Segregation & Redefinition Civil Rights Restrictions Euthanasia Programs (T-4) in Germany Plans and Implementation of Judenrein through Deportation Ghettoization Interment in Camps Operation Reinhard and the Einsatzgruppen The non-stop, post Wannsee Conference Killing of the Jews of Europe and other non-favored, non-aryan peoples.
For years Hitler and
his men had discussed what to do about "The Jewish Problem". That it was
Hitler's intent to rid the Jews from Europe starting with Germany is of little
doubt. Early speeches and even Mein Kampf are replete with statements of the Third Reich's view of
the necessity of making Germany and Europe "Judenrein". The means of a
"solution to the "Jewish Question" was all that remained. Early experiments with
mass extermination show that there was always an intent to kill large numbers of
non-military persons starting with the T-4 Euthanasia programs and
experiments with gassings, especially monoxide poisonings. To the public though,
the initial phases were presented as a 'relocation' of the Jews. While there was
much anti-Semitism
in Germany at the time, it was still a more modern Western Civilization, and the
Third Reich knew that an outright cry for the extermination of the Jews would be
met with outrage and protest from within Germany and without. While historians
may debate how detailed the plans for the annihilation of the Jews was, the
existence of the plans can not be doubted. What follows is a discussion of the
progression of events and concepts which culmination in the deaths of over 11
million innocent lives.
Segregation and Redefinition
"The Final Solution" to the "Jewish Problem" was more defined at levels of leadership in the National Socialist(Nazi) Party than at the level of the general public. Anti-Semitism has such a long history in Europe and the World, that it would be foolish to think that it suddenly surged right before WWII. The Jews had been subtlely seen as "Christ-Killers" since the first century, although even that was just another excuse for Anti-Semitism. What fueled a renewal of Anti-Semitic feeling was the emergence of racial philosophies, sciences and occultic thought which posited a hierachal view of race, i.e. some races were inferior, and some superior, a view that the Jews were among the inferiors, and a view that the Jews always tended toward degenerate philosophies such as Marxism, degenerate arts and other non-edifying influences. Jews were blamed for everything wrong in Germany, such as economic failures and shortages, art without form, and demoralization. They were also blamed for what could possibly happen such as overthrow by the communists and further ruin of German National Identity. Furthermore, at the time, the Jewish community gave birth to new voices in the early 20th century which encouraged Jewish citizens of the nations in Europe to 'enculturate'----not to lose their Jewish identity but to become national citizens first: the wisdom of this has been debated ever since. (See Jewish Theologians". How threatening this was to either Jews or Germans remains an area for study.
The first step in denigrating Jewish Citizens was to attack their inclusion in German culture, society and education: this was followed closely by civil rights restrictions. Segregation became a way for Germans to see Jews as 'different' and 'strange'. Jewish children were removed from Public Schooling. Jews were restricted to certain areas, they could not congregate where Germans congregated. As soon as Jews were kept from normal interaction with other Germans, vilification became easy. This would soon lead to both passive and active acceptance of Nazi Plans to remove Jews altogether from German living Space.
Civil Rights Restrictions & Terminations
If Hitler had announced the day after taking office that all the Jews of Germany and others would be deported and killed, there would have of course been an outcry. It was, of course, a modern western nation: none, even the more prejudice would have imagined in the beginning the genocide which would occur over the next 12 years. The Jews however were seen as a nation without a nation, and this view kept them eyed suspiciously in many countries. One of Hitler's first major moves which allowed the process of Endlosung to continue was civil rights restrictions enforced from the beginning of his reign. With the burning of the Reichstag an emergency Civil Rights Restriction act, the Enabling Act was enforced, allowing Hitler and his regime to suspend civil rights for 'enemies of the state' at will, suspending normal due process. This allowed initially for the removal of bolsheviks (communists) from the German Parliament as well as those Hitler "defined" as communists, or threats to the state, many of whom were Jews or their supporters. With most of the opposition gone, Hitler could take a firm hold of power in the German legislature. This set the stage for the removal of further civil rights for the Jews. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws which defined racial characteristics and excluded Jews from Citizenship rights were enacted . While these Civil Liberties issues are covered elsewhere, the relationship to "The Final Solutionis important because it meant that once deportation orders, segregations, ghettoizations and killings began to occur, the Jews had no recourse to the legal system or due process to normally fight or stop the illegal acts. They became literally a people without a country, prey to the whims of violent and capricious men. Even if they had some recourse early, an early restriction included the inability of a Jew to practice law, and few others would represent them. They became of people of no rights, and without the ability to buy or take up arms in resistance, their ability to fight back was also taken.
Euthanasia Programs (T-4) in Germany
Another early step to the genocide of the Jews was the T-4 or Euthanasia programs, and indeed, later, many of those instrumental in the T-4 program became leaders in Aktion Reinhard The T-4 program was the name given to the mass extermination of those Hitler and the Third Reich considered "unfit" or feeble-minded. The "business" of keeping the mentally retarded or mentally ill in state financed asylums and homes was weighed openly: it was decided that not only were the developmentally-delayed and others a burden on society, but that they ran the risk of tainting the German gene pool, and the cost of euthanizing them by lethal injections or gassings was considered far less expensive.2 Many Germans and others were outraged: one of the first White Rose pamphlets was the protest of a Catholic Bishop Galen against such practices. Despite protests, though, the killings went on unhindered: thousands were killed with and without familial permissions: families were often notified of the death of their vulnerable loved one in obsequiesce ways so as not to inculcate legal actions against the State. The T-4 program also gave rise to early experiments in mass killings: a variety of methods were tried including monoxide poisonings in trucks (later used in Chelmno), shootings, injections, water poisonings, and others. It was decided that mass gassings were the most efficient taking the least time, with the most killed, and with the deaths lasting only seconds. These findings would later be put into effect in the Killing Centers the very fact of the experimentation with the most effective means of mass killings indicates that a plan was either in existence or in the forming for future use of these methods.
Judenrein, or making
Europe and Germany "Jew-free" included more than the concept of simply ridding
the Jews from Europe. The word itself refers to a ridding of 'impurities' and
the aim of ridding the Jews from German soil had to do with the cleansing of
bloodlines: the new Germany would be one of perfect aryan blood: one motto of
the time was "those of the same blood belong to the same Reich". (See Eugenics) From the beginning,
measures of physical attributes of racial identity (today like a phenotype) were
taken to distinguish what Hitler and the Third Reich considered an inferior race
and earlier 'root race'. The Nazis measured these
qualities and began immediately to deport persons with those characteristics.
While the immediate and public directives were to deport in order to rid Germany
and German occupied territories of this troublesome 'race', talk of Jewish 'emigration'
hid the truth of forced deportation, and talk of deportation hid the truth of
the extermination camps and slave labor, although even slave labor for the Jews
was publicly mentioned as early as 1933. (See The Wannsee Conference & Post-wannsee
massacre below.)
Ghettoization
Ghettoization was also a rung in the plan of Endlosung, but is not always counted as such, and is treated separatedly in this site. (See Ghettos The Ghettoization of the Jews in WWII though was an essential element in public acquiescence to the gruesome design for genocide, and in the physical preparation for the "Final Solution". Robbed of personal property rights early in the administration of the Third Reich, Jews were forced out of houses and businesses owned by their families sometimes for centuries, and the land and property was confiscated for the State. These early acquisitions often went to members of the SS or others in high favor with leadership. The Jews before massive deportations were 'ghettoized' in portions of German and Polish towns intended for far fewer persons than were sent, and penned up until deportation to the camps, particularly to the Killing Centers. Ghettoization was particularly prominent in Poland and Belarus including large Ghettos of thousands including Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Bialystok and others. This physical separation from the rest of Polish and German society aided greatly in propaganda techniques to make the Jews appear different, odd, dangerous and evil: there was no longer daily evidence to the contrary, so rumors and innuendo could flourish and Blood Libel took a stronghold. Further, since Ghettoization provided a geographical gathering, the Jews as a group were more easily 'managed' for deportation and killing. Since the Nazis had firm control over the Ghettos (including the Judenrat) the violent reign of terror was easily accomplished, and the identification and segregation of the Jews facilitated: once deportations started, there was a methodical business of 'processing' the Jews through the use of categorization for slave labor (See The Hollerith Machine), extensive and doublechecked 'lists' of those to be processed for deportation and a streamlining of the transfer by RSHA through IVB4 for the train transfer to the killing centers. Without this efficient and deadly organization, the crime of genocide during WWII could not have been accomplished in the vast numbers that it was.
The Einsatzgruppen & Operation Reinhard
That the Einsatzgruppen aktions, or mass killings under Heydrich of the Jews
by a special force was planned as a means of deliberate genocide is difficult to
debate. Himmler, sent various communications directing
Heydrich to take the aktions, killing as many as possible. (See Himmler Letter)
EinsatzgruppenAktions took place before the Wannsee Conference
at which the formal decision to erase Jewish bloodlines from
Europe became a directive. That there were mass killings is not arguable: the numbers were carefully documented by
the Nazis themselves. Einsatzgruppen. The directives and special training of the units also lend to their
credibility as part of the "Final Solution"---this was not simply a military action, there was already a trained military
in the area, but a four-division unique 'special forces' trained to kill civilians in large numbers. While some have
argued that their targets were partisans and 'commissars'- the sheer numbers make readily apparent that this was not
the case, as do their records, in which partisans were listed separately in death tolls. While the Einsatzgruppen were
filling mass graves of 1.5 million persons, mostly Jewish, a few camps were already in operation and others were planned
or being built. Also, there were mass 'aktions' all over Europe in which Nazis and locals would kill most Jewish males
and often women, children and elderly as well. With the t4 Euthanasia program, it is clear that long before the Wannsee
Conference in 1943, the genocide of the Jews was already under way. Heydrich, nicknamed "the Butcher of Prague" for his
mass killings, was assasinated by two men, Kubris and xxxxxx, and in retailiation, the city of Lidice was burned to the
ground. "Operation Reinhard", headed by Globocnik was named for him, and became the blueprint for killing as many Jews
possible, in any way possible, in as little time possible and then covering the evidence. Camps such as Belzec, Sobibor and
Majdanek, Treblinka and others were either established for the purpose of genocide, or increased in killing capacity. Belzec
is an excellent example of an Operation Reinhard Camp: persons were deported to Belzec almost entirely for killing,
killed quickly, buried in mass graves around the camp and then the camp was closed and camoflaged by staff officers forming
a farm over the location: new mass graves in the area are still being found.3 The estimates from "Operation Reinhard" [the
Nazis used this name of the project in their communications] are 2,000,000 dead, although the total number is still not
known because of the destruction of records. In sum, before the deaths at Auschwitz and other camps are added, the deaths
just from Operation Reinhard and the Einsatzgruppen are from 3.5 to 4 million, almost entirely civilians, with less than 10%
of partisans, political opponents, P.O.W.s and other 'special' prisoners.
The Concentration Camps & Atrocity Centers
The topic of Killing & Atrocity Centers, or "Concentration Camps
are covered elsewhere in this site, but the Killing and Atrocity Centers were the central focus of Endlosung, the
final solution to the 'Jewish Problem'. Even early in the euthanasia programs the Nazis discovered they could not kill
innocents without public and worldwide outcry. While they experimented with mass extermination weapons including infections,
injections, gassings and shootings, they found basically two problems: one was inefficient means that caused too much exertion
for the killers, and too few deaths at a time, and one was the 'terrible' problem of public outcry. While in Germany they
were able to stiffle protest and outcry, the rest of the world, especially church and synagogue organizations were far less
willing to be silent and the Nazis control did not extend to many free countries. Since the degree of killings eventually ranged
from estimates of 11.5 (6 million Jews) to even greater numbers (Hoess once commented to Eichmann upon a visit to Auschwitz that
he estimated 4 or 5 million killed there alone 6)the idea of clandestine killings of so many people and the genocide particularly
of the Jews and Roma-Sinti had to have been planned: and cleverly planned at that. During war time when so many persons are assigned
in military positions, such as posts at camps, attending trains, and other incarcerations including quarry work and slave labor,
they observe and witness the deaths of non-civilians as well as civilians: earlier in the war before prisoners were primarily used
to bury other murdered prisoners, military personnel would have attended to this, and while there were penalties for disclosing
what was happening, they certainly did at times report it to intimates and family members. (See "Did the People
Know?).
Concentration Camps were in existence from as early as 1933 when a few were built and some prisons were redefined as POW camps,
dissenter camps, or 're-education' centers: that momentary purpose hid the more sinister one of killing and slave centers.
The Wannsee Conference &; Subsequent Massacre
The Wannsee Conference of 1942 was a meeting designed to delineate the final plans and implementation of the remnant of Jews who had already not been deported. Couched in terms of "jewish-funded" emigration even the minutes and documents from the meeting allude to two key factors:
Deportations were funded by the Third Reich, except for the 'emigration tax' mentioned. The 'emigration tax' for Jews was far from voluntary and was not only a levy placed upon emigration but was also in the form of a grotesquely unfair money exchange: hence, Jews were forced to leave either by German monies or their own, and they could not leave with any significant amount of money. "Emigration" was a euphemism for forced expulsion, deportation, enslavement and illegal imprisonment: only a few wealthy Jews in the 1930s had been fortunate enough to leave Germany of their own volition as they saw the tides begin to turn.
The tenets of the Wannsee decision are clearly directing a "Final Solution" to the Jewish problem, which on the surface
appears to be largely 'emigration' [forced deportation]. The reason the Wannsee is seen as also directing the genocide
of the Jews of Europe are several including:
---Additional eyewitness testimony of the meeting from principals
---The euphemistic couching of terms, such as emigration for deportation, or 'taxes to help poorer Jews' for confiscation
of assets, indicates that final and complete solutions meant much more.
---The Order to include not only German Jews from Germany but from all borders:
The Reichsführer-SS and the Chief of the German Police (Chief of the Security Police and the SD) was entrusted with the official central handling of the final solution of the Jewish question without regard to geographic borders.
--- The two edicts to take care of the problem in such a final way that the Jews would never be on German {i.e.European] soil again indicates a solution greater than emigration which would merely have displaced the Jews:
"a) the expulsion of the Jews from every sphere of life of the German people, b) the expulsion of the Jews from the living space of the German people. "
----The contradiction of requiring emigration and then outlawing it because of wartime made another 'final solution' eminent and inevitable.
In the meantime the Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police had prohibited emigration of Jews due to the dangers of an emigration in wartime and due to the possibilities of the East.
---Slave Labor leading to death was mandated:
'in the course of the final solution the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East. Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. '
---All other Jews were considered "resistance" and to be 'treated accordingly' [death penalty in Germany]
"The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as a the seed of a new Jewish revival (see the experience of history.) "And, before any directive for concentration camps or Operation Reinhard, the directive for the already underway Einsatzgruppen which resulted in 1.5 million deaths was ordered:
In the course of the practical execution of the final solution, Europe will be combed through from west to east. Germany proper, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, will have to be handled first due to the housing problem and additional social and political necessities.which couched it's wording in ghettoization and deportation, but which was already in the process of killing hundreds of thousands.
The targeted peoples were very clearly defined in detail by race and not religion, the Jewish race being defined by parentage, and the "Final Solution" was to take place as quickly as possible. Further edicts and letters followed between Himmler and Heydrich (see Letter from Heydrich) in which orders to kill 'as many Jews possible' became clear. Eichmann and Himmler had both given accounts of physical disgust at the site of Mass executions, and both of these men reported eventually directly to Hitler. Hoess reported to Eichmann upon a visit to Auschwitz on the massive numbers killed, estimating 4 or 5 million, although present day scholars have only collated 2.5 million provable deaths. Globocnik, the head of Operation Reinhard and former member of the T4 operation, gave clear directives regarding a very planned genocide. There can be virtually no doubt that the mass extermination of the Jews was not a coincidental turn of war, but a planned, contrived genocide since before Hitler took office.