior to the barrage
of antisemitic economic legislation following Kristallnacht).
Propaganda also encouraged passivity and acceptance of
the impending measures against Jews, as these appeared to
depict the Nazi government as stepping in and “restoring
order.”
Nazi Propaganda
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Entrance
Work Will Set You Free.
"Arbeit macht frei" is a German phrase
meaning "work makes (you) free.“ The
slogan was placed over the entrances to a
number of Nazi concentration camps
during World War II, including Auschwitz,
where it was made by prisoners with
metalwork skills and erected by order of
the Nazis in June 1940.
Work Will Set You Free Link
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Entrance
End of the war
These included the massacre of millions of
Chinese and Korean nationals by Japan,
internal mass killings in the Soviet Union,
and the bombing of civilian targets in
German and Japanese cities by the Allies.
In total, World War II produced about 50
million deaths, more than any other war to
date.
End of War Link
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