Terror Of Auschwitz Essay Research Paper The

Terror Of Auschwitz Essay, Research Paper

The Terror of Auschwitz

The Holocaust refers to any widespread human disaster, but it is more widely known as

the almost complete destruction of the Jews in Europe by Nazi Germany. During the 19th century,

European Jewry was being emancipated, and, in most European countries, Jews achieved some

equality of status with non-Jews. Nonetheless, at times Jews were vilified and harassed by

anti-Semitic groups. Indeed, some anti-Semites believed that Jewry was an alien “race” not

assimilable into a European culture, but they did not formulate any coherent anti-Semitic

campaign. In 1940, Germany began sending Jews to Concentration Camps, a place where selected

groups of people (Jews) are confined, usually for political reasons and under inhumane conditions.

One of the largest concentration camps was located thirty-seven miles west of Krakow,

Poland. Auschwitz was the camp where Jewish people were worked and killed. This

camp, out of all the rest tortured the most people.

Auschwitz began as a barracks camp in the town of Oswiecim, for the polish army

in the early 1930’s. Germany then captured Poland and needed another location for Polish

political prisoners. In 1940, the German SS sent a commission to Oswiecim to see if the

barracks there could be used. The first inspection reported that it could not be used,

however, a later inspection stated that after a few minor changes it would be useable. On

May 4, 1940 Rudolf Hoss officially established it as a German concentration camp. Hoss

was Auschwitz’s first commandant. Auschwitz was originally intended for Polish political

prisoners and other Poles. In June of 1940, the first load of prisoners arrived. 728 Poles

and a handful of Jews. Soon, though, it became a melting pot of prisoners. Male Czechs,

Soviets, Yugoslavs, Jews, and Gypsies; were housed there. Not until 1942 did women

arrive. In January of 1942 it was decided that Auschwitz would become the main Jewish

extermination camp. Thereafter cattle cars brought in ship loads of Jews monthly. They

were brought from all over in these filthy cars, going for days without food, water, or

washing facilities. Many times these cars were so crowded that people were simply

crushed to death. During the first few months of operation, Auschwitz simply housed the

Jews because an effective method for mass extermination had not yet been found. They

performed many experiments on the prisoners to find a gas that was cheap and quickly

effective. Also, they had not yet begun cremating the bodies so they had prisoners dig

huge trenches 15 ft. wide, 15 ft. deep, and 150 yds. long to bury them. These massive

holes would be filled within days. However, during the summer, the bodies bloated and

rotted and a disgusting purplish liquid began seeping up from these graves, smelling of bile

and rotting flesh. Nearby fish farmers complained that their fish were dying from pollution

caused by the rotting bodies. Some other way to deal with the prisoners had to be found,

especially since their numbers were increasing with every arrival. The Nazis then

discovered Zyklon B. It was a very effective killing gas. Since they were then able to kill

more efficiently, they had to find a more efficient means of disposing of the bodies. Soon,

mass crematoriums were erected, capable of burning 2,000 bodies in a single day. Upon

arrival at camp, doctors made selections as to who would live and perform slave labor.

The others would be gassed. Two lines would be formed, one going in the direction of the

camp, and the other leading toward the ’shower rooms’. Those not selected for the ‘life’

line were told that they would be going to the showers for ‘delousing’. They were made to

fold their clothes neatly and put them in piles and march, naked, to the ’showers’. Those

rooms were equipped with fake shower heads and benches, but none of the shower heads

worked. The Jews would be herded into these rooms and the doors would lock. Then

vents in the ceiling would open and granules of Zyklon B would be released. Within 15

minutes, they would all be dead. Thirty minutes after they died, authorities would open the

doors and let it air out for two or three hours. Then they would send in slaves to remove

the bodies, taking them to the crematorium. The prisoners chosen for the ‘life’ line may

have had the worst fate though.

The conditions at Auschwitz were unthinkable. Prisoners slept six people to a

bunk, which was made for two. These bunks rose 6 feet high, sometimes with so much

weight on the tops of them, they would collapse and kill all the ones underneath. Sleep

was impossible for most though, beds were hard plank boards, over crowded and infested

with lice, ticks and bed bugs. The rats were so bad that if a prisoners died in the middle of

the night, the rats would have eaten him to the point where recognition was impossible.

Every morning prisone

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