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ABSTRACT Archaeological and Anthropological Aspects of the Holocaust from a Jewish Perspective by Stephen Dixon B.Sc. The intention of this research is to offer innovative ideas on methods that can be utilised by academics and historians within a conflict context. The framework that will support the overall research is from that of an archaeological, anthropological and memory driven perspective. Discussion will turn to individual components such as liminality, monumentality, the built environment and landscape theory highlighting Nazi segregation policies. Analysis of ghettoisation, deportation and extermination policy through archaeological sub-disciplines and anthropology as well as comparison to other world atrocity sites will take place. This will illustrate that detection of similar techniques of incarceration are recognisable as modes of controlling fear whilst simultaneously achieving a terror regime. Initially propaganda policy of the National Socialist Party in both pre and World War II settings in Germany and throughout parts of Europe helped to fuel the already present culture of antisemitism. A significant and sinister shift in decision-making witnessed a move from persecution to exclusion and isolation that saw major cities already damaged by invasion and warfare ‘holding’ Jews in purposefully manufactured locations that was a preparatory step towards genocide. Ghettoisation facilitated the next stage in the process, deportation by train to extermination centres, as communities were despatched from ‘round-up’ points to ‘unknown destinations’ further east. At all times Jews were vulnerable and were placed into landscapes of terror, although either the strong individual or Nazi methods of control, at times, suppressed fear. Arrival at industrialised death camps was the final stage of a journey for the majority that culminated in death, but not before further measures that reduced the individual to a state beyond life, a liminal entity in a place where extreme conditions prevailed. Each component of the strategy was monitored and managed, as fear was euphemistically dismissed by the perpetrator and the by-stander. i Acknowledgements This author would like to thank supervisor Chris Read, Institute of Technology, Sligo (I.T.Sligo) for his assistance and encouragement throughout the last two years. Also I.T. Sligo for allowing me the opportunity to further advance research and knowledge on a subject that was initiated as part of an under-graduate degree in Applied Archaeology in 2010. In addition I would like to thank examiners Dr. Marion Dowd (I.T.Sligo) and Dr. Caroline Sturdy-Colls (Staffordshire University) for their direction and encouragement. It is necessary to mention the authors of the publications that have been utilised for reference material. This includes academics and historians who have written at length on the subject of The Holocaust, and to those who publish ‘websites’ and ‘blogspots’ that have further enhanced and embellished information that is available. Finally I would like to thank my family who have continued to support me throughout my return to studies in recent years. ii Declaration I declare that I am the sole author of this thesis and that all the work presented in it, unless otherwise referenced, is my own. I also declare that this work has not been submitted, in whole or in part, to any other University or College for any degree or qualification. Stephen Dixon (Author) Chris Read (Supervisor) (August 2013) iii Contents...................................................................................v List of Figures.........................................................................viii List of Plates............................................................................ix Hypothesis Statement.............................................................xi Glossary..................................................................................xii iv Contents 1 Introduction...........................................................................................................1 2 Literature Review..................................................................................................8 2.1 Archaeology; Holocaust and Conflict................................................................9 2.2 Anthropology; Social Memory.........................................................................17 2.3 Propaganda...................................................................................................... 19 2.4 Ghettoisation................................................................................................... 24 2.5 Built Environment.......................................................................................... 27 2.6 Monumentality................................................................................................ 29 2.7 Liminality (incorporating Deportation)............................................................32 2.8 Landscapes........ ............................................................................................. 35 3 Methodology...................................................................................................... 38 3.1 Definitions........................................................................................................39 4 Genocide...............................................................................................................46 4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................46 4.2 The Soviet Gulag............................................................................................50 4.3 Cambodia, Pol Pot and The Khmer Rouge....................................................52 4.4 The Bosnian War-Srebrenica.........................................................................56 4.5 Visible Components of Genocide................................................................. 58 5 Deception, Fear and Terror-An Introduction..................................................64 5.1 Managing the threat of death; Terror Management Theory..........................64 5.2 Fear based analyses of Nazi Germany..........................................................65 5.3 Holocaust survivors and Genocide remembered...........................................67 5.4 Victim, perpetrator and bystander.................................................................68 5.5 Consequences................................................................................................69 6 Propaganda-The Art of Deception.....................................................................71 6.1 Definition.........................................................................................................71 6.2 National Socialism and Propaganda.............................................................. .71 6.3 Propaganda and Anti-Semitism......................................................................76 6.4 Propaganda in Action-Theresienstadt............................................................78 6.4.1 Warsaw Ghetto.............................................................................................80 7 Ghettoisation.........................................................................................................82 7.1 Aspects of the Initiation of Ghettoisation ........................................................82 v 7.2 Ghettoisation and German Jews.......................................................................88 7.3 Ghettos; Exclusion and Isolation......................................................................89 7.4 Ghettos of Budapest, Łódź, andWarsaw................................................ ….....90 8 Deportation..........................................................................................................95 8.1 Part of the Process..........................................................................................97 9 Internment and Extermination........................................................................102 9.1 The Process................................................................................................. 102 9.2 Internment and Extermination Locations.....................................................105 9.2.1 Chełmno....................................................................................................105 9.2.2 Bełżec........................................................................................................107 9.2.3 Sobibór..................................................................................................... 109 9.2.4 Treblinka...................................................................................................110 9.2.5 Majdanek...................................................................................................113 9.2.6 Auschwitz-Birkenau..................................................................................115 10 Liminality.......................................................................................................118 10.1 Liminality; The Yellow Star and Ghosts.................................................118 10.2 Liminality and Ghettoisation...................................................................121 10.3 Liminality and Deportation.....................................................................124 10.4 Internment, Extermination and Liminality..............................................129