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

Le Louvre Paris France

Le Louvre is a must see museum in Paris. The grand palace, which houses the museum, dates from the 1100s. The palace was the royal residence until 1870. Inside are vast collections of works from ancient civilizations as well as art from the Middle Ages until 1848. See the website for much more detail: louvre.fr

There are special exhibitions and events, which are on the website. The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays as of the date of this post. It is open other days at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 6 or 9:45 p.m. on other days.

There is an entrance fee. Details can be found at the website. It is one of the places included in the Paris Pass.

It is located at 75058 Paris. The close metro is Palais-Royal Musee du Louvre lines 1 and 7

The nearby Tuileries Gardens are open at 7 or 7:30 a.m. depending on the time of year.

Of course, no visit is complete without seeing the Mona Lisa, which can be hard to see when busy.












And there's so much more to see-- a few examples of pictures.















I didn't see enough- I hope to return.

MADAME TUSSAUDS of London England

It's been quite awhile since I visited Madame Tussauds of London. Perhaps I should return to this famous attraction. I see on the website they have so many new and interesting things to see.

The London attraction has been on Marylebone road since 1884. Madame Tussaud was born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg in 1761. She brought her exhibition to Britain in 1802.

Some scenes from yesteryear.

Jet lag- we arrived in London this morning

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

Mind the Gap on AMAZON  and  GOOGLE

Website for Madame Tussauds of London https://www.madametussauds.com/london/en/

Have some fun with British Language and Culture - Get Mind the Gap 

on AMAZON

More UK Blogs

UK on YouTube

My website www.suttong.com

Madame Tussauds May 2023

Google Map showing Madame Tussauds near Baker Street Station and Regent's Park

National Museum of Ireland Dublin

Cross of Cong 12th Century

The National Museum of Ireland in Dublin is worth a visit even if you just spend an hour to see the treasures on the main floor. The collection of gold is impressive, but it is difficult to photograph given the lighting and glass enclosures.

Another fascinating area is the bodies of people preserved in the bogs. Several are on display. Below is Baronstown Man from County Kildare. He was found in 1953 during peat cutting. He is dated from the Early Iron Age, 200-400 CE.

Baronstown West Man 200-400 AD

St Patrick's Bell and Shrine are popular items.

The National Museum has four sites. We visited the Archaeology site on Kildare Street, Dublin.

Admission: FREE

Hours: Open daily except Christmas and Good Friday. Tuesday to Saturday 10-5; Sunday Monday 1-5 as of June 2019 but check the website for current information.  

Closed: Christmas Day and Good Friday.

Food: There is a place to eat.

Toilets: Available and clean.

Shop: There is a museum shop.

Luggage: Storage available.

Website:  https://www.museum.ie/Home

Directions Link: https://www.museum.ie/Visit-Us/Directions 

D-Day Allies Invade Nazi Europe An Overview and Timeline

D-Day was 6 June 1944. 

I was in Normandy, France for the 75th anniversary events. The sacrifices were incredible! So many died in the pursuit of freedom. D-Day was the beginning of the end of World War II.

Many Flags- People working together

D-Day is the day, the Allied forces of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and other allies amassed the largest armada in history to invade German occupied France and liberate Western Europe forcing Germany and Italy out of World War II. 

The “D” refers to the designated day for the operation and the “H” in H-hour is the hour the scheduled operation began.

Troops from other allied nations were also represented: France, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Norway, and New Zealand. 

Other nations were involved in the war effort at many other locations around the world. It was truly, and sadly, a world war.

Five Beaches of the D-Day Invasion

On 4 June, chief meteorologist James Stagg of  Scotland  told U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower the weather looked good for 6 June.  On 5 June Eisenhower gave the order for Operation Overlord—telling the troops, "The eyes of the world are upon you".

The invasion forces left southern England on 5 June 1944.

5 June On Our Way

17:00 The largest armada in world history left the south coast of England with troops, supplies, and ammunition. Eventually, naval forces would include 6,939 warships and vessels: 4,126 landing crafts and boats, 1,213 combat ships, 736 other craft, and 864 merchant ships.

22:00 Airborne troops make final checks and begin boarding Horsa Gliders.

D-Day 6 June 1944

00:16 British paratroopers land on target at two bridges later named Pegasus and Horsa, on the path to Caen  (Read more about Pegasus Bridge).

00:26 British forces defeat Germans to take Pegasus bridge. A nearby house (now a museum) is among the first liberated from German occupation.

Pegasus Bridge, Normandy / Geoff Sutton 2012

01:11 German General Marcks gets word of paratroopers, but decides to wait.

01:55 American paratroopers land around Sainte-Mère-Eglise on the path to Cherbourg. After several hours of fighting, the first village is liberated  (Read more about the Americans at Sainte-Mère-Eglise).

U.S. Paratrooper Survives at Sainte-Mère-Eglise 

04:30 British capture the Merville Battery (Read more about the British at Merville).

05:23 Allied warships begin firing on the German defenses along the coast. Naval operations were under the command of British Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay.

06:00 American bombers join British bombers, but many bombs fall behind the German defenses. Over 2,000 British, Canadian, and American bombers attacked areas along the coast.

Landing Craft- National WWII Museum, New Orleans

6:30 H-Hour: Americans land on Omaha and Utah Beaches in specially designed landing craft (Higgin's Boats). The US zones were under the command of General Omar Bradley.

Utah Beach/ Geoff W Sutton 2012

07:00 U.S. Rangers scale the cliffs to attack the guns of Pointe-du-hoc

 (Read more about the Americans at Pointe-du-Hoc).

Pointe-du-Hoc, Normandy / Geoff W Sutton 2012

7:25 British forces land on Sword and Gold Beaches. 

British land at Sword Beach/ WWII Museum

Gold Beach in 2019

7:55 Canadian and British forces land on Juno Beach.

9:00 African-American Soldiers of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion reach the beaches. Their task to construct a curtain of hydrogen-filled balloons with steel cables over the beaches.  Read more at NBC.

9:32 BBC broadcasts that the allies have landed in France to audiences in the UK and worldwide.

10:15 German General Rommel learns of the invasion and returns to France. He had been celebrating a birthday in Germany.

11:00 Americans secure Vierville.

11:15 Canadians and British capture Saint Aubin-sur-Mer (Calvados).

12:00 Hitler at his Bavarian Alps Headquarters believes the allies will be driven back.

14:00 Soldiers continue to land with equipment.

14:30 Allies reach Caen but do not capture it. Germans execute previously captured French resistance fighters.

15:00 The first sections of ingeniously designed prefabricated harbours arrive (Mulberry Harbours) from England.

18:00 German Panzer division attacks British forces.

20:00 British and Canadians join forces and approach Bayeux.

20:10 Canadians capture Taillerville.

21:00 More than 140,000 Allies have landed along 55 miles.

At the end of D-Day, 4,413 allies died. Many are buried in the cemeteries at Normandy. When we consider the entire battle of Normandy, more than 425,000 men were killed, injured, or missing. Among the allied airmen, 16,714 died and 37,00 died amongst the ground forces.

Remembering

My photos from services in D-Day 2019

Further Reading and Resources

D-Day Normandy Landing Beaches by Holt and Holt

D-Day Illustrated Edition by Stephen E. Ambrose

D-Day Visitor's Handbook

D-Day Girls  The Spies Who Armed the Resistance...

75th Anniversary of D-Day --  Video Clips from YouTube

An overview of our photos and video clips- including the Red Arrows flyover

The New British Memorial in Normandy

PM Theresa May stops for a visit.

Marching Band plays at the end of the Ceremony

The BBC coverage of the 75th Anniversary Ceremony

Places to Visit

Churchill War Rooms, London

Imperial War Museum-London

National World War II Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana USA

  This museum complex is worth 2-3 days to begin to appreciate the scope of the global war.

     D-Day Exhibit

     Early Days and Home Front

     Road to Berlin

     Path to Tokyo

     Planes of World War II

World War II Memorial, Washington DC

Holocaust Museum, Washington DC

Chicago Museum Science & Industry: 

    German U-Boat and Allied warplanes

Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy, France

More Websites

https://www.bbc.com/timelines/z9k99j6

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-10-things-you-need-to-know-about-d-day

LINK TO -->> THE NAZI TRAIL OF TERROR

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

Geoffrey W. Sutton suttong.com

British Museum London

The British Museum in London is a favourite place for many. The lines can be long during holidays and when special exhibits are featured. It's also a favourite place for school children on a mission to complete their lessons. However, I have always enjoyed my visits and found myself unable to see it all in one day.

The collections are organised in a few ways as you will see on the floor plan available on the website. Because there is so much to see, it is best to plan a visit. The exhibits are organised by parts of the world and by time period. Examples include The Americas, Africa, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, and Europe. There are also themed collections such as Enlightenment and Living and Dying.

Exhibits from the ancient world are incredible.

Jehu pays tribute

Rosetta Stone

The Sutton Hoo Treasure is an amazing find ( I suppose I'm not related).

Travel notes

Location: Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG

Transportation: Several underground stations are nearby e.g., Russell Square and Holborn. Many busses stop nearby.

Security: There is a bag search and large luggage is not permitted- storage is available at nearby stations like Euston and Kings Cross

Food: There is food service in the Museum

Admission: Free general admission. Some exhibitions must be booked in advance-see the website

Website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/

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

Mind the Gap on AMAZON  and  GOOGLE

World War II Museum Part I

Enter the outstanding  National WW II Museum via the Lousiana Memorial Pavilion. After purchasing your tickets (I bought the two-day ticket with 4D experience), head over to the Train Car.

Inside the train car you get ready to ship off to war following a brief film. Then head upstairs for the D-Day (or other) exhibits. I found the D-Day Exhibit well-organized and informative with plenty of artifacts.

Based on my selected 4-D Film Experience admission time, I walked across the covered bridge to the next building to enter the Solomon Victory Theater. I got a center seat with a good view of the large screen. The film, Beyond All Aboundaries, narrated by Tom Hanks, is a dramatic overview of WWII enhanced with multiple visual layers, stage props, simulated snowfall, and rumbling seats. It's a worthwhile addition to the entry fee. Below is a trailer from YouTube.

I returned to the main entry building to review the Home Front exhibit. You will see various scenes from 1940s America along with artifacts.

In between scheduled events, I walked around the large vehicles on the main floor.













There's more to see in other buildings, which I will include in separate posts.

Perspective: This is an American Museum, which focuses on the American forces. That said, the people of the USA contributed so many lives and resources to defeating Germany, Japan, and Italy thus, any story of the war would need to emphasize the role of the USA.

The focus is primarily on the military accomplishments. The contributions of other Americans are acknowledged along with some of the dishonorable aspects such as the treatment of African Americans and Japanese Americans.

Fees: The Museum is NOT free. The tickets are pricey for a museum but I think the experience is worth paying for.

Food: There is a cafe near the Solomon Victory Theater. Prices are expensive as in many museums. There are a variety of restaurants within walking distance.

Times: See the website for details. The museums are open most days. When I visited, the hours were 9 to 5. I spent most of two days at the museums but took a leisurely lunch nearby.

Parking & Transportation: There is parking nearby. I stayed at a nearby hotel and just walked to the museum. Public transportation is available.

Location: 945 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130 USA



RELATED POSTS

D-Day Exhibit

ROAD TO BERLIN

PATH TO TOKYO

World War II Memorial Washington DC

HOLOCAUST MUSEUM DC

My Website: www.suttong.com 


MUSEUM Website:  https://www.nationalww2museum.org/