History 108 Discussion post

User Generated

fbnq29

Writing

Description

Discussion of week 10: The World War II

11 unread reply.11 reply.

Read the attached to this week 10 (FILES) "Auschwitz Ignored by Alies.PDF" file as well as other available sources and respond to the following questions:

Discussion Forum Topic for week 10: Why do you think the United States entered the European theatre of war so late? Why not earlier in the war? Who took the brunt of the war effort against the Nazis in occupied Europe by 1944 (video on home page)? Explain, elaborate, and provide evidence. This is not an opinion seeking question. This is a research-based exploration. Keep this in mind.

The format for the forum:

The main post: a three to five-paragraphed narrative introducing your idea or reaction, backed with evidence, and a conclusion. A paragraph is understood to be composed of 5-8 sentences with proper citations, references, and style/grammar. The main post is always due on Thursday.

The secondary post(s): a free-flowing discussion engaging others' comments, with no length requirement yet academic in nature. Evidence-based material only. If you select to introduce evidence - MLA formatting for citations and bibliography is a must. No speculations and don't forget to cite (in text and at the end of your post). You may start a discussion link through this forum. The secondary post (s) is (are) due by Sunday night, and maybe be posted anytime during the assigned week. They are usually brief and respond or comment to peers in class.

You may choose to write in MLA, APA or Chicago for all our writing assignments in this class (discussions and essays). MLA is the most common and known to students. If you don't know other writing styles and formats - just stick to MLA.

Unformatted Attachment Preview

Everyday Life in the Warsaw Ghetto Warsaw, Poland - 1941 Scott Masters adapted by T Stanek from the Yad Vashem Archives • A tram at the entrance to the Warsaw Ghetto – was it an “open ghetto”? • Why did the Nazis create ghettoes? What reasons did they give; what were the real reasons? – To thwart the black market… – To thwart Jewish “subversion”… – To stop the spread of disease… • What was the process for creating the ghetto? What were the various reactions? • Why did some Polish Jews favour the ghetto? • A German guard checking Jews’ papers • Who guarded the ghetto entrance? • What was the Judenrat? • Jews with armbands on a ghetto street • Why was there so much congestion in the ghetto? • An old man a on a ghetto street – why is he taking off his hat? • A horse-drawn cart – what types of transportation were Jews forced to use? What does this tell you about their circumstances? • Jewish women on a rickshaw in the ghetto • Children sitting on a ghetto street – who were they? How did the other residents treat them? • Selling clothes in the market • How did this fit into the ghetto economy? • What were the differences between the official and clandestine economies? • • • saleswomen on a ghetto street How are they different from the stores in the background? Did economic equality exist in the ghetto? • Woman beggar in the ghetto • Why would the owners of the food store in the background not help her? • A Jewish beggar playing the violin in the ghetto • A starving woman lying in the street • A woman in the ghetto eating some soup • Waiting in line for a drink of water • Who were these public kitchens important? What roles did they play? • A baby carriage filled with books for sale • What does this photograph show about ghetto life? • Is this a type of resistance? • What is the boy selling? Was censorship used in the ghetto? • A woman selling armbands • Why did residents continue to have children? What happened to birth rates over time? • What do you notice about the urban landscape? • Wealthier Jews on a ghetto street • A poster advertising a nightclub • Why did this create conflict in the ghetto? How did the Nazis exploit this? • A Jewish policeman and a woman in the ghetto • Who were these policemen? What role(s) did they play in the ghetto as time went by? • The Hevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society) • A funeral in the cemetery • Coffins and wagons of the Jewish Burial Society • A man placing bodies in an open mass grave • Swans on the lake in Chopin Park, Warsaw Western Front, Part I: Fall of France 1940 I. Phony War (Sitzkrieg), September 1939–May 10, 1940 I. Phony War (Sitzkrieg), September 1939–May 10, 1940 A. Vulnerability of Germany to attack from the West during Polish campaign 1. Maginot Line 2. Dyle Plan Maginot Line Maginot Line – Block 14 at Ouvrage du Hochwald I. Phony War (Sitzkrieg), September 1939–May 10, 1940 B. Hitler wanted to invade Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg (Fall Gelb) 1. rebuff of peace offer October 6 2. provisional date for invasion November 12 (cancelled November 7) 3. new provisional date for invasion January 17 a. liaison officer captured in Belgium with plans January 10 b. old plan replaced by Manstein plan (Sichelschnitt instead of Schlieffen) 4. new date for invasion May 10 II. Fall of Norway – invaded April 9, 1940 III. Commanders and Their Strategies A. French: 1. Maurice Gamelin (1872-1958) – commanded 1933 – May 18, 1940 2. Maxime Weygand (1867-1965) – commanded May 18 – June 22, 1940 Maurice Gamelin (1872-1958) Maxime Weygand (1867-1965) III. Commanders and Their Strategies B. German: Franz Ritter Halder (1884–1972) – head of Army General Staff 1938–1942 1. Army Group A: Fedor von Bock (1881–1945) “Der Sterber” 2. Army Group B: Gerd von Rundstedt (1875–1953) 3. Army Group C: Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb (1876–1956) Franz Ritter Halder (1884–1972) Fedor von Bock (1881–1945) Gerd von Rundstedt (1875–1953) Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb (1876–1956) All behind you, Winston IV. Battle of France May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940 E. Great Britain 1. Churchill replaces Chamberlain May 10, 1940 2. British Expeditionary Force (BEF) Lesson of the debacle? “Some of the lessons that can be learned from what went wrong from the British point of view are as relevant today as they were then. First and Foremost, the campaign showed that politicians must never, even in peacetime, deprive their armed forces of the equipment they need. Complacently assuming that the equipment can be manufactured once war is declared is demonstrably unwise.” −Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univeristy Press, 2006), xiv. IV. Battle of France May 10, 1940 – June 22, 1940 A. Disposition of Forces German 2 million troops 136 divisions 2439 tanks 3200 aircraft Allies (France and Great Britain) 4 million troops 174 divisions 2689 tanks 2400 aircraft Matilda Tank Panzer I German tank (Calais, May 1940) Panzer II German tank (May 1940 in France) IV. Battle of France May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940 B. Belgium – Fort at Eben Emael http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD_rX71O78I C. The Netherlands – Bombing of Rotterdam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Foiim649Wh0 (25:50) German Paratroopers Rotterdam Blaak Railway Station and Laurenskerk Bombing of Rotterdam Rotterdam – “20,000” (war-time propaganda – as high as 25,000 to 30,000) – 814 Dutch civilians (collateral damage) – General Kurt Student had ordered carpet bombing – FDR, Sept. 1939, had asked a promise that belligerents would not attack civilian targets – all belligerents complied – 5/13 downtown Rotterdam bombed / call back not received in time – 5/15 British allow RAF to attack oil refineries and other civilian industrial targets in the Ruhr – 1st German bomber attacks on England / night of June 5/6, 1940 IV. Battle of France May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940 D. Attitude of the French and Expectations of German Generals 1. Heinz Guderian (1888–1954) Achtung—Panzer! (1937) a. acknowledged influence of B. H. Liddell Hart b. Panzer divisions exceeded expectations 2. Erik von Manstein (1887–1973) – placed in charge of an infantry battalion 3. Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) – commanded 7th Panzer Division 4. Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970) – counterattacked with tanks 5. French Defeatism Heinz Guderian (1888–1954) Erik von Manstein (1887–1973) Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970) 5. French Defeatism ROTT Mrs Miniver (1942) Director: William Wyler Title character derived from book Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther Screenplay: George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis Nominated for 12 Academy Awards / Won 6 1. Best Actress: Greer Garson 2. Best Supporting Actress: Teresa Wright 3. Best Cinematography (Black and White): Joseph Ruttenberg 4. Best Director: William Wyler 5. Best Picture: 1943 6. Best Writing, Screenplay Mrs Miniver (1942) “Ramsgate” – eastern coast of Kent / ferry to Dunkirk – Many boat owners did not skipper their own boats over – commandeered and sailed by navy personnel IV. Battle of France May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940 F. Evacuation of Dunkirk – May 27–June 4 – trapped: 630,000 total (250,000 British; 380,000 French) – evacuated: 335,000 total (215,000 British; 125,000 French) Why did the German army not destroy the BEF and French soldiers at Dunkirk? “It would almost certainly have ended with the capture of most of the BEF had not Hitler and his generals reined in their panzer divisions at least three times between 20 and 30 May 1940.” −Montfiore, Dunkirk, xiv. Why did the German army not destroy the BEF and French soldiers at Dunkirk? “The most convincing evidence indicates that Hitler was indeed trying to block the evacuation, but wasn’t willing to risk his armor to dot it. The British looked finished anyhow…. He needed the armor for the next phase of the campaign, the drive across the Somme and into the heart of France…. The decision was all the easier when Herman Göring announced that his Luftwaffe could handle Dunkirk alone…. Still another miracle was provided by the Luftwaffe itself…. The German planes rarely strafed the crowded beaches; they never used fragmentation bombs; they never attacked tempting targets like Dover of Ramsgate.” −Walter Lord, The Miracle of Dunkirk (New York: Viking, 1982), 273. Why did the German army not destroy the BEF and French soldiers at Dunkirk? “Guderian stated that the order came down to him from Kleist with the words: ‘Dunkirk is to be left to the Luftwaffe….’ At the same time there is evidence that even the Luftwaffe was not used as fully or as vigorously as it could have been − and some of the air chiefs say that Hitler put the brake on again here. All this caused the higher circles to suspect a political motive behind Hitler’s military reasons…. He [Blumentritt] felt that the ‘halt’ … was part of a political scheme to make peace easier to reach. If the BEF had been captured at Dunkirk, the British might have felt that their honour had suffered a stain which they must wipe out. By letting it escape Hitler hoped to conciliate them.” −B. H. Liddell Hart, History of the Second World War, 89−90. IV. Battle of France May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940 G. Capitulation of France – June 22, 1940 1. Vichy France (July 10, 1940−April 22, 1945) a. Marshal Philippe Pètain − head of state V. Results A. French losses 1. battle casualties: 125,000 killed and missing; 200,000 wound 2. civilian displacement – 12 million B. British losses: battle casualties: 68,000 killed and missing; C. German losses: battle casualties: 27,000 killed; 18,000 missing; 100,000 wounded Vichy France and its possessions Operation Torch (overview) Mrs Miniver (1942) Psalm 91: Abiding in the Shadow of the Almighty 1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; 10 there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him.16 With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. HOLOCAUST DENIAL • • • • • How can the Holocaust be denied? Who are the Holocaust deniers? Are they a small and inconsequential cluster of socially marginal fanatics or a large group of mainstream players? What are the deniers’ main arguments and what motivates them in their denial? Should one argue with them, or are they better ignored? • • Any person or organization that denies the Holocaust or doubts the number of Jewish victims, or the existence of concentration camps and gas chambers, is a denier of the Holocaust and not a “revisionist” The truth is that these people are engaged not in an innovative alternative interpretation of history but in the outright denial of history. All serious historians are in essence revisionists… → Denial takes on other forms too… relativism – changing the perspective dramatically…some deniers use “logic” to attempt to discern false premises to prove to students that the information is incorrect or incomplete, or that relationships provided between information is not practical.  Ex: Hitler was bad, but Stalin was worse – the act of the Holocaust is thus made relative and diminished  reversal – the idea that the Nazis of today are Israelis and the new Jews are the Palestinians – this approach is seen in Europe and is connected to the Muslim World  • Paul Rassinier of France, first published in 1948, set forth the main arguments that have been repeated by all subsequent Holocaust deniers: – – – – There had never been a plan for the systematic annihilation of European Jewry. The number of Jewish victims was about one million. It was the Jews who had declared war on Germany. The survivors’ testimonies are inflated and unreliable. Professor Yisrael Gutman traces the origins of Holocaust denial to the Nazis themselves. In Gutman’s opinion, the Nazis’ attempts to obscure their acts of murder sowed the seeds of denial. The following examples illustrate this point: 1. The absence of any written orders from Hitler (Fuehrerbefehl) concerning the annihilation of the Jews, and the use of verbal commands. 2. The use of code words (Sprachregelung) to denote the annihilation of European Jewry: – Aussiedlung (evacuation); Endloesung (the Final Solution); Sonderbehandlung (special treatment)… 3. The formation in 1942 of Unit 1005, a secret unit commanded by Paul Blobel, in order to destroy evidence of the slaughter of Jews in the death pits of the east by burning the corpses. 4. Orders concerning the dismantling of three extermination camps (Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka) and destruction of evidence concerning the mass murder of Jews there. 5. Himmler speech to SS officers in Poznan in October 1943. The destruction of the Jews, Himmler explained, was a glorious page in history that has never been recorded and never shall be. It was clear to him that people at large would not understand this… These are several of the examples that point to the efforts by the Nazis to conceal the murder of Jews. It seems contradictory: if the annihilation of Jewry was the goal of Nazi ideology, why would the Nazis wish to conceal their actions? • • • • The Nazi camouflage of their actions during the war created opportunities for the postwar Holocaust deniers. The death camps Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka were destroyed and all traces of their having been mass extermination camps were obliterated. The gas chambers in Birkenau and Majdanek were dismantled and detonated in order to conceal the mass murder perpetrated there Nearly all the prisoners who removed corpses at the extermination camps and for Unit 1005 were murdered once their work was completed, and many documents disappeared… • • • the “first generation” of deniers sought to cleanse the Nazis by justifying Nazi anti-Semitism and argued that the Jews deserved the treatment they had received because of their hostile behavior toward Germany. The “second generation” used different tactics. They acknowledged the Germans’ anti-Semitism but still argued that there was no Holocaust... Thus they could be seen as unprejudiced men who sought nothing but historical “truth.” instead of exploring the truth of the historical event that the Holocaust represents by uncovering various documents, they totally disregard the vastness of the Holocaust and focus on several details of this enormous event, such as: • • • • • proof of the existence of gas chambers, especially those at Auschwitz; proof of the use of Zyklon B on human beings; proof of a systematic plan to annihilate the Jews; thus, by attempting to challenge various details without looking at the “big picture”, they try to cast doubt on the factuality of the event itself… • the real account of the Holocaust is composed of the following sources: 1. German documents that explicitly mention the murders and the murder process. 2. German documents that describe the planning and implementation of the Final Solution using euphemisms. 3. Jewish documents — diaries, memoirs, collections of writings — in various localities such as ghettos and death camps. 4. Testimonies of survivors of the ghettos, concentration camps, and death camps. Documents and testimonies of Poles who lived near the extermination sites and reports to/by the Polish underground to its government-in-exile in London. 6. Russian documents from the commissions of inquiry that were established upon the liberation of the German-occupied territories. 7. Legal material from the trials of Nazi criminals held in Nuremberg at the end of the war as well as later trials. 8. Recently declassified military intelligence documents (from Enigma decodings) 5. • • • The immediate postwar denial publications were poor quality and crude in their approach. A turning point occurred in the late 1970s. Professor Arthur Butz’s 300page book The Hoax of the Twentieth Century, with its 450 footnotes, provided details from various documents that Butz interpreted in novel ways. Butz taught at Northwestern University in Illinois. Although his field of expertise was not history but electrical engineering, his academic status elevated Holocaust denial several notches. Butz made the following accusations: 1. The figure of 6 million is not true. 2. The World Jewish Congress in 1942 spread propaganda stories about “German soap workshops” and about mass suffocation in sealed cars. 3. The only evidence about the murder of the Jews comes from the Nuremberg Trials in 1945 and this was elicited by torture. 4. No German documents from Auschwitz mention “gas chambers.” 5. Zyklon B was used, but only as a disinfectant and an insecticide. • • • • 6. In the Eichmann trial, Eichmann couldn’t deny what the world thought! He had done no wrong but his best tactic was to plead guilty 7. Butz has acknowledged the deeds of the Einsatzgruppen; he is willing to concede that as many as 1,000,000 Jews may have died before them. 8. He reinterprets documents and alleges that all testimony is inferior to documents and dismisses survivor literature as “endless raving about extermination”. 9.Jews invented this hoax to further Zionist ends! INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW— • Founded in 1978; Directed since 1981 by Willis A. Carto, “a professional antiSemite” • They have published a journal called JHR —Journal of Historical Review since 1981 and are head of the antiSemitic organ “Liberty Lobby”. • In 1981, they published an advertisement offering $50,000 to anyone who could prove there were gas chambers! • They believe in the need for absolutist government to protect the racial heritage of the United States. • • • • • • DAVID IRVING — GREAT BRITAIN British military historian A self-described “moderate Fascist” who believes that Britain is in decline. 1977 —published Hitler’s War (926 pages) and stated that there was no Fuehrerbefehl (order by the Fuehrer) to kill all the Jews. In Feb. 1989 he spoke at the U. of Calif. at Berkeley and offered a reward for evidence that Hitler knew of the murders at Auschwitz. Irving made the following arguments: 1. Hitler was completely unaware of the Final Solution and that the mass extermination policy was carried out without his knowledge or agreement. 2. Rudolf Hess should have received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to stop war between Germany and Britain. • • • • • • • ERNST ZUNDEL— CANADA/GERMANY Born in Germany in 1939, emigrated to Canada in 1958. Established a publishing house, which turns out anti-Semitic, racist, and Holocaust-denial publications. 1984 — the Canadian Government charged Zundel with stimulating anti-Semitism by distributing materials. 1985 — found guilty and was sentenced to 15 months in prison; he appealed. 1992 — The Canadian Supreme Court threw out Zundel’s conviction, ruling that the prohibition against spreading false news was too vague and may restrict legitimate forms of speech. Where is he now? • • • • • On January 30, 1941, Hitler said the following: “Today I will once more be a prophet. If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe! Hitler threatened the Jews again in September 1942: “In my speech before the Reichstag on the first of September 1939, 1 spoke of two matters: first, since we are forced into war, neither the threat of weapons nor a period of transition shall conquer us; second, if world Jewry launches another war in order to destroy • • • In late July 1941, Himmler gave explicit orders to kill the Jews and to drive the Jewish women into the marshes near Baranowicze. In August 1941, Himmler visited Arthur Nebe in Minsk. After observing a mass execution of Jews, Himmler delivered a brief speech to those present, stressing the need to carry out these orders, which came directly from the Fuhrer. On Oct. 2, 1941, Himmler visited Otto Ohlendorf, commander of Einsatzgruppe D. Again Himmler stressed to his soldiers that he and Hitler bore sole responsibility for these orders; he emphasized the need to eliminate all Jews and political commissars. • • In July 1942, Himmler visited Auschwitz and Sobibor; he observed the murder of Jews in gas chambers. On September 29, 1942, Himmler reported to Hitler on combat against the partisans and the elimination of Jews. In his report, which refers only to AugustNovember, Himmler spoke of the liquidation of 363 211 Jews. • • The Einsatzgruppen reports are the largest set of documents that refer to the annihilation of the Jews. The murder of Jews in Kiev (Babi Yar) in late September 1941 — Report No. 101 of October 2, 1941. • “Sonderkommando 4-A, in cooperation with the Einsatzgruppen command and two police units from the southern region, executed 33,771 Jews in Kiev on September 30, 1941.” • With these lines, Paul Blobel reported the first mass slaughter of Jews on such a scale after Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. • A report by Karl Jaeger, of Einsatzkommando 3, on the murder of Lithuanian Jews on December 1, 1941. Jaeger’s report specified the dates and locations of the murders; at the end, Jaeger added up the number of victims — 137,346 • • Einsatzgruppe D reported on April 8, 1942, a total of 92,000 dead. Himmler reported to Hitler on December 20, 1942, the following numbers of Jews shot in the Ukraine, Russia and Bialystok – • August 1942 - 31,246 • September 1942 - 165,282 • October 1942 - 95,735 • November 1942 - 70,948 • Total - 363,211 According to these reports, 900,000 Jews were murdered. Other reports speak of another 250,000 Jews murdered, bringing the total murdered according to these reports to 1,150,000. • • • Other German Documents Used Euphemisms 1. A document from Goering to Heydrich on July 31, 1941, on the preparation of a plan for the Final Solution to the Jewish problem. “In completion of the task which was entrusted to you in the Edict dated January 24, 1939, of solving the Jewish question by means of emigration or evacuation in the most convenient way possible, given the present conditions, I herewith charge you with making all necessary preparations for an overall solution (Gesamtloesung) of the Jewish question in the German sphere of influence in Europe… I further charge you with submitting to me promptly an overall plan of the preliminary organizational, practical and financial measures for the execution of the intended final solution (Endloesung) of the Jewish question • A document dated March 1943 by Richard Korherr, chief statistician of the Third Reich. In late 1942, Himmler asked Korherr to prepare an interim report on the implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish question. According to his 16-page document, about four million Jews had been given “special treatment” by the end of 1942 • reports from the German railway authority (Deutsche Reichsbahn), composed by various bureaucrats in the German transport ministry. One of the many reports, dated January 6, 1943, contains the dates of deportations, point of departure, destinations, and number of deportees. This report speaks of 16,000 Polish Jews who were taken to Auschwitz or Treblinka in February 1943 • • • There are several types of Jewish documents: 1. Those written in the ghetto by individuals (diaries, letters). 2. Those written in the ghetto by institutions (the Judenrat) and underground bodies. Examples are The Lodz Ghetto Chronicles and the Oneg Shabbat collection from the Warsaw ghetto. • Their info incl.: ghetto industries, production quantities, quantities of food that reached the ghetto, death and birth rates, deportation of Jews who had arrived from the west and were sent on to destinations unknown, activities of the Judenrat, and general information on events… 3. Testimonies of Jews who managed to escape the extermination camps or whose writings came to light after the war. Examples are The Last Testament of the Jews of Chelmno and The Scrolls of Auschwitz , written by the Sonderkommando that worked at the crematorium in Birkenau. 4. Survivors’ postwar testimonies. Oneg Shabbat: one of the most important documents in this collection is the report on “The Destruction Jewish Warsaw” dated November 15, 1942. This document, smuggled out of the ghetto by the Jewish underground and forwarded to the Polish government-in-exile in London, describes in great detail the Great Aktion in Warsaw in the summer of 1942 and notes the number of Jews who were sent to Treblinka. According to Oneg Shabbat, from July 22-31, 66,701 people were deported from the ghetto. • August, a total of 142,525 people were deported from the ghetto; 135,120 were sent to Treblinka and 7,403 to the Dulag (a transit camp from whence they were sent to labor camps Germany). • during this period, 4,517 people died: 2,305 were shot, 155 committed suicide, and 2,057 died of other causes. From September 3 to September 12, 54,069 people were deported from the ghetto. . . • • • • Other reports came from Jews who escaped from Auschwitz-Birkenau in April-May 1944. The most significant report was by Rudolf Vrba (formerly Walter Rosenberg) and Alfred Wetzler, who fled Auschwitz-Birkenau on April 7, 1944. Vrba, taken to Auschwitz from Slovakia at the age of 19, worked from August 1942 to June 1943 in the section of the camp known as “Canada.” their testimony was indeed handed to the Soviet Army and forwarded to the central Soviet archives in Moscow. They became known as the Auschwitz Protocols • • • Overall, very few survived some of the death camps. Only two Jews are known to have survived Chelmno, and another two survived Belzec — Rudolf Rader and Haim Hirshsman. about 70 prisoners from Treblinka, which was razed after the revolt of the permanent Jewish prisoners on August 2, 1943, were alive at the end of the war. From Sobibor, which had its own prisoners’ uprising on October 14, 1943, an estimated 50-70 Jews lived to see liberation day. approximately 12,000 prisoners remained alive at the Majdanek concentration/death camp when it was liberated by the Soviet Army in July 1944 • • • SOVIET DOCUMENTS The entire systematic murder of Jews by the Einsatzgruppen and in the death camps took place in areas that were liberated by the Soviet Army in 19431945. When the Soviets liberated the Majdanek death camp in July 1944, the first photographs that documented the results of the Nazis’ annihilation program reached the west. For the first time, newspapers ran photos of skeletons and corpses, of gas chambers and demolished crematoria. • When the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz in January 1945, Tass, the official Soviet new agency, published a full report of the annihilation that had taken place there on the basis of the testimony of more than 2,000 survivors • • • • the trials of Nazi war criminals and their assistants at the end of the war may be divided into three types: The first international military tribunal (IMT), comprised of American, British, French, and Russian judges, sat from October 18, 1945, to October 1, 1946, and prosecuted 21 leaders of the Third Reich. Another 12 trials were held from 1946-8 concerning various groups: SS, bureaucrats, and industrialists associated with genocide. Trials were conducted by military judges of the victorious countries in their respective postwar zones, or by liberated countries.  Enigma, Bletchley Park, and the NSA – “Eavesdropping on Hell”  Credits:  Ephraim Kaye and the Yad Vashem International School for Holocaust Studies
Purchase answer to see full attachment
User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Explanation & Answer

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date US Involvement in the World War II The United States had a history of non-interference that could not allow them to enter into a war that did not directly affect them. It had followed the same pattern even in the First World War.At the time when Europe was breaking apart, USA remained neutral and concentrated in other development activities. The war in the axis powers did not come to affect the USA until the time when they decided to enter the war. The American citizens also did not want the country to get involved in the deadly war, as the fighting powers never attacked them. The US lacked a perfect...


Anonymous
Great! 10/10 would recommend using Studypool to help you study.

Studypool
4.7
Trustpilot
4.5
Sitejabber
4.4

Similar Content

Related Tags