Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka the Operation Reinhard Death Camps 1St Edition Pdf, Epub, Ebook

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka the Operation Reinhard Death Camps 1St Edition Pdf, Epub, Ebook BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA THE OPERATION REINHARD DEATH CAMPS 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Yitzhak Arad | 9780253213051 | | | | | Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka The Operation Reinhard Death Camps 1st edition PDF Book Tour request form. The interior walls of these huts were built such that we nailed the boards to them, filling in the empty space with sand. An SS- Oberscharfuehrer or Hauptscharfuehrer Floss arrived at this time, who, so I presume, must previously have been in another camp. Last Name:. The staffing of the camp was settled simultaneously with the completion of its basic installations. Secret Intelligence and the Holocaust. In Sobibor, as in Belzec, each member of the German personnel had a specific function. Chapter Thirty-Three: Escapes from the Camps pp. By way of this passage one reached the passage of the third hut, from which three doors led to its three sections. At the time Auschwitz-Birkenau increased its extermination capacity, taking in Jewish transports from the various countries of occupied Europe. There were three watchtowers in the corners, two of them on the eastern perimeter and the third on the southwestern one. The camp was situated in the northeastern part of the General Government, not far from Malkinia, a town with a railroad station on the main Warsaw-Bialystok line and close to the Malkinia-Siedlce line. Above all, every member of the permanent staff was at some time brought into action in unloading the transports. Few victims survived to tell their stories, and the camps were largely forgotten after they were dismantled in Treblinka also had a booking office with boards naming the connections for other camps further east. A reason for this may be that either Himmler issued no written statement on this subject, or that any orders and directives were destroyed. After minutes — and I merely estimate this interval of time — someone looked through a peephole into the gas chamber to ascertain whether death had overtaken them all. Written records had been extensively destroyed as early as the end of They had been warned that those trying to hide something would be shot. The Underground in Treblinka Entrance to the Holocaust History Museum is not permitted for children under the age of It was to replace the trolleys pulled by prisoners or horses, which had transported the dead, the sick, and the invalids from the train to the ditches. His personality and experience of many years as a police officer in the "Euthanasia" program made him a very suitable camp commandant. In the opposite wall of every chamber was a removable door through which the bodies of the gassed were thrown out. Finally it was decided to pour the ash and bone fragments back into the empty ditches and to cover them with a thick layer of sand and garbage. A low path, 2 m. A large placard announced in Polish and German:. The Prisoners and the Deportees The new building, with its idyllic flight of stairs, plants and curtain, stood at the end of the "tube. This involved determining which Jews would be gassed and which shot, separating them by gender, having them undress and herding them into the gas chamber. At the beginning of August several transports reached the camp from the ghettoes in the neighborhood; they travel led along the eastern sector of the line which was again open to traffic. It must however be noted that "humane" referred more to the effect on the murderers than the victims who were being murdered. The incinerations went on day and night, without interruption, initially at one, then at two sites. SS- Oberscharfuehrer Erich Bauer later testified at his trial: Normally, every member of the permanent staff had a specific function within the camp commandant of the Ukrainian volunteers, head of a work commando, responsibility for digging ditches, responsibility for laying barbed wire and the like. After the Jews had entered the gas chambers the doors were securely locked by Hackenholt himself or by the Ukrainians assigned to him. There was no forced labour, and no work for inmates, other than that directly associated with the killing process, such as processing arrivals, removing corpses from the gas chambers, disposing of corpses and other such ghastly work. They were used for construction work and also performed various services for the German camp personnel. This transport consisted of approximately Jews and reached Belzec on March 25 or 26, As I recall, there were seven Jews, both men and women, who were laid inside the ditch. As opposed to concentration camps, or hybrid camps such as Auschwitz, the Operation Reinhard camps were pure extermination camps. Within four weeks, from March 17 to April 14, close to 30, of the 37, inhabitants of the ghetto were deported to Belzec. As soon as the construction phase was completed, most of them were killed in trial gassings. During this first phase, from the beginning to the middle of August, 5, 7, Jews arrived every day in Treblinka. Its first commandant was Irmfried Eberl, who was removed after only a few weeks and replaced by Stangl. The geographical location of the extermination sites also served as a pretext for the claim that the Jews were to be deported to ghettos in the East. The pediment above the entrance door bore a Shield of David. This newly revised and expanded edition includes new material on the history of the Jews under German occupation in Poland; the execution and timing of Operation Reinhard; information about the ghettos in Lublin, Warsaw, Krakow, Radom, and Galicia; and updated numbers of the victims who were murdered during deportations. The Attempt to Remove Traces Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka The Operation Reinhard Death Camps 1st edition Writer Many prisoners and additional ditches were needed in order to bury all those who had been shot, in addition to the thousands who had died during the transports. Wirth's new headquarters was now in Lublin. In this Book. The extermination sector was located in the southwest, in an area measuring x m. Just about everyone has heard of Aushwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald but not many knew about the camps that fine tuned the system of death. The show of overwhelming force, the music, and the incapacitated state of the victims combined to disorient and confuse them, and render them more likely to believe and do what they were told. You know the saying: There's no time like the present Most of them had formerly been engaged in the "Euthanasia" Operation. The entire camp covered a relatively small, flat, rectangular area. Alternate layers of ash and sand were poured into the ditches. To begin with, it did not function. Comparing and contrasting is interesting, for the differences as well as the similarities, and the layout made me take it in much more than us I found this one of the more interesting explorations of the Nazi Death Camps, chiefly due to the layout. The first two or three transports, each consisting of four to six freight cars fully loaded with a hundred or more Jews, were used for trial killings in order to test the capacity and efficiency of the gas chambers and the technique of the extermination process. Last Name:. The bodies were partly decomposed by chlorine. This gas was produced by private firms and its extensive use in Belzec might have aroused suspicion and led to problems of supply. The operation was given the code name "Sonderaktion ". The burning of corpses proceeded day and night. Words seem inadequate to sum up the enormity of this. Yitzhak Arad. Appendix A. Belzec, a small town in the southeast of the district of Lublin, close to the border of the district of Lvov and on the Lublin- Zamosc-Rawa Ruska-Lvov railroad line, was selected as the locality for the first extermination camp. Some had their eyes closed, with others the eyes were turned up. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka The Operation Reinhard Death Camps 1st edition Reviews She had wrapped herself in a bed sheet under which she was hiding a little child, and she was frantically looking for shelter. Wirth developed his own ideas on the basis of the experience he had gained in the "Euthanasia" program. Most of them were taken to Camp II. To cover up the mass murder of more than two million people in Poland during Operation Reinhard, the Nazis implemented the secret Sonderaktion , also called Aktion or Enterdungsaktion " exhumation action". The pits were doused with inflammable materials and the bodies burned down to the bottom of the pit. I would say that they were more dead than alive. There were three watchtowers in the corners, two of them on the eastern perimeter and the third on the southwestern one. SS- Oberscharfuehrer Lorenz Hackenholt, together with two Ukrainians working under him, was responsible for the operation of the gas chambers. Mounds of ash had accumulated underneath it. This website uses cookies More info OK, thanks. Commandant Stangl introduced into his camp the extermination techniques employed in Belzec. It virtually concludes with a record of the Poles returning to the grounds of Treblinka in November to dig in the ground at the cremated remains of hundreds of thousand Highly praised in all reviews, and deservedly so, Arad's book is notable both for its intercalation of primary documents into his narrative and for his condemnations of Western Powers, the Poles, and the Armia Krajowa for their indifference to and oftentimes active collusion in operations of Poland's ghettos and death camps. The old wooden structure containing the three gas chambers was demolished, and on the same spot a larger, strong building was erected, which was 24 m.
Recommended publications
  • The Leyb Koniuchowsky Papers and the Holocaust in Provincial Lithuania
    5HVFXHGIURP2EOLYLRQ7KH/H\E.RQLXFKRZVN\3DSHUV DQGWKH+RORFDXVWLQ3URYLQFLDO/LWKXDQLD T. Fielder Valone Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Volume 28, Number 1, Spring 2014, pp. 85-108 (Article) 3XEOLVKHGE\2[IRUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hgs/summary/v028/28.1.valone.html Access provided by Millersville University Library (17 Feb 2015 20:19 GMT) Research Note Rescued from Oblivion: The Leyb Koniuchowsky Papers and the Holocaust in Provincial Lithuania T. Fielder Valone Indiana University Much of our knowledge of the Holocaust in Lithuania is based on experien- ces in or near Vilnius and Kaunas. In the smaller towns, where tens of thou- sands of Jews lived before the war, so few survived that first-hand accounts are rare; all the less do official German sources offer a window onto events, recording little more than overall numbers. The present contribution draws attention to a lesser-known collection of survivor testimonies gathered after the war by Leyb Koniuchowsky, primarily in Germany’s Feldafing dis- placed persons camp. Case studies of ritual humiliation of Jews by their small-town and village neighbors, experiences in a minor camp complex, and the pursuit of vengeance by one survivor who gained temporary employment in the postwar Soviet security services, point toward the place of oral testimony in elucidating events in hard-to-document places. They raise questions about whether events in better-known localities were “typical” or not. “Stories,” wrote Jorge Semprun, “never begin where they seem to have begun.”1 This story begins with an ending, after the Germans surrendered but well before the scope of Hitler’s crimes was fully understood.
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust Archaeology: Archaeological Approaches to Landscapes of Nazi Genocide and Persecution
    HOLOCAUST ARCHAEOLOGY: ARCHAEOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO LANDSCAPES OF NAZI GENOCIDE AND PERSECUTION BY CAROLINE STURDY COLLS A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The landscapes and material remains of the Holocaust survive in various forms as physical reminders of the suffering and persecution of this period in European history. However, whilst clearly defined historical narratives exist, many of the archaeological remnants of these sites remain ill-defined, unrecorded and even, in some cases, unlocated. Such a situation has arisen as a result of a number of political, social, ethical and religious factors which, coupled with the scale of the crimes, has often inhibited systematic search. This thesis will outline how a non- invasive archaeological methodology has been implemented at two case study sites, with such issues at its core, thus allowing them to be addressed in terms of their scientific and historical value, whilst acknowledging their commemorative and religious significance.
    [Show full text]
  • Lithuanian Jews and the Holocaust
    Ezra’s Archives | 77 Strategies of Survival: Lithuanian Jews and the Holocaust Taly Matiteyahu On the eve of World War II, Lithuanian Jewry numbered approximately 220,000. In June 1941, the war between Germany and the Soviet Union began. Within days, Germany had occupied the entirety of Lithuania. By the end of 1941, only about 43,500 Lithuanian Jews (19.7 percent of the prewar population) remained alive, the majority of whom were kept in four ghettos (Vilnius, Kaunas, Siauliai, Svencionys). Of these 43,500 Jews, approximately 13,000 survived the war. Ultimately, it is estimated that 94 percent of Lithuanian Jewry died during the Holocaust, a percentage higher than in any other occupied Eastern European country.1 Stories of Lithuanian towns and the manner in which Lithuanian Jews responded to the genocide have been overlooked as the perpetrator- focused version of history examines only the consequences of the Holocaust. Through a study utilizing both historical analysis and testimonial information, I seek to reconstruct the histories of Lithuanian Jewish communities of smaller towns to further understand the survival strategies of their inhabitants. I examined a variety of sources, ranging from scholarly studies to government-issued pamphlets, written testimonies and video testimonials. My project centers on a collection of 1 Population estimates for Lithuanian Jews range from 200,000 to 250,000, percentages of those killed during Nazi occupation range from 90 percent to 95 percent, and approximations of the number of survivors range from 8,000 to 20,000. Here I use estimates provided by Dov Levin, a prominent international scholar of Eastern European Jewish history, in the Introduction to Preserving Our Litvak Heritage: A History of 31 Jewish Communities in Lithuania.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development and Character of the Nazi Political Machine, 1928-1930, and the Isdap Electoral Breakthrough
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1976 The evelopmeD nt and Character of the Nazi Political Machine, 1928-1930, and the Nsdap Electoral Breakthrough. Thomas Wiles Arafe Jr Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Arafe, Thomas Wiles Jr, "The eD velopment and Character of the Nazi Political Machine, 1928-1930, and the Nsdap Electoral Breakthrough." (1976). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 2909. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/2909 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. « The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1.The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing pega(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image.
    [Show full text]
  • THE POLISH POLICE Collaboration in the Holocaust
    THE POLISH POLICE Collaboration in the Holocaust Jan Grabowski The Polish Police Collaboration in the Holocaust Jan Grabowski INA LEVINE ANNUAL LECTURE NOVEMBER 17, 2016 The assertions, opinions, and conclusions in this occasional paper are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. First printing, April 2017 Copyright © 2017 by Jan Grabowski THE INA LEVINE ANNUAL LECTURE, endowed by the William S. and Ina Levine Foundation of Phoenix, Arizona, enables the Center to bring a distinguished scholar to the Museum each year to conduct innovative research on the Holocaust and to disseminate this work to the American public. Wrong Memory Codes? The Polish “Blue” Police and Collaboration in the Holocaust In 2016, seventy-one years after the end of World War II, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs disseminated a long list of “wrong memory codes” (błędne kody pamięci), or expressions that “falsify the role of Poland during World War II” and that are to be reported to the nearest Polish diplomat for further action. Sadly—and not by chance—the list elaborated by the enterprising humanists at the Polish Foreign Ministry includes for the most part expressions linked to the Holocaust. On the long list of these “wrong memory codes,” which they aspire to expunge from historical narrative, one finds, among others: “Polish genocide,” “Polish war crimes,” “Polish mass murders,” “Polish internment camps,” “Polish work camps,” and—most important for the purposes of this text—“Polish participation in the Holocaust.” The issue of “wrong memory codes” will from time to time reappear in this study.
    [Show full text]
  • 3868546065 Lp.Pdf
    Studien zur Gewaltgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts Ausgewählt von Jörg Baberowski, Bernd Greiner und Michael Wildt Das 20. Jahrhundert gilt als das Jahrhundert des Genozids, der Lager, des Totalen Krieges, des Totalitarismus und Ter- rorismus, von Flucht, Vertreibung und Staatsterror – ge- rade weil sie im Einzelnen allesamt zutreffen, hinterlassen diese Charakterisierungen in ihrer Summe eine eigentüm- liche Ratlosigkeit. Zumindest spiegeln sie eine nachhaltige Desillusionierung. Die Vorstellung, Gewalt einhegen, be- grenzen und letztlich überwinden zu können, ist der Ein- sicht gewichen, dass alles möglich ist, jederzeit und an jedem Ort der Welt. Und dass selbst Demokratien, die Erben der Aufklärung, vor entgrenzter Gewalt nicht gefeit sind. Das normative und ethische Bemühen, die Gewalt einzugrenzen, mag vor diesem Hintergrund ungenügend und mitunter sogar vergeblich erscheinen. Hinfällig ist es aber keineswegs, es sei denn um den Preis der moralischen Selbstaufgabe. Ausgewählt von drei namhaften Historikern – Jörg Baberowski, Bernd Greiner und Michael Wildt –, präsen- tieren die »Studien zur Gewaltgeschichte des 20. Jahrhun- derts« die Forschungsergebnisse junger Wissenschaftle- rinnen und Wissenschaftler. Die Monografien analysieren am Beispiel von totalitären Systemen wie dem National- sozialismus und Stalinismus, von Diktaturen, Autokratien und nicht zuletzt auch von Demokratien die Dynamik ge- walttätiger Situationen, sie beschreiben das Erbe der Ge- walt und skizzieren mögliche Wege aus der Gewalt. Sara Berger Experten der Vernichtung
    [Show full text]
  • Einsicht 16 Bulletin Des Fritz Bauer Instituts
    Einsicht 16 Bulletin des Fritz Bauer Instituts , Völkermorde vor Gericht: Fritz Bauer Institut Von Nürnberg nach Den Haag Geschichte und MMitit BBeiträgeneiträgen vonvon KKimim PPriemel,riemel, WWolfgangolfgang Wirkung des Holocaust FForm/Axelorm/Axel FFischerischer uundnd VolkerVolker ZimmermannZimmermann Editorial Liebe Leserinnen und Leser, zur Grundlage der NSG-Verfahren zu machen, erscheint spätestens seit dem Münchner Demjanjuk-Urteil von 2011 in einem neuen, von den Nürnberger Prozessen über den kritischen Licht. Eichmann-Prozess in Jerusalem und die Nicolas Berg, Gastwissenschaftler am Fritz Bauer Institut im Prozesse an bundesdeutschen Landge- Wintersemester 2015/2016, beschäftigt sich in seinem Beitrag mit richten – wie den Chełmno-Prozess in den Spielfi lmen über Fritz Bauer, die während der beiden letzten Bonn, den Auschwitz-Prozess in Frank- Jahre in Kino und Fernsehen ein großes Publikum erreicht haben. furt am Main, den Sobibór-Prozess in Berg beginnt seine Darstellung mit der Skizze einer, wie er selbst Hagen und die Prozesse zu Treblinka sagt, noch nicht geschriebenen Wirkungs- und Rezeptionsgeschichte und Majdanek in Düsseldorf – zum In- Fritz Bauers, um vor deren Hintergrund herauszuarbeiten, wie in den ternationalen Strafgerichtshof in Den drei Filmen »die Persönlichkeit Bauers, sein Lebenswerk und sein Haag war es ein schwieriger und viel- privates Schicksal hier zum Gegenstand einer Selbstansprache der fach unterbrochener Weg. Ist es nicht Gegenwart« geworden sind. eine Überbewertung bundesdeutscher Timothy Snyder,
    [Show full text]
  • Operation Reinhard: Death Camps Tour Prices: £499 Per Guest Low Single Rooms Supplements £25 Per Night Deposit Just £100 Per Person
    World War Two Tours Operation Reinhard: Death Camps Tour Prices: £499 per guest Low Single Rooms Supplements £25 per night Deposit just £100 per person Next Trip Dates: April 18th to 20th 2014 PLACES AVAILABLE What’s included: Bed & Breakfast Accommodation All transport from the official overseas start point Accompanied for the trip duration All Museum entrances All Expert Talks & Guidance Operation Reinhard (German: Aktion Reinhard or Einsatz Reinhard) was the code name given to Low Group Numbers the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the General Government, and marked the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, the use of extermination camps. During the operation, as many as two million people were murdered in Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka, almost all of whom were Jews. “Amazing time, one of those By 1942, the Nazis had decided to undertake the Final Solution. ‘once in a life time trips’. WelI This led to the establishment of camps such as Bełżec, organised, very interesting Sobibor and Treblinka which had the express purpose of killing and thoroughly enjoyable. thousands of people quickly and efficiently. These sites differed I would recommend the trip from those such as Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek because to any enthusiast.” they also operated as forced-labour camps, these were purely killing factories. The organizational apparatus behind the extermination program was developed during Aktion T4 when Christian Wirth more than 70,000 German handicapped men, women and children were murdered between 1939 and 1941. The SS officers Military History Tours is all about the ‘experience’. Naturally we take care of responsible for Aktion T4, such as Christian Wirth, Franz Stangl, all local accommodation, transport and and Irmfried Eberl, were all given key roles in establishing the entrances but what sets us aside is our on the ground knowledge and contacts, death camps, overseen by Odilo Goblocnic.
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust Documents
    The Holocaust The Holocaust is a period in European history that took place in Nazi Germany during the late 1930s and 1940s, just prior to and during World War II. It is important for all people to have an understanding of this genocide. This packet contains a large amount of primary and secondary source information. You should familiarize yourself with this for our discussion. My expectations for this 45 minute Harkness Table are high. I want to hear evidence of your reading and understanding of what happened in the holocaust. This packet is yours to keep. Feel free to mark it up. You may consider using a highlighter; post it notes, something to organize your research and studying so you may be able to hold an intellectual and informed discussion. Additionally, on the day you are not participating in the circle you will need to be contributing to the Google back channel discussion. Please bring your electronic device, phone, tablet, and laptop, whatever you have, to the class. I will be looking for your active engagement in the virtual discussion outside the circle. To view a timeline of the events that you are studying please visit the following webpage: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html To view images of the Holocaust and German occupation please visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at the following link: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_list.php?MediaType=ph Some thoughts and questions to consider when you are preparing: • Who were the Nazis? • What did they stand for? • When did they take control in Germany? • Who was Adolph Hitler? • Who was responsible for the destruction of millions of Jews, Poles, Gypsies, and other groups during World War II? • How could this happen? • Why didn’t the allies do anything to stop it? The Wannsee Protocols On January 20, 1942, an extraordinary 90-minute meeting took place in a lakeside villa in the wealthy Wannsee district of Berlin.
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons from the Treblinka Archive: Transnational Collections and Their Implications for Historical Research Chad S.A
    Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies Volume 5 Article 14 2018 Lessons from the Treblinka Archive: Transnational Collections and their Implications for Historical Research Chad S.A. Gibbs University of Wisconsin-Madison, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas Part of the Archival Science Commons, European History Commons, and the Jewish Studies Commons Recommended Citation Gibbs, Chad S.A. (2018) "Lessons from the Treblinka Archive: Transnational Collections and their Implications for Historical Research," Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 5 , Article 14. Available at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol5/iss1/14 This Case Study is brought to you for free and open access by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies by an authorized editor of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lessons from the Treblinka Archive: Transnational Collections and their Implications for Historical Research Cover Page Footnote No one works alone. True to this statement, I owe thanks to many for their assistance in the completion of this work. This article began as a seminar paper in Professor Kathryn Ciancia's course "Transnational Histories of Modern Europe." I thank her and my classmates for many enlightening discussions and the opportunity to challenge my ongoing research in new ways. As always, I thank my advisor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, Professor Amos Bitzan. His guidance and example are always greatly appreciated. In completing this work, I also had the support of my colleague Brian North and Professors Christopher Simer of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and Connie Harris of Dickinson State University.
    [Show full text]
  • Press Release
    The Unknown Black Book: powerful testimonies by Holocaust survivors in Nazi-occupied areas of the USSR BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, more than 2.5 million died in territories controlled by the Soviet Union during World War II. The vast majority of this populace was murdered in open-air massacres, carried out in the very towns and cities where they had been living. The Unknown Black Book: The Holocaust in the German-Occupied Soviet Territories, edited by Joshua Rubenstein and Ilya Altman, provides a revelatory compilation of testimonies from Jews who survived these massacres and other atrocities enforced by the Germans and their allies. The book was published by Indiana University Press in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It includes introductions by Rubenstein, Altman and Yitzhak Arad and is translated by Christopher Morris and Rubenstein. The book's testimonies, from residents of cities, small towns and rural areas, are first-hand accounts by survivors of work camps, ghettos, forced marches, beatings, starvation and disease. Collected under the direction of two renowned Soviet Jewish journalists, Vasily Grossman and Ilya Ehrenburg, they tell of Jews who lived in pits, walled-off corners of apartments, attics and basement dugouts, unable to emerge due to fear that their neighbors would betray them. Included are accounts of how non-Jewish residents of Lithuania, Belarus and other Soviet areas joined advancing German troops in the slaughter of their Jewish neighbors. Other residents, however, including desperately poor peasants, risked their lives to shelter survivors. About the editors Joshua Rubenstein is northeast regional director of Amnesty International USA; he lives in Brookline, Mass.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bureaucracy of Annihilation
    7 The Bureaucracy of Annihilation RAUL HILBERG We are, all of us who have thought and written about the Holocaust, accustomed to thinking of this event as unique. There is no concept in all history like the Final Solution. There is no precedent for the almost endless march of millions of men, women, and children into gas cham­ bers. The systematization of this destruction process sets it aside from all else that has ever happened. Yet if we examine this event in detail, ob~ serving the progression of small steps day by day, we see much in the destruction of Jewry that is familiar and even commonplace in the con­ text of contemporary institutions and practices. Basically, the Jews were destroyed as a consequence of a multitude of acts performed by a phalanx of functionaries in public offices and private enterprises, and many of 'these measures, taken one by one, tum out to be bureaucratic, embedded ih habit, routine, and tradition. It is almost a case of regarding the whole upheaval in all of its massiveness as something incredible, and then ob­ serving the small components and seeing in them very little that one could not expect in a modem society. One can go further and assert that it is the very mundaneness and ordinariness of these everyday official actions which made the destruction process so crass. Never before had the total experience of a modem bureaucracy been applied to such an undertaking. Never before had it produced such a result. 119 RAUL HILBERG The uprooting and annihilation of European Jewry was a multi, pronged operation of a highly decentralized apparatus.
    [Show full text]