-
First Consentration Camp Opened
The frirst consentration camp was opened in Dachau, Germany. The purpose of therse camps was to keep the jews and other inferior ethnic groups in one place as to keep track of them. Later they would become death camps to exterminate all who were inside. -
The Beginning
<ahref='http://www2.dsu.nodak.edu/users/dmeier/Holocaust/hitler.html' >About Hitlers Rise to Power</a> In 1934 Adolf Hitler came into office as the dictator of Germany after the late Paul Von Hindenburg. He claimed that him becoming a dictator was the right choice for the people because it eliminated the troubles of federal government. Then in 1937 he declared the war of aggression in Europe and gathered his Nazi troops. Anyone who disagreed was dismissed. -
Elimination of the Jews
Then after Hitler commanded the whole Nazi army he orderd the death and imprisonment of all races, ethnicities, and religions considered in ferior to him. This began in the late 1930's. The group he dispised the most was the Jewish race and religion who were considered the lowest on the food chain so to speak. -
England and France declare War on Germany
Because of all the death and descrution England and France decided that if they did not get involved now Hitler would over power them too. -
Auschwitz II, or Birkenau
The most deadliest camp was Auschwitz located in Oswiecim, Poland. The averge number of victims was 2,1 to 2,5 million (This estimated number of death is considered by historians as a strict minimum. The real number of death is unknown but probably much higher, maybe 4 millions). There were also subcamps which were over 50 in number. -
The Final Solutiuon
By this time over 9 million out of 11 million jews in Europe were under Hitler's control. The gun squads had already killed 1.5 million but it was too slow and messy so tthe came up with the final solution. It included death camps, gas showers, burning, and death marches. -
The End of the Holocaust
The Holocaust ended at the end of WWII. The Nazi were defeated due to being defeated in war. They were defeated by Russia and the U.S who were called the allies. The Holocaust ended in certain places when the allies let go of the prisoners in the camps in 1944-1945. The camps were liberated gradually, as the Allies advanced on the German army. For example, Maidanek (near Lublin, Poland) was liberated by Soviet forces in July 1944, Auschwitz in January 1945 by the Soviets, Bergen-Belsen (near Han -
Death Marches
Near the end of the war, when Germany's military force was collapsing, the Allied armies closed in on the Nazi concentration camps. The Soviets approached from the east, and the British, French, and Americans from the west. The Germans began frantically to move the prisoners out of the camps. These were known as death marches. Prisoners were forced to march long distances in bitter cold, with little or no food, water, or rest. Those who could not keep up were shot. -
Hitler's Death
On May 4th, the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun were found in the Reich Chancellery garden. A SMERSH operative saw part of a grey blanket at the bottom of a shell crater. The crater was dug into and two bodies were found along with the bodies of a German Alsatian and a puppy. -
Germany's Recovery
fter World War II the German economy lay in shambles. The war, along with Hitler’s scorched-earth policy, had destroyed 20 percent of all housing. Food production per capita in 1947 was only 51 percent of its level in 1938, and the official food ration set by the occupying powers varied between 1,040 and 1,550 calories per day. Industrial output in 1947 was only one-third its 1938 level. Moreover, a large percentage of Germany’s working-age men were dead. At the time, observers thought that West
