The Holocaust aimed to eliminate 11 million individuals in Europe, over half of whom were Jewish. The blame for various troubles was placed on Jews due to German failures like World War I. Hitler fostered anti-Semitism within his army and across much of Europe. The Holocaust involved three stages with the goal of exterminating Jews. However, these phases did not achieve racial purity or completely eliminate the Jewish population as desired by the Nazi party.
In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were implemented, initiating phase one. These laws took away the citizenship, possessions, and jobs of Jews. To help Nazis identify them, Jews were required to wear a bright yellow Star of David on their clothing. The definition of a “Jew” under these laws was not based on religious beliefs but rather having three or four Jewish grandparents, regardless of self-identification or affiliation with the Jewish religious community. Many Germans who had abandoned Judaism long ago found themselves caught in Nazi terror. Furthermore, these laws banned marriages between Aryans (considered Hitler’s superior race) and Jews. Hitler enacted these laws to isolate, discriminate against, and expel Jews from German society. His unwavering determination to eliminate Jewish people from Europe ultimately resulted in the implementation of the “Final Solution.”
During this phase, the Nazis carried out a brutal genocide against the Jewish population in their quest for Hitler’s vision of a “master race”. In addition to enslaving and killing Jews, the Nazis also targeted other groups considered inferior or enemies of the state. Their goal was to suppress all forms of political opposition, regardless of party affiliation. Many Jews were relocated to segregated areas called ghettos, which quickly became horrific places. Within these ghettos, Jews were forced to work in nearby German factories and often came across corpses of Jewish victims scattered on the streets. The conditions in these ghettos were terrible and lacked proper sanitation, resulting in severe overcrowding and shared accommodations. The harsh winters made it challenging for residents to keep warm, leading to widespread outbreaks of disease. Scarce supplies of clothing, heating fuel, and food contributed to numerous deaths from starvation among Jews.
During the initial phases of the Holocaust, there was a lack of success in locating and relocating all Jewish individuals. The legislation that prohibited marriages between Jews and Germans did not offer explicit criteria for determining someone’s Jewish identity. Consequently, numerous Jewish people were able to avoid the consequences of the Nuremberg Laws. Thus, those who were not officially acknowledged as Jews were not obligated to move to ghettos.
The Holocaust’s second phase saw the relocation of Jews from ghettos to concentration or labor camps. The Nazis forcibly emptied the ghettos, killing those who resisted and leaving behind personal belongings. Life in concentration camps was marked by a cruel cycle of hunger, degradation, and labor that often resulted in death. Prisoners were crammed into rough wooden barracks, each housing up to one thousand people. They endured overcrowding, meager meals, and infestations of rats and fleas. Hunger was so severe that prisoners resorted to eating spilled soup off the ground. Inmates worked tirelessly from sunrise to sunset until exhaustion took over. Those too weak faced execution. Jewish inmates witnessed daily killings and brutal beatings while being forced to wear striped uniforms and armbands or labels denoting their prisoner category—the colors representing different groups.
The Nazi party’s second phase of the Holocaust did not go as planned. Despite their attempts to transport all Jews from ghettos to concentration camps, some were unable to be successfully moved and remained hidden within the ghettos or escaped from the camps. In certain instances, organized resistance emerged among Jewish populations in the ghettos, such as in Warsaw, Poland. Even when ordered by Nazis to leave, some Jews stayed concealed in the ruins of the ghetto for months. These resistance fighters frequently targeted German police officials during patrols. Remarkably, approximately 20,000 Warsaw Jews continued to live clandestinely within the city long after the ghetto was liquidated.
The Holocaust’s final stage, also referred to as the third phase, commenced in 1942 during a conference held in Wannsee, Poland. At this gathering, Hitler’s top officials reached an agreement to initiate a new wave of mass extermination specifically targeting Jews. Alongside widespread slaughter and starvation, they introduced poisonous gas as a means of killing. However, despite subjecting individuals to overwork, starvation, beatings, and shootings – all of which were deadly methods – the Nazis failed to achieve the desired death rate. Consequently, six death camps were constructed by the Germans in Poland; Chelmno became operational first in 1941 prior to the Wannsee meeting. Each camp featured multiple sizable gas chambers capable of eliminating up to 12,000 people per day. Auschwitz stood out as the largest among these death camps. The Jews were deceived into believing that they were going for a shower and were instructed to undress.
The victims would be led into the gas chamber, where cyanide gas would cause their death. The bodies were initially buried in large pits, but the decomposing corpses emitted a strong odor that could be detected for miles. Mass graves provided undeniable evidence of the large-scale killings. Some camps had enormous crematoriums to incinerate the deceased, while others threw bodies into pits and burned them directly. Apart from gassing, prisoners were also hanged, shot, or given lethal injections. Some individuals died from medical experiments where camp physicians injected deadly germs to study disease effects.
The Nazi party’s third phase of the holocaust fell short of its intended success. Despite six million Jews dying in the death camps, some managed to escape miraculously. Certain individuals, horrified by the Nazis’ treatment of Jews, even offered assistance. Additionally, some Jews persevered and survived due to their unwavering hope.
Despite the Holocaust claiming the lives of around six million Jews, Hitler and the Nazi party had intended to eradicate an even greater number. However, some Jews were able to endure by hiding or escaping from the camps, resulting in not all Jewish people being completely eradicated during the three stages of the Holocaust. Ultimately, Hitler was unsuccessful in his goal of establishing a “master race” consisting exclusively of blue-eyed, blonde-haired ethnic Germans.
