Holocaust

The Holocaust was an unprecedented mass murder and annihilation of approximately six million Jews by Nazi Germany. Other groups were also targeted by the German authorities because they were racially inferior or on ideological grounds: the mentally and physically disabled, Gypsies, Communists, homosexuals, etc. Killing occurred everywhere the Germans conquered and were mainly in Poland and Soviet Union in concentration camps. The Holocaust began in January 20, 1942, when the Wannsee Conference in Berlin was convenned, and gradually came to an end when World War Two was about to end, since Hitler lost his power. Hitler believed in a superior race, the Aryans, which could not be obtained unless all Jews were eliminated.

Jewish Life
In September 1939, Germany took control of Warsaw and Poland after launching a blitzkrieg, a new military tactic. After the conquering, it became obvious that little did the Nazis, considering themselves the Master Race, value Polish life. Among the ghettos, neighborhoods in a city to which a group of people are confined, were Warsaw Ghetto, which was the worst ghetto. A half million Jews were crammed into an area less than 1.5 miles square. Life in the Warsaw Ghetto was desperate because food was scarce and disease spreadid quickly. Jews were forced to live on 180 grams of bread a day, 220 grams of sugar a month, 1 kg of jam and honey, etc. German authorities also did everything to completely seal off the ghetto. Smuggling was a way to get food, however, smugglers were shot when they were caught. Everyday there were men with wagons picking up dead ones who died of starvation, cold or disease.

Wannsee Conference
On January 20, 1942, The Wannsee Conference was held with 14 top Nazi bureaucrats and Reinhard Heydrich, the chief executor, to discuss about the Final Solution in which the Nazis would attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe. During the meeting, Heydrich presented a plan which deported the Jews to the Eastern side of Europe and use the Jews to perform labor. At times of war, however, German did not have enough forces to move millions of people at once. Moreover, the Soviet gradually pushed back the German lines, so the Jews were sent to extermination or concentration camps.

There were four main points of the Wannsee protocol and the following are the first paragraphs of the four points:

I. The following persons took part in the discussion about the final solution of the Jewish question which took place in Berlin, am Grossen Wannsee No. 56/58 on 20 January 1942.

II. At the beginning of the discussion Chief of the Security Polic thumb|right|400px|The Holocaust

e and of the SD, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich, reported that the Reich Marshal had appointed him delegate for the preparations for the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe and pointed out that this discussion had been called for the purpose of clarifying fundamental questions. The wish of the Reich Marshal to have a draft sent to him concerning organizational, factual and material interests in relation to the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe makes necessary an initial common action of all central offices immediately concerned with these questions in order to bring their general activities into line.

III. Another possible solution of the problem has now taken the place of emigration, i.e. the evacuation of the Jews to the East, provided that the Führer gives the appropriate approval in advance. IV. In the course of the final solution plans, the Nuremberg Laws should provide a certain foundation, in which a prerequisite for the absolute solution of the problem is also the solution to the problem of mixed marriages and persons of mixed blood.