Stimme Der Juden: Fall 1943

Your (English) Holocaust Survival Guide

Written and Produced By Adam Simon, Skyler Yanagi, James Oleshanky and Cameron Igarashi

A Letter From the EditorsDear Reader,

The following is a project covering WWII, specifically the holocaust. The focuses are the subjects of Boxcars, Hitler, The Waffen SS and Auschwitz. As writers, we learned masses amounts of information about the holocaust. Some facts merely informed us, others touched our hearts. We learned about the transportation of victims, the reign of an evil genius, a concentration camp that portrayed a living hell, and an army of cruel, misplaced souls. What we have taken in will never be forgotten.

The Holocaust is extremely relevant to our lives through one action: prevention. As youth, we must never let such dreadful things happen again, especially on such are large scale. We cannot remain silent as genocide occurs in third-world countries. We must act so that our deceased ancestors must no have died in vain. We must learn from the past and work for a brighter future.

Thank you,

Adam Simon

Skyler Yanagi

James Oleshansky

Cameron Igarashi

Letter from the Editors - 2Auschwitz - 2Cartoons by James Oleshansky - 3Boxcars Q&A - 3Waffen SS - 4Boxcar Survival Tips - 4Political Cartoons By Adam Simon - 5More on the Waffen SS - 5Hitler: Final Solution - 6Escaping Auschwitz - 6Poem by Skyler Yanagi - 6Hitler: Bio -7An Elder’s Words - 7

SS officers are invading our neighborhood, capturing us, and taking us to Nazi concentration camps. The main camp is Auschwitz. A concentration camp is a guarded compound where prisoners are forced to work and may face extermination. The three main camps are Auschwitz I, Birkenau, and Buna. Most Jews are first taken to Auschwitz I (Auschwitz). Once arriving there, you are stripped of all possessions. They take your belongings, your suitcases and your clothes. They even cut off your hair (Wiesel 29). There is no reason to bring your most cherished items. Sell them while you can.

After a few days at the camp, you will go through a selection. Make sure you are healthy, if not render yourself capable of working. Passing the first selection is key to surviving the camp. Those who are selected by the evil Dr. Mengele will be immediately taken to the crematoria where their life will end (Wiesel 31). Stay healthy and always pass your selection.

Throughout your stay in Auschwitz, everyday will be work. Depending on the block you live in you will be given a job. Don’t get chosen for construction. It is the most physically challenging job (Wiesel 68). You will work throughout the entire year. They will give you light clothes in the

summer and a heavier pair in the winter. Work hard everyday. The SS can shoot you on the spot if they believe you are not working to your full potential (Wiesel 74).

In Auschwitz, a key to surviving means staying healthy. Eat all rations given to you even if you are not hungry. Rations will be small. Eat slowly so you become full. Drink lots of water. Keeping warm is another key to staying healthy. Try and find extra blankets or clothes. Take clothing and supplies from those who are dead or dying. You will need it more then they do (Wiesel 100). If you follow these guidelines and go into Auschwitz knowing what to do, life will be a little bit easier.

Auschwitz: An Overview

Table of Contents

“10 days, 10 days of hell.” Suffocation, disease,

starvation, dehydration, and chaos run rampant far before

you may reach a camp. Boxcars are the hellish path

to Nazi insanity, each a room filled with the essence of

death. To prepare you, we’ve answered a few FAQ.

What is the boxcar?

The boxcars are the preferred form of transportation for Nazi schmucks. Each about eighty square feet, about one hundred Jews are crammed into each of the contained slums. This boxes, once cattle cars, may contain animal excrement and disease. In them is no room to sit, or even lean. The journey is not for the claustrophobic. Yells of agony and

whimpers of children echo in the room. The weak of heart will not last this voyage.

How Should I prepare??

1. Hide; Avoid SS, do not announce your religion and change your name and accent. This may save your soul from boxcars and concentration.

2. Eat; if you know you are soon to be departed, eat yourself full

and bring food in your pockets, save it in your mouth if necessary. Create a “hidden canteen” pg. X.

3. Dress accordingly; Prepare for burning hot days and freezing

nights. Wear fleece, as it is thin, warm, and light.4.Learn to stand; If your deportation is

inevitable, practice standing up for hours on end. Strengthen your legs well. Be sure to rest before your journey, and conserve energy. Try to arrange, with your your fellow Jews, a turn system for sitting down.

Knowledge is Power; use it well.

Boxcar Survival: Learn The Tools of Survival

Stimme Der JudenFALL 1943 YOUR (ENGLISH) HOLOCAUST SURVIVAL GUIDE ISSUE ONE

The Frozen Reindeer: our issue’s comic strip by James R. Oleshansky

Inside: More Boxcars, your guide to Auschwitz, Hitler and the Waffen SS

Next Season: An exploration into the genius of Jews in hiding,

The weak of heart will not

last this voyage.

Rabbi Sholom: Our Wisdom in-residence

Above: A stalled Boxcar

There are numerous pieces of advice on boxcar survival, so many it can be difficult what to believe, so we’ve narrowed it down to a few bits of wisdom from survivors of the journey itself.

The most frequent advice we’ve received is to conserve energy. Manage to find a resting position; sit if you can, lean on a wall or other person, try to arrange a way to take turns lying down. By conserving energy, your body reduces its need for food, and food is a rarity in a boxcar. It has been recorded that crumbs of bread have been thrown in cars filled with hundreds of prisoners (Night).

Manage your body temperature. At day, try to stay near a window, where cooler air can come in. With over one

hundred people, a boxcar can get extremely hot. At night, keep in your body heat; huddle together with others to conserve warmth, and take advantage of warm clothing. If possible, wrap your arms around your legs, and put your head in-between your knees. This position keeps in heat, a natural form of insulation.

Lastly, hydrate. Bring water on the journey if you can. Drink as much water as possible before the trip. If it rains outside, use an article of clothing to soak up water. Any leaves or flora that fall inside may contain liquid, no matter how insignificant in size. Try to get in a car with an open top; you can drink rain and eat snow that falls inside, but this may lead to even colder temperatures.

More Boxcars!: Our Advice for the Ride

Above: Thousands of the Oppressed load onto insanitary boxcars.

Waffen SS The Waffen-SS was a group of superb fighting soldiers who were created and used for wholly evil ends by an evil regime. They were convinced of the justice and their cause. It can be compared to giving one’s soul to the devil. “One basic principle must be the absolute rule for the SS man. We must be decent, loyal and comradely to members of our own blood and to nobody else. What happens to a Russian, or to a Czech, doesn't interest me in the slightest” {Heindrich Himmler}(Luce 54).The Waffen-SS never turned their back on a member no matter the situation.(Luce 55). The origins of the SS originate to the early days of the Nazi party, when there was a real physical risk to Hitler and Nazi party leaders.(Luce 63). SS is the abbreviation for “Schutz Staffel” or protection squad. Their earliest job was to protect Hitler. In their first big test, they demonstrated their loyalty to their Führer in the most brutal manner, by arresting and killing their unloyal comrades.(Luce 64) From small beginnings, the SS grew and divided into its two main parts of the Allgemeine-SS and the Waffen-SS before World War II began. The main driving force behind this expansion was Heinrich Himmler after he became Reichsführer-SS in January 1929. The bulk of this number was in the Waffen-SS. At the start of the war, the majority of the Waffen-SS was comprised of German and Austrian volunteers. Other Nordic type Europeans, such as Dutch, Danes, Norwegians, French, Belgians and men from conquered eastern territories found their way into the SS ranks.(Luce 78). One such was the 33rd Waffen - Grenadier Division der SS Charlemagne, which was specifically (page 3) Frenchmen.(Luce 80).

Waffen cont. from page 2

With the uprising of Adolf Hitler, he has brought upon a plague of his merciless and inhuman private army called the Waffen-SS or Schiutzstaffel. At the helm of this hell bound army is Heinrich Himmler, who is ranked Reichstuhrer-SS or national leader of the SS. This army had modest beginnings but has quickly grown into a massive force of 38 divisions and includes over 950,000 men.(Luce, 27)

Hitler has sent this group of elite soldiers to complete “The Final Solution”. The “Final Solution” is the total annihilation of Jews from the face of the Earth. He is having his men gather the Jews of Europe and send them to numerous concentration camps. The SS have been ordered to shoot and kill and Jew that tries to escape or refuses to do something. These men have no feeling as well when they commit such atrocities. They are also responsible for the mass murders in the gas chambers of women, children, and the frail. They lie to all of them and explaining they are receiving a shower but as soon as they get in, they lock the gates and send them too die in the gas chambers.

The SS officers often monitor us, the Jewish inmates on numerous occasions and have forced them all into tiny boxcars and sent them to their deaths to the camps. They treat as if we are inhuman; they deprive us of any relation to others and strip us of our way of life. They treat as if we have no place to co-exist with them, as if we are inferior and are not to the pure Aryan blood standard for Hitler to accept us. We are ridiculed and tortured, by these soldiers (Luce, 51).

With the SS all around, it is even riskier to escape. However, they make life in concentration camps “hell on Earth”; we must not stand for this and revolt. However we must not act so foolish and have unrealistic thoughts of this by throwing our lives so recklessly. We are talking about well trained soldiers who made the cut to be placed into this elite group of soldiers. They deliver punishment swiftly and violently. They are not afraid to shoot any of us so we must be aware of everything we do. We will rise up one day and get our story told to all, however for the time being all we can do is wait and pray in our God who shall help us in our hour of need. All we need to do is hang onto hope and believe in our Jewish religion.

aimed at attracting Frenchmen.(Luce 80). When Himmler initially obtained Hitler's permission to expand the Waffen-SS beyond its simple beginnings, he set very strict guidelines as to who could be admitted into what was intended to be an elite unit of pure Aryan soldiers. Applicants had to be physically fit, racially pure and financially sound. There were to be no faults to the Waffen-SS, they were to be intelligent and well-disciplined. The SS taught its recruits Himmler's racial nonsense as if it were

established and scientifically backed fact. (Luce 120).It must be remembered, that this view was believed by the majority, probably because it was a key part of the successful revival of a political, economic, diplomatic and military strong Germany. The only choice that Hitler gave was that one had to believe in all of National Socialism, if not then be cast into the shadows. You could not accept bits of it; all or nothing was the rule. What made the SS different however was the level of political and racial belief that they carried.

More on the Waffen SS

Political Cartoons by Adam Simon

Waffen SS in Action

Hitler: His Final Solution

What is confidence?It might be the truly simplistic ideal of standing up for what’s morally right,Or is it more?It could even be dying young with pride,Or living long enough to know your pride is slowly corroding ,You must be brave and not give in to death,You must survive the malicious and inhuman forces that deprive you of being human ,You must have the confidence to stand up to the SS and do whatever it takes to show them that confidence

Desiring to reckon with the Jews, Adolf Hitler, organizer of insanity, developed and planned to kill all Jews (Biefman). The newly elected, Führer und Reichskanzler of Germany, had a deep hatred for all Jews. He called his plan of total annihilation of all Jews "The Final Solution”. The genocide or mass destruction of the Jews was the culmination of a decade of increasingly severe discriminatory measures. Using his tactical war-mind, he devised this plan for many years, making sure there is no flaws or margin for errors (Hoffman).            Introduced to his comrades, this plan had soon caught on. With the creation of concentration camps, these buildings were built and industrialized for mass slaughter of the Jewish population. These buildings are huge, housing millions of

captives worldwide. Heavily guarded with Nazi’s armed with artillery weapons, they have no second thought to kill anyone who disobeys. Under the rule of Adolf Hitler, the persecution and segregation of the Jews was implemented in stages. After the Nazi party achieved power in Germany in 1933, its state-sponsored racism produced anti-Jewish legislation and economic boycotts (Hoffman). They soon will establish ghettos, where they can isolate and control the Jews to their needs (Biefman). Hitler already took over Germany, and soon wants to extend his empire to all of Europe, where he can keep on building his army and exterminate us. The main purpose of the "Final Solution" is to rid of the Jews to have a “pure race” world-wide.

Escaping Auschwitz About 1.1 million people have been killed in Auschwitz while only 600 people have escaped. Only two have lived to tell the tale. Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba pushed the boundaries to ensure their freedom. Wetzler was 24 and Vrba was 18. They decided they could no longer live in Auschwitz and see the horrific scenes and actions of the Nazi officers. Their journey is amazing.

Just a few years ago, they devised a plan to reclaim their freedom. They used the help of other prisoners to escape. They initially hid under a woodpile for four days. They left once the search for them ended. Then, At nightfall, they snuck under a hole in the fence and took with them a handful of extraordinary evidence. They had many maps including ground maps of the camp, crematoria, and gas chambers. They also managed to bring with them a Zyklon B label from a gas canister. What they found helped you and about 120,000 thousand Hungarian Jews survive.

The evidence was used to stop the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz through a series of trains. They set up plans in which many government buildings were bombed and the railways were destroyed. Many of our lives and your friend’s lives have been saved because of Wetzler and Vrba. As Sir Martin concurred, “Although Wetzler did not know it, his courageous escape proved a life-saving act for the community.”

ConfidenceBy Skyler Yanagi

Above: A gate to Auschwitz, a sign reads “work makes you free”

Words of Wisdom: Ezekeil Judison

Adolf Hitler wasn't born on Earth as a monster, he was not sent by the devil, nor by the heavens above. He came to full-fill his rightful spot in the German Empire as the mastermind behind the "Final Solution". He wanted a racially pure world or the extermination of the Jews (Hoffman). Throughout his young childhood, he was described as shy, reticent person, filled with fits of anger with those who disagreed with him. He wouldn't tolerate those who corrected him, a personality trait he kept since he was a little boy (Bronchii). During his adolescence years, Adolf Hitler already showed traits that characterized his later life: inability to establish ordinary human relationships and intolerance and hatred of especially the Jews (Hoffman). Foreshadowing his devised plan soon to be created. He enrolled in many German armed forces and wars to fight during World War I. Where he learned many tactics that was later used in his extermination of the Jewish race (Biefman).  In 1930, a worldwide depression hit Germany and Hitler promised to rid Germany of Jews and Communists and to reunite the German speaking part of Europe. In July 1932, the Nazis received about 40% of the vote and became the strongest party in Germany. On January 30,1933,

President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany (Hoffman). Once in this position, Hitler moved quickly toward attaining a dictatorship. When von Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler already had control of Germany. Now as the leader of Germany, his life-long plan was now put into action.  Hitler spoke many times to the public, Germans, about the annihilation of Jews. All were in favor of extinguishing the Jews population. Leaders of German armies looked up to Hitler as a mentor and did as they were commanded to do, making his henchmen greater in numbers (Biefman). Hitler used many methods to exterminating the Jewish race. Throwing them in the gas chamber, hanging, shooting, or burning any captive that was thought weak and no use to their plan, or disobeyed. These were the most effective tactics, killing over 100,000 thus far.

He is the one to blame for the massacre of the Jews as of today. Housing the Jews in concentration camps created all over the western side of Europe, they are tormented and abused to the Germans pleasure and needs. His reign in power is at its peak, if all the Jews are eliminated, Hitler will reach his life long dream of a racially pure world.

Ezekiel Judison, a senior citizen of many wise words, that influenced our thoughts of the Nazi’s through his brutal experiences trapped inside many concentration camps. Shares his tale with us of every aspect he lived and experience while being held captive. By the looks of his physical appearance, he wasn’t given a adequate amount of food, nor water judging by his thinnest of his arms and legs.

When Judison was asked about his most sorrow memory

that he experienced there, his head shrugged down, looking to the plain floor and started to sob. He explained, doing the Nazis dirty work and seeing so many innocent lives killed right in front of me. Ezekiel quoted, “Not one day went by, when I didn’t sob for those who were killed, not one. And the fact that I was the one assisting them in their murders made all the matters worse.” He then went on to say, “Even though I survived all of this insanity around me, I would have given

up my life to another stranger, for me not to kill my own race.”

The stench at the crematoria, he quoted, is a smell I’ll never forget as long as I live. The scent of human flesh, burning within the flaming fire makes me light headed even till this day. The smell never leaves my nose, nor my mind. Burning Jews day after day, thousands by the thousands, the acrid odor filled up my lungs and the environment around me within seconds.

Hitler: A Biography of Evil

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