Why were the death
camps established?
By: Kao Zee Xiong, Mai Lou Yang, and
Melanie Xiong
Where were the death camps
located and why?
Chelmno-first death camp December 8, 1941, Jews in Wartheland; near
large forest for mass graves
Auschwitz-Birkenau-largest; concentration camp/killing center; final
destination for Jews
Lublin/Majdanek-Soviet POWs; November 3, 1943-Harvest Festival
Operation Reinhard:
Belzec-second death camp; formerly labor camp; rail connections;
proximity to Jewish populations in Generalgouvernment: Lvov, Krakow &
Lublin
Treblinka II-located near Polish village near railway; heavily
wooded and hidden-trapezoid, barbed wire wrapped in branches
Sobibor-railway, swampy, wooded area-rectangle, barbed wire covered
in branches, sparsely populated, 50ft mine field perimeter
How did the Nazis economically
support the camps?
Slave Labor-“rented" laborers
Stole money from conquered areas
Ties to wealthy businessmen-Hitler’s supporters
“Wall Street”-American Businesses sold to Germany:
General Electric Company, Standard Oil, General Motors,
Ford etc…; world stock exchange-US needed money
Cans of Zyklon B found by Allies after
liberation. Made by US industries
Map of Concentration Camps & Killing
Centers
How were the death camps created?
Was a solution to getting rid of all Jews, decided on January 20, 1942
during the Wannsee Conference called the "Final Solution"
The "Final Solution" was created through stages and events:
1) After Nazi Party rose to power, racism was enforced
2) Led to "Aryanization"
3) After the"Night of Broken Glass" pogrom
4) After beginning of WWII anti-Jewish policy evolved into a
comprehensive plan to annihilate European Jewry
“Final Solution" established:
-Deportation of Jews to killing centers
-Immediate death for those unable to work, young kids, and the weak
-Forced labor
-Death eventually for remainders
What were death camps?
Death camps were only constructed with
one purpose: to mass murder Jews and other
“unwanted” vs. Concentration camps and
their purposes: used as punishment camps,
POW camps, transit camps, etc. and were
often referred to as detention or labor
camps
Death camps worked effectively and
efficiently at minimal physical and
psychological cost to the Germans
-it could kill tens of thousands of
prisoners each month
“Another possible solution to the [Jewish] question has now taken the place of
emigration, i.e., evacuation to the east.…Practical experience is already being
collected which is of the greatest importance in the relation to the future
final solution of the Jewish question.” (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
"Holocaust")
[All understood “evacuation to the east” meant deportation to killing centers]
What were the killing methods in
death camps?
Gas Chambers
Gas Trucks
Crematoriums
Mass Killings
Gas Chambers
The Jews were herded into the gas
chambers, then the camp personnel
closed the doors, and either exhaust
gas or poison gas in the form of
Zyklon A or B was led into the gas
chamber.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest
killing center and an estimated 1 to
2 million were killed.
The first gassing experiments
involved 250 Polish and 600 Soviet
POWs and they started as early as
September 1941.
Majdenak began the gassings in
October 1942 and functioned the same
way as Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Gas Trucks
These were vehicles packed with
Jews, handicaps, Gypsies etc. and
they were gassed with carbon
monoxide which resulted in
suffocation. Gas trucks were
particularly used at Chelmno
extermination camp.
There were 3 gas trucks used in
Chelmno, Poland.
Once the victims suffocated, the
driver would take them to the forest
camp (Waldlager) where the corpses
were buried in the graves.This
procedure happened on a daily basis
from December 8, 1941 to the spring
of 1943.
Crematoriums
Crematoriums were large furnaces used to kill victims; not only was it used for
dead bodies but alive ones also. They would be burnt into ashes and this was an
ongoing process to kill non-Aryans.
There were a total of 5 crematoriums which operated in Auschwitz-Birkenau and in
a 24-hour-period, about 800-1,500 bodies were burnt.
Mass Killings
Germans killed a huge number of
people at the same time by
shooting at them. Mass killings
were quite often throughout
Holocaust.
1.5 million Jews were shot in
the most brutal way by Nazis.
In Majdanek, on November 3,
1943 and November 4, between
17,000 and 18,000 Jews were
killed in one day as part of a
mass shooting. This was known as
"harvest feast“
Jews were forced to dig their
own graves and they would
eventually be shot to fall into
their grave.
Bibliography
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