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'The Torture of Jewish People during the Holocaust'

The Holocaust also known as the Shoah was the tragic genocide of at least six millions European Jews during World War II. The Nazis came to power in Germany during January 1933. The Nazis believed that Germans where "racially superior". They believed that the Jews were a inferior race and they feared they were a threat to the German racial community. During this period of time, The Nazis targeted homosexuals, the disabled, gypsies and any race that was inferior to theirs (the prevention of hereditary diseased offspring).

'Concentration Camps'

Immediately after his rise to power, Hitler began creating Concentration Camps. Concentration Camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy. At first, the camps were meant for criminals, political prisoners,and security risks. By late 1930 there was many Concentration Camps all around Germany. Treblinka, Dachau, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibor, Chelmno, Belzek and Majdanek were Concentration Camps that Nazis took the Jews on by train. By 1945, the Germans had killed 2 out of 3 European Jews. At least 200,000 gypsies were targeted and at least 200,000 mentally and disabled people as well, mainly Germans. Once in the camp SS members will form two lines. One for work, and one for death. Once in the camp they will assign people to what they should be doing.

Gas Chambers

In the Concentration Camps hygiene was payed very little attention too. In Auschwitz Concentration Camp July 28, 1941 a special commission of Doctor's arrived. Dr Horst Schumann, the director of the Euthanasia Centre at Sonnenstein was one of the Doctors that was there. The Doctors selected around 574 prisoners from Block 15 in Auschwitz. These prisoners were taken to Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre were they were all gassed in a bathroom where carbon monoxide gas was used instead of water in the showerheads. The weak, sick and disabled were the first to go to the gas chambers.

In 1941, September 3 with the success of the gassing experiment, the gassing experiment was used once again in Block 11. The rooms where Jews were taken too had few windows. Once the Jews were pushed in and crammed into a room, the SS men threw Zyklon B gas or or carbon dioxide. The doors where then locked and sealed. The moment when the gas was introduced, to drown out the screams and groans of the dying people, the motor of a lorry was switched on to drown out their screams. After this atrocity was done, the doors were left open for several hours in hope the room with air out. Once ventilators were installed the process was shortened to a hour.

 Using food as Torture

In the Concentration Camp there were thousands of people and food was precious during those times. Meals where the most important part of their whole days. Hunger was a huge deal to all jews who were in the camps. The food portions that jews were given were just enough to keep them alive. Although they would get meals three times a day. In the morning they were given a imitation of "coffee" or "tea".

For lunch they were given soup, if the prisoners were lucky they will find a piece of a potato peel, or a piece of tulip. In the evening they will receive a little piece of black bread that was suppose to last them until next morning as well. At times they were also given a piece of sausage; maybe some marmalade or cheese.

These food portions made it even harder for the prisoners to survive. Many prisoners hid their food within themselves. At times, some jews were brave enough to steal food from whoever they were able too. Some even made up their own recipes, and took advice that thought they could help. For example, a Hungarian doctor who was also a prisoner in the camp told David Kaplan to boil pine-cones to get some vitamins into his body.

Inhumane Torture

The torture methods that were used in concentration camps were inhumane. The SS members used everything in their reach to torture and make Jews life a living hell.

For example, The commandant of the Janowski camp in Lvov, Obersturmfuehrer Wilhaus created his own sport. Wilhaus had a habit of standing in the balcony of the camp office. To amuse his wife and nine year old daughter he will shoot at the prisoners working below. At times Wilhaus would order whoever was below to throw three or four children in the air, then he will shoot at them while his nine year old daughter clapped; and pleaded for him to do it again. Some of the other cruel methods were

"putting people’s hands in boiling water until the skin and fingernails came off like gloves; stamping on a man’s foot for ten minutes with a special steel boot and repeating the process for two weeks; pressing a hot poker into the hands; hanging persons by their hands behind their backs until their shoulders were out of joint, then gashing the soles of their feet and making the victims walk on salt; pulling teeth and cutting and twisting off the ears; running electric current through the victims’ bodies and other fiendish devices too horrible to describe. "