CHP 23:The Final Solution

Question 1

Origins: Had Nazis always been looking towards a ‘final solution’?

Answer 1

-Yes!!, H’s ideological goals been secured for a long time, was certain that under his leadership, Jews wud suffer.
-Initially, H looked towards programs of mass deportation, like Madagascar plan. BUT, these had to be abandoned.
-By 1941, General Gov overcrowded wi deported Jews, + Nazis forced to look towards new way to deal wi them.

Question 2

Wannsee: What was Wannsee Conference? When was it held?

Answer 2

-20th Jan 1942.
-This wasn’t where decision to pursue where final solution took place, but where Nazis informed of their roles in implementing this pre-made decision.
-H + Himmler weren’t even in attendance.
-Also clarified sit regarding deportations to east.

Question 3

Wannsee: Who attended it? When had actual decision taken place? What did it enable?

Answer 3

-Comprised 15 high-ranking Nazi officials.
-Chaired by Heydrich, who received orders from Goering to organise preparations to ‘final solution’ of Jewish Question.
-Actual decision abt final solution on 22nd June, 1941.
-Essentially enabled coordination & acceleration of mass, systematic, killings. More than half of Jews that died in Holocaust were killed in 1942-43.

Question 4

Final Solution: How did war effect Anti-semitism?

Answer 4

-As tides began to turn against G, mass extermination sped up, Anti-semitic propaganda intensified.
-Killings given higher priority than military needs.
-Spring 1943, after G surrendered at Stalingrad in Feb, Goebbels gave his ‘Total War’ speech.
-Autumn 1943, when G suffered from mass bombing raids, + Red Army began to push back, a wave of anti-Semitic propaganda published.
-Another surge Summer 1944, in line wi Allied landings in FR.

Question 5

Final Solution: How were mass killings accelerated? What happened when they knew they’d lose?

Answer 5

-In FR, G, Italy, Greece, + Slovakia, Jewish populations were rounded up for deportation.
-The Ghettos at Minsk + Vilnius destroyed.
-Feb 1944, remaining Jews in Amsterdam deported to Auschwitz.
-By Summer, they knew war was unwinnable, but not until Nov 1944 that they began to cover up killings, when USSR were well into Poland.
-The Crematoria at Auschwitz was blown up, prisoners forced west.

Question 6

Camps: List some purpose-built extermination camps.

Answer 6

-Chelmno, abt 40 miles from Lodz ghetto in Poland, was the first built, n Dec 1941. Abt 145,000 killed there, using carbon monoxide.
-Sobibor built near Lublin, having been agreed at Wannsee Conference. Abt 250,000 died there, largely Jews + Soviet PoW. Camp closed soon after a revolt of 800 prisoners Oct 1943.
-Treblinka, 75 miles from Warsaw, eta July 1942, wasn’t used until Sep1943. Abt 1 mill people killed there, starting wi 300,000 Jews from Warsaw.

Question 7

Camps: List some campsconverted into extermination camps.

Answer 7

-Majdanek built in 1940, from late 1941 became death camp. Abt 200,000 killed there, 60% Jewish.
-Belzec, labour camp, operated as death camp from March 1942-Spring 1943. Abt 500,000 Jews killed.
-Auschwitz had been built in 1940 by IG Farben, and in 1941 became an extermination camp. About 1/5 of the victims of the Holocaust were killed there.

Question 8

Camps: Where were extermination camps situated? How many were there?

Answer 8

-6 Nazi Death camps, all which located in German-occupied Poland.
-Built near ghettos, allowing liquidation of overcrowded ghettos.
-Death camps intentionally built outside of G, unlike concentration camps, which were near almost every city in G (Dachau, Bergen-Belsen etc).

Question 9

Camps: How was Auschwitz diff from other death camps?

Answer 9

-1943 +1944, Auschwitz became hub of systematic murder of Jews.
-Before this, camps like Sobibor, Belzec, Treblinka had been main extermination camps, but were closed down after their Jewish populations had been wholly murdered.
-Aushwitz comprised 3separate parts, including Auschwitz II, the huge camp at Birkenau that housed main crematoria.

Question 10

Resistance: Give some more info abt the prevalence of Partisans.

Answer 10

-Abt 10,000 Jewish Partisans active in Lithuania in early 1942.
-In General Gov of Poland, Hans Frank had to commit large security forces to deal wi 20 diff Jewish Partisan grps.
-In Belarus, from Autumn 1941, a grp led by Bielski brothers numbered 1200, providing refuge from Jews escaping ghettos.

Question 11

Resistance: Give some more info about revolts in Ghettos & Camps.

Answer 11

-Warsaw Uprising, 1943 surprising to SS, as 80% of its Jewish pop had already been sent to Treblinka. Cud only be crushed after use of air strikes.
-Uprising also took place in Bialystok ghetto.
-1944 at Auschwitz-Birkenau Jewish prisoners blew up Crematoria 4.
-Networks of Jewish prisoners, who smuggled detailed evidence to inform Western allies abt Nazi operation (though this had little actual impact).

Question 12

Marches: What were they? When did they occur?

Answer 12

-As Soviet forces began to close in on G, Nazis frantically began transporting camp inmates west, away from advancing troop.
-First began Summer 1944, wi transportations by trains/ships. BUT, by Winter they transitioned towards marches, on foot.
-Prisoners from Auschwitz were moved to Gross-Rosen, Buchwald, or Dora-Mittelbau.

Question 13

Marches: What was impact of these marches on prisoners?

Answer 13

-Marches took place in dead of winter, where individuals who had been malnourished in camps for yrs were forced on arduous walks, wi inadequate shoes/clothes.
-Many, died from illness and exhaustion.
-Those who cudn’t keep up pace shot by guards.
-250,000-400,000 died on marches, particularly women.

Question 14

End: Detail the deaths of some key Nazis.

Answer 14

-H shot himself 30th April 1945, in his Fuhrerbunker.
-Goebbels killed himself, wife + kids following day.
-Himmler captured by British, killed himself using cyanide.
-Heydrich died in 1942, killed by Czech Partisans.
-Bormann died while escaping Soviets May 1945.
-Goering went on trial at Nuremberg, + killed himself day before his execution, to avoid being hung.

Question 15

End: Name some key Nazis & roles.

Answer 15

-Martin Bormann = H’s personal secretary/head of Party Chancellory.
-Joachim von Ribbentrop = Foreign Minister.
-Rudolf Hoss = Commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
-Albert Speer = Armaments minister, used forced labour.

Question 16

End: When did War end? What happened to camps?

Answer 16

-WW2 ended 8th May 1945, following success of Operation Overlord (D-Day landings) in June 1944, opening up a second front.
-By April 1945, Soviet forces captured Berlin.
-By end of the war, only 2 camps still running, as most been liberated/decommissioned. E.G: Chelmno closed April 1944.

Question 17

End: What was state of some camps at the end?

Answer 17

-Some camps deserted, while others massively overcrowded by death marches.
-Auschwitz 7,000 prisoners left, while Bergen-Belson, in G, 60,000.
-250,000 people were in Displaced Persons camps in 1945, after liberation.