WH Writing Assignment XIV

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Metropolitan Community College, Omaha *

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History

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Dec 6, 2023

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Writing Assignment XIV: Hitler and Nazi Germany Topic: Explain the "final solution". What was the time frame/context? What was Auschwitz- Birkenau? Who was Elie Wiesel and what does he tell us about Auschwitz-Birkenau? (lecture, textbook, Canvas sources) In January of 1942, Nazi Germany’s leaders would gather and discuss what was to be the ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Question.’ But before we discuss the details to the ‘Final Solution’ and how it was carried out, I think it is necessary to establish a bit of context. In the early 1900s, Adolf Hitler would begin is slow ascent to power. The reason for his rise to power is not necessarily important for this discussion, but we will examine some key details relating to the topic. First let us consider Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf. More specifically Untermensch. Untermensch is a Nazi term referring to non-Aryan individuals who are perceived to be racially or socially inferior. This group of individuals included socialists, communists, Gypsies, homosexuals, intellectuals, mentally and physically handicapped individuals, and the Jewish people ( Lecture: 11:40 ). This is extremely important to note because although we are focusing primarily on the Jewish people, many people of these groups will be sought out and relentlessly executed. Next, Hitler would put his plan of mass genocide into action with the ‘cleansing’ process. This process included four phases before the final solution. The first phase was a form of harassment towards the Jews to pit the German people against them. During the second phase, laws would be created and enforced to further single out the Jewish population. Proceeding this is the third phase, where Jews are being assassinated or rounded up to be placed in internment camps. And finally, the fourth phase is the beginning of mass execution by the Einsatzgruppen. The Einsatzgruppen was a group of German soldiers who were tasked to specifically carry out the execution of Jews, usually via gunshot. I referred to them as German soldiers and not Nazi soldiers because I do not believe everyone in the German army sympathized with that political ideology. This is apparent in, “Fuhrer, You Order. We Obey”, where Höss states, “ I want to emphasize here that I personally never hated the Jews ” and treated them as if they were an opposing force rather than a group of people he disliked. Nevertheless, this method of executing the Jewish people was entirely inefficient so as stated in the beginning, Nazi leaders would gather at the Wannsee Conference and discuss the ‘Final Solution.’ The ‘Final Solution’ was the Nazi plan for genocide of the Jewish people in the most efficient way possible, this event is also referred to as the Holocaust. Most German officers running these death camps probably aligned themselves with the Nazi ideology and they would either carry out this mass murder by way of cremation or gas chambers. Germany and its allies had established thousands of these concentration camps around Europe and the largest of these was named Auschwitz-Birkenau, also referred to as Auschwitz I and II.

To further understand this atrocity, we will examine some primary source material provided to the class. In “Holocaust Encyclopedia: Elie Wiesel”, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel offers more insight into Auschwitz-Birkenau. Wiesel was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau when he was just 15 years old along with his parents and three sisters. Upon entering the camp, he could see smoke emerging from the stacks, smoke coming from the bodies of children being burned in the crematorium. There his mother and younger sister were immediately selected to be murdered in the gas chambers while Wiesel and his older sisters were forced to work. His father died while being transported between camps ( Holocaust Encyclopedia: Elie Wiesel para. 5, 6, 7 ). Those who chose not to work would be sent directly to the furnace, to the crematory ( First Person Singular: Elie Wiesel, 27:25 ). Prisoners who were not immediately executed were working as slave laborers and were given little food, many would die due to starvation. Elie Wiesel and his older sisters would survive Auschwitz-Birkenau and they would also survive the war. Wiesel documented his experiences in his first book called La Nuit , would go on to become a human rights activist, become a professor at Boston University, and would be presented with the Nobel Prize “ for being a messenger to mankind: his message is one of peace, atonement and dignity. ” ( Holocaust Encyclopedia: Elie Wiesel para. 4 ). Following the events of World War II an estimated 6-8 million Jews would be murdered in one of the worst genocides in human history.

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