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- When
speaking about the “Holocaust,” what time period are we referring
to?
Answer: The “Holocaust” refers to the murder of 6,000,000 European
Jews carried out in a systematically planned and executed manner
1941 - 1945. A study of the Holocaust should also include a study
of the period from 1933 when Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of
Germany until the summer of 1941 when the Einsatzgruppen massacres
began. The period between summer of 1941 until 1945 is generally
defined as the dates of the actual implementation of the Final
Solution.
- How
many Jews were murdered during the Holocaust?
Answer: Six million is the round figure accepted by most authorities.
- How
many non-Jewish civilians were murdered during World War II?
Answer: It is impossible to determine the exact number. Among
the groups which the Nazis and their collaborators murdered and
persecuted: Gypsies, resistance fighters from all the nations,
German opponents of Nazism, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
the physically and mentally handicapped, habitual criminals ,
and the “anti-social,” e.g. beggars, vagrants.
- Which
Jewish communities suffered losses during the Holocaust?
Answer: Every Jewish community in Nazi-occupied Europe suffered
losses during the Holocaust. Some Jewish communities in North
Africa were persecuted, but the Jews in these countries were neither
deported to the death camps, nor were they systematically murdered.
- How
many Jews were murdered in each country and what percentage of
the pre-war Jewish population did they constitute?
Answer: (Source: Encyclopedia of the Holocaust)
| Austria
50,000 27.0% |
Italy 7,680 17.3% |
| Belgium
28,900 44.0% |
Latvia
71,500 78.1% |
| Bohemia/Moravia
78,150 66.1% |
Lithuania
143,000 85.1% |
| Bulgaria
0 0.0% |
Luxembourg
1,950 55.7% |
| Denmark
60 0.7% |
Netherlands
100,000 71.4% |
| Estonia
2,000 44.4% |
Norway
762 44.8% |
| Finland
7 0.3% |
Poland
3,000,000 90.9% |
| France
77,320 22.1% |
Romania
287,000 47.1% |
| Germany
141,500 25.0% |
Slovakia
71,000 79.8% |
| Greece
67,000 86.6% |
Soviet
Union 1,100,000 36.4% |
| Hungary
569,000 69.0% |
Yugoslavia
63,300 81.2% |
- What
is a death camp? How many were there? Where are they located?
Answer: A death camp is a concentration camp with special apparatus
specifically designed for systematic murder. Six such camps existed:
Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka.
All were located in Poland.
- What
does the term “Final Solution” mean and what is its origin?
Answer: The term “Final Solution” (Endlösung) refers to
Germany’s plan to murder all the Jews of Europe.
- When
did the “Final Solution” actually begin?
Answer: While thousands of Jews were murdered by the Nazis or
died as a direct result of discriminatory measures instituted
against Jews during the initial years of the Third Reich, the
systematic murder of Jews did not begin until the German invasion
of the Soviet Union in June 1941.
- How
did the Germans define who was Jewish?
Answer: On November 14,1935, the Nazis issued the following definition
of a Jew: Anyone with three Jewish grandparents; someone with
two Jewish grandparents who belonged to the Jewish community on
September 15, 1935, or joined thereafter; was married to a Jew
or Jewess on September 15, 1935, or married one thereafter; was
the offspring of a marriage or extramarital liaison with a Jew
on or after September 15, 1935.
- How
did the Germans treat those who had some Jewish blood but were
not classified as Jews?
Answer: Those who were not classified as Jews but who had some
Jewish blood were categorized as Mischlinge (of “mixed
ancestry”) and were divided into two groups:
Mischlinge of the first degree—those with two Jewish
grandparents
Mischlinge of the second degree—those with one Jewish
grandparent
The Mischlinge were officially excluded from membership
in the Nazi party and all Party organizations (e.g. SA, SS,
etc.). Although they were drafted into the German Army, they
could not attain the rank of officer. They were also barred from
the civil service and from certain professions. (Individual Mischlinge
were, however, granted exemptions under certain circumstances.)
Nazi officials considered plans to sterilize Mischlinge,
but this was never done. During World War II, first-degree Mischlinge,
incarcerated in concentration camps, were deported to death camps.
- Did
the Nazis plan to murder the Jews from the beginning of their
regime?
Answer: This question is one of the most difficult to answer.
While Hitler made several references to killing Jews, both in
his early writings (Mein Kampf) and in various speeches
during the 1930s, Nazi documents indicated that they had no operative
plan before 1941 for a systematic annihilation of the Jews living
under Nazi occupation. A turning point occurred in Nazi policy
towards Jews in late winter or the early spring of 1941 in conjunction
with Germany’s decision to invade the Soviet Union.
- When
was the first concentration camp established and who were the
first inmates?
Answer: The first concentration camp, Dachau, opened on March
22, 1933. The camp’s first inmates were not exclusively Jewish.
The first to be interned were primarily political prisoners (e.g.
Communists or Social Democrats); habitual criminals; homosexuals;
Jehovah’s Witnesses; and “anti-socials” (beggars, vagrants).
Jewish writers and journalists, lawyers, unpopular industrialists,
and political officials also were among the first people sent
to Dachau.
- What
was the difference between the persecution of the Jews and the
persecution of other groups by the Nazis?
Answer: The anti-Jewish rhetoric of the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda
painted Jews as “racial enemies” of the Third Reich who threatened
to “destroy the Nazi society” and therefore needed to be “eliminated.”
Jews were ultimately slated for total systematic annihilation.
Other victims included people whose political or religious views
were in opposition to the Nazis, people of “inferior” races who
could be held in an inferior position socially, or people whose
social behaviors excluded them from Nazi society. None of these
groups were slated for total destruction by the Nazis.
- Why
were the Jews singled out for extermination?
Answer: The explanation of the Nazis’ implacable hatred of the
Jews rests on their distorted world view which saw history as
a racial struggle. They considered the Jews a race whose goal
was world domination and who, therefore, were an obstruction to
Aryan dominance. They believed that all of history was a fight
between races which should culminate in the triumph of the superior
Aryan race. Therefore, they considered it their duty to eliminate
the Jews, whom they regarded as a threat. Moreover, in their
eyes, the Jews’ racial origin made them habitual criminals who
could never be rehabilitated and were, therefore, hopelessly corrupt
and inferior. There is no doubt that other factors contributed
toward Nazi hatred of the Jews and their distorted image of the
Jewish people. One factor was the centuries-old tradition of
Christian anti-Semitism which propagated a negative stereotype
of the Jew as a Christ-killer, agent of the devil, and practitioner
of witchcraft. Another factor was the political and racial anti-Semitism
of the latter half of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth
centuries, which singled out the Jew as both a threat and a member
of an inferior race. These factors combined to point to the Jew
as a target for persecution and ultimate destruction by the Nazis.
- What
did people in Germany know about the persecution of Jews and other
enemies of Nazism?
Answer: Certain initial aspects of Nazi persecution of Jews and
other opponents were common knowledge in Germany. The Boycott
of April 1, 1933, the Laws of April, and the Nuremberg Laws were
fully publicized and offenders were often publicly punished and
shamed. The same is true for other anti-Jewish measures. Kristallnacht
(The Night of Broken Glass) was a public program, carried out
in full view of the entire population. While information on the
concentration camps was not publicized, a great deal of information
was available to the German public, and the treatment of the inmates
was generally known.
The Nazis attempted to keep the murders of Jews in the death camps
and the “euthanasia” of the handicapped a secret and took precautionary
measures to ensure they would not be publicized. Their efforts
were only partially successful. Public protests by clergymen
led to the halt of the “euthanasia” program in August 1941, so
many persons were aware that the Nazis were killing the mentally
ill in special institutions.
As far as the murder of Jews was concerned, it was common knowledge
in Germany that they had disappeared after having been sent to
the East. And, there were thousands upon thousands of Germans
who participated in and/or witnessed the implementation of the
“Final Solution” either as members of the SS, the Einsatzgruppen,
death camp or concentration camp guards, police in occupied Europe,
or with the Wehrmacht.
- Did
all Germans support Hitler's plan for the persecution of the Jews?
Answer: Although the entire German population was not in agreement
with Hitler’s persecution of the Jews, there is no evidence of
any large scale protest regarding their treatment. There were
Germans who defied the April 1, 1933 boycott and purposely bought
in Jewish stores, and a small number who helped Jews escape and
hide. But even some of those who opposed Hitler were in agreement
with his anti-Jewish policies.
- Did
the people of occupied Europe know about Nazi plans for the Jews?
What was their attitude? Did they cooperate with the Nazis against
the Jews?
Answer: The attitude of the local population vis-a-vis the persecution
and destruction of the Jews varied from zealous collaboration
with the Nazis to some active assistance to Jews. Thus, it is
difficult to make generalizations. The situation also varied
from country to country. In Eastern Europe, for example, especially
in Poland, Russia, and the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania), there was much more knowledge of the “Final Solution”
because it was implemented in those areas.
In most countries they occupied -- Denmark and Italy stand out
as exceptions -- the Nazis found many locals who were willing
to cooperate fully in the murder of the Jews. This was particularly
true in Eastern Europe, where there was a long standing tradition
of anti-Semitism, and where various national groups, which had
been under Soviet domination (Latvians, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians),
fostered hopes that the Germans would restore their independence.
In several countries in Europe, there were local fascist movements
which allied themselves with the Nazis and participated in anti-Jewish
actions; for example, the Iron Guard in Romania and the Arrow
Guard in Slovakia. On the other hand, in every country in Europe,
there were courageous individuals who risked their lives to save
Jews. In several countries, there were groups which aided Jews,
e.g. Joop Westerweel's group in the Netherlands, Zegota
in Poland, and the Assisi underground in Italy.
- What
was the response of the Allies to the persecution of the Jews?
Could they have done anything to help?
Answer: The response of the Allies to the persecution and destruction
of European Jewry was inadequate. Prior to 1944, little action
was taken. In January 1944 the War Refugee Board was established
for the express purpose of saving the victims of Nazi persecution.
Even after the establishment of the War Refugee Board and the
initiation of various rescue efforts, the Allies refused to bomb
Auschwitz and/or the railway lines leading to the camp, despite
the fact that Allied bombers were at that time engaged in bombing
factories very close to Auschwitz and were well aware of its existence
and function.
Tens of thousands of Jews sought to enter the United States, but
they were barred from doing so by the stringent American immigration
policy. Even the relatively small quotas of visas which existed
were often not filled, although the number of applicants was usually
many times the number of available places. Practical measures
which could have aided in the rescue of Jews included the following:
- Permission
for temporary admission of refugees
- Relaxation
of stringent entry requirements
- Frequent
and unequivocal warnings to Germany and local populations
throughout Europe that those participating in the annihilation
of Jews would be held strictly accountable
- Bombing
the death camp at Auschwitz
- Were
Jews in the Free World aware of the persecution and destruction
of European Jewry and, if so, what was their response?
Answer: Efforts by the Jewish community during the early years
of the Nazi regime concentrated on facilitating emigration from
Germany and combating German anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, the
views on how to best achieve these goals differed and effective
action was often hampered by the lack of unity within the community.
Moreover, very few Jewish leaders actually realized the scope
of the danger. Following the publication of the news of the “Final
Solution,” attempts were made to launch rescue attempts via neutral
states and to send aid to Jews under Nazi rule. These attempts,
which were far from adequate, were further hampered by the lack
of assistance and obstruction from government channels. Additional
attempts to achieve internal unity during this period failed.
- Did
the Jews in Europe realize what was going to happen to them?
Answer: Regarding the knowledge of the “Final Solution” by its
potential victims, several key points must be kept in mind. The
Nazis did not publicize the “Final Solution,” nor did they ever
openly speak about it. Every attempt was made to fool the victims
and, thereby, prevent or minimize resistance. Thus, deportees
were always told that they were going to be “resettled.” They
were led to believe that conditions “in the East” (where they
were being sent) would be better than those in the ghettos. Following
arrival in certain concentration camps, the inmates were forced
to write home about the wonderful conditions in their new place
of residence. The Germans made every effort to ensure secrecy.
In addition, the notion that human beings—let alone the civilized
Germans—could build camps with special apparatus for mass murder
seemed unbelievable in those days. Since German troops liberated
the Jews from the Czar in World War I, Germans were regarded by
many Jews as a liberal, civilized people. Escapees who did return
to the ghetto frequently encountered disbelief when they related
their experiences. Even Jews who had heard of the camps had difficulty
believing reports of what the Germans were doing there. Inasmuch
as each of the Jewish communities in Europe was almost completely
isolated, there was a limited number of places with available
information. Thus, there is no doubt that many European Jews
were not aware of the “Final Solution,” a fact that has been corroborated
by German documents and the testimonies of survivors.
- How
many Jews were able to escape from Europe prior to the Holocaust?
Answer: It is difficult to arrive at an exact figure for the
number of Jews who were able to escape from Europe prior to World
War II, since the available statistics are incomplete. From 1933-1939,
355,278 German and Austrian Jews left their homes. Some immigrated
to countries later overrun by the Nazis. In the same period,
80,860 Polish Jews immigrated to Palestine and 51,747 European
Jews arrived in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. During the years
1938-1939, approximately 35,000 emigrated from Bohemia and Moravia
(Czechoslovakia). Shanghai, the only place in the world for which
one did not need an entry visa, receive approximately 20,000 European
Jews (mostly of German origin) who fled their homelands. Immigration
figures for countries of refuge during this period are not available.
In addition, many countries did not provide a breakdown of immigration
statistics according to ethnic groups. It is impossible, therefore,
to ascertain the exact number of Jewish refugees.
- Why
were so few Jewish refugees able to flee Europe prior to the outbreak
of World War II?
Answer: The key reason for the relatively low number of refugees
leaving Europe prior to World War II was the stringent
immigration policies adopted by the prospective host countries.
In the United States, for example, the number of immigrants was
limited to 153,744 per year, divided by country of origin. Moreover,
the entry requirements were so stringent that available quotas
were often not filled. Indeed, apart from Shanghai, China and
the Dominican Republic, no countries were receptive to Jewish
immigrants as a group.
Great Britain, while somewhat more liberal than the United States
on the entry of immigrants, took measures to severely limit Jewish
immigration to Palestine. In May 1939, the British issued a “White
Paper” stipulating that only 75,000 Jewish immigrants would be
allowed to enter Palestine over the course of the next five years
(10,000 a year, plus an additional 25,000). This decision prevented
hundreds of thousands of Jews from escaping Europe.
The countries most able to accept large numbers of refugees consistently
refused to open their gates. Although a solution to the refugee
problem was the agenda of the Evian Conference, only the Dominican
Republic was willing to approve any immigration. The United States
and Great Britain proposed resettlement havens in underdeveloped
areas (e.g. Guyana, formerly British Guiana, and the Philippines),
but these were not suitable alternatives.
- What
was Hitler’s ultimate goal in launching World War II?
Answer: Hitler’s ultimate goal in launching World War II was
the establishment of an “Aryan” empire from Germany to the Urals.
He considered this area the natural territory of the German people,
an area to which they were entitled by right, the Lebensraum
(living space) that Germany needed so badly for its farmers to
have enough soil. Hitler maintained that these areas were needed
for the “Aryan” race to preserve itself and assure its dominance.
The Nazis had detailed plans for the subjugation of the Slavs,
who would be reduced to serfdom status and whose primary function
would be to serve as a source of cheap labor for “Aryan” farmers.
Those elements of the local population, who were of “higher racial
stock,” would be taken to Germany where they would be raised as
“Aryans.”
When Hitler made the decision to invade the Soviet Union, he also
gave instructions to embark upon the “Final Solution,” the systematic
murder of European Jewry.
- Was
there any opposition to the Nazis within Germany?
Answer: Throughout the course of the Third Reich, there were
different groups who opposed the Nazi regime and certain Nazi
policies. They engaged in resistance at different times and with
various methods, aims, and scope.
From the beginning, leftist political groups and a number of disappointed
conservatives were in opposition; at a later date, church groups,
government officials and businessmen also joined. After the tide
of the war was reversed, elements within the military played an
active role in opposing Hitler. At no point, however, was there
a unified resistance movement within Germany.
- Did
the Jews try to fight against the Nazis? To what extent were
such efforts successful?
Answer: Despite the difficult conditions to which Jews were subjected
in Nazi-occupied Europe, many engaged in armed resistance against
the Nazis. This resistance can be divided into three basic types
of armed activities: Ghetto revolts, resistance in concentration
and death camps, and partisan warfare.
The Warsaw Ghetto revolt which lasted for about five weeks beginning
on April 19, 1943, is the best-known example of armed Jewish resistance,
but there were many ghetto revolts in which Jews fought against
the Nazis.
Despite the terrible conditions in the death, concentration, and
labor camps, Jewish inmates fought against the Nazis at the following
sites: Treblinka (August 2, 1943); Babi Yar (September 29, 1943);
Sobibór (October 14, 1943); Janówska (November 19,1943); and Auschwitz
(October 7, 1944).
Jewish partisans units were active in many areas, including Baranovich,
Misk, Naliboki forest, and Vilna. While the sum total of armed
resistance efforts by Jews was not militarily overwhelming and
did not play a significant role in the defeat of Nazi Germany,
these acts of resistance did lead to the rescue of an undetermined
number of Jews, Nazi casualties, and untold damage to German property
and self-esteem.
- What
was the Judenrat?
Answer: The Judenrat was the council of Jews, appointed
by the Nazis in each Jewish community or ghetto. The Judenrat
was responsible for enforcement of Nazi decrees affecting Jews
and administration of the affairs of the Jewish community. Leaders
and members of the Judenrat were guided, for the most part,
by a sense of communal responsibility, but lacked the power and
the means to successfully thwart Nazi plans for annihilation of
all Jews. While the intentions of the heads of councils were
rarely challenged, their tactics and methods have been questioned.
Among the most controversial were Mordechai Rumkowski in Lodz
and Jacob Gens in Vilna, both of whom tried to justify the sacrifice
of some Jews in order to save others.
- Did
international organizations, such as the Red Cross, aid victims
of Nazi persecution?
Answer: During the course of World War II, the International
Red Cross (IRC) did very little to aid the Jewish victims of Nazi
persecution. Its activities can basically be divided into three
periods:
1. September 1939 - June 22, 1941:
The IRC confined its activities to sending food packages to those
in distress in Nazi-occupied Europe. Packages were distributed
in accordance with the directives of the German Red Cross. Throughout
this time, the IRC complied with the German contention that those
in ghettos and camps constituted a threat to the security of the
Reich and, therefore, were not allowed to receive aid from IRC.
2. June 22, 1941 - Summer 1944:
Despite numerous requests by Jewish organizations, the IRC refused
to publicly protest the mass annihilation of Jews and non-Jews
in the camps, or to intervene on their behalf. It maintained
that any public action of those under Nazi rule would ultimately
prove detrimental to their welfare. At the same time, the IRC
attempted to send food parcels to those individuals whose addresses
it possessed.
3. Summer 1944 - May 1945:
Following intervention by such prominent figures as President
Franklin Roosevelt and the King of Sweden, the IRC appealed to
Miklós Horthy, Regent of Hungary, to stop the deportation of Hungarian
Jews.
The IRC visited the “model ghetto” of Terezin (Theresienstadt)
at the request of the Danish government. The Germans agreed to
allow the visit nine months after submission of the request.
This delay provided time for the Nazis to complete a “beautification”
program, designed to fool the delegation into thinking that conditions
at Terezin were quite good and that inmates were allowed to live
out their lives in relative tranquillity. In reality, most prisoners
were subsequently deported to Auschwitz.
The visit, which took place on July 23, 1944, was followed by
a favorable report on Terezin to the members of the IRC. Jewish
organizations protested vigorously, demanding that another delegation
visit the camp. Such a visit was not permitted until shortly
before the end of the war.
- How
did Germany’s allies, the Japanese and Italians, treat the Jews
in the lands they occupied?
Answer: Neither the Italians nor the Japanese, both of whom were
Germany’s allies during World War II, cooperated regarding the
“Final Solution.” Although the Italians did, upon German urging,
institute discriminatory legislation against Italian Jews, Mussolini’s
government refused to participate in the “Final Solution” and
consistently refused to deport its Jewish residents. Moreover,
in their occupied areas of France, Greece, and Yugoslavia, the
Italians protected the Jews and did not allow them to be deported.
However, when the Germans overthrew the Badoglio government in
1943, the Jews of Italy, as well as those under Italian protection
in occupied areas, were subject to the “Final Solution.”
Until December 1941, Shanghai was an open port where Jews fleeing
Nazi persecution could land without visas. After the start of
the Sino-Japanese war in 1937 and until 1941, the Chinese portions
of Shanghai were under Japanese occupation, as were large areas
of north China. The thousands of Jewish refugees who arrived
between December 1938, and summer 1939, were housed in Shanghai’s
International Settlement, of which Japanese-controlled Hongkou
(Hongkew) was a part. Apprehensive over the great influx, the
International Settlement’s Municipal Council instituted entry
controls in fall of 1939, which were reinforced with stricter
measures in summer 1940. Access to Shanghai by sea nearly ceased
when Italy entered the war, while Japan’s unwillingness to grant
transit visas via Manchukuo prevented innumerable refugees from
reaching Shanghai by land. Japanese attempts to limit the Jewish
presence in predominately Japanese and Chinese Hongkou failed;
cheap housing led most arrivals to settle there anyway. In 1943,
after Germany had deprived its and Austria’s Jews of their citizenship,
the Japanese confined these and all other stateless Jews to a
segregated area, the Ghetto of Hongkou. Yet, despite overcrowding,
dire food shortages, poor health, and a high mortality rate especially
among the elderly, more that 20,000 Jews survived the war in Shanghai.
- What
was the attitude of the churches vis-a-vis the persecution of
the Jews? Did the Pope ever speak out against the Nazis?
Answer: The head of the Catholic Church at the time of the Nazi
rise to power was Pope Pius XI. Throughout his reign, he limited
his concern to Catholic non-Aryans. Although he stated that the
myth of “race” and “blood” were contrary to Christian teaching,
he neither mentioned nor criticized anti-Semitism. His successor,
Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) was a Germanophile who maintained
his neutrality throughout the course of World War II. Although
as early as 1942 the Vatican received detailed information on
the murder of Jews in concentration camps, the Pope confined his
public statements to expressions of sympathy in a non-specific
way for the victims of injustice and to calls for a more humane
conduct of the war.
Despite the lack of response by Pope Pius XII, several papal nuncios
played an important role in rescue efforts, particularly the nuncios
in Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Turkey. It is not clear to
what, if any, extent they operated upon instructions from the
Vatican. In Germany, the Catholic Church did not oppose the Nazis’
anti-Semitic campaign. Church records were supplied to state
authorities which assisted in the detection of people of Jewish
origin, and efforts to aid the persecuted were confined to Catholic
non-Aryans. While Catholic clergymen protested the Nazi euthanasia
program, few, with the exception of Bernard Lichtenberg, spoke
out against the murder of Jews.
In Western Europe, Catholic clergy spoke out publicly against
the persecution of the Jews and actively helped in the rescue
of Jews. In Eastern Europe, however, the Catholic clergy was
generally more reluctant to help. Dr. Jozef Tiso, the head of
state of Slovakia and a Catholic priest, actively cooperated with
the Germans as did many other Catholic priests.
The response of Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches varied.
In Germany, Nazi supporters within Protestant churches complied
with the anti-Jewish legislation and even excluded Christians
of Jewish origin from membership. Pastor Martin Niemöller’s Confessing
Church defended the rights of Christians of Jewish origin within
the church, but did not publicly protest their persecution, nor
did it condemn the measures taken against the Jews, with the exception
of a memorandum sent to Hitler in May 1936.
In occupied Europe, the position of the Protestant churches varied.
In several countries (Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway)
local churches and/or leading clergymen issued public protests
when the Nazis began deporting Jews. In other countries (Bulgaria,
Greece, and Yugoslavia), Orthodox church leaders intervened on
behalf of the Jews and took steps which, in certain cases, led
to the rescue of many Jews.
Non-Catholic leaders in Austria, Belgium, Bohemia-Moravia, Finland,
Italy, Poland, and the Soviet Union did not issue any public protests
on behalf of the Jews.
- How
many Nazi criminals were there? How many were brought to justice?
Answer: We do not know the exact number of Nazi criminals since
the available documentation is incomplete. The Nazis themselves
destroyed many incriminating documents and there are still many
criminals who are unidentified and/or unindicted.
Those who committed war crimes include those individuals who initiated,
planned and directed the killing operations, as well as those
with whose knowledge, agreement, and passive participation the
murder of European Jewry was carried out.
Those who actually implemented the “Final Solution” include the
leaders of Nazi Germany, the heads of the Nazi Party, and the
Reich Security Main Office. Also included are hundreds of thousands
of members of the Gestapo, the SS, the Einsatzgruppen,
the police and the armed forces, as well as those bureaucrats
who were involved in the persecution and destruction of European
Jewry. In addition, there were thousands of individuals throughout
occupied Europe who cooperated with the Nazis in killing Jews
and other innocent civilians.
We do not have complete statistics on the number of criminals
brought to justice, but the number is certainly far less than
the total of those who were involved in the “Final Solution.”
The leaders of the Third Reich, who were caught by the Allies,
were tried by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg
from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. Afterwards, the Allied
occupation authorities continued to try Nazis, with the most significant
trials held in the American zone (the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings).
In total, 5,025 Nazi criminals were convicted between 1945-1949
in the American, British and French zones. In addition, the United
Nations War Crimes Commission prepared lists of war criminals
who were later tried by the judicial authorities of Allied countries
and those countries under Nazi rule during the war. The latter
countries have conducted a large number of trials regarding crimes
committed in their lands. The Polish tribunals, for example,
tried approximately 40,000 persons, and large numbers of criminals
were tried in other countries. In all, about 80,000 Germans have
been convicted for committing crimes against humanity, while the
number of local collaborators is in the tens of thousands. Special
mention should be made of Simon Wiesenthal, whose activities led
to the capture of more than one thousand Nazi criminals.
- What
were the Nuremberg Trials?
Answer: The term “Nuremberg Trials” refers to two sets of trials
of Nazi war criminals conducted after the war. The first trials
were held November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946, before the International
Military Tribunal (IMT), which was made up of representatives
of France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
It consisted of the trials of the political, military and economic
leaders of the Third Reich captured by the Allies. Among the
defendants were: Göring, Rosenberg, Streicher, Kaltenbrunner,
Seyss-Inuart, Speer, Ribbentrop and Hess (many of the most prominent
Nazis—Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels—committed suicide and were
not brought to trial). The second set of trials, known as the
Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, was conducted before the Nuremberg
Military Tribunals (NMT), established by the Office of the United
States Government for Germany (OMGUS). While the judges on the
NMT were American citizens, the tribunal considered itself to
be international. Twelve high-ranking officials were tried, among
whom were cabinet ministers, diplomats, doctors involved in medical
experiments, and SS officers involved in crimes in concentration
camps or in genocide in Nazi-occupied areas.
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