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The road to Auschwitz was built by hate,   but paved with indifference.   Sir Ian Kershaw

World War II (WWII), initiated by Hitler's Nazi Germany in 1939, killed some 67 million people (according to Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute) out of which some 27 million were Soviet citizens. Nazi's Holocaust emerged from a Persecutory Campaign initiated by Hitler's Nazi Germany against the ethnically undesirable people with the primary focus on the Jews. That persecutory campaign, during the war years, evolved and transformed into a distinctive genocidal component of WWII whose objective was the total annihilation of Hitler's perceived "undesirables" that were targeted for what they were rather than for what they did or believed in. The so-called "world Jewry," in Nazis' parlance, became Nazis' primary fixation towards total eradication. .

[Lódz Ghetto]

In the prewar years (1933-1939), the unfolding Jewish Persecutory Program (that was to become the starting point of the emerging Holocaust) began markedly noticeable to the outside world after Adolph Hitler became the German Chancellor (in January 1933) with the systematic and planned persecution of Jews and their businesses (through the passing of various Anti-Jewish Laws and with the implementation of the so-called Aryanization/Arisierung program), and which evolved with their deprivation of liberty (by round up, forced evacuation and eventual deportation). .One of the most noticeable and dramatic action taken against the Jewish citizens of Germany and Austria during that time (that for many observers was also the first hint of what was yet to come) was the nationwide pogrom in the night of Nov. 9-10, 1938 known as the Kristallnacht or "The Night of Broken Glass" pogrom. .That tumultuous period of massive hostility towards Jews was the prelude of what would come (to be known as the Holocaust) and, it can be said to be characterized by oppressive, non-genocidal suffering and by sporadic, non-genocidal killings. During the War years (1939-1945) that had followed, the Jewish Persecutory Program developed and transformed into a genocidal Persecutory and Victimization Program --the Holocaust, with a machinery set in place primarily for the complete destruction of the entire European Jewry. .    .Now, during that period of time,   .a) the non-genocidal suffering has reached a new level of intensity --a peak in human suffering that could be called the genocidal (or mass suffocating) suffering and,   . b) the non-genocidal killings have been transformed into a genocidal (or mass killing) machinery. ..In 1942, following the notorious Wannsee Conference, the implementation of the so-called "Final Solution" to the Jewish Problem began, full speed, in Sobibor, Treblinka, Belzec, Auschwitz-Birkenau and other concentration camps. As trainloads of Jews arrived from all over Europe, many were gassed to death in specially designed chambers (disguised as shower facilities), or shot by firing squads. The rest were forced to work under the most terrible conditions, which ultimately led to death by starvation or execution. . During those genocidal years, in Nazi-occupied Europe of some nine (9) million Jews (as derived from the population census of the Wannsee Protocol)***, some six (6) million of them were murdered with the rest being deprived of liberty, human dignity and forced evacuation from their homes and businesses.        By 1945, in Nazi-occupied Europe, 2/3 of its Jewish population --men, women and children-- were murdered. Jews deported to death camps That is by 1945, two out of every three Jews had been killed... *** NOTE: The Wannsee Conference census estimating the existence of eleven (11) million European Jews included all of the neutral countries (Spain, Portugal, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Turkey --the European part, and Switzerland) and, as well, the unoccupied territories of France and Soviet Union. The combined Jewish population of those parts of Europe was estimated to be at some two (2) million and thus, it needs to be subtracted from the total Wannsee figure. The Holocaust ended with the end of WWII when Hitler's Nazi Germany was defeated by the three major campaigns of the Allies in their finest and most costly triumphs of modern History. . Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at Yalta Conference in February 1945. (Primary credit goes to the Great Britain --under the incomparable Winston Churchill, the Soviet Union --under the ruthless and larger than life dictator Joseph Stalin, and the United States --under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only U.S. President to be reelected three times).

Asides from the Nazis' primary fixation --that of total eradication of the Jews, another ethnically undesirable people set by the Nazi machine for total annihilation were the European Romanies (Roma/Sinti) better known by their derogatory name as "Gypsies." It is estimated that some one-half million of them were murdered during the same genocidal period representing some 50% of their total European population.

By 1945, one out of every two European "Gypsies" had been killed...

Apart from their primary targets --the Jews and the Romanies ("Gypsies"), Hitler's Nazi regime had also envisioned the elimination of all Poles and eventually all Slavs (under the so-called General Plan Ost that called for the removal of native populations from the Eastern Europe and resettlement with Germans) if the Nazi's Third Reich would have lasted, as envisioned, 1000 years. However, that never materialized as the Third Reich lasted only 12 horrendous years (1933-1945).

.Polish Victims of the War, but Not of the Holocaust: .The SS German execution in April 1941 of Polish hostages in retaliation for an attack on a Nazi Police Station by the underground organization "White Eagle." <historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-tasks.htm>	During the War years (1939-1945) that constituted also the Holocaust murderous years, some three (3) million non-Jewish Poles were also killed, but they were killed not because of their ethnicity, religion or creed, but rather because they were viewed as subversive, threatening, or particularly dangerous to the Nazi regime. (Examples of such Poles that were killed by the Nazis were the elite of the Polish people, their political, civic, and spiritual leaders, members of the intelligentsia, cultural and scientific figures, as well as members of the resistance movement, officers, and so on.) Thus, in this respect, that Polish victimization campaign was a campaign of the War and not of the Holocaust and, as such, those Polish victims need be considered as casualties of the War and not of the Holocaust.
.(And speaking of the Polish casualties of War, it needs to be noted that Poland --unlike any other European country-- was battling for its survival not only from Hitler's Nazi Germany on the West, but also on the East from Stalin's Soviet Union. In this respect, see in here additional information on the Soviet invasion of Poland of September 1939 and, this photo of Polish prisoners captured by the Soviet Red Army. . Poland thus, during the War years, was savaged by two formidable foes from two opposite fronts: one from the West by the Nazi Germans and, the other one from the East by the Soviet Russians. See, in this respect, the Yad Vashem's entry on the Katyn [Forest] Massacre by the Soviets.)
Of course, as already noted, all that Polish victimization resulted from the two campaigns of the War has had nothing to do with the Nazi Holocaust (written always with capital letter to be distinguished from any other genocidal event or holocaust parlance).

The Holocaust should never ever be confused with the various killings of World War II that was a part of, nor be blurred with other atrocities and brutalities of the War. The Holocaust was an unique and distinct massive, persevering, persecutory and victimization genocidal event of World War II, prosecuted by the Nazi Germany, that was based primarily on race and ethnicity with the sole purpose and goal of "purifying" the European races from the perceived "undesirables," and as such, it needs to be separated from all other killings and brutalities associated with the War.

From immemorial times, each society had their own "undesirables" (most notable, the hard-core criminals, and those holding a particular creed, belief, or political view deemed to pose a threat to the society) and, that component clearly existed within the Nazi Germany. But those particular types of victims of the Nazi Germany (such as the Communists, religious and political opponents, or Jehovah's Witnesses) should never ever be associated nor incorporated with the true victims and survivors of the Holocaust. That is because those groups of people became victims of the Nazi Germany not because of who they were, but because of what they did or believed in. It is therefore important to note that not all victims of the Nazi Germany were victims of the Holocust and, that the Nazi victimization program extended well outside the boundaries of the Holocaust.

.1935 Nazi Germany: Jews Are Not Wanted Here.

.1938 Nazi Germany: Jews arrested in Baden-Baden, November 10, 1938.

The cleansing of Europe from racially and ethnically "inferior or degenerate breeds" was an essential ingredient in the formulation of a new Europe as envisioned by the Nazi regime. In the so-called "Final Solution" to the Jewish Problem, the rapid killings of all European Jewry was at the core and center stage of the entire Nazi mass murder process. After all it was argued, this unprecedented "solution" was needed --as a public health campaign-- for the betterment of the world in the pursuit of creating a new "pure" (aka Aryan) "super" race.

Consistent with the creation of a "pure" superior race, the Nazi regime had targeted in addition those with various incurable mental and physical disabilities killing some 300,000 patients in various hospitals and asylums under the so-called T-4 Euthanasia program. That race "purification" program must also be included as part of the Holocaust.

In the name of perceived race "purification," the homosexuals were also targeted for complete annihilation and thus, they need to be included into what we call the Holocaust. (It is important to stress in here, for that complex category of Holocaust victims, that even if the Genetic Biology ultimately will determine that the homosexuality is not derived from a genetic condition but rather from a lifestyle condition, the Nazis --for sure-- considered them as "carrying" hereditary genes of homosexuality that needed to be rooted out. Indeed, in their campaign against the homosexuals, Nazis relentlessly pursued not only their current homosexuals, but also their family hereditary traits. That Nazi pursuit was directed primarily towards the male homosexuals as the female homosexuals were, by in large, ignored and tolerated. That duality in the Nazi policy between the male and female homosexuality has had its primary roots in the Christian religion where the sodomy has always been regarded as an absolute sin.)

	Jewish women and children at Birkenau marching towards the gas chambers. [Yad Vashem -- The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority.] + ENLARGE THIS IMAGE

To recapitulate, the Jewish Holocaust (known also as the Shoah), the Romani (Roma/Sinti) or the "Gypsy" Holocaust (known also as the Porrajmos), the Psychiatric/Eugenic Holocaust (known also as the so-called T4 Holocaust of the disabled), and the Gay Holocaust, were the only components of what is known as the Nazi Holocaust.

Any other victims during the Holocaust years need to be considered as being part of the casualties of war and not of Holocaust. This explicit distinction and demarcation is, as already noted, essential in the precise, unambiguous definition and formulation of the Nazi Holocaust.

In a nutshell thus, the Holocaust (that developed from its prewar Nazi Persecutory Campaign of the "undesirables") was a machinery set in place by the Nazi regime of cleansing the European races from all the perceived "inferior and degenerate breeds" that the Jews, the Romanies/Gypsies, the mentally and physically disabled, and the Homosexuals were considered to be. That was the "line" of the Holocaust that was a clear and unmistakable "line" that needs not be confused or blurred with any other murderous "line" of World War II.

Another way of looking at the Holocaust "line" is how the Texas University Professor, Dr. Ian Hancock sees it, as a genetic "purification" line designed to eradicate the perceived genetic "contaminants" from the European gene pool in pursuit of creating a "pure" superior "master race."

As a historic event, the Nazi Holocaust is of enormous complexity:

How could such an event ever take place, in the first place? How such an absolute breakdown in humanity, moral judgments, and faith in God could have taken place in one of the most cultured country of Europe? How could a most cultured nation in the center of Europe be responsible for such mass atrocities that are defying human comprehension? How could the Church of Germany with all its various denominations close its eyes to humanity and surrender its morality, its soul, and its teachings to the Nazi ideology? How could the average mass German population embraced and supported with such zeal Hitler, the Nazis, Nazism, and the Third Reich? How and Why was democracy lost in Germany in 1933?

How a mighty country such as The United States of America that was founded through its July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence that begins with this fundamental proposition,

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"We hold these truths to be self-evident,   that all men are created equal,   that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,   that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"

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could have closed its eyes on the Holocaust for so long, is a perplexing question for the ages, as the deprivation of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" were at the core and center stage of the entire machinery of the Holocaust. Arguably, the simple answer to this is that no national security interest was involved and thus, no compelling interest existed to intervene. That may be so, if only we could divorce ourselves from the conscience of humanity.

Killing of Jews in Kovno by Lithuanian nationalists under the eyes of the SS in June 1941. When the SS mobile killing units reached Kovno in the first few days of the war against the Soviet Union, they persuaded the anti-communist partisan leader Klimatis to turn his forces against the Jews, to demonstrate that "the liberated population had resorted to the most severe measures against the ... Jewish enemy." SS Photo - <friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/eng_captions/55-1.html>		How the great majority of ordinary European people stood by --at best-- in apathy during the Nazi's racial and ethnical cleansing, and --at worst-- taking an active role in it, is a most profound and troublesome question that cannot escape our attention when looking at the present or at the future. The humanity should never ever be allowed to be buried by evil forces and blind ambitions. Next time --if not on guard-- another mass group or groups of people could be targeted for their complete annihilation. As the late Simon Wiesenthal so eloquently put it, "It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews." Let this be the great lesson of the Nazi Holocaust that humanity, at all cost, must always be present, preserved, and remain within us. Hate and blind ambitions should never ever be allowed to overcome and poison our judgments and deeds. Never again the humanity should be absent from a society's deeds and moral judgments. The Creator endowed us with a most precious commodity --the humanity, vested in compassion and tolerance towards others, and this is --in fact-- what separates us, humans, from the rest, in the vast Kingdom of the Living.

The massive human, spiritual, and intellectual destruction that the Nazi Holocaust has brought is beyond quantification. The human talent lost during the Holocaust is impossible to be quantified as we can only ponder how many of the caliber of Jonas Salk were lost and thus, how many cures of various deadly diseases could have been found long time ago. To this if we add the potential loses in other sciences and the arts, the total loss could be staggering and arguably irreplaceable. And this is indeed a sobering reflection that cannot escape our thoughts.

NOTE 1:		An extraordinary set of pictures from the Auschwitz Album with text commentary by Oliver Lustig of Bucharest, Romania, who is a Birkenau-Auschwitz and Dachau Holocaust survivor, has been posted with corresponding Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, and Russian translations from the original Romanian text received.
NOTE 2:		In January 2007, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received a mysterious anonymous donation (from a retired US military man) of a photograph album with the inscription "Auschwitz 21.6.1944" containing 116 photographs of SS guardians from Auschwitz. This stunning new photo album, (believed to have been created and belonged to Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the commandant of Auschwitz) provides a rare insider's view of Auschwitz camp staff enjoying leisure time at a facility adjacent to the notorious death camp where thousands were been killed every day. (See also this New York Times article and the USHMM presentation.)

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I.	Holocaust Background Information
II.	Heroes and Heroines of the Holocaust
III.	Faces and Voices of Holocaust Survivors
IV.	Holocaust Studies, Anti-Semitism and Related Topics

V.	The Holocaust Combative Page
VI.	Holocaust Selected Readings, Photos, and Items of Interest
VII.	Holocaust Selected Books
VIII.	Descendants of the Holocaust
IX.	Holocaust Related News
X.	Holocaust Memorial Drives

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There are 350,000 survivors of the Holocaust alive today...
There are 350,000 experts who just want to be useful with the remainder of their lives.
Please listen to the words and the echoes and the ghosts.
And please teach this in your schools.

 Steven Spielberg  

   

The God We Never Knew ...

Where was God during the Holocaust?*

 

From Testimony of a Holocaust Survivor 
<ahavat-israel.com/ahavat/am/holocaust.asp.