holocaust the final solution[1]

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Jessica Nelson

Mr. Neuburger

Eng. Comp. 101-101

8 April 2013

Holocaust Research Paper

“Final Solution”

The Holocaust stands as one of the most tragic events in human history. Most people

cannot comprehend how the Nazi’s are able to systematically murder almost six million Jews,

including men, women, and children. After conquering Poland the Nazis go about establishing

ghettos all throughout Polish territory. The ghettos served as holding pens for Jews being

deported from other Nazi occupied territories. As the tide of the war turns against Germany, the

Nazis have to decide how to deal with the Jews crammed together in ghettos. On January 20,

1942, several high level Nazi officials meet to discuss what has come to be known as the “Final

Solution to the Jewish Question.”

This discussion of the solution takes place in Berlin a suburb of Wannsee. As Britannica

tells us, Reinhard Heydrich receives orders to construct a

plan to the Jewish question on July 31, 1941. Six months

later the Wannsee conference takes place led by

Heydrich. He introduces the topic: Another possible

solution to the problem has now taken the place of

emigration- evacuation of Jews to the east… Such

activities are, however, to be considered as provisional

Wannsee Conference

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Wannsee Conference

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actions, but practical experience is already being collected which is in greatest importance in

relation to the future final solution of the Jewish problem (Wannsee Conference). Holocaust

History tells us that the meeting takes place at mid-day to discuss the extermination of the Jews

over lunch. It is a very brief meeting of an hour to an hour and a half and has the feeling about

the room of agreement and understanding. The Wannsee Conference takes place, not to decide

what is to come of the Jews, but only to clarify what is already in effect (Wannsee Conference).

The final solution suggests that there are other solutions that had previously been tried

but did not work. One of which the Jewish Virtual Library tells us that is starting in 1930. The

plan is to send all of the Jews to Madagascar. Poland and Japan looks at the problem and

proposes that it is not possible but the Nazis are very persistent. Adolf Eichmann even plans to

send the materials that Heydrich needs in order to carry out the Madagascar plan. Temporarily

holding off because of the war, it resumes later in the summer of 1940. Eichmann plans the

shipping of the Jews to be over the course of four years.

The plan gets into the public and is published in Italy.

They did not approve so they made a written report

explaining how the island would not work for their

problem and that the Jews simply could not survive in

those kinds of conditions (Madagascar Plan). They want

to send 4,000,000 Jews to Madagascar in four years, this is just unfeasible. Holocaust education

informs us that the plan is for the Nazis to defeat Great Britain and use their fleet of ships to

transport the 1,000,000 Jews for four years. The plan is not going the way they want it to. The

British are putting up a more difficult fight than they are expecting so this leads to more and

more problems with this solution. With the war raging and the ever increasing number of Jews in

Eichmann

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Eichmann

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the ghetto they need a solution now. There is simply no way they will be able to go through with

the Madagascar plan so it is dismissed (Madagascar Plan).

Hitler wants to purge Europe of all of the impurities of races, most of which are Jews.

After the failed attempt of the Madagascar plan he still feels like he needs to be doing something

about the problem. The problem is: what are they going to do with the Jews now that they are in

the ghettos? It is very expensive to have to keep feeding and housing all of them. They need a

solution. With their hatred of Jews they decide that they need to exterminate the Jews fast and

effectively. The mobile gas vans are already in affect along with the SS killing Jews on sight but

it was inefficient for the number of Jews and also a burden to the killers psychologically.

The “Final Solution” is to round up everyone in the ghettos and send them to

concentration camps. Anybody that is not meeting the standards of Hitler’s Aryan race is sent to

these camps and if you struggle you may be shot and killed. The those who do follow orders are

put into trains for transport but are not told of what is to come, how long it will take, or if they

will see their families ever again. Some experiences are

told of this from The Holocaust Explained, “The doors

were shut, leaving us almost in darkness. The grills, too,

were closed to prevent escape. Air entered only through

the cracks. So we travelled for 24 hours, without food or

water. We were hungry and thirsty. But the desire and

hope to see our families made us forget everything else (Deportation and Transportation).”

Arriving at the camp they find themselves at an unknown place where their fate will

either send them straight to their death or to merely prolong their death where they will work for

no wages, no benefits, and hardly any food to sustain themselves. Auschwitz-Birkenau describes

Deportation to the concentration camps.

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the living conditions in which the buildings are designed to hold 700 prisoners when in reality

they push it to the max and put 1,200 prisoners inside. The actual rooms are so cramped that the

prisoners are only able to sleep on their sides. There is only one bathroom for each building

which consists of 22 urinals, toilets, and bathtubs. The

only heating they have through the harsh winters is two

iron stoves for the whole building, which they installed

later. They usually go without heat considering that is not

nearly enough heat output to warm the whole building.

Also explained, is that in the beginning there is no electric

lighting, no windows, and if you even have time to bathe that you have to undress before leaving

your building to go to the bathhouse naked in the freezing snow or whatever the weather

conditions are like at the time. The meals have hardly any nutritional value, and when supper is

given they need to save it for supper the following morning. Considering how famished they

already are they usually ate it all at once (Living Conditions). The real solution is not to send

them to work but to exterminate the Jews.

Once the Final Solution decision is made, they will attempt to wipe out the entirety of

Jews by way of gas chambers. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) explains

to us that as the victims are unloading out of the trains, they are told that they need to be

disinfected so they send them to the showers. The guards also order them to enter the chambers

with raised arms to they can fit as many people inside as possible. Also the more cramped it is,

the faster they will suffocate (Gassing Operations). After they perish, the bodies are taken and

cremated. This is the best way to mass murder the Jews, so it is deemed the title as being “The

Final Solution to the Jewish Question.”

Living conditions of the concentration camps.

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The final solution is a well thought out plan to exterminate the Jews. They go through

many different methods, but the first ones they tried were simply not suitable for the number of

Jews they have captured. They think the Madagascar plan will work but considering the

circumstances are not able to do it. This leads to the gassing of the Jews and the cremation of

their bodies. The crimes that Hitler and the Nazi’s

committed are not to be taken lightly. We today need to

learn from this and not let something like this matter to go

untouched or unnoticed. Let us learn from our mistakes

and not forget what happened through the Holocaust. A

man tells Brainy Quote, “The Holocaust illustrates the

consequences of prejudice, racism and stereotyping on a

society. It forces us to examine the responsibilities of

citizenship and confront the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction (Holocaust

Quotes).”

Tattoos of survivors of The Holocaust

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WORKS CITED

Berenbaum, Micheal. "Wannsee Conference (Germany [1942])." Encyclopedia Britannica

Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

"Deportation and Transportation." The Holocaust Explained. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

Holden, Tim. "Holocaust Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, 2001. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

Jotash. "Madagascar Plan." Holocaust Education. HDEC, 19 June 2008. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

Lachendro, Jacek. "Living Conditions." Auschwitz Birkenau. N.p., 1999. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

"Madagascar Plan." Jewish Virtual Library. The Gale Group, 2008. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

"Wannsee Conference." The Holocaust History Project. N.p., 4 Feb. 2004. Web. 12 Apr. 2013

holocaust the final solution[1]

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