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Felicia Wingate
Professor Tomasz Stanek
History 118
9 December 2017
A Blind Eye to Evil
There were many persecuted groups throughout history but none more prodigiously
afflicted than the Jews in the 1940's that faced near annihilation. Anti-Semitism propaganda
spread like cancer from the podiums of Hitler. The cold-blooded killing was 'justifiable' in minds
of many Germans under the premise that Jews were responsible for many of the economic
problems faced by the country. In contrast to the negative light they were being portrayed in,
Jews were denied the right to return to their 'dominating position in the economic world,
wholesale trade and industry' (Rogers 92). The conflicting descriptions present the real
possibility that the escalating hatred was initially spurred by the jealousy and greed of Germans.
There was no such thing as a 'good Jew' in the brainwashed minds of many. They all had to be
exterminated if Germany was ever to be "Great Again."
For no good reason, Jews were subjected to degradation, starvation, and death. A
telegram sent in 1943 from 'Kasin' describes the unfathomable atrocities performed in
Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp, against 'sick people.' However, there were many
other records and testimonies that stated that the massacre of Jews extended beyond the sick,
elderly, and unemployable. According to the Polish Embassy, trainloads of healthy Jews, young
and old alike, were deported from "France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Czechoslovakia, etc."
bound to death camps. Thousands upon thousands of victims, or 'enemies of the state' (primarily
Jews) were gassed in chambers between 1939-1945. Other victims included: "German
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communists, socialists, social democrats, gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, homosexuals, and persons
accused of asocial or socially deviant behavior." (Memorial Museum). This was not the only
mode of execution Germans employed. Those that were not taken to death camps were
massacred, burned and liquidated in Poland using 'total war tactics'.
In addition to concentration camps, there were forced labor, and prisoner-of-war camps
and killing centers. It is estimated that there were 40,000 camps in total. (Memorial Museum). Of
the estimated 30 camps in Auschwitz alone, Oswiecim had come to symbolize the 'world horror
of genocide.' It had superseded Belzec, Sobibor, Chelmno, and Treblinka by the massive
numbers of corpses it generated by 1944 (Rogers 89). It was said there were more bodies to burn
than three furnaces could effectively 'cope with' (Roger, 95) Within its hellish walls, many
innocent people faced several forms of gruesome deaths aside from gas. Some were "killed with
an injection of lead to the heart, 200 Jewish men and 25 women that had been subjected to
experiments in Block No 10 for castration, sterilization and artificial insemination."(Rogers 97).
Eventually, a more cost-efficient method of killing was discovered by German doctors. They
found they could extermin...
