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

Topographies Des Terror Berlin Germany

 

The Topography of Terror is a significant historical museum in Berlin, Germany, located on Niederkirchnerstrasse. This site was once the headquarters of the Gestapo and SS during the Nazi regime from 1933 to 194512. The buildings were largely destroyed during World War II, and the area was later transformed into a museum and memorial.

 

The museum features both indoor and outdoor exhibits that document the history of the Nazi terror apparatus, including the Reich Security Main Office and the Sicherheitspolizei. The permanent exhibitions focus on the central institutions of the SS and police, detailing the crimes they committed throughout Europe. Additionally, the site includes remnants of the Berlin Wall, adding another layer of historical significance.

In 2024, entry to the museum was free. The main exhibit is a tour of Nazi terror told through large storyboards in German and English.

The terror story begins in 1933.

There was considerable excitement at the Nazi rallies.

Children learn how to behave in the new culture.

Those who don't toe the line are publicly humiliated.

Racial policies and the death camps reveal the worst of humanity.

Taking a break...

Jews as the enemy

"Asocial people"

"Homosexuals"

Outside the building is a trench where prisoners were once held in cells.

There's also part of the old Berlin wall that divided the city during the Cold War period.

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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Museum website LINK

Related posts

Holocaust memorial, Berlin

Google Map for the Museum

Krakow Ghetto, Poland

The Krakow Ghetto was one of several established by the Nazis.

The area was walled off from the rest of Krakow. The plaza where the chairs are located is where Jews were selected for transportation to concentration camps like Auschwitz.

There are 68 chairs in the area, which  represent 68,000 Jews sent off from the Krakow Ghetto to Nazi death camps. 

The Krakow Ghetto was divided into two sections based on fitness to work for the Reich.

The grey building was for the police.

A pharmacy present during the ghetto years still exists. It has been restored as you can see from the photo below.

A Pole, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, received a special permission from German authorities to still sell pharmaceuticals to Jews and to keep his pharmacy open during the Nazi occupation. 

 

Steven Spielberg and Roman Polanski made significant contributions to the restoration.

I found the presentation of the chairs deeply meaningful as a way of remembering someone who once sat amongst us.

Chairs are for the living and offer a dignified presence. Chairs represent hospitality. And the offer of a seat to another in a crowded space is often a great kindness.

As a psychologist, I thought of the effective empty chair technique, which sometimes helps patients express themselves to a person and even roleplay a response. I recall the value of the strategy with victims of violence.

On a personal note, I recall visiting a relative following the death of their father. His favourite chair was was empty. No one dared sit there.

LINK TO -->> THE NAZI TRAIL OF TERROR

Note

All photos were taken by Geoffrey W. Sutton in October 2024. They are free to use in education and noncommercial activities. Just cite this post.

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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

Holocaust Memorial Berlin

 

"The ugliest thing I've ever seen," said a woman as she surveyed the holocaust memorial in Berlin.

I agree. And I see the power of art to evoke wordless emotional responses apropos to the reign of evil.

 Read more about this unusual artistic expression below.

Photo by Geoffrey W. Sutton, suttong.com

Link to my YouTube video "When Stones Cry Out"

https://youtube.com/shorts/Rwlo14aun0I?si=4-JyWZ0uSI4XJlGm

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The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, commonly known as the Holocaust Memorial, is a poignant tribute to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Located in Berlin, it was designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. The memorial spans a 1.9-hectare site and features 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae" arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field¹².

The idea for the memorial originated in the late 1980s, driven by a citizens' initiative led by journalist Lea Rosh and historian Eberhard Jäckel³. After years of debate and planning, the German parliament decided in 1999 to establish the memorial. Construction began on April 1, 2003, and was completed on December 15, 2004. The memorial was officially inaugurated on May 10, 2005, marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe¹⁴.

The stelae vary in height, creating an undulating wave-like form that invites personal reflection and interpretation. Beneath the field of stelae lies the "Place of Information," an underground information center that holds the names of approximately 3 million Jewish Holocaust victims, sourced from the Israeli museum Yad Vashem¹².

The memorial's location is also significant, situated near the Brandenburg Gate and the site of the former Berlin Wall's "death strip." This area once housed key Nazi government buildings, including Joseph Goebbels' urban villa³⁴.

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 10/12/2024

(1) . https://bing.com/search?q=history+of+the+Holocaust+memorial+in+Berlin.

(2) Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. http://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/.

(3) Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe.

(4) The Holocaust Memorial – Berlin - History and Facts | History Hit. https://www.historyhit.com/locations/the-holocaust-memorial-berlin/.

(5) Museumsportal Berlin - Museum – The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. https://www.museumsportal-berlin.de/en/museums/denkmal-fur-die-ermordeten-juden-europas-ort-der-information/.

(6) Holocaust remembrance – DW – 05/10/2010 - dw.com. https://www.dw.com/en/five-years-on-berlin-holocaust-memorial-is-a-landmark-of-remembrance/a-5559425.

(7) Getty Images. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/memorial-to-murdered-jews-of-europe-designed-by-royalty-free-image/998734990.

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The artistic presentation is not without controversy. See the link for a summary of some perspectives.

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-berlin-holocaust-memorial-by-peter-eisenman-177928

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Perhaps a more potent controversy was the association of the company that made the coating on the stones and the product used to murder Jews. See this quote and the link.

"Work resumes on Berlin Holocaust Memorial after halt in construction when it emerged that company profited from the production of Zyklon B gas during the war." 

Link to quote source 

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2003/12/01/work-resumes-on-berlin-holocaust-memorial-after-halt-in-construction-when-it-emerged-that-company-profited-from-the-production-of-zyklon-b-gas-during-the-war

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

Truman Library and Museum Independence Missouri

The Truman presidency was marked by several major world changing events. A visit to the Truman Presidential Library in Independence Missouri offers an opportunity to view the rise of this uncommon "common" man from a small town to leader of the most powerful nation of the mid-twentieth century.

Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) was born 8 May, 1884 in Missouri. He was vice president under Franklin Delano Roosevelt and became the 33rd US president when Roosevelt died after less than three months into his last term.

After growing up on the family farm in Independence Missouri, he worked at several jobs before serving in WWI at age 33. He returned to marry Elizabeth Wallace in 1919. They had one daughter, Margaret.

After entering local politics, he became a U S Senator, the vice president and president. He ran for office and famously defeated the expected winner, Republican John Dewey.

The Library and Museum contains a number of papers and artifacts providing the backdrop to his career and the major events that marked his presidency. He will perhaps be best known for his much examined decision to drop the first and second atomic bombs, linked to the ending of the war against Japan in 1945.

President Truman's Famous Desk Sign
The Buck Stops Here

Some thoughts and notes on visiting

The introductory film is somewhat interesting and set in a large comfortable theater; however, it was very blurry, which may be due to the need to focus so check before sitting down.

The museum includes many storyboards, which include newspaper headlines and some artifacts. Scheduling your visit could depend on how much time you wish to spend reading. If you have read a biography and know the major events of US and world history during the Roosevelt and Truman years then, there will not be a lot of additional information in the major narrative.

The lighting in some parts is too low to read some displays.

Parking was not a problem when we visited in June, 2017.

The facility and the restrooms were clean.

There is an entry fee, which is good for two days. For us, a half-day was enough.

See the website for more details. https://www.trumanlibrary.org/