The Holocaust / The Final Solution
There were three stages of the Holocaust
1. Ghettos
Jews were forced to leave their homes and live in these special areas in Eastern European cities.
They were designed to slowly kill them as they lived in overcrowded rooms and were malnourished.
Many died from disease and starvation.
Gradually, these Ghettos were liquidated and Jews were sent to death camps.
2. Einsatzgruppen Murders
In Nazi occupied Eastern European territories, the German army were followed by special SS Soldiers called Einsatzgruppen, who had the job of killing every Jew that they found.
They were often taken in large groups to ditches, stripped and shot in the ditch.
3. Death Camps ('the Final Solution to the Jewish problem')
All Jews were transported to special death camps, such as Auschwitz where they were gassed to death and cremated.
Some camps were work camps. Healthy men and women were forced to work until they were too weak, which is when they were gassed by Zyklon B.
Upon arrival, the elderly and children were sent to gas chambers as they were too weak to work.
Some Jews showed resistance to the Holocaust
Non-Violent resistance- fleeing Germany or continuing Jewish religious practices in ghettos, death and work camps or being uncooperative or slow-working
Violent resistance- sabotage inside and outside of camps, forming groups of resistance and resisting the liquidation of ghettos (e.g the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1945)
Zyklon B- a cyanide pellet used to gas and murder large numbers of Jews
Auschwitz Concentration Camp (image from Wikipedia)
Hungarian Jews about to go through the "selection" process (image from Wikipedia)