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A couple years ago, we did a WWII unit study. I love learning about that time period. It is so important to me. It was a real eye opener to tell me about the history and the sacrifice that many people gave up for my freedoms.
Here is a essay I did for our study.
The Jewish Camps
1938 was the start of the downhill struggle for the Jews. During this time, they were told they had to be inside by 5pm, they had their bikes taken from them, they could only buy from Jewish stores, they were not allowed to go to public places such as a park, theater and such.
On November 9th, 1938, an angry mob in Germany went to the Jewish settlement and started vandalizing and burning all the Jewish stores. This night is called Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass.
30,000 Jews who were trying to protect themselves were sent to concentration camps. After this they put all the Jews in Poland, in a section called “The Ghetto”. In 1939, The Germans started emptying “The Ghetto” and sent the Jews to concentration camps. They were sent in cow carts on trains. After they arrived they were separated, men to the left, women to the right. Then they were stripped, shaved and tattooed. The Germans took away all they personal belongings; rings, glasses, clothes, pictures.
They were humiliated. The Germans shaved all the hair off their heads, put them in rags and wooden clogs, then they tattooed a number on their arms. They slept in barracks with 1 blanket for about 3 people. They were given 1 cup to eat out of. If they lost the cup, they did not get another. They were given 1 piece of bread, and a cup of soup, which consisted of: Peas and potato skins per day. Their daily routine consisted of getting up before dawn, standing until they couldn’t anymore, then digging until night. If you couldn’t stand until they said, and you passed out, they burned you.
The worst camps were Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Birkenau.
At Auschwitz, when you arrived there was a sign that hung above the gate that said: “Work makes a person free”. Auschwitz was the worst. It was the deadliest concentration camp of World War II. That camp killed the most Jews. Birkenau was 2 miles away from Auschwitz; they were linked by railroads.
Bergen-Belsen killed 70,000. There were only 5 death camps. When trains arrived the Jews were immediately taken to the gas chambers.
Many of the Jews at the camps were told they were going to the “Showers”, which actually were acid chambers. The Germans were the only people who used gas as a war tactic.
Auschwitz was both a death and labor camp. Only 20% of every load was saved for slave labor. The highest cause of death, besides being shot by the Germans, was starvation and Typhus.
The Germans were well prepared; they had special ovens made for the cremation of the Jews.
Towards the end of the war, the Germans transported and emptied most of the camps in other countries and sent them to Germany, so they could not be set free. They killed most of the Jews around this time, although they kept some of them for exchanges for German prisoners.
When the Jews were set free a soldier asked a man “Why didn’t you kill yourself?” The man replied, “I wanted to outlive Hitler and show him we will not give up I wanted him to see we will survive.”
This was written by Amanda Dixon
As Always...
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