Nazi Plans for the Jews

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Nazi Plans for the Jews

Slovak Sympathizers Cutting Jew's Beard
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

RealAudio account by Mrs. M. (0:51 min.)

One of the favorite "forms of amusement" for Nazi soldiers was to go up to the old Jewish men and cut off their sidelocks. A witness now living in Jerusalem said, "They cut his sidelocks and they stuck him on the ground and rode him like a donkey.

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Nazi Cutting Jew's Beard For Amusement
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

And afterwards, they put a bullet in his head."

Read a personal account.

The sheer quantity of Polish Jews was a problem for the Nazis. Previously, the Jews could leave, or the Germans threw them out of the country.

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German Jews Being Marched To A Concentration Camp
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

Indeed, Adolf Eichmann became famous by throwing the Jews out of Austria. With so many Jews in Poland, deportation became no longer practical. Now there were three million more under German control.

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Round-Up Of Jews In Baden-Baden
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

Listen to a RealAudio account by Mr. S. (1:40 min.)

At this point, the Nazi approach started to shift: Rather than letting the Jews go, they began concentrating them into the infamous "ghettos." In Poland, they adopted a 4-point plan:

Jews Being Forced Into Slave Labor
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

Marking the Jews with yellow badges.

Forcing them into slave labor.

Looting their property.

Read an eyewitness account.

Sealing them into the ghettos.

Published: Wednesday, December 31, 1969

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Visitor Comments: 14

(14) WHAT???? , June 10, 2009

This was sooooo wrong

I was never really interested in the holocost because of how sick it makes me feel,but when you learn what really happened you want to learn more wow!!!
(13) Anonymous , March 31, 2009

I can't even begin to describe the horror and the tragedy of this unfortunate event. My heart hurts for those who were persecuted during the holocaust. I recommend you all read NIGHT ELIE WISEL...
(12) just a girl , January 19, 2009

this is horrible!!

this is so wrong what the Germans did to the Jews!! i am learning about this in school right now, and it is such an eye opener! i cant believe anyone would ever do this to another person like this! i know that there are still some things going on in the world that are similar to this, and i think that we all need to knock it off! we are people and our color or religion may not be the same, butt in the long end, we are all people! and we all are special to someone, and im sure that someone who cares about another person wouldnt want them to get hurt!!
(11) Anonymous , January 1, 2009

wow!

i really thought the holocaust was just a man in power tiring to get lots of power,but what i have read so far i noticed it was a lot more than that!The Jewish families have gone through a lot! Right now i am reading the diary of Anne frank and looking at the holocaust in different perspectives. By that i mean looking at it the way she looked at it and how the people who did this article.
(10) brandon , April 3, 2008

i love this web site

this is cool

(9) Hannah , January 7, 2008

Will we ever learn?

I am a Jewish teenager and I came upon this site while looking for info for my hebrew school homework. What happened to the Jewish people during the Holocaust is crazy and unbelievable- I find it hard to believe that humans would just hate people so willingly. The worst part is that no one did anything about it. To LIV (about the previous comment),if enough people had done something or said something, 6,000,000+ Jews probably wouldn't have died. No one tried to stop the Nazis until it was too late. It was pure evil, but its still happening today. In Darfur, millions of innocent people are being killed. Its like the Holocaust all over again, except this time we know what we did wrong. But, barely anybody knows or cares about what's happening. We should try to do something. It's our duty as a person to help others.

Will we ever learn?
(8) Anonymous , May 4, 2006

anne frank was a good book

anne frank was one of the best books I have ever read.
(7) Mark Stevens , March 27, 2006

Invasion Of Poland......

On the night of August 1st, 1939, Nazis took an unknown prisoner from a concentration camp, dressed him in a Polish uniform, took him to the town of Gleiwitz (on the border of Poland and Germany), and then shot him. The staged scene with the dead prisoner dressed in a Polish uniform was supposed to appear as a Polish attack against a German radio station.

Hitler used this as an excuse for a invasion of Poland. Not just a military exercise but a full out, hell bent attack on a peaceful and somewhat defenseless country. Most of the Polish Airforce was destroyed on the ground within the first couple days, many of planes were outdated and no match for the modern Nazi war machine. Those planes that did make it off the ground didn't last long. While the rest of the world stood by and watched, Poland was destroyed within a matter of weeks. With the mass majority of the German Army engaged in Poland, there was ample opportunity to invade Germany. Nothing was done, why? 1.8 million German soliders were in Poland during the invasion, leaving Germany wide open to any country with a reasonably sized Army.

Accounts of the actual battle for Poland made it sound as if the Poles sat back and did nothing, this was far from true. The Poles inflicted fairly heavy casualties on the German Army despite the fact that they were outnumbered 10 to 1 in many cases. They could only hope and pray for help, help that never came. At least, not in time to save Poland or the lives of millions of Jews.

What followed was one of the worst attrocities ever commited by one country against another, perhaps, only the naked aggresion in Russia equaled the shameless acts of murder, plundering and violence. It was more than 5 years before Poland was finally liberated by the Red Army. 5.6 million people died in Poland as a result of the Nazis.

Hiter was as greedy as he was evil and decided that he had to have Russia, as well as the rest of Europe. The invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa) marked a major turning point in the war. Russia would pay a heavy toll, millions of Jews were murdered and the country of Russia lost 22 million as a result of the war. In the end, it was the allies who would prevail, by 1944 Germany began to reep the whirlwind and by the end of the year, Allied forces were in Reich territory. That marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany.

62 million people died as a result of Hitler's lust for death and destruction.
(6) liv , August 29, 2005

harder than it sounds

yeah it does seem like you'd rebel if you were in that situation but people who did stand up and say something were persecuted for having opposing views. The Nazi's disposed of anyone that did not agree with their views or policies. They killed all communists and other political party followers that threatened their success.It also wasnt just jews they killed, it was gypsies,homosexuals,handicapped, mentally disabled, basically anyone non aryan.They had gestapo walking the streets listening in for people who did not side with the nazis and when they found people they considered traitorous to the nazi way they killed them. They even trained kids in school to sell out their own parents if they were anti nazi. So really people did rebel but they only ended up dead, so it's kind of understandable they way so many people went along with it even though they knew it was wrong
(5) Carl , August 28, 2005

Nazi Germany

If i seem ignorant in this subject, Please forgive me. I have recently me a realy nice girl who I really liked the minute I met her. It was only a few days ago she told me she was jewish because she said at her school, STUDENTS PICK ON HER BECAUSE SHE IS JEWISH!!!!! We're talking 2005 here... Please forgive me if this seems rude, but up until now I thought the jews who were killed were just 'Humans'... But if anything they are more intelegent and self respecting than the rest of us I think... Now, Everytime I read or hear a story of what happened in the death camps I think about danielle... I think to myself 'How could a human being do this to another human being?' its simply pure EVIL - There is no word to describe how evil it is...
(4) Amz , July 5, 2005

REBEL!!!!

If i was a German at the time i would, no doubt about it, rebel!!! If one person does then many would of followed in your footsteps, and save MILLIONS of INNOCENT lives. LIFE IS PRECIOUS, DO ANYTHING YOU CAN TO KEEP IT!!!!!
(3) caylee , January 4, 2004

crazy

it is crazy and sad how the nazi soldiers and poeple treated the jews but that is what the were told to do and they had to follow the orders hitler gave. i honestly dont know what i would do in that situation! i know i would want to rebel but would i? would i really risk my life to save people i didnt even know?
(2) Richard , November 30, 2003

Horrible

I hate the things that have happened to people of the jewish faith. Their strength and will proves how faithful the jewish people are to God. In school I was always used as an example for what the German's considered to be the ideal aryan race. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. Even so, I believe that if I was a German during that time I would have surely been killed for leading a rebelion against the nazis.
(1) diana , October 30, 2002

Can you belive it??

wen i hear about the holocaust i feeel so bad, and i hate all the people that killed jews, but the worst thing is that i pretty sure that if i was alive, and german when this happened, i would probably have agreed on killing Jews, or at lest i would have hate them, and i bet who ever is reading this, would have agreed too.

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Visitor Comments: 14

(14) WHAT???? , June 10, 2009

(13) Anonymous , March 31, 2009

(12) just a girl , January 19, 2009

(11) Anonymous , January 1, 2009

(10) brandon , April 3, 2008

(9) Hannah , January 7, 2008

(8) Anonymous , May 4, 2006

(7) Mark Stevens , March 27, 2006

(6) liv , August 29, 2005

(5) Carl , August 28, 2005

(4) Amz , July 5, 2005

(3) caylee , January 4, 2004

(2) Richard , November 30, 2003

(1) diana , October 30, 2002

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