L06 The Holocaust: what was the final solution

Question 1

the origins of the Final Solution

Answer 1

• Heinrich Himmler (head of SS) -> Jul 1941 given authority by Hitler to eliminate threats to Gr rule
• 31 Jul 1941: Hermann Goring (2nd in command) authorised SS general Reinhard Heydrich to create a plan to a ‘complete solution to the Jewish question’
• General Reinhard Heydrich (chief of security Police) developed plan -> mass slaughter of Jews within Nazi occupied Europe
• first plan to execute (shoot) Jews then changed to gas chambers to decrease psychological impact on Gr + increase efficiency

Question 2

extermination camps

Answer 2

• established primarily or exclusively for the assembly-line style murder of large no. of people immediately upon arrival
• 6 in poland= Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz-Brikenau, Majdanek
• carbon monoxide or zyklonB for gass
• less psychological impact & more efficient

Question 3

transport to extermination camps

Answer 3

• ghettos liquidated (closed) -> Jews packed into trains
• 150 into each cart
• x food/ water/ window
• bucket for toilet
• sometimes pack in train days before leaving
• many died from heat/ suffocation
• long journey = ~4 days

Question 4

selections at the camps

Answer 4

• when trains doors open -> met by SS guards + ordered off train (step over deads on train)
• immediately split into 2 (women+child/ men+older boys)
• taken to camp doctor and judged those able to work on sight
• 1.1mil taken to Auschwitz -> 200,000 forced labour

Question 5

Wannsee Conference

Answer 5

• the place where the FS was formally revealed to non-Nazi leaders who would help arrange for Jews to be transport from all over Gr-occupied Europe to SS-operated killing centres in occupied Poland
• minuted from WC -> Jews sent to labour camp -> those who survived -> death camps