Archive for June 2009
Recent comments about the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
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Read all the comments here: http://blog.holocaustresearchproject.org/FeaturedComments.aspx
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009
The Daily life of prisoners at Majdanek
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Majdanek Concentration Camp (a.k.a. Lublin KL)
Reception, Prisoners Daily Life, Sub- Camps
Reception of Prisoners
Most prisoners were brought to Majdanek in freight trains in tightly closed, crowded cattle cars deprived of any sanitary facilities, without food and water.
The newly arrived were unloaded in the vicinity of the Lublin railway station, on a siding situated on the premises of the SS Fur and Clothing Works 1.5 kilometers from the camp.
The SS- men, shouting and cursing pushed and beat the prisoners descending from the train, then arranged them in fives, and marched the column to the camp at a rapid pace.
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Cattle car of the type used at Majdanek |
Surrounded by a dense cordon of SS-men and military police equipped with machine guns, as Zacheusz Pawlak recollects the arrival in Lublin of a transport from Radom on 8 January 1943 – “we had to march quickly. Some of the guards were holding dogs on leashes, the dogs barking furiously and baring their teeth at the prisoners. These were specially trained dogs. If a prisoner dropped out of the column even three steps, they immediately jumped at the victim. The SS-men and the military police terrorised the column by shouting and beating”.
Only the larger groups of prisoners deported from prisons, ghettos and camps arrived at Majdanek in trains. The smaller transports, usually from the Lublin district were brought in trucks.
As in every concentration camp, the newly arrived were subjected to the ritual of reception.
After passing through the camp gate, the new arrivals were directed to barrack 44, where they had to surrender all they had with them and on them.
Naked – whatever the season of the year or weather conditions – they were rushed, with shouting and beatings to the nearby bathhouse, where all their body hair was removed, most frequently with dull razors, which caused acute pain.
From there they were taken to the neighbouring room to take a bath. They first underwent disinfection by submerging in concrete tubs filled with a Lysol solution. Next came the bath proper, which according to prisoners accounts, rarely occurred without various harassments.
For example, hot water alternated with cold water, and so on. After such a “purification” , the prisoners were issued with rags, most often in the wrong size, to replace the clothes worn previously.
Division lll, which thenceforth took responsibility for the prisoner, directed them to the assigned compound and barrack. There followed registration, where numerous forms were filled in with personal details.
Next each new prisoner received a number and a triangle. The number replaced the prisoners name and the triangle indicated the cause of imprisonment. The numbering system applied in the Majdanek was different from those in other concentration camps, where the number increased as new prisoners arrived.
In Majdanek, the numeration went up to 20,000 and never exceeded that number. The newly arrived received the number of deceased prisoners. There were separate numeration systems, both up to 20,000, for men and for women.
The manner of identification was almost the same as in other concentration camps, Soviet Prisoners of War had the letters SU painted on the back of their jackets.
The number and triangle were worn by the prisoner on his clothes – the number, printed on a piece of white linen 14x 4.5cm, was placed on the left breast of the jacket or the dress and on the left trouser leg above the knee.
Besides, the prisoners received round badges, 3.8cm in diameter, with the number impressed on it, to be worn on a piece of wire around the neck.
Above the number, the prisoners wore the triangles printed on a square piece of linen, with a side of 8cm. In the middle of the triangle there was a letter indicating the prisoners nationality.
After fulfilling all the formalities, each new arrival had to undergo a quarantine, during which the functionaries taught them close order drill, forming ranks at the roll call, removing and putting on caps, marching in work-gangs, keeping order in the barracks,
Also those who, immediately after arriving in the camp had been accommodated in the compounds underwent quarantine. Still wearing their own clothes they were forced to learn close order drill, and only afterwards were they formally admitted into the camp.
This was the case, for example with transports arriving in January and February 1943 from Radom, Warsaw and Lvov.
Read more here:http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/Majdanek%20Daily%20life/majdanekdailylife.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009
Persecution of Polish Jews
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Nazi soldiers parading through Warsaw after the invasion of Poland 1939 |
The German invasion and subsequent occupation of Poland triggered the persecution of the Polish and Jewish population. The mass murder and ill treatment of Jews was often carried out amidst scenes of utter barbarity and contempt for the Jews, whom the Germans regarded as Untermensch (sub-human).
Warsaw
On December 1 1939 the Krakauer Zeitung reported from Warsaw under the heading Polish Policeman murdered by Jews:
“A Polish policeman in uniform was shot while on duty on November 13 in Warsaw at Nalewki 9 by a Jewish gang. A second official was dangerously wounded by a shot.
The occupants of the house at Nalewki 9, hampered the search for the murderers, who had fled, by offering open resistance. In the meantime the police succeeded in tracing the murderer, a Jew and professional criminal, Pinkus Jankiel Zylbring, who on account of the war had been prematurely released from prison.
In his possession was found the weapon used for the murder. Because of their reprehensible conduct during the police investigations, fifty-three male Jews from the house, Nalewki 9, were shot.
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When German soldiers attempted to loot the business of Stephen Luxemburg, a Jewish goldsmith in Warsaw, he shouted for help. The soldiers left, but others soon came to search the premises and found German rifle bullets, which of course, they themselves had brought. Luxemburg was then taken out and shot.
Mr Hoffman the proprietor of the Café Esplanade, and a well-known citizen was executed on a charge of sabotage which consisted in leaving his job when put on forced labour.
Lodz
Mary Berg who went from Warsaw to Lodz wrote in her diary, on the 2 November 1939 on what she saw when she looked out of her window:
“A man with markedly Semitic features was standing quietly on the sidewalk near the curb. A uniformed German approached him and apparently gave him an unreasonable order, for I could see that the poor fellow tried to explain something with an embarrassed expression.
Then a few other uniformed Germans came upon the scene and began to beat their victims with rubber truncheons. They called a cab and tried to push him into it, but he resisted vigorously.
The Germans then tied his legs together with a rope, attached the end of the rope to the cab from behind and ordered the driver to start. The unfortunate man’s struck the sharp stones of the pavement, dyeing them red with blood. Then the cab vanished down the street”.
Ostrow Mazowiecka
When a fire broke out in the town, the Jews were blamed, and all who remained – 600 men, women and children were taken to the outskirts and murdered.
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Przemysl
Eight hundred Jews of Przemysl are said to have been led across the bridge to the German occupied part, where most of them were put to death.
Chelm & Hrubeiszow
Eighty-three Jews were shot between Chelm and Hrubieszow. They were part of a group of several hundred Jews driven out the two towns by the German military command. They were put to death, because when the Germans ordered them to run in the direction of the frontier of the Russian –occupied areas, they did not run fast enough.
Lask
In January 1940 German police officers boasted that during house searches in the small town of Lask, one hundred Jews were shot. Outside a synagogue in the same town a crowd of Jews tried to prevent the Germans from entering.
The Nazi police used their guns killing several hundred Jews. The synagogue was razed to the ground.
Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/jewishpersecution.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009
Jewish Ghetto Police during the Holocaust
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Jewish Order Service police units were established by the German authorities in certain locations under their brutal occupation. Almost immediately after their establishment the Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe were ordered to organise these units, usually as a forerunner to the creation of ghettos.
Whereas the Judenrat itself, although also created on German orders, often contained elements of pre-war voluntary association, the Jewish police came into being only after the German occupation. There was no precedent for the existence of a Jewish police force, and there was no indication that the Jews played any part in the establishment of a Jewish police force within the ghettos.
The Germans set the guidelines for the Judenrat to recruit members which included physical fitness, military experience, and secondary or higher education.
In practice these guidelines were not always closely followed. Formally the Jewish police constituted one of the departments of the Judenrat, but from the very beginning many Jewish Councils were apprehensive about the police force’s public character and the way it would function.
They suspected that the Germans would have direct supervision of the police and use it for the implementation of their policies. Aware of this danger, many Jewish Councils sought to establish their own means of controlling the police and the standards of its behaviour, and tried to attract young Jews who would be trustworthy.
In the initial period some of the recruits did indeed believe that by joining the ranks of the Jewish police gave them an opportunity to serve the community. But there were other reasons for joining. Belonging to a protected organisation, provided immunity from being seized for forced labour. Service in the Jewish police also offered greater freedom of movement and the possibilities of obtaining food and money.
The size of the Jewish police force was not fixed but depended on the size of the Jewish community. Thus in Warsaw the Jewish police at first numbered 2,000, in Lvov 500, in Lodz 800, in Krakow 150 and in Kovno 200.
In the larger ghettos the Jewish police commanders held officer ranks and units were made up of sub-divisions and district stations. The policemen were identified by the different caps they wore and by the unit’s designation inscribed on their armband, the yellow badge that they, like all other Jews, had to wear.
In the smaller ghettos where the Jewish police consisted of a few men organisational differentiations were not required.
The duties of the Jewish police can be divided into these categories:
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Directing traffic in the streets.
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Supervising garbage collection and clearing snow and dirt off the streets.
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Supervising sanitation in the buildings.
Read more about the Jewish Order Police here:
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/orderpolice.htmlThe Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009
Gestapo HQ at Pawiak Prison!
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Gestapo Headquarters
Szucha Avenue and Pawiak Prison -Warsaw
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Pawiak Prison -Warsaw (photo circa 2003) |
Gestapo Headquarters – 25 Szucha Avenue, Warsaw
The Gestapo Head Quarters at 25 Szucha Avenue was one of the most feared buildings in Warsaw, its very name one that provoked fear and dread amongst the population of Warsaw.
In the basement or on the upper floors of this building prisoners were beaten up and abused, by Gestapo men, and suspects were placed blood stained in isolated cells, or collective cells, the latter which were called “trams” by the prisoners.
Many Poles lost their lives in this gloomy institution of terror, bodies of murdered and dying people littered the corridors, thrown there by Gestapo thugs.
Jozef Garlinski, a member of the Home Army – Polish Underground recalled his arrest after climbing off a tram, on 20 April 1943.
“ Suddenly I was conscious of someone behind me. Then I heard footsteps. As I turned my head, I heard – “Halt! Hande Hoch! Two young men rushed towards me, the dark metal of revolvers in their right hands”.
We went down Litewska Street. A man came out of a gateway and followed us at a convenient distance. We had crossed the frontier into the undisputed territory of the Germans.
We turned left and again left and entered a building up several steps. We were in Gestapo headquarters.
In the dark anteroom the windows of the spacious inquiry office sparkled and inside a sleepy NCO on guard sat by the telephones. The man escorting me said a few words to him and pointed to the stairs on the left, leading down to the cellars.
We went up to the iron bars and my guard rang a bell. Keys rattled and a dishevelled NCO in bedroom slippers opened them. My guard whispered a few words and quickly withdrew. The bars grated open then shut.
Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/poland/pawaiak.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009
Nice Blog!
Far superior to those cheesy Holocaust blogs where all they do is bicker back and forth with deniers and wackos!
TT-Jones
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Your website is routinely updated with very well documented text and photos.
I find myself browsing your site several times a week as I always learn something new about the Holocaust each time I visit.
In many ways you have opened my eyes to a part history that I know can never be forgotten or denied.
Thank you
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I believe the HEART team has become the premier Holocaust Research group of our age.
Your materials are the best available on the Intenet.
Helmut Borger
Freilassing
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I have always been perplexed by the reaction of the civilian onlookers who while able to deny knowledge of the camps, could hardly deny the fate of these poor souls dying on the streets as they passed through towns and villages.
Watching one of these death marches must have been a horrific experience!
I can’t even fathom what it must have been to be a prisoner of one.
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Your article on Breendonck is most impressive. You have all the details quite correct.
Alard
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Your compendium of the Anschluss and the fate of European Jewry is well researched and well written.
I am a native born Austrian from Graz and I can attest to the quality dissertation you have produced.
PvB
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Quite an interesting subject and a plethora of information.
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Your website articles are better than the Discovery channel!
I enjoy coming to this site and learning about the Holocaust.
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Your website is well researched and very well organized.
I am quite impressed with the broad coverage and detail
Very well done.
Roger Klimt
Uxbridge
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A horrific cold blooded proposal!
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Holocaust denying and arguing with Holocaust deniers is just STUPID!
Mario
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GREAT ARTICLE!
THE DOCUMENTS AND PHOTOS WERE VERY INTERESTING
Ian
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Debating with Holocaust Denier is a foolish endeavor.
Those who feel they are doing us all a good service by attempting to debunk hate propaganda only lend it credence.
Please stop doing us the favor and let the deniers shout from their soap boxes.
When they realize that no one is listening they will give up proselytizing and move on to chasing UFOs and searching for Bigfoot.
Joella Simon
Raleigh, North Carolina
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Whilst many “Self-Proclaimed Debunkers of Revisionism” believe they are doing something noble by “giving the Deniers a hard time” you are in essence accomplishing nothing but validating that a ludicrous revisionist viewpoint has any merit what so ever.
Forcing Holocaust Deniers to lose composure doesn’t discredit the Denier. It simply proves the Denier is just as human as the rest of us and can react adversely when challenged.
(We would remind all that the Holocaust isn’t a game where points are awarded to whichever side makes a better argument. Millions died in unimaginable suffering. If you need to play a game that proves your intellect we would recommed a friendly game of Chess perhaps?)
It is the view of the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team that the period of history known as the Holocaust [Shoah], the program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, and its collaborators towards the Jewish peoples in Europe but also including ethnic Poles, the Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, gay men, and political and religious opponents can NEVER BE DENIED.
Any claim that the Shoah never happened, that the resources of the Third Reich never murdered almost a million Jews and political opponents in mass shootings. That entire communities of Jews and Romani were not crammed into ghettos before being transported by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were killed in gas chambers is a claim designed purely to stir controversy.
Validating the arguments of Holocaust Deniers via anonymous online debates offers no value to the cause of Holocaust remembrance and no value to history or posterity.
We believe that energy is better spent promoting Holocaust awareness for the future benefit of society and cultures worldwide.
So mankind won’t forever be doomed to repeat the evils of the past.
The Holocaust can never be denied.
-H.E.A.R.T
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Dear H.E.A.R.T
I couldn’t agree more with your statements.
60 years after the Holocaust happened arguing with those who choose to deny out of their own racial hatred is just silly.
I don’t care about making a Holocaust denier look badly.
They already do that themselves the moment they promulgate their venomous propaganda.
Maya Jansen
New York, NY
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I NEVER UNDERSTOOD THE LOGIC IN ARGUING WITH HOLOCAUST DENIERS IT ALWAYS SEEMED TO ME TO BE AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY.
YOU GUYS ALSO MAKE A GOOD POINT ABOUT THOSE SELF PROCLAIMED DEBUNKERS OF REVISIONISM.
WHEN YOU READ HOW THEY BEHAVE ITS CLEAR THEY ARE ONLY DEBATING FOR THE FUN OF THE DEBATE AND REALLY COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST.
I THINK IN MANY CASES THEY DO MORE FOR THE REVISIONIST CAUSE THAN THE DENIERS DO THEMSELVES!
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Thank you to the Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team
NEVER FORGET!
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Please accept my praise for this great work by the Holocaust Research Project Team. You have surpassed your earlier work on the deathcamps.org website and have produced an Internet resource that is valuable to everyone throughout the world.
Kurt Stellin
Frankfurt, Germany
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I am very impressed with your well researched website.
This article on the Jews of the Sudetenland is of special interest to me.
Thank you for posting it.
BL
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Many of my students use the website for reports and as a general reference.
It’s a fantastic educational resource.
Geraldine Lark
Modesto, California
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One of the better accounts of the man they call Ivan the terrible.
This website seems to do a much better job than most on presenting a balanced and informative approach to history and Holocaust education.
CS
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I agree with you. Most other website present a very short summary with few photos and not much depth. Whereas the HolocaustResearchProject.org group, delves much deeper into the factual events and they also integrate witness accounts with scholarly research and archived documentation.
Which makes for a very interesting learning experience.
Ben
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I agree as well.
Best Holocaust related website on the Internet!
John Schiffer
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I must concur with what has been said by so many others. Your website: www.holocaustresearchproject.og is the best Holocaust education site on the Internet.
Misha
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Thank you all for your tremendous effort.
In a world of hatred and strife your website is an oasis of education and knowledge that can only further the cause of peace.
David Kleinfeld
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The best collection of Holocaust photos in one centralized location.
Very nice.
Elan
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The best historical website on the Internet!
2 thumbs up!
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Incredible images yet truly sad.
One can only hope that through websites like www.holocaustresearchproject.org that people will always be reminded of mans brutality to his fellow man.
Jane Devallo
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Intriguing article. I will have to rewatch the Lanzmann documentary SHOAH as I now have some deeper understanding thanks to your website.
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My grand parents perished in the Holocaust and were both from Brody.
You article on Brody and your website are very inspiring.
Thank you for publishing it.
Elliot Hoffman
Los Angeles, California
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Great story! In this wimpy age of Obama its good to know that there actually were some heroes!
JS
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I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for a Jewish family during this sad time.
Please continue your great work to remind us all about the horrors that man can perpetuate on his brethren.
My warmest thanks for the holocaustresearchproject.org website.
Lina Brancato
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Thank you for this article. I have been researching my families history. Mainly because my Danish Grandfather was taken by the Nazi’s in 1940. I lived in Norway as a child and now live in the US. I am in the process of Converting to Judaism. My love and respect for the Jewish People started after I found out what my family went through. I am so grateful when I read an honest article about what happened.
Sincerely,
Gunn-Ingerid
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I thinkg its utterly brilliant that the Holocaustresearchproject website has partnered with the students of such an esteemed institution as the Univerisity of Northampton!
A great website being used for a noble purpose!
My congratulations to the Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team for all their wonderful efforts.
Charlotte McFlannery
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I agree!
All Higher Education institutions should partner with the Holocaustresearchproject to truly educate students about the atrocities of the Holocaust.
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I MUST SAY THAT THE HOLOCAUSTRESEARCHPROJECT.ORG WEBSITE IS BECOMING BY FAR THE MOST RELEVANT ONLINE RESOURCE FOR EVERYTHING RELATED TO THE HISTORY OF THE HOLOCAUST!
I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH YOUR WORK!
PLEASE CONTINUE IT!
CALVIN ESTRADILLA -MADRID
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An incredible read! My thanks to Mr. Lisciotto for posting this report.
Paul Silberklein
New York, NY USA
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Your image galleries have been very helpful in my classroom presentations.
Your organization name: the Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team is proving to be "spot on".
All my thanks to you.
Erica Knauer
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Great photo gallery!
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I really appreciate the depth of information each article on the Holocaustresearchproject.org website contains. Most other sites publish a paragraph or two and that’s it.
Your website articles are robust and informative and truly honor the victims of the Holocaust.
Linda Goldschein
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I agree with Linda 100 percent!
I teach High School in the United States and this website has become one of my most important online resources.
I can’t thank the Holocaust Research Team enough for this great endeavor.
Megan Wallace Columbus, Ohio
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Truly Amazing!
No other historical website, blog or media source is even in the same league as the Holocaustresearchproject.org website. Your team has done a fantastic job of bringing the atrocities of the Holocaust to the hearts and minds of people everywhere.
Thomas Buchon
Great Britain
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I was intrigued by this peice on Bingel. Your website provides so much depth of coverage on the subject matter I find myself spending hours reading the pages.
Mike Bell
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What a bastard this character Mulka was!
I never would have heard of this guy if it wasn’t for the holocaustreseachproject website.
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Your website is really quite excellent.
Your photographic pages are truly rare examples of what Holocaust research is meant to be.
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