The Victims

 

Aluminum wire used to tie victims' hands (taken outside exhibits at the Washington DC Holocaust Museum)

 

During the Holocaust the Nazis killed for numerous reasons. Thousands of people died because of their racial heritage, religious beliefs, and personal convictions. There was no escape for those who dared to defy Hitler's ideals, no matter who they were.

 

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Jews were primarily sent to the Concentration Camps to be killed.

 

  

Photos courtesy of USHMM Archive Photo A, Photot B, Photo C, Photo D, Photo E  

 

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Gypsies 

 

 

(above left) "Four Children" (above center) Theresia Seibel (above right) photo entitled "Don't Touch Me" taken between 1941-42 accredited to Fridel Bohny-Reiter

Photos courtesy of USHMM Archive 

 

"For Nazi Germany the Gypsies became a racist dilemma. The Gypsies were Aryans, but in the Nazi mind there were contradictions between what they regarded as the superiority of the Aryan race and their image of the Gypsies... At a conference held in Berlin on

January 30, 1940, a decision was taken to expel 30,000 Gypsies from Germany to the territories of occupied Poland... The reports of the SS Einsatzgruppen [special task forces] which operated in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union mention the murder of thousands of Gypsies along with the massive extermination of the Jews in these areas. The deportations and executions of the Gypsies came under Himmler's authority. On December 16, 1942, Himmler issued an order to send all Gypsies to the concentration camps, with a few exceptions... "

~ Remember,org 

 

Gypsies had been long hated and persecuted in Europe. They had been enslaved, murdered, and exiled by many different nations throughout history. Nazi doctor, Robert Ritter, was the head of Nazi research concerning gypsies. Ritter used phony science experiments to prove that gypsies were "criminals by nature" and genetically inferior. His research was used to justify the mass deportation and killing of gypsies in concentration camps. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the main concentration camp for gypsies. Due to medical experimentation performed on gypsies, torture, starvation, and mass gassings almost 100% of the gypsies sent to concentration camps died.

 

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Political Prisoners and Jehovah's Witnesses

 

 

Photos courtesy of USHMM Archive (above left) Political Prisoners at Theresienstadt (above right) Leopold Engleitner (a Jehovah's Witness)             

 

Political prisoners and Jehovah's Witnesses though mistreated were not subject to mass gassings. It was still a deadly and horrible experience. Due to starvation, abuse, and disease one in three Jehovah's Witnesses died in concentration camps. 

 

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Soviet prisoners of War

 

 

Soviet Prisoners of War shortly after the libration of

the Hermer POW Camp photo taken April 29, 1945

Photos courtesy of USHMM Archive 

 

3.3 million Soviet Prisoners of War died between 1941-1945. They were shot, starved, died of exposure, or disease. Few survived in the camps longer than 12 months.

 

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Homosexuals 

 

 

Homosexual lovers (Above left) Manfred Lewin and (above right) Gad Beck were Hehalutz activists during WWII and were persecuted for their sexuality

Photos courtesy of USHMM Archive

 

Homosexuals were given the most dangerous and difficult tasks, as a result over 50% did not survive.

 

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Within the camps prisoners were treated differently depending on why they had been imprisoned. Often camps would have completely different compounds meant to hold the different groups imprisoned there. Prisoners could be told apart by a badge which identified why they had been sent to the camps. It was not uncommon for one prisoner to have more than one group identified on their badge (for example, a Jewish homosexual).

 

A chart of the badges prisoners of concentration camps

 

By 1945, it is estimated that between 6 and 13 million non-Jews were murdered by the Nazis.

 

 

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