A Timeline for the Holocaust:
1933- Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany
1937- Laws are passed banning Jews from holding professional
jobs.
1938- The Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), where homes
of Jews were wrecked and burned, Jewish stores torn apart and damaged
significantly, and many Jews being injured or killed.
1939- Issues are ordered to special action squads in Poland
for the creation of ghettos near railroads in preparation for the “final goal”.
Jews are to wear yellow stars so that they may be identified by German
authorities. Nazis invade Poland in the Blitzkrieg. Great Britain and France
declare war on Germany.
1940- The most infamous death camp, Auschwitz, is ordered to
be built in Poland.
1941- An official decree is ordered for German Jews, where
they are to be forced into labor. Hitler orders the beginning of the “final
solution”: The mass extermination of Jews and many other belief systems in
concentration camps. U.S. enters into World War I.
1942- Mass migration
of Jews from France, Germany, and other countries into Auschwitz begins.
1943- Gas chambers are now built and fully operational in
many concentration camps
1944- The Russians liberate the first concentration camp, Majdanek.
Auschwitz is ordered to have its gas chambers and crematoriums destroyed.
1945- Death marches are ordered for Jews to escape Russian
forces who have begun to liberate many concentration camps, including
Auschwitz, Budapest, and Warsaw.
Terms:
Anti-Semitism- The hatred of a person or thing based on their affiliation to Jewish tradition and heritage.
Concentration Camp- A compound used to detain people because of their race, beliefs, and/or political affiliation.
Deportation- Theforced removal of a person or people from a specific country or area.
Genocide- The deliberate murder or destruction of people based on their race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality.
Ghetto- A part of a city occupied by a particular group of people because of social, economic, or political issues.
Holocaust- The killing of more than 6 million Jews and many other minorities during World War II by Nazi Germany as a way to preserve the Aryan or "Master" race.
Kristallnaht- Also know as "The Night of Broken Glass", an event in Germany where mobs of Germans destroyed Jewish homes and stores, synagogues, and schools, as well as injuring and killing many Jews themselves.
Through
the mass extermination of the Jews and other peoples of many different beliefs,
there were flagrant violations of the 10 Commandments. Of them, the most
apparent violation is “You shall not kill”, with the Auschwitz concentration
camp killing 2,000,000 people altogether, including 1,500,000 Jews. The
flagrant violations of human dignity was experienced not only in death camps,
but in the ghettos that people were forced to live in, where food was scarce,
disease was common, and the sick and weak were blatantly killed by Nazi
soldiers. Along with the persistent violence experienced by the Jews since the rise of Hitler to power, the concentration camps and the ghettos violated the most basic of human rights entrusted to us by God: the right to live
The
Commandment of “You shall not steal” was also blatantly violated. In ghettos
and in concentration camps, Nazi soldiers would often search homes for any
valuables and jewelry that people would bring, melting them down and creating
profits. No sympathy for anyone’s possessions was given by the soldiers, leading
to many people hiding their jewelry and valuables in unconventional places,
which included some swallowing them whole. Not to mention how Jewish homes were
raided after the people living there were evacuated, stealing money and
anything of value. All of these actions were done for greed and to humiliate
the people they were attacking, taking away things of not just monetary value, but sentimental value as well.
With
all of the widespread death and stealing, there was also widespread breaking of
the 10th Commandment “You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor”. Using the Jews as scapegoats, the Nazis blamed many of Germany’s
problems in the past and present on the Jews, including the loss of World War
I, starvation, and the financial crisis Germany was experiencing. Propaganda was printed daily about the "Jewish problem", with frequent statements talking of the complete eradication of the Jews. All of this culminated into the intense hatred that was quickly adopted by many Germans, who soon began to use them as a means to blame all of the ailments of society on. It became state accepted hate, all fueled through the persistently false depiction of the Jews as the ultimate enemy of the Germans, who had to destroy them.
