As the Allied troops were closing in, the Germans made the murder of Jews a top priority.

by Rabbi Eliyahu Ellis and Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky

The last great transport of the war took place in 1944.

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Destroying Evidence

Burning Corpses To Destroy Evidence
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

The war was essentially lost. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was mauling the German army. On the Western Front was "D-Day" and the Allies moving. It was clear that the war was lost. And yet, when the German generals were desperate for supplies and reinforcements and troop trains, what did the Nazis do?

The Germans were losing the war, and it was more important to them to kill the Jews. The last great transport: 450,000 Hungarian Jews were shipped off to Auschwitz in eight weeks. For the master-mind genius, Adolf Eichmann, this was the "piece d’resistance."

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Mass Grave

Pile Of Bodies At Bergen-Belsen
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

With retreat, finally the evidence was starting to be uncovered. The Germans tried to cover up the evidence. They took the bodies out of mass graves, and burned them and plowed the areas. They tried to destroy the camps, disassemble them. A visit to the site of some of the camps today will reveal beautiful meadows. But where is there a rug big enough to cover up six million people?

During the final period of the war, the Nazis were focusing on killing the Jews. They would march them on "Death Marches," deeper into German territory so they could wring a little bit more work out of these "bodies," and also kill the Jews at their leisure, with the Allies and the Russians closing in.

And finally, the end came. Hitler surrendered, and committed suicide in April 1945. Berlin was captured on May 1, 1945, and on May 8-9 the German forces surrendered and World War II was over.

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Nazis Burying Jews

British Forcing Nazi Women To Bury Jewish Victims
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

Goebbels, when he was put to death, said, "I am happy to go to my death, because we brought down six million Jews with us."

This mentality makes the reality horrifyingly clear. The Nazi war was based on the Jews.

 

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Published: Wednesday, December 31, 1969
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Visitor Comments: 10

(10) alliy p., January 10, 2010 5:54 PM

good

helped me finish my homework

(9) Bob, February 7, 2007 11:32 PM

not cool

I am a German Christian. My family moved out of Germany when hitler came to power. Jews may be different but so are all races. I wish hitler was alive to pay for this.

(8) Sopa, May 26, 2006 12:00 AM

still so real

I am still so disgusted when I read about this tragedy. I am glad that you are still making sure that we do not forget what happened to millions of innocent victims. Nobody deserves this no matter what they believe in.

(7) SAMi, January 5, 2006 12:00 AM

this is scary stuff

when i was reading this for a project for school i almost couldnt go on its soo sad reading about what the nazis did to the jews. i am a christian and i even think this is horrible. im so sorry for what those horrible german nazis put alot of jewish people through.

(6) julia, January 14, 2005 12:00 AM

The Best Info.!

what your showing us gives us a very good perspective of what happen even though what was going on was awfull at least you make sure that you get evrey detail in there so that we can get a good look at what out people had to go threw just becuase of a stupid religon crisis and you let us know what a real phyco hitler was! thank you for you infromation you provied

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About the Author

Rabbi Eliyahu Ellis

Rabbi Eliyahu Ellis studied biology and geology at Northern Illinois University. In addition, he spent time as a deep-sea diver in the oil fields in the North Sea between Scotland and Norway and has circumnavigated the seas of the world in a sailboat. Rabbi Ellis received rabbinic ordination from Aish HaTorah where he is a senior lecturer at the Discovery and Essentials programs.

Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky

Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky received his BS from Cornell with a major in Communication Arts and a minor in Archeology, and did post-graduate work at UCLA in the field of Desert Plants and Natural History. Prior to moving to Israel, he worked in the field of Urban Ecology including several years as a landscape designer in Beverly Hills. Rabbi Silinsky received rabbinic ordination from Aish HaTorah and the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He currently teaches at the Yeshivat Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem.

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