The Holocuast
By: SaVannah Rangel
Background
The Holocaust caused the mass murder of millions of people, some of which were among six million Jews. These people were murdered by the Nazis. The Nazis came to power January of 1933 (USHMM). Overall, the Holocaust was from 1933-1945 causing shock and it still even affects our society to this day and last, it has deeply affected the survivors in a psychological way.
Who Caused The Holocaust and What Happened During This Time Period.
The Holocaust was caused by a man named Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. In the next month the government of Germany ended up taking away the freedom speech, assembly, press, and invasion of privacy and from house search without warrant. But, by the end of 1933 he had banned the Jewish people from - government services, sports, clubs, and other extracurricular activities at the schools. He also sterilized the mentally and physically disabled people, Gypsies, African-Americans, and others seen as “unfit” or “inferior”. Later in 1934, Hitler had declared himself president and chancellor of the Third Reich after the death of Paul von Hindenburg. Also, the first major waves arrest of homosexuals was in November of 1934. A few months pass to January of 1935. In this year the Saar region was annexed (added territory) by Germany, Adolf Hitler had violated the Versailles Treaty, and Jehovah’s witnesses were banned from all city service jobs and arrested throughout Germany. Later in the month of May, “NO JEWS” signs and notices were posted outside German towns and villages, and outside shops and restaurants. Also, Jews were prohibited from serving German armed forces. Last for the year… The Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of their citizenship. In 1936 on March 3, Jewish were no longer permitted to be allowed to practice in government intuitions in Germany. Four days later Hitler invaded the Rhineland. Later in July the first Gypsies were arrested and deported to the Dachau concentration camp. Then, at the Olympic Games in Berlin there too were Anti-Jewish signs. In 1937 further restrictions were imposed on the number of Jewish students attending Jewish Schools. Next, the last two things that happened were- Buchenwald concentration camp opened, and that Jews could obtain passports to go to areas but, only in special cases (fcit.edu). The Holocaust overall in those years had the Jews be ineligible to do many activities that they had been doing because of the Nazi reign. Furthermore, they had created a few concentration camps and Gypsies had been arrested and deported to a concentration camp.
Adolf Hitler continued to press on until November of 1945. But to go back to proper year of 1938 first. In this year Germany annexes Austria, the German government passed a decree requiring the registration of every single Gypsy without a fixed address living in Austria; later by June 1938, all of the Gypsy children above the age of 14 have to be fingerprinted. This was a central part of the growing racial definition of Gypsies as "criminally asocial." From July 6-15 representatives from thirty-two countries meet at Evian, France to discuss the refugee policies. But, most of the countries refused to let anymore Jewish refugees in. The German government then had announced that the Jews must now carry identification cards. Later, an attempt is made by Hershcel Grynzpan to assassinate a German diplomat in the place of Paris. Also, the Nazi organized nation-wide programs in the result of the burning of hundreds of synagogues - the looting and destruction of many Jewish homes, schools, and community offices, then the vandalism of 7,500 Jewish stores. Next, many Jewish people were beaten and more than ninety of them were killed. One result was thirty thousand Jewish men arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps. Several thousand Jewish women were arrested and later sent to local jails. This was then followed by a fine to be paid by the Jewish people for the damages done to their businesses and accelerated “Aryanization” of Jewish businesses. A couple days later on November 12, the German Jews were ordered to pay one billion Reichsmarks in reparations for the damages of Kristallinacht. Just three days later, all Jewish children are expelled from German schools and can only attend a separate Jewish school. Not much later a Decree banned Jews from the public streets on certain days and, they were forbidden from a driver’s license and car registration. On December third of 1938, the Jews were forced to sell their businesses, real estate, hand over their securities and their jewelry to the government at low prices. Five days later the people that attend universities as teachers or students were let go. The next year on March 15, Germany invades Czechoslovakia. Ulterior, Cuba and the United States refuse to accept the Jewish refugees aboard on the S.S. St. Louis boat, causing them to return to Europe. The S.S stands for - Schutzstaffel which was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. On June 5, two-thousand Gypsy males older than the age of sixteen were arrested in Burgenland Province (now Austria) and sent to Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps; whereas Gypsy women above the age of fifteen had been arrested and sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Two months and a eight days after, the Soviet-German Non-aggression Pact was signed. This was that two countries agreed to take no military actions against each other for the next ten years. Furthermore, Germany invaded Poland and WWII begins. Also, Jews were forced to turn on radios, cameras, and other electric objects to the police; they received more restrictive ration coupons than any other German, but they do not receive coupons for meat or milk and some others things too. Jews in the same year had also fewer and more limited clothing ration. A month later in October sometime, Hitler had extended his powers to kill institutionalized mentally and physically ill people. One more month later the Germans forced the Jewish people to Poland and wear a yellow Star of David on their chest or a blue and white Star of David wristband. The last thing that happened this year was that the first Poland ghetto was then established.
Continuing, Adolf lead Germany into invading and defeating Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and last was France in the year of 1940. Later, on May first through the seventh, about 164,000 Polish Jews were concentrated and imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto which was established and sealed off the the public. Thirteen days later a concentration camp was then established in Auschwitz, Poland. Further in October, Anti-Jewish laws are passed by France’s Vichy Government; also the Warsaw ghetto was established. Then, in November, The same ghetto was closed off with approximately 500,000 inhabitants. Last for the year of 1940, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania join the Axis powers (fcit.edu). The Axis Powers were the nations that fought in WWII against the Allied forces. The next year of 1941 in March, Gypsy and African-German children were expelled from the public schools; also Germany had invaded North Africa. Later on, Germany invaded more territory, Yugoslavia and Greece. Then, Romania passed a law condemning adult Jewish people to forced labor and the French Vichy government revoked civil rights of the French Jews in North Africa. Once again the German army invades, but this time its the Soviet Union. The Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads had began mass murdering Jews, Gypsies, and Communist leaders. On September first the German Jews above the age of six were then forced to wear a yellow Star of David sewed on the left side of their clothes with the word “Jude” printed in the color of black. Later in September still, Soviet prisoners of war and Polish prisoners were killed in the Nazi’s test of gas chambers at Auschwitz in Poland. Also, nearly 34,00 Jews were murdered by the mobile killing squads at the place of Babi Yar, near Kiev, Ukraine. A month later in October the construction had begun on Birkenau, which was an addition to the Auschwitz camp. Birkenau had included the killing center which began operations in early 1942. Then partly in October stretching to November, the first group of German and Austrian Jews were then deported to the ghettos in the eastern region of Europe. From November fifth to the ninth, five thousand Gypsies were deported from labor and internment camps in Austria to the Lodz ghetto in Poland. In December the Chelmno death camp had opened near Lodz,Poland and the first gassing victims in mobile gas vans occurs. Also, Germany declared war on the United States. Last for this year also stretching to January of next year, five thousand Austrian Gypsies from the Lodz, Poland ghetto are deported to the Chelmno killing center where they are killed in gas vans.
Continuing on we start off in the year of 1943 and we will also be ending in 1945. In March all the Gypsies in Germany and the Nazi occupied countries, with very few exceptions, were arrested and later deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. On April 16 continuing to May, the Jewish people in the Warsaw ghetto had initiated resistance to deportation by the Germans to the death camps. Later on the Nazis order all ghettos in Poland and the Soviet Union to be destroyed; also the inmates at Treblinka had rebelled. Then in the fall, Danish citizens smuggles most of the Jewish peoples to neutral Sweden. Last for this year the inmates at Sobibor had armed at rebellion. Now in the year of 1944, the next thing that happened was that the War Refugee Board was established by president of the U.S. Franklin Roosevelt (fcit.edu). The War Refugee Board worked with Jewish organizations, diplomats, and resistance groups in Europe to rescue Jews from occupied territories and provide relief of inmates with Nazi concentration camps.(fcit.edu) (USHMM). Later Germany invaded Hungary and they began the deportation of over 430,000 Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where most were gassed. Next the Allied Powers invaded Normandy which is now called the Operation Overload to represent this day which was Tuesday June 6, 1944. In July, some German officers attempted to try and assassinate Hitler but, had failed by being caught. Last in July the Soviet Army liberated the Majdanek death camp. Finally,on October 7, the prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau rebelled and blew up one crematorium. In the year the Holocaust ended was 1945 and the last month was in November. But, in January, the Nazis had emptied Auschwitz and started the prisoners on “death marches” to Germany and the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz. Later on troops from the United States of America liberated survivors from concentration camps. Also, Adolph Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin instead of being caught by the Soviet army. In May, troops from the United States liberated Mauthausen concentration camp, Germany surrenders, and the war in Europe ended. (fcit.edu) Last for this final year, the war crimes tribunal is convened at Nuremberg, Germany. In total the number of Jews killed in Poland was three million (ninety percent of all Jews there), Germany was 210,000 (ninety percent), Czech was 155,000 (86%), Holland was 105,00 (75%), Hungary was 450,00 (seventy percent), Ukraine was 900,000 (sixty percent), Romania was 300,00 (fifty percent), Russia was 107,000 (eleven percent) (C N Trueman ) But, in total the estimated number of children killed was 1.1 million out of the estimated eleven million (Kenrick, and Puxon).What It Caused After The War.
The Holocaust has changed many things in our society such as economic growth and wages. (Bradt). The economy had changes in Russia because of the Holocaust. The Holocaust had wiped out many of the educated and productive people in the western area of Russia. This caused a rippling shock to the social of these invaded regions, increasingly reducing the size of the Russian middle class. The effect still continues to reverberate Russia. Also, these areas now have lower average wages. The Gross Domestic Product wage is $4,555 compared to the nationwide of $5,855. So, overall the Holocaust affected the invaded areas of Russia with a good amount of permutation (Bradt).
Psychological Sense
The survivors of this tragic event showed incredible resilience in their lives, but they still show pain of their hard past. The psychological well-being decreased or increased because of this past, we know this from showing signs of symptoms (APA). The Jewish survivors that lived in Israel had a higher wellbeing than those of the other people womb lived in other countries. This had suggested that the country could possibly serve as a protective factor, even though about six decades after the war ended the researchers are still learning how it’s affected these survivors. But, one thing for sure is that the ability for them to overcome their injurious experiences and even live to gain psychological growth is very difficult (APA).
The researchers had started out by examining the psychological well-being, cognitive functioning, PTSD, stress-related symptoms, physical health then last, is psychopathological symptoms. They later scrutinized seventy one different samples, including 12,746 different people from all over the globe. They analysed samples from Holocaust survivors and the control of non Holocaust survivors. The background characteristics varied, except for the Holocaust experience. This means that some studies matched the background characteristics while compared to other European-born Jewish people who did not undergo the WWII. The researchers that had observed these noticed some interesting differences and similarities between survivors and the control groups. The differences were that Holocaust survivors had much poorer psychological well-being, more psychopathological symptoms, and more PTSD symptoms. But, these were no remarkable differences in the cognitive functioning or physical differences. Insanely the survivors who lived in Israel had showed better psychological well-being and better social adjustments than the other survivors who lived in different countries. The examined scars of WWII survivors are conspicuous in their continued lives of PTSD symptoms, but the experiences have not fully prevented their ability to adapt to common life (APA).
In The End
Overall, the Holocaust during WWII was caused by Adolf Hitler, and it still has an effect on our society today. The survivors of the Holocaust had many different symptoms. WWII was from January 30, 1933 to May 9, 1945 (USHMM). Lastly, as a reminder, some mental effects were poorer psychological well-being, more psychopathological symptoms, and more PTSD as well.