Final Solution
This a picture of one such massacre
In June 1941, Germany began the "Final Solution." To enforce this, Germany made four mobile killing groups called Einsatzgruppen. Each group contained several commando units. The Einsatzgruppens gathered Jews and marched them to huge pits previously dug or made them dig their own graves, strip down, line up, and then shot them. The Jews, after being shot, would fall into the pits used as the graves in a huge pile.
Sonderbehandlung, "Special Treatment"
Millions of Jews were killed in to fall
in pits like these
One of the most known massacres was the Babi Yar, in which 30,000 to 35,000 Jews were killed in only two days. By 1942 the Einsatzgruppen had killed more that 1.3 million Jews.
After a man by the name of Heinrich Himmler decided that shooting Jews caused his men problems sleeping at night, the Sonderbehandlung was born. Jews were singled out for what the Germans called Sonderbehandlung, otherwise known as "Special Treatment." This "Special Treatment" consisted of putting Jews into gas chambers, which was considered to produce a quicker and cleaner way of killing the Jewish men, women, and even Jewish children. The gas used was usually exhaust gas or Zyklon B.
Gas Chambers
This is a picture of a gas chamber. This would be
stuffed full of Jew to insure a quick kill
By the beginning of 1945, the Soviet troops were advancing through Poland. The retreating Germans forced all remaining Auschwitz prisoners to march toward Germany under indescribably cruel conditions. Approximately 20,000 of the 58,000 prisoners died en route from exhaustion, starvation, frostbite, hypothermia, beatings, and executions by guards.
Some of the most distraught days were:
December 8, 1941 27,000 were massacred in Riga
October 23, 1941 34,000 were massacred in Odessa
October 28, 1941 34,000 were massacred in Kiev
November 6, 1941 15,000 were massacred in Kovno
December 8, 1941 27,000 were massacred in Riga
October 23, 1941 34,000 were massacred in Odessa
October 28, 1941 34,000 were massacred in Kiev
November 6, 1941 15,000 were massacred in Kovno
Many of the healthy, young, strong Jews were not killed immediately. The Germans' war effort and the "Final Solution" required a great deal of manpower, so the Germans reserved large pools of Jews for slave labor. When they were too weak to work or beginning to get sick they were terminated.