These questions will be rotated as time permits. If you have a question that you would like to see answered, just drop me an email. Please place this in the subject line: Holocaust FAQs.  Please note that all answers are the express opinion of  me! <g>  I use internet sites, books, interviews and library research on which to draw my conclusions. Remember to cite the "web sites and their authors" given below  the questions as your information "sources" in your paper or presentation for citation/bibliographic purposes.

Holocaust FAQs

The Questions

#1.  How much blame should America receive for not doing more to stop the Holocaust?
#2.  What techniques did Josef Mengele use in his experiments at Auschwitz? & What made his findings important?
#3. How many people were killed in the Holocaust and what Countries were occupied by the Nazi's?
#4.  During the Holocaust did the Jewish people revolt, or try to stop Hitler?
#5. Why did Hitler freak out and want to destroy the Jews?
#6.  Was Hitler's dad also his Uncle?
#7.  Was Hitler Jewish?
#8.  Did Hitler do anything good while he was in power?
#9. Hitler and his followers. First: What were his followers like?   Second what were some major reasons why people would follow Adolf Hitler?
#10. What were the treaties signed after WW II to stop atrocities like the Holocaust from happening? Who signed them and what did they state ?
#11. I need to know how many symbols were used by the Nazi's in the concentration camps, my teacher said there might have been as many as 20 symbols used. What were they and what did they stand for?
#12. Do we have anyway of knowing if some unethical medical doctor in 1945 did not take Nazi medical info from the concentration camps and sneaking them into the legitimate medical database? How would this have been done?
#13. Please tell me what effect you would feel Eisenhower had on the Holocaust. Would the answer be that he helped to bring an end to the Holocaust or do you feel there is more to the answer than that?
#14. Why didn't the Jews just leave? Why did they stay?
#15. Why didn't other nations stop the mass murders earlier in the war and what significance does this period in history have for all humans?
#16. How much did the ordinary Germans know?
#17. Isn't what happened in Kosovo the same thing that happened during the Holocaust?
#18. What was the Europa Plan and the Kasztner-Brand negotiations?

Question #1

Q: I am writing a history paper to answer the question: How much blame should America receive for not doing more to stop the Holocaust?

You are writing a very timely history paper. There are many organizations that are now just starting to come to grips with their involvement, or lack thereof, in the Holocaust. The Red Cross has just started opening up their files, the Swiss and the US are opening up and declassifying files that show how much they knew was going on.

In the past there was discussion that no one knew what was going on. We know this to be false today. There were many reports by the Resistance and some of the people who were lucky enough to escape the camps of what was happening! These reports were buried! There are many areas where you can do some cross researching to find this information. There are some books, which I will list below, where you can see some of the declassified documents. They prove the US not only knew what was happening, but turned a blind eye until the war started to impact them. To understand why we did not get involved sooner, you have to understand the politics of the era.

There were a number of factors that made the US stay neutral or do nothing for so long. First, you have to consider the economic ramifications of declaring war on Germany and/or Japan. We shipped quite a bit of materials to these countries and to stop this would be an economic hardship on the US.( Materials like fuels, ores and other building materials) Secondly, America had strong banking ties to these countries. Thirdly, they were not a threat to us in the initial stages of the war. Germany was just gobbling up little countries that were next to it. Until Canada declared war on Germany, we were content to sit back and watch. Lastly, we were not going to tell the Germans what the could do with their citizens. We were not going to worry about a few ethnic groups vs. our economic well-being!

*Setbacks in the war against Britain required Germany to undertake new
diplomatic maneuvers. On September 27, Germany, Italy, and Japan
formalized the Axis coalition by signing the Tripartite Pact in Berlin.
Under its provisions, Japan recognized the new order that Germany and
Italy were creating in Europe; Germany and Italy recognized Japan's
right to create a new order in the Pacific region; and all three nations
pledged themselves to form a military alliance against any power that
might enter the war against one of them (it was well understood that
this provision was directed against the United States). But the pact did
not disguise the fact that Hitler's plans for vanquishing Britain had
failed.

Until this point we had remained neutral. We had passed the Neutrality Act of 1937. One of our ships was sunk off the coast of Iceland. That helped to get us a tad angry! We then repealed parts of the Neutrality Act and began limited trading to what the British and French could purchase for cash and transport without using American ships. Also information about the concentration camps was being leaked out of government reports. There was also growing public support to enter the war. We finally decided to enter the war because of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines.

Three excellent books to check out from the library:

The Secret War against the Jews. By John Loftus, a Justice Department Prosecutor with the Nazi-hunting unit, and by Mark Aarons, who is an internationally award winning journalist. It talks about this issue and also directly cites recently declassified top secret documents.

The Abandonment of the Jews by David Wyman. According to AACTchMets, it is one of the best book on the US policies towards the Holocaust.

A abandonment of the Jews by A.Kimel
http://haven.ios.com/%7Ekimel19/abandon.html
Reliable information that the extermination of the European Jewry was made public in the United States in November 1942. The Roosevelt administration tried to conceal the information, and did not take any actions until confronted with political pressures 14 months later. The State Department and the British Foreign feared that Germany might
release thousands of Jews and this would put pressure on Britain to open Palestine and on the United States to admit more Jewish refugees. Consequently, they tried to obstruct the rescue possibilities and damped public pressures for government action.

I will give you additional sites that you can look through for more information:

Red Cross during the Holocaust - Curiously inoperative now.... sorry
(http://167.8.29.8/bestbets/bbfri/bbfri03h.htm)
The opening of some wounds will occur as they continue to open up their archives. This article attempts to start the healing process, by admitting they knew what was going on. It also tries to tell why they did nothing.

An Online Holocaust Magazine - America and the Holocaust
http://haven.ios.com/%7Ekimel19/feedback.html
An interview with A. Kimel who wrote one of the books I told you to check out from the library! The first question and response say it all!

Jan Karski
http://dept.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/karski.html
Please read this site for information on the resistance and how they made sure the US and Britain knew what was going on. In particular, read about Zygelbojm's death at the bottom of the site. It showed the extent to which the world has become cold and unfriendly, nations and individuals separated by immense gulfs of indifference, selfishness and convenience.

Resisters, Rescuers, and Bystanders
http://remember.org/guide/wit.root.wit.res.html
Scroll down to the title: World response to the Holocaust. The opening paragraph: The American press had printed scores of articles detailing mistreatment of the Jews in Germany. By 1942, many of these newspapers were reporting details of the Holocaust, stories about the mass murder of Jews in the millions. For the most part, these articles were only a few inches long, and were buried deep in the newspaper. These reports were either denied or unconfirmed by the United States government. When the United States government did receive irrefutable evidence that the reports were true, U.S. government officials suppressed the information. U.S. reconnaissance photos of the Birkenau camp in 1943 showed the lines of victims moving into the gas chambers, confirming other reports. The War Department insisted that the information be kept classified.

Companies Affiliated With Concentration Camps
http://remember.org/educate/companies.html
An eye opener, you can see some of the ties that bind by looking at some of the companies that utilized concentration camp labor. Some US companies are easily recognizable like Shell and Ford. Others like Volkswagen and BMW are also easily recognizable.

Other information about diplomatic efforts and failures:
GI -- World War II Commemoration
http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_14.html
Excellent site to get information from. Read about how our diplomacy efforts failed miserably! I will give you the main link for this site as the last hyperlink I give you.

CHERWELL SCHOOL HISTORY PAGE
http://www.rmplc.co.uk/eduweb/sites/cherwell/history/history.html
An excellent information site on WW2.

GI -- World War II Commemoration
http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_mainpage.html
Main Link for this site.

You can get all of the links above and more information by going to my Holocaust page.
Net's The Holocaust
http://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/Holocaust.html
You will find quite a bit of information under the titles of Resistance, Rescuer's

* This paragraph should be cited from the following source:
GI -- World War II Commemoration
http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_14.html, Grolier, February 15,1998.

Question #2:
Q: What techniques did Josef Mengele use in his experiments at Auschwitz? & What made his findings important?

Mengele used horrible, inhumane methods to do his *research* on Jews and other unfortunates he "selected". As to the relevant importance of his work - that has been a red hot issue since the end of the war! The moral, ethical question it involves is "How can mankind use even the tiniest bit of information that was gathered by the Nazi's, when we know the methods used to gain that knowledge"?

The United States brought over the Nazi scientists and used their technological knowledge.(Operation Paperclip was the name of this) That much has come out since a large segment of documents were recently declassified. But much about the use of the medical records has not yet been declassified........

Many of Mengele's experiments were based about the following:
• on literally creating a blond hair blue eyed race......
• create better equipment for German soldiers, better gear for the cold,
and for high altitudes.....
• One of the more gruesome experiments was a pressure chamber. Prisoners were locked inside a pressure chamber that would simulate flying at high altitudes.....

*One can not help but wonder what kind of a person could ever consider
doing things so horrible, much less carry them out. Who could ever kill
an innocent child by injecting chloroform into their heart, causing the
blood to coagulate and kill the child. Who could ever imagine sewing a
set of twins together to try and make siamese twins? These acts just
seem to be out of the human realm.

I have tons of links on Auschwitz and the Angel of Death,"dr" Mengele. You may want to consider his demeanor while making selections in your report..... it seems he had two sides to his personality. He could be charming, he actually whistled and hummed while pointing people to go to the left or right - while he was deciding whether they lived or died........ he always dressed immaculately and had shiny boots. But the next minute he would then beat people to death with his cane.... anyone who questioned the rules. He was especially nice to the children he was experimenting on, like the twins. He would give them candy and chocolate - then inject them with painful, often deadly concoctions and then make notes and watch as they died.

If you want to learn a bit more about Mengele and his methods of torture and Research, you can go to the links I will provide below. As to the importance of such work, I would not in a million years consider any benefits that we should have in connection with how it was gathered! In my opinion, all this information should NEVER be or have been used! But you can draw your own conclusions after reading through the material I have provided.
The topic you are asking for links on is often described in brutal detail and the photos can be very, very graphic! Please have a parent visit these links with you as the material is horribly brutal to read!

Information about "Dr" Mengele
http://www.arosnet.se/users/megola/drazil/mengele.htm
Reading this will make you understand all about him.... and it describes some of the experiments I have mentioned above.
* This paragraph was copied from this site.
Please Cite: Information about "Dr" Mengele,
http://www.arosnet.se/users/megola/drazil/mengele.htm, (C) Copyright Drazil '96, April 28, 1998.

Selections in Auschwitz
http://www.spectacle.org/695/select.html

Medical Experiments of the Holocaust
http://www.remember.org/educate/medexp.html

Josef Mengele & Human Twins @ Auschwitz
http://www.modcult.brown.edu/students/angell/mengele.html

"Dr" Mengele THE ANGEL OF DEATH
http://www.arosnet.se/users/megola/drazil/mengele.htm

I have even more sites/links on my page - My Holocaust page is located at:
The Holocaust of World War II http://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/Holocaust.html
- Be sure to look at the links under the title Concentration Camps - Auschwitz An Auschwitz Alphabet is a good one to start with. The Cybrary of the Holocaust is another general link that will have an enormous amount of information for you.
Book to see if the library has:
"Mengele: The Complete Story" By Gerald L. Posner and John Ware, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1986.

Question #3

Q. I was told by one teacher that as many Catholics and Christians were killed as Jews during Hitler's rein. another said it isn't true. I have tried to look it up, but they only mention Jews and "other groups".  There is no mention of who they were and how many were killed or forced to work.  Also, what countries were taken over by hitler? ( i know that Italy and Poland were...are there more)?

Your teacher is mistaken in thinking that as many Catholics and Christians were murdered as the Jews. There were about 6 Million "documented" Jewish victims of the Nazi regime. But there are more and more camps being discovered every year. You have to understand that the Nazi's built thousands of camps. After killing all the undesirables in the area, they destroyed all evidence of many of these camps. Though many are being or have been discovered today, we will never know all the information.......... There are many of these that have been found - whose numbers killed were never added to the total numbers compiled. So the number of 6 MILLION is what they came up with after the war and it has not been updated to reflect these newly discovered victims/camps.

(A friend of mine, who is a survivor, knows personally of a ghetto that had over 80,000 people killed there........ there is no mention of this ghetto in the official listings. The survivors are working now to get it recognized. Many of the official documents, that contain names of the people killed, are now being destroyed by the German government. They are claiming they have no room to store these and they are not relevant. Again, Holocaust Centers are working toward saving, or at least, microfilming these documents.)


Now to move on the number of NON-JEWISH victims of the Holocaust. The recognized figure is approximately 5 MILLION. This figure includes many groups who were not Catholic or Christian in their religious beliefs. The groups that fall under this heading would be: Gypsies or Roma's, Jehovah's Witnesses, atheists that opposed the nazi regime, Serbs, Polish intelligentsia, resistance fighters from all the nations, German opponents of Nazism, homosexuals and the anti-socials(beggars, vagrants and the physically or mentally deformed)

Now as for the Countries that were occupied by the nazi's, it was pretty much the entire European continent. Only a few countries were not occupied, Sweden and part of Finland are two countries that come to mind. The Swedes collaborated with the Germans, by processing their gold and money taken from all the victims. The Finns resisted the nazi occupation until they were in danger of being taken over by the Soviets, then they made a treaty with the nazi's to save them.

Occupied Countries:
Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Norway, Holland, Italy, Lattvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Netherlands, Czech Republic(Czecho-Slovakia, while Sudetenland was granted to Germany during appeasement period), Denmark, Iceland, the Baltic States, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece and Scandinavia.

On Italy: Italy was a German ally until almost the very end of the war. Then they changed sides.
Japan - German Ally

On Slave Labor : You can get many articles about the lawsuits of slave laborers who wan to get compensated for their work during WW II, by going to AOL Keyword: News Search, and typing in "Slave Labor". I know many people who were forced to labor for IG Farben(Bayer) and other companies during the war. There were hundreds of thousands of forced workers during the war. Many perished in the camps, so we may never know exactly how many there were.

I hope this has helped clear up some of the misinformation you received.

Here are the links that will help you show your teacher how you got the information on the numbers killed in the Holocaust and a list of forgotten camps.

36 Questions from the Simon Wiesenthal Center
http://www.wiesenthal.com/resource/36quest1.htm#3
Look at question/answers 2 & 3.

Map of Holocaust Deaths - Numbers killed
http://www.scetv.org/HolocaustForum/images/DEATHS.GIF

The Forgotten Camps
http://www2.3dresearch.com/%7Ejune/Vincent/Camps/CampsEngl.html
History of several small nazi concentration camps, work camps, police
camps, transit camps..... This site also has some other excellent information about companies that used concentration camp labor in their plants. (Note the familiar names: BMW, KRUPP, BAYER, VOLKSWAGEN and Ford has also been named and is being sued in court today over the slave labor issue)

You can also go to my web page in the Holocaust for more information. You can get to my page by going to this web site:
The Holocaust of World War II
http://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/Holocaust.html

Question #4
Q. During the Holocaust did the Jewish people revolt, or try to stop Hitler to what he was doing to them?

Yes, the Jewish people did resist in many ways, especially after it was known what was happening! But it was not easy to do, in light that the Jewish people were basically and had to be, an island unto themselves during this war. There simply was no safe haven to run to in nazi-occupied Europe. I will explain what I mean below:

Many tried to emigrate, but there were no countries that were willing to allow them to enter as immigrants or refugees. Deteriorating economic conditions contributed to the political and social climate which both launched World War II and fueled the Anti-Semitism, encouraged the destruction of the Jews. These same economic conditions world-wide resulted in barriers placed against those potential Jewish immigrants who sought refuge from the Nazi terror. Anti-Jewish sentiment in France, England, and even the United States resulted in hundreds of thousands of European Jews being denied a safe haven, which meant virtually certain death.

In Germany, the Catholic Church did not oppose the Nazis' antisemitic campaign. Church records were supplied to state authorities which assisted in the detection of people of Jewish origin, and efforts to aid the persecuted were confined to Catholic non-Aryans. While Catholic clergymen protested the Nazi euthanasia program(Where they killed the handicapped, deformed or mentally deficient) few, with the exception of Bernhard Lichtenberg, spoke out against the murder of the Jews. You also had your neighbors point you out as being Jewish to the Nazi's. The Gestapo routinely offered a bounty for those who turned in Jews who were hiding. This bounty consisted of a quart of liquor, four pounds of sugar, a carton of cigarettes, or, at times, small cash payments. For many civilians, these commodities were unobtainable through normal channels, and thus they were provided with a powerful incentive to cooperate with the Gestapo above and beyond any hatred they may have harbored against the Jews.

Thousands of Jews in Germany were successful in fleeing before the onset of hostilities in 1939, especially in the early years of the Nazi period. Many of these refugees were able to find their way aboard ships headed for American ports. There are many tragic stories of these ships being turned away by immigration officials, and their occupants returned to Europe to face the gas chambers. The most famous of these is the story about the SS St. Louis Voyage in 1939.  Another ship, The Struma, was turned back in 1943 by the British in Palestine.  It was was sunk by a torpedo from a Russian submarine near Istanbul and all perished.

Some Jews resisted by hiding in the attics, cellars and closets of non-Jews, who themselves risked certain death if their actions were discovered by the Nazis. You have probably heard of the Anne Frank Diary. Her family and others were hidden in a secret annex of rooms above her father’s office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They were able to live for a long time there undetected, until someone turned them in. All of them were then sent to the concentration camps and Anne Frank died of typhus in March of 1945 at Bergen-Belsen. Many people used this form of resistance to try and wait out the holocaust, like in Greece!

Until as late as mid-1942, the Jews were unaware that the Final Solution was being implemented. Stripped of weapons, facing starvation and disease, the prospect of deportation combined with offers of food was an incentive for Jews to board the trains which took them to their deaths...... Some escaped to later join partisan groups in the woods. While others who resisted by trying to flee the train depots or attack the train guards were instantly shot. This instant suicide meant the nazi's would not get work out of them and this was their form of resistance. For others, their form of resistance was just to survive, which would thwart the nazi's and their edict of the Final Solution!

All through the occupied countries, the Germans practiced the doctrine of collective responsibility. Those that resisted more actively found that any success resulted in unintended consequences. If a Nazi soldier was murdered by a Jew, not only was that Jew executed, but also his entire family, and a hundred other Jews. As a result, few Jews even considered carrying out this active resistance for fear of reprisals. This doctrine also was practiced in the camps as well. If a group tried to escape, they were shot and before they were shot they each had to pick out a companion in the camp to die with them.... (If you can rent the movie, Escape at Sorbibor, you will see this) Remember too that to leave or resist, meant you had to leave your family and friends! Here is an example of how this doctrine was carried out in Dollynov, when two Jews escaped from prison. The hid in the ghetto where they could not be found. In reprisal, 1,540 Jews were murdered. (2 = 1540)

Jewish armed resistance to the Holocaust did occur. This active resistance occurred in ghettos, concentration camps, slave labor camps and death camps. Many of those who participated in resistance of this type were caught and then executed and we will never know how much they helped or who they were or just how many there were! However, there are many accounts of major incidents of this resistance. I will outline some of the ways that they resisted and tried to stop the nazi's! But I am also including some information about the general populations that you should look as well. As I find it unbelievable that any sophisticated population, such as Germany was at that time, could have allowed this to happen!

Judenrat & Underground resistance groups of the Ghettos

These councils of Jewish elders (Judenrat) were responsible for communicating the orders of the ghetto Nazi masters. The Nazis enforced these orders on the Judenrat by beatings and executions. As ghetto life settled into a "routine" the Judenrat took on the functions of local government. Many viewed the Judenrat as collaborators, while others saw them as a necessary evil, permitting the Jews a forum to try to negotiate better treatment. Some Jews who agreed to serve, hoped it would just improve their chances of survival. Many who served in the Judenrat were arrested, taken to labor camps, or hanged. Friends of mine who are survivors, say that most of the people they knew on these councils were trying to thwart the nazi's the best way they knew how at the time. They tried to get more food, supplies and keep as many people safe in the ghetto as possible. They just did not have a chance against the nazi war machine and policies.

Underground Jewish organizations sprung up in the ghettos to serve as alternatives to the Judenrat, some of which were established with a military component to organize resistance to the Nazis. The penalty for smuggling was execution, but hey still smuggled food, medicines and other provisions, like guns, into and out of the ghettos. They often brought news of what was really happening to the people inside. They risked their lives by doing this, as to be a Jew caught outside the ghetto meant instant death. There were also clandestine religious services, schools, libraries and newspapers that were carried on in defiance of Nazi strictures against them.

Armed Resistance in the Ghettos:

You may have heard about one of the largest forms of ghetto resistance, called the The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: By 1943, the ghetto residents had organized an army of about 1,000 fighters, mostly unarmed and without equipment. They were joined by thousands of others, mostly the young and able-bodied, still needed for forced labor. By that time, the half-million original inhabitants had been depleted to about 60,000 as a result of starvation, disease, cold, and all the deportations. In January 1943, the S.S. entered the ghetto to round up more Jews for shipment to the death camps. They were met by a volley of bombs, Molotov cocktails, and the bullets from a few firearms which had been smuggled into the ghettos. Twenty S.S. soldiers were killed. It encouraged a few members of the Polish resistance to support the uprising, and a few machine guns, some hand grenades, and about a hundred rifles and revolvers were smuggled in. Facing them were almost 3,000 crack German troops with 7,000 reinforcements available. Tanks and heavy artillery had already surrounded the ghetto. General Himmler promised Hitler that the uprising would be quelled in three days, and the ghetto would be destroyed. It took four weeks. The ghetto was reduced to rubble following bomber attacks, gas attacks,and burning of every structure by the Nazis. Fifteen thousand Jews died in the battle, and most of the survivors were shipped to the death camps. Scores of German soldiers were killed. Some historical accounts report that 300 Germans were killed and 1,000 wounded, the actual figure is still unknown. The anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is celebrated by all the Jewish communities around the world, as well as their non-Jewish compatriots. This day is called "Yom HaShoah," literally, the Day of Destruction. It is also the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust.

The other lesser known ghetto uprisings were:

1. Tuchin Ghetto: On September 3, 1942, seven hundred Jewish families escaped from this ghetto in the Ukraine. They were hunted down, and only 15 survived.

2. Bialystok Ghetto: Jewish paramilitary organizations formed within the ghetto attacked the German army when it was determined that the Nazis intended to liquidate it. The battle lasted just one day,until the resisters were killed or captured.

3. Vilna Ghetto: Some inhabitants of the Vilna Ghetto began an uprising against their Nazi captors on September 1,1943. Most participants were killed, although a few escaped successfully and joined partisan units.

Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos:

For many, attempting to carry on a semblance of "normal" life in the face of wretched conditions was resistance. David Altshuler writes in Hitler's War Against the Jews about life in the ghettos, which sustained Jewish culture in the midst of hopelessness and despair.

"All forms of culture sustained life in the ghetto. Since curfew rules did not allow people on the street from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. the next morning, socializing had to be among friends living [in] the same building or visitors who spent the night. Card playing was very popular,and actors, musicians, comics, singers, and dancers all entertained small groups who came together for a few hours to forget their daily terror and despair."

Artists and poets as well entertained, and their works, many of which survive today, are poignant reminders of the horrors of the period. Underground newspapers were printed and distributed at great risk to those who participated. Praying was against the rules, but synagogue services occurred with regularity. The education of Jewish children was forbidden, but the ghetto communities set up schools. The observance of many Jewish rituals, including dietary laws, was severely punished by the Nazis,and many Jews took great risks to resist the Nazi edicts against these activities. Committees organized to meet the philanthropic, religious, educational, and cultural community needs. Many of these committees defied Nazi authority.

The writings and oral histories of survivors of the labor and concentration camps are filled with accounts of simple sabotage. Material for the German war effort, for example, might be mysteriously defective, the result of intentionally, shoddy workmanship by Jewish slave labor. <grin>

Concentration Camp Resistance:

There are several ways that the Jewish people resisted in the camps too! Some ways were small and others ended up being larger than life! One of the most famous examples of concentration camp resistance was the Escape from Sorbibor!

*Sobibor was one of the three camps that was build as a part of Aktion Reinhard in the General Gouvernment in Poland. The camps were meant to destroy all Jewish life with most urgency without leaving a trace of the extermination. They were highly secret and no one was allowed to speak about it. Sorbibor was one of the The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, known to be the worst to be sent to! The people were literally starved/worked to death. The average life span of people sent to these camps varied from two weeks (Mauthausen-Gusen's quarry's contributed to this dismal average) to two months. The escape from Sorbibor was very embarrassing to the nazi's. It had never happened before and it was a shock that people were able to escape.

There was an excellent movie made in 1987, titled "Escape from Sorbibor". It was made with the help and consultations of actual survivors of the escape. The History Channel on cable t.v. recently showed this movie and afterwards interviewed some of the survivors, it was fascinating. You should check if it is on the program listings in your area. If you can find it, have someone tape it for you who has cable. Or you could rent this movie and watch it with your family, although it is not extremely graphical, it is a very disturbing film. It shows the inhumanity that was shown to people by the nazi's.

Jewish inmates revolt in the Treblinka (extermination camp) in August of1943. Out of the 750 prisoners who tried to escape in the uprising, only seventy survived. The rest were hunted down in the forests by the Nazis and their helpers and are summarily executed.

Slave Labor used from the camps: Munitions failures

Many of the ways that people also resisted from the camps was the work they were forced to do for companies outside the camps! Many were forced to make munitions and other war supplies used to fight the allies! An example of a Major German corporation that used slaver labor for this was the giant chemical producer I.G. Farben. Two companies you will recognize, Ford and Volkswagen also used slave labor to make the german war vehicles. Other companies were: Krupp, Siemens, and Daimler-Benz either built factories within the camp complex or leased slave laborers from the camps. A large percentage of these munitions/vehicles failed on the battlefield....... ever wonder why? The Jewish slave laborers' intentionally made mistakes to make them fail!

Jewish Soldiers of the allies:

Striking Back: A Jewish Commando's War Against...
http://www.events.broadcast.com/events/swc/petermasters/
A chapter of World War II unknown to everyone except military personnel with a "need to know," a group of Jews were recruited into a commando unit in the British Army unlike any other  - they were comprised almost entirely of Jewish refugees. If you have real audio on your computer, you can listen to this. I found it very interesting!

Partisans and life in the Forests:

Many fled to try and join partisan groups in the forest. Many people came to the forests to escape the fighting and just live out the war, but could not! Many became part of the local partisan groups that would try to knock out the nazi's or give the intelligence information to other groups that could! They had to scrounge around for food and had to steal to get any food. They also stole guns and anything else to help them survive in the harsh forests..... Remember we are talking about areas of Europe and Russia, that get very cold in the winter!

Books to get at your public library on Resistance:

Hell of Sobibor

ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR by Richard Rashke - see below link

"The War of the Doomed: Jewish Armed Resistance in Poland," by Shmuel Krakowski

"Mila 18," by Leon Uris

"The Wall," by John Hersey

Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust Milton Meltzer By the time World War II was over, the dead included six million Jews--killed specifically because they were Jewish. This collection of first-person accounts of the Holocaust serves as a timeless reminder of how Europe's Jews reacted to the threat of extermination, emphasizing the wide variety of resistance efforts. Illustrated with photographs.

A abandonment of the Jews by A.Kimel

A general book that covers a lot of what the allies knew about what was going on is:

The Secret War against the Jews. By John Loftus, a Justice Department Prosecutor with the Nazi-hunting unit, and by Mark Aarons, who is an internationally award winning journalist. It talks about this issue and also directly cites recently declassified top secret documents.

Facing History & Ourselves - new resource book - excellent

General Background - why whole populations did not try to stop them

Many people just did not act...... they were indifferent because it did not affect them. Indifference on the part of the general population aided the Holocaust. If people would have realized that if they come for my neighbor this week...... they may come for me next week.

1. At no point was there a unified resistance movement within Germany. That would have been the key thing... People needed to come together and massively protest. The Germans had a habit of taking people or small groups that resisted and just sent them to the camps.

2. If the Church would have taken a more aggressive stance, it may have made a big difference.

3. If the Allies would have been more aggressive in bombing the rail lines or even the camps themselves.... it would have saved more people than the camps ended up killing.

4. If the Allies and other countries would have opened up their borders for the people to emigrate, it would have cut down on the number ultimately killed. The Jews were the only group singled out for total systematic annihilation by the Nazis. To escape the death sentence imposed by the Nazis, the Jews could only leave Nazi-controlled Europe. Every single Jewish person and family was to be killed according to the Nazi plan.

Here are some great sites to visit to learn more:

General Sites:

The Holocaust of World War II
http://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/Holocaust.html
Click on Resistance or Companies who used slave labor to learn more!
Resisters, Rescuers, and Bystanders - excellent
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s95/rashke.html
Holocaust & Resistance Studies 10 - 12 & college class
http://www.vtnea.org/holo-1.htm
Ann Frank Overview
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/lp_res/AnneFrankOverview.html
Resistance and Rescue
http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/pages/rr.html

Warsaw Ghetto:
The Stroop Report : The Warsaw Ghetto is No More
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/document/1061-ps.htm
Survivor Warsaw Ghetto - Jack Spiegel
http://www.ushmm.org/uia-bin/uia_doc/query/12?hf=main&uf=uia_hWyfXo
Warsaw Ghetto
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/gallery5/p412.htm
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
http://www.stanford.edu/~mkoidin/mila18/mila18.html
Images: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/gallery/G1941WGU.htm
Pictures from the Warsaw Ghetto
http://remember.org/courage/pictures.html
HOMAGE TO THE MARTYRS OF THE WARSAW GHETTO
http://orangeraie.azur.fr/mm_e.htm

Sobibor
Sorbibor
Sobibor map of camp with explanations of layout!  This site is about the actual camp - Sobibor. It has descriptions of the buildings, the construction, and the leadership.
Deportations to Sobibor - Operation Reinhard
http://www.nizkor.eye.net/faqs/reinhard/reinhard-faq-12.html
Sobibor Survivors - photo
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-sobibor-surv.htm
Escape from Sobibor
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s95/rashke.html
*copied from this site:Richard Rashke's interviews with eighteen of those who survived provide the foundation for this volume. He also draws on books, articles, and diaries to make vivid the camp, the uprising, and the escape. There is quite a bit of information about the Escape from Sorbibor on the net. I will outline some of the ones I found to be good for research:

Anne Frank:
Dateline - Miep Gies (About Anne Frank)
http://www.msnbc.com/onair/nbc/dateline/miepgies/diary.asp
The Truth About Anne Frank: A 12 Hour Class ...
http://remember.org/educate/frank.html
The Diary of Anne Frank
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/lp_res/AnneFrankDiary.html
Anne Frank Educational Trust News and Updates
http://www.afet.org.uk/
Anne Frank's Time Line
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/lp_res/AnneFrankTimeline.html
Anne Frank in the World
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/lp_res/AnneFrankInTheWorld.html#annex
Anne Frank House
http://www.annefrank.nl/htmleng/main/rechtsopvul.html
Anne Frank F.A.Q.
http://www.annefrank.nl/htmleng/main/faqtekst.cfm

You can also go to my web page in the Holocaust for more information. You can get to my page by going to this web site:

The Holocaust of WW II
http://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/Holocaust.html

Question #5

Q. Why did Hitler freak out and want to destroy the Jews?

No one really knows why, although there is a lot of speculation as to why from prominent historians to those who subscribe to the psycho history ideal. The Jews were the only ones specifically targeted for total annihilation by the Nazi's. Remember that 'entire families' were deported, sent to the camps and that most women/children were put to death upon arrival at the camps. The only way for them to escape this was to leave Nazi controlled countries. But the problem was they could not leave, because there was no country that would allow them to emigrate. Most of the other countries around the world closed their borders to the Jewish people. Other groups that were persecuted still had the option to leave, if they had enough money to go.....

There has been a lot of speculation about why Hitler fixated on the Jews. After researching the Holocaust for over 25 years, I believe that Hitler's belief in what Martin Luther preached had quite a bit to do with his fixation on the Jews. Martin Luther was a vehement Anti-Semite, he hated that he could not convert Jews to Christianity and that throughout they have always held together as a strong, cohesive community. Hitler expounded on these very same views in Mein Kampf. Most people feel that this is when Hitler started to really mastermind the Final Solution.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that the Germans were the highest species of humanity on earth. The would stay "pure" by avoiding marriage to Jews, Slavs and other non-Germans. Hitler blamed the Jews for all of mankinds ills and evils. He accused them of being involved in every "form of foulness". He used them as a scapegoat to blame all the problems Germany was facing at the time--the Depression, Reparation payments to the Allies, and the loss of land as a result of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles. He said that a dictatorship, with himself as leader, would be the only way to save Germany from Communism and Jews. His anti-Jewish feelings can also be traced to his boyhood and his days in Vienna when he found it difficult to obtain employment and money. He, naturally, blamed the Jews, Slavs, and other ethnic groups for his troubles.

In Germany, Anti-Semitism intensified toward the end of the First World War and in the aftermath of defeat, particularly on the German right. But the losses sustained in the first World War, coupled with the Depression and economic plight of the middle class all contributed to it. The Nazis' Anti-Semitic propaganda combined the contradictory elements in the image of the "hostile Jew" effectively. The image of the Jew as capitalist frightened farmers, workers, and small businessmen, whereas the image of the Jew as Socialist or Bolshevist frightened almost everybody. The Anti-Semitism of Hitler and the SS drew from a racist world view, which was rooted in a crude pseudo-Darwinism. It put much emphasis on the survival of the fittest and argued that genetic selection should be practised deliberately. This included the breeding of a racial "elite" and the extermination of racially "inferior" or "damaging" groups. Hitler had realized by 1923 that vicious Anti-Semitism and violence against Jews tended to alienate more people than it attracted. So he started to tone the Anti-Semitism down a bit and then was able to gain real power. The implementation of Nazi policies against the Jews thus proceeded carefully and in different steps. Again, it is debated whether extermination was planned from the very beginning or evolved in the course of events during the war.

According to those close to him, like his neighbors, Hitler's beliefs or dislike of Jews had not really changed since he was a young boy. The History Channel on cable television had a very interesting program where they spoke to and interviewed his secretary during the war. She was unable to pinpoint anything that would aid historians on the question of why he hated Jews either.

Unless Hitler's diaries are discovered or someone else's personal papers come to light, which is not real plausible after all these years, we will never know the real reason(s) behind the hatred. I have always dismissed wild and crazy theories that are put forth as fact about the Holocaust, without any substantial proof to back them up. Be careful in your research, as there are many odd theories out there by second rate historians, stating an opinion without showing any *real* proof to back them up!  Like Rudolph Binion's theory that the Jewish Dr. Bloch, who treated Hitler's mother at the time of her death, used methods that created so much unconscious resentment in her son that the doctor is to blame for the entire Holocaust.  This theory was disproved by Hitler himself, by his actions during the war!  Hitler not only expressed gratitude to Dr. Bloch, but later gave him safe passage out of Austria when he most needed it.  So be very leary of the so-called theories about why Hitler hated the Jews enough to want to eradicate them from the earth.  

Here is a great web site that has great information:

36 Questions: The Simon Wiesenthal Center
http://www.wiesenthal.com/resource/36qlist1.htm
Number 16.Why were the Jews singled out for extermination?
http://www.wiesenthal.com/resource/36quest1.htm#16

Here is another excellent explanation about why Hitler singled out the Jews and was able to get away with it, from a friend who has extensive knowledge on the topic of the Holocaust- AACPrfNeil:

Although Adolf Hitler had deep hatred in his heart for many groups he did not consider the equal of the German nation, he had a particularly special place for Jews. These beliefs, though considered by some to be the ravings of a lunatic, were commonly accepted as true among the majority of Europeans. Some of those theories were religiously based, such as the Jewish role in the killing of Christ; the subsequent Jewish resistance to Christianity - finally formally denounced by the Pope and Church as untrue; and the most vicious unfounded rumor of all, that Jews sacrifice Christian children on Passover, called "blood libel." In this era of enlightenment, it is difficult to understand how so many folks could buy into these things, but they did. Remember that the Protestant reformation was led by Martin Luther, a German and an outspoken anti-semite who was very angry with Jews for their unwillingness to convert to Christianity. He is known to have said some incredibly vile things about Jews and the Jewish religion. Nevertheless, Lutheranism became the dominant religion of Germany.

Another theory involved Jews, money, and sinister conspiracies. This is an old, time-worn notion which exists to this very day that says, more or less, that Jews are particularly nefarious with regard to money; that Jews control, at least to some extent, the economic infrastructure of nations; that they are the bankers and brokers who, on behalf of some wicked cabal of elders, wish to control the world through usury and exploitation. These were not strange or alien beliefs. Even Thomas Jefferson, our second President, believed Jewish ethics "were not only imperfect, but often irreconcilable with the sound dictates of reason and morality, as they respect intercourse with those around us; (and they are) repulsive & anti-social, as respecting other nations. They needed reformation, therefore, in an eminent degree."

Hitler really believed all of it. He considered Jews specifically responsible for Germany's military defeat in World War One. He held Jews libel for Germany's tremendous debt after the war, and the subsequent weakness and failure of the Weimar republic. He believed that if Jews could be removed from German society, none of that would ever happen. Jews were not responsible for Germany's woes before, during, or after the first world war. At any rate, Jews only made up less than one percent of the population.

Holocaust historians are divided somewhat on the issue of when the actual notion of extermination took root. Some say extermination was Hitler's original intent as early as 1918, but the larger majority of scholars agree that extermination as a policy for the purpose of eliminating the Jewish presence in Europe was an evolving idea that did not actually become a viable solution until the fall of 1941.

Just one more note. Hitler thought most everybody, other than his own German stock, were inferior and undeserving of an equal place in the Nazi new order, and as such were killed by the millions. Russians, Poles, Czechs, and Gypsies were among them. Extermination as a tool of government policy (or Final Solution as the Germans called it) was directed only at the Jewish population and was intended to end the Jewish seed, the only seed so targeted. The killing centers with their gas chambers and crematoria were constructed for that purpose, and that purpose alone.

Also look for this book in your public library:

Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil, Ron Rosenbaum

You can also go to my web page in the Holocaust for more information. You can get to my page by going to this web site:

The Holocaust of World War II
http://members.aol.com/TeacherNet/Holocaust.html

Good luck with your studies! Don't forget to cite your sources properly.

Question #6

Q. Was Hitler's Dad also his Uncle?
No, that is incorrect. But the explanation is very confusing. Adolph's last name was Hitler and his parents were married to each other and were not related by blood...... they were related by Adolph hitler's father changing his name.

Let me explain how the name change came about: When hitler's father Alois was about five years old, Maria Schicklgruber married Johann Georg Hiedler. The marriage lasted five years until her death of natural causes, at which time Alois went to live on a small farm with his uncle. So he lived with his uncle for a time and maybe developed a close father-son relationship with him..... but that was it. His last name was Schicklgruber, as his mother had never married his real(blood) father. After he gained success in the civil service, his uncle asked him to change his name to Heidler(his uncle's last name) to carry on the family name. But when it was written down in the book, the spelling was Hitler. That is how adolph's father received the last name of hitler.

Now, you still with me here? When his father Alois married Klara Pölzl - she was the granddaughter of uncle Hiedler. Technically (not by blood) because of the name change, she was his own niece and he had to get permission from the Catholic Church.

So I guess you could say technically, his mother was also his cousin once or twice removed by marriage.<very big grin> This is starting to sound like a riddle!  The web site below explains it in great detail, go to the site, read about it!  By the way, this was a great question to ask!

Rise of Adolph Hitler
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/born.htm

Alois had always used the last name of his mother, Schicklgruber, and thus was always called Alois Schicklgruber. He made no attempt to hide the fact he was illegitimate since it was common in rural Austria. But after his success in the civil service, his proud uncle from the small farm convinced him to change his last name to match his own, Hiedler, and continue the family name. However, when it came time to write the name down in the record book it was spelled as Hitler. And so in 1876 at age 39, Alois Schicklgruber became Alois Hitler....... you will have to go to the site to read more about this. I am unable to copy more from the site because of copyright issues.

Question #7

Q. Was Hitler Jewish?

According to the information contained on the links below, hitler himself would have been categorized as Jewish! He would have been categorized as a Mischlinge of the Second degree.  If you did not have proof that you were NOT a Jew, you were categorized as this.

Rise of Adolph Hitler
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/born.htm
His father, Alois, was born in 1837. He was the illegitimate son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber and her unknown mate, which may have been someone from the neighborhood or a poor millworker named Johann Georg Hiedler. It is also remotely possible Adolf Hitler's grandfather was Jewish. Maria Schicklgruber was said to have been employed as a cook in the household of a wealthy Jewish family named Frankenberger. There is some speculation their 19 year old son got her pregnant and regularly sent her money after the birth of Alois.   Adolf Hitler would never know for sure just who his grandfather was.

36 FAQ's about the Holocaust - #'s 9 and 10, from the Simon Wiesenthal Center
http://www.wiesenthal.com/resource/36qlist1.htm
9. How did the Germans define who was Jewish?

Answer: On November 14, 1935, the Nazis issued the following definition of a Jew: Anyone with three Jewish grandparents; someone with two Jewish grandparents who belonged to the Jewish community on September 15, 1935, or joined thereafter; was married to a Jew or Jewess on September 15, 1935, or married one thereafter; was the offspring of a marriage or extramarital liaison with a Jew on or after September 15, 1935.

10. How did the Germans treat those who had some Jewish blood but were not classified as Jews?

Answer: Those who were not classified as Jews but who had some Jewish blood were categorized as Mischlinge (hybrids)and were divided into two groups:

Mischlinge of the first degree--those with two Jewish grandparents;

Mischlinge of the second degree--those with one Jewish grandparent.

The Mischlinge were officially excluded from membership in the Nazi Party and all Party organizations (e.g. SA, SS, etc.). Although they were drafted into the Germany Army, they could not attain the rank of officers. They were also barred from the civil service and from certain professions. (Individual Mischlinge were, however, granted exemptions under certain circumstances.) Nazi officials considered plans to sterilize Mischlinge, but this was never done. During World War II, first-degree Mischlinge, incarcerated in concentration camps, were deported to death camps.

Question #8

Q. Did Hitler do anything good while he was in power?

It is hard for anyone to say anything nice about him............ because of what he stands for! He did accomplish bringing up the German economy for a while - but at what cost?

Here are his personal and national *accomplishments*

- helped form the National Socialist German Workers' party (NSDAP)

- Serving in the Bavarian Sixteenth Regiment on the western front, he distinguished himself for bravery and was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class

- Mastered the use of propaganda to gain what he wanted(comparable to modern day manipulation of the media by governments!)

- War related industries increased in size

- Unemployment was lowered as more people worked in these industries

- instituted public works programs to put more people to work(highways & construction industries)

- The nation united for common goals.......

Question #9

TeacherNet: Isn't he cute?

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