SECTION 1: Beginnings Toward the end of World War II the Nazi “Final Solution” was in full effect. They were killing lots of people who were not in the Arian race, including many Jews, politicians, resistance forces, and deserters of the German army in big concentration work and death camps.
As the Allied armies approached the camps, the prisoners were forced to go on death marches to other camps away from the front. To hide the mass murder, the Nazis burned down as much of the camps as they could before retreating.
SECTION 2: Event The Soviet army took over the first camp on July 23, 1944. It was mostly burned down. They did find 800,000 pairs of shoes. They took more camps and on January 27, 1944 the red army came to Auschwitz, one of the biggest concentration camps the Nazis made. There were several thousand prisoners found alive in bad conditions. They were sick and exhausted. The liberators found many of their possessions that had been taken away. They continued pushing into Germany liberating camps along the way.
The Americans liberated Buchenwald, Dachau and many more to stop the German retreat with the help of some rebellious Jewish resistance. The Americans saved over 20,000 prisoners. In the camps, they found thousands of dead bodies “stacked up like cordwood,” as an American soldier said. They described the prisoners like living skeletons. “Why we fought,” said an American journalist.
The British liberated Bergen-Belsen in April 1945. The Germans lied about the number and condition of the prisoners in the camp saying 9000 sick people. There was no water, medicines, and little food for the 60,000 prisoners they saved in the camp. Most of them were dehydrated, starving, and sick with typhus and other diseases. The Germans did nothing to help the prisoners and let them die. Some crawled across the floor looking for food scraps and water by the dead diseased bodies. There were 50,000 prisoners alive and 20,000 of them were seriously ill.
The liberators tried to stop the disease. They washed the sick, used disinfecting powder, made a hospital, and fed them, but many died because their bodies could not eat food any more. There were 20,000 dead bodies unburned. The smell of rotting human flesh and feces was smelled 3 miles away from the camp. They had no water or food for 6 days. The 50,000 prisoners had their ribs showing and had no hair like living skeletons. They did not talk for weeks. The liberators had a hard time telling the dead from the living. Over 10,000 prisoners died after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.
SECTION 3: Results The effects of the holocaust were horrible. In Auschwitz, 1.1 million people were killed. A total of 6 million Jews were killed. There were piles of dead bodies and the people looked like living skeletons. The pictures of the horrors don’t have the smell or sound of the real thing. The images made people not like the Nazis and punished them for the war crimes. On the spot some newly freed Jewish prisoners killed their guards and some of the liberators executed the Nazis right away.
They used the captured Germans and bulldozers to make mass graves for all the bodies. Then they burned down the camps. The survivors had mixed feelings about being free. Some felt guilty they survived; others were happy. Some were overwhelmed or in shock.
NAME: Ben R
SECTION 1: Beginnings
Toward the end of World War II the Nazi “Final Solution” was in full effect. They were killing lots of people who were not in the Arian race, including many Jews, politicians, resistance forces, and deserters of the German army in big concentration work and death camps.
As the Allied armies approached the camps, the prisoners were forced to go on death marches to other camps away from the front. To hide the mass murder, the Nazis burned down as much of the camps as they could before retreating.
SECTION 2: Event
The Soviet army took over the first camp on July 23, 1944. It was mostly burned down. They did find 800,000 pairs of shoes. They took more camps and on January 27, 1944 the red army came to Auschwitz, one of the biggest concentration camps the Nazis made. There were several thousand prisoners found alive in bad conditions. They were sick and exhausted. The liberators found many of their possessions that had been taken away. They continued pushing into Germany liberating camps along the way.
The Americans liberated Buchenwald, Dachau and many more to stop the German retreat with the help of some rebellious Jewish resistance. The Americans saved over 20,000 prisoners. In the camps, they found thousands of dead bodies “stacked up like cordwood,” as an American soldier said. They described the prisoners like living skeletons. “Why we fought,” said an American journalist.
The British liberated Bergen-Belsen in April 1945. The Germans lied about the number and condition of the prisoners in the camp saying 9000 sick people. There was no water, medicines, and little food for the 60,000 prisoners they saved in the camp. Most of them were dehydrated, starving, and sick with typhus and other diseases. The Germans did nothing to help the prisoners and let them die. Some crawled across the floor looking for food scraps and water by the dead diseased bodies. There were 50,000 prisoners alive and 20,000 of them were seriously ill.
The liberators tried to stop the disease. They washed the sick, used disinfecting powder, made a hospital, and fed them, but many died because their bodies could not eat food any more. There were 20,000 dead bodies unburned. The smell of rotting human flesh and feces was smelled 3 miles away from the camp. They had no water or food for 6 days. The 50,000 prisoners had their ribs showing and had no hair like living skeletons. They did not talk for weeks. The liberators had a hard time telling the dead from the living. Over 10,000 prisoners died after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.
SECTION 3: Results
The effects of the holocaust were horrible. In Auschwitz, 1.1 million people were killed. A total of 6 million Jews were killed. There were piles of dead bodies and the people looked like living skeletons. The pictures of the horrors don’t have the smell or sound of the real thing. The images made people not like the Nazis and punished them for the war crimes. On the spot some newly freed Jewish prisoners killed their guards and some of the liberators executed the Nazis right away.
They used the captured Germans and bulldozers to make mass graves for all the bodies. Then they burned down the camps. The survivors had mixed feelings about being free. Some felt guilty they survived; others were happy. Some were overwhelmed or in shock.