Research Paper on Jews Under Nazi Occupation During World War II

Introduction

The Second World War began in 1939 and ended in 1945. The war started in September 1931 after the Nazi invasion of western Poland (Jackson 10). After this invasion, the German forces forced thousands of Jews to vacate their homes to live in polish ghettoes. These ghettoes served as Jewish captive states and were built of high walls with barbed wire. The properties belonging to the captured Jews were given to ethnic Nazis. Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler was already in control of the more significant part of Europe, on which millions of Jews lived. These Jews lived in constant fear due to the prosecution of Jews by the Nazis.

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Before the war, the German forces have undertaken an initiative they termed as 'Aryanization'of Germany. This term was used to refer to the process of eliminating Jews from Germany as they were considered inferior. Jews living in Germany at this term were dismissed from civil service and stripped of their businesses. This animosity reached its peak in November 1938 in what was referred to as 'the night of broken glass.' Jewish synagogues were burnt, a hundred Jews were killed, and thousands were arrested (Jackson 162). Hundreds of thousands of Jews left Germany during this time. The ones that chose to remain in Germany lived in constant fear of arrests and persecution. During the war, the German army created Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing units that would be sent to kill Jews. These killed around half a million Jews by the time the German reign collapsed.

The Holocaust

The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as sho'ah, was the government-sponsored killing of millions of Jews in Nazi Germany intending to answer the 'Jewish question.' The Jewish question was used to refer to the waging debate as to the status the Jews held in Europe and how they should be treated in society (David 54). In 1941, the Nazis were experimenting with mass killing methods in preparation for the Holocaust. An example was the gassing of 500 prisoners of war using the pesticide, Zyklon B at Auschwitz concentration camp. There was mass transport of Jews from ghettoes to concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Majdanek among others. Hungarian Jews were also transported to the death camps in Poland. The Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest death camp, with approximately 6000 Jews being gassed and cremated per day (David 110).

The decline in Germany's political power began in June 1944 when the Soviets invaded Germany. With the fast encroaching Soviet front lines, the Nazis began evacuating the death camps. They made these people march from the camps in what was popularly known as 'death marches.' Thousands of people died during these marches. Some were executed while others died of starvation and disease. This was because the camps they lived in were overcrowded with the prevalence of diseases such as Typhus. The allied forces from the United States and Britain finally reached the concentration camps and got wind of what was happening to the Jews. They attempted to heal the sick, bury the dead and comfort the bereaved, even with the surrender of the Nazis in 1945.

Conclusion

The experience of Jewish individuals and communities living under Nazi occupation during the Second World War was horrific. Approximately six million Jews were killed in what the Nazis termed as the final answer to 'The Jewish question.' This execution was carried out in extermination or concentration camps such as The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp where approximately one million Jews were gassed and cremated. This extermination went on till the German surrender to the allied forces in 1945.

Works Cited

Crowe, David M. The Holocaust: Roots, History, and Aftermath. Routledge, 2018, p.10-542

Spielvogel, Jackson J. Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History. Routledge, 2016, p 6-320