A Trail of Nazi Genocide

 A Trail of Nazi Genocide

Mass Murder in Europe

This post provides an index of places associated with the Nazis’ reign of terror across Europe.

The Nazis intentionally and systematically murdered about 17 million people identified as enemies of the German people or undesirables. The largest and most targeted group were the Jews but many others were specifically targeted as well. 

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There are four sections to this post.

  1.  An index with links to posts of places I have visited associated with the genocide

  2.  A brief description of the scope of the genocide

  3.  A timeline of select events by year, month, date.

  4.  Resources: Books and Films I have reviewed and a selection of articles I have read.

1. An A to Z index of Nazi Terror: Museums, Memorials, Sites

Anne Frank museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Auschwitz 1, Poland; concentration camp

Auschwitz II (Birkenau) Poland; concentration camp

Bergen-Belsen, Germany; concentration camp

Euthanasia Memorial (Aktion T4), Berlin Germany

Hitler's Bunker site, Berlin, Germany

Gleis 17 Memorial Berlin, Germany

Holocaust memorial, Berlin, Germany

Krakow Ghetto, Poland

Nuremberg Coliseum, Zeppelin Field, Courthouse (Nazi trials)

Operation Anthropoid, Assassination of Heydrich in Prague

Oskar Schindler Factory Museum Krakow Poland

Roma & Sinti Memorial Berlin, Germany

Sachsenhausen camp, Oranienburg, Germany

Shoes on the Danube Memorial, Budapest, Hungary

Terezin (Theresienstadt) camp, Czech Republic

Topographies Des Terror Museum, Berlin, Germany

United States Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC

Wannsee Conference Memorial -  Likely site of the Final Solution - Murder of the Jews

Westerbork Transit Camp, Netherlands

Museums with Related Information

Imperial War Museum, London, UK

World War II Museum - Road to Berlin, New Orleans, Louisiana USA

2. A Brief Description of Nazi Genocide 1930s to 1945

The Nazi worldview identified groups of people unworthy of life in the German Reich. As they rose to power in Germany in the 1930s and throughout their war, they systematically dehumanized targeted groups and passed laws to discriminate against them. In the 1940s, Nazi terror increased. Millions were brutally terrorized, tortured, and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. The nazis focused most of their efforts on the extermination of the Jews, who were identified as the primary enemy of the German people. By 1945, the Nazis and their collaborators had murdered some 6 million Jews. Although the term holocaust can mean the systematic murder of a group of people, it is commonly used to mean the extermination of the Jews most evident in the large-scale gassing and burning in the death camps.

I use the term genocide to include all people murdered by the Nazis and their sympathizers, which has been estimate at around 17 million (O’Neill, 2024, August 9). Additional groups of people murdered by the Nazis and their supporters included those in the list below (see the Holocaust Encyclopedia).

  Africans or Blacks

  Homosexuals (the older and insulting term for gays)

  Jehovah’s Witnesses

  People with disabilities

  Poles

  Political enemies and members of the resistance

  Roma and Sinti called gypsies

  Social outcasts identified as asocials, professional criminals

  Soviet POWs

The Nazis murdered millions by shootings, lethal injections, mobile gas units, starvation, brutal beatings, nontreatment of diseases, deadly experiments, and life-threatening work assignments. In 1941 to 1942, they built killing centres where Nazis and their collaborators gassed and burned Jews.

3. A Timeline of select events

1933 

January 30: Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. 

March 22: The first concentration camp, Dachau, is established.

Law passed to sterilise unfit people (Law for the prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring)

1935 

April 30: Jews cannot display the German flag.

May 12: Antisemitism increases in Poland after dictator Pilsuduski died

June 26: Law amendment requires abortion of unfit fetuses up to 6 months.

September 15: Nuremberg Laws are enacted, stripping Jews of their citizenship and rights.

November 15: Christian churches cooperate to identify Christians.

1936

February 4: Polish Cardinal August Hlond advocates discrimination against Jews.

September 7: Jewish assets taxed at 25%

September 23: Sachsenhausen concentration camp opens.

1937

April 24: Pastor Martin Niemoller "it is unfortunate that God perimitted Jesus to be born a Jew." (HC, P. 117)

July 15: Buchenwald concentration camp established

1938 

January 21: Romania Jews lose their citizenship

March 12: German laws govern Austria after the troops arrive

April 23: Jews in Vienna rounded up and forced to eat grass

May 3: Concentration camp at Flossenburg established

June 4: Dr. Sigmund Freud left his Vienna home for London with his wife Marth and daughter Anna.

July 25: Germany cancels licenses of Jewish doctors

August 10 destruction of The Great Synagogue, Nuremberg

November 9-10: Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), a violent pogrom against Jews in Germany and Austria.

1939 

September 1: World War II begins with the invasion of Poland. 

September 6, Nazis enter Krakow, Poland

September: Murder of people with disabilities began (T4 Programme)

October 8: Establishment of the first Jewish ghettos in Poland.

1940 

May 20: Auschwitz concentration camp is established. 

October 12: Warsaw Ghetto is established.

1941 

June 22: Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, begins. 

September 3: First mass murder at Auschwitz using Zyklon B (c 600 Soviet, 250 Poles)

September 29-30: Babi Yar massacre, where over 33,000 Jews are killed in Kiev. 

December 8: Chelmno extermination camp begins operations.

1942 

January 20: Wannsee Conference, where the "Final Solution" is planned. 

March 01: Auschwitz begins operation

March 17: Belzec extermination camp begins operations. 

May 4: SS selection/ murder begins at Birkenau

May 27: Czechs attack Reinhard Heydrich, he dies soon after

July 23: Treblinka extermination camp begins operations.

July 29: Edward Schulte, informs allies 499 Jews murdered at Auschwitz, Himmler present

April 19: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. 

September: Dr. Viktor Frankl began four-camp imprisonment at  Theresienstadt

October 14: Sobibor extermination camp uprising.

1943

February 26: Gypsy camp set for "Gypsies"

1944 

February 28: Corrie ten Boom arrested (The Hiding Place story)

May 15: Deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz begins. 

May: Hungarian Edith Eva Eger deported to Auschwitz (later became a psychologist; published The Choice in 2017)

July 10-12 Nazis murder 7,000 Jews at Theresienstadt

October 7: Auschwitz-Birkenau Sonderkommando uprising.

December 31: Corrie ten Boom released

1945 

January 17: Death march begins c 60,000 from Auschwitz

January 21-26: Nazis blow up gas chambers and crematoria at Birkenau

January 27: Liberation of c 7,000 at Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet forces. January 27 is Holocaust Memorial Day

February: Approximate date, Anne Frank died from Typhus, age 15

April 15: Liberation of Bergen-Belsen by British forces. 

May 5: Liberation of Mauthausen by American forces. 

May 8: Germany surrenders, ending World War II in Europe.

June 26: London Conference-decisions on procedures for Nazi trials

November 20: Nuremberg trials begin for 24 Nazis

1946

October 1: Nuremberg trials end

1947

April 30: Karl Rahm, commander of Theresienstadt found guilty, hanged

4. Resources

Books and Films

Inheritance: A Legacy of Hatred and the Journey to Change It (film)

Man's Search for Meaning by survivor, Victor Frankl

Schindler's List (film)

The Choice: Embrace the Possible by survivor and psychologist, Edith Eger

The Light of Days

The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness,  by Simon Wiesenthal

Articles

O’Neill, A. (2024, August 9). Number of victims of the holocaust and nazi persecution 1933-1945, by background. statista.com. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1071011/holocaust-nazi-persecution-victims-wwii/

Stone L. (2019). Quantifying the Holocaust: Hyperintense kill rates during the Nazi genocide. Science advances, 5(1), eaau7292. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau7292

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About me...

Geoffrey W. Sutton has a PhD in psychology and writes about psychology and culture.

Website: https://www.suttong.com/

Amazon Author: https://author.amazon.com/home

ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey-Sutton-2

Academia Page: https://evangel.academia.edu/GeoffSutton

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Notes

HC The Holocaust Chronicle ON AMAZON

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Germany

 

Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi camp operated between 1940 and 1943 to retain prisoners of war. The Nazis expanded it in 1941 to house those captured during the invasion of the Soviet Union. Records indicate about 41,000 murdered by April, 1942.

The Nazis killed their prisoners by subjecting them to forced labour, brutal treatment, and starvation as well as failing to protect them from or provide adequate treatment for diseases such as typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid, and dysentery.

The sign below shows how the camp appears in 2024. Images and texts tell the story. This image is on the camp's main street and is in the centre of a 70-metre area between huts for POWs and those for prisoners.

Perhaps you can glimpse the size of the camp in the image below, which locates a water reservoir and food depot.

The Prison Camp was a camp within a camp.

Jews like Anne Frank and her family were sent to the prison camp. They had broken Nazi laws by hiding in Amsterdam. After their arrest, they were in Westerbork and Auschwitz before being transferred to Bergen-Belsen where Anne and her sister Margot died in early 1945--not long before the camp was liberated by the British.

As the Soviet Army pushed the German Army back into Germany, thousands of people from camps in the East were brought to Bergen-Belsen. The overcrowding was horrific. Stones, markers, and memorials remember those who were murdered.

Today, visitors can visit Bergen-Belsen, which is near Celle. There is a visitor's centre and a place for reflection.

Visitor's Centre, Bergen-Belsen 2024

A place of reflection 2024
Bergen-Belsen

Bergen-Belsen was liberated 15 April 1945 by the British Royal Artillery 63rd Anti-Tank Regiment. The horror was unlike anything the allies had seen in war. Bergen-Belsen was the first camp to be liberated, so the story made global news.

Thousands were dead, thousands were sick or dying. Disease was rampant.

60,000 prisoners were in the camp at the time of liberation.

10,000 or more died between April 18 to 28 so, nearly 1,000 people per day.

Because of disease, the buildings were burned.

Because there were so many corpses, they were buried in mass graves by captured SS guards as directed by the British.

Photographs reveal some of the horror witnessed by British troops. The captions indicate an archive at the  Imperial War Museum in London, England.

The image below depicts two priests beside a grave.

All photos were taken 9 October 2024 at Bergen-Belsen by Geoffrey W. Sutton. They may be used for personal or educational purposes without charge. Kindly give credit by citing this blog post.

LINK TO -->> THE NAZI TRAIL OF TERROR

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Geoffrey W. Sutton has a PhD in psychology and writes about psychology and culture.

Website: https://www.suttong.com/

Amazon Author: https://author.amazon.com/home

ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey-Sutton-2

Academia Page: https://evangel.academia.edu/GeoffSutton

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Resources

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank  ON AMAZON

Belsen and its Liberation Images of War

Google Map

British Trivia Quiz 1

 

British Trivia Quiz 1

This quiz is sponsored by   Mind the Gap--  an entertaining and educational book bridging the gap between British and American culture.

Words are the gateways to a nation's culture, 

but idioms connect you to the people.

Click on your answers then see your score. 

Find the correct answer by choosing a different answer or find the correct answers at the bottom of the  Food Quiz page.

British Trivia Quiz

1. Who is the current monarch of the United Kingdom?

King Charles III
Queen Elizabeth II
King William II

2. What is the capital of Scotland?

Glasgow
Edinburgh
Aberdeen

3. What is the national flower of England?

Rose
Daffodil
Thistle

4. Who wrote "Pride and Prejudice"?

Charlotte Bronte
Jane Austen
Emily Bronte

5. What is the largest city in Wales?

Swansea
Cardiff
Newport

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Mind the Gap on AMAZON

Use this index to places to visit in the UK

Answers to the British Food Quiz 1, 7 February 2024

Chips = French Fries, Smarties = like M&Ms, courgettes = zucchini, crisps = potato chips, candy floss = cotton candy

Please check out my webpage to see if any of my books on psychology topics might be of interest.

Geoffrey W. Sutton suttong.com

Battersea Power Station London England UK

 

Battersea Power Station is a place to shop, eat, and drink by the Thames River.

Of course, it is also a London landmark. The massive "brick cathedral" began in 1929. It's still the largest brick building in England.

Men at work in 1929

A view from 1935.

A model inside the exhibit

After my visit, I took a boat along the Thames River to Tower Bridge.

See more London sites and Landmarks

See more places to visit in the UK

Map of  Battersea Power Station

Check out my website suttong.com

Learn more about Battersea Power Station on the web

Places nearby

Battersea Park

Battersea Bridge

You might like this fun and informative guide to British words and phrases.

 BUY     Mind the Gap 2    on 

 AMAZON

 GOOGLE

Book Website with FREE DOWNLOAD

St Mary-le-Bow Church Cheapside City of London England

 St Mary-le-Bow church was originally built about 1080 by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. The stone came from Caen and is the same as in the nearby Tower of London. 

A tradition has it that people born within the sounds of its church bells (Bow Bells) are Cockneys.

The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed the church. It was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren then destroyed during World War II in 1941. It was rebuilt in reopened in 1964. Below ground, the crypt dates to 1080 and is one of the oldest rooms in London.

Church sign below the Bow Street sign.

Nearby is the churchyard.

Captain John Smith preached here about the settlements in Virginia. His statue is in the courtyard.

John Smith above and text below the statue

A wall plaque marks refers to the birth of John Milton

A view of the western door

And entrance in the courtyard

Church website

History of the Church on AMAZON and elsewhere

Google Map of St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside

HMS Belfast on the Thames London England UK

 The HMS Belfast is a World War II Royal Navy warship on the Thames River in London. It is an IWM (Imperial War Museum) site on the Queen's Walk near Tower Bridge. I took the photo above in 2021.

After paying for my visit at the dockside office, you walk past the small gift shop and down a ramp to the main deck and the commemorative bell. My photos are from 10 November 2021.

The tour route is marked with arrows. Entering a door, I arrive at one of the many gun turrets. HMS Belfast was one of the ships firing over the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

As you walk about the ship, you glimpse life 

as it was for the sailors decades ago.

Toilets

Workroom

A massive kitchen...

Stores (a nice look back at old products)...

a dentistry

and a bunk for some kip

There's plenty of ammo below.

Of course, there's a ship's cat.

I took a break for a light lunch before seeing a few more rooms and guns.

You can walk about nine decks.

Get a pilot's view...

and appreciate an amazing experience.

So, it's easy for me to recommend a visit to HMS Belfast and the other IWM locations.

Here's a view of HMS Belfast and the area from the Shard, which I took in 2018.

Photo: HMS Belfast on the Thames with the

 Tower of London upper right and Tower Bridge to the Right (East)

Notes

On board HMS Belfast

  Arrows mark the tour route.

  Numbers indicate what numbers to press on the included audio guide

  Some areas require ladders or small steps.

  There are toilets on board

  There is a café on board

  There are activities for families--see the website

Tube stations:  London Bridge, Tower Hill

Google Map of the area

Address: The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2JH

The 5 IWM (Imperial War Museums)

IWM LONDON

CHURCHILL WAR ROOMS, LONDON

IWM DUXFORD

IWN NORTH- MANCHESTER

HMS BELFAST, On the Thames in London

 Visit Places Nearby

Tower Bridge

The Tower of London

the Shard

Cruise the Thames

Learn More About HMS Belfast

HMS Belfast at D-Day

HMS BELFAST 1938-2018: Commemorating the 80th Anniversary.

HMS Belfast Books Google Link

Models of HMS Belfast on AMAZON

Imperial War Museum-North Manchester England, UK

 The Imperial War Museum-North is in Manchester England. The museum focuses on telling the story of Britain at war since the First World War.

The storyboards, photos, and objects are organised in a timeline. The museum uses more than 2,000 objects, photos and interactive displays to reveal the history and impact of war.

Large objects like the following fill spaces between large pods focused on specific topics.

A letter of welcome to Americans expresses gratitude.

Cultural events mix with war news as in this 1918 poster.

This contact sea mine is a reminder of the war surrounding the UK.

The legacy of war has many dimensions. The tower of luggage reminds us of the homeless, refugees, and immigrants.

There's a café and gift shop with some unique items.

Periodically during my visit, a special 360 presentation was announced. This takes place in a large open area where the walls of the pods serve as giant screens. Some seats are better than other to follow the action or read the captions.

As with many museums, the lighting causes a glare for items under glass and is sometimes too dim to read posted texts.

Some notable items

• Tolkien's First World War Revolver
• The field gun that fired the first British shots in 1914
• A 7-metre piece of steel from the World Trade Center attack in NYC of 911

The 5 IWM (Imperial War Museums)

IWM LONDON

CHURCHILL WAR ROOMS, LONDON

IWM DUXFORD

IWN NORTH- MANCHESTER

HMS BELFAST, On the Thames in London

 

Link to Website for more information

Address

IWM North, The Quays, Trafford Wharf Road, Manchester M17 1TZ

In 2021, I took the X50 bus from central Manchester

Google Map for IWM North Manchester

Examples of IWM books

First World War -Poems from the front

World War 2-The Definitive Visual Guide

The First World War Retold

War Report - From D-Day to Berlin as it Happened