Argumentative Essay On Death Camp

Autumn Heydenreich

3rd hour

24 October 2014

Death Camps There are various times in history that nations of people are divided by war and conflict, but at the same time many people are brought together by their suffering. The Holocaust is a particular event in the world’s history that broke the trust between those persecuted and their persecutors and that trust will never fully return. So many lives were lost because a man gained power and was able to instill fear into everyone, whether they were with him or against him. Adolf Hitler could not have been satisfied by merely separating those he perceived as lowly from those he believed to be perfect, he had to have them killed before he was content. He assigned Heinrich Himmler to be Germany’s

This camp was created with the purpose of eliminating the Jews of Wartheland, as well as those living in the Lodz Ghetto. Chelmno operated between December of 1941 to March of 1943 and reopened in the spring of 1944 with the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto. By January 16, 1942, Jews were being deported from the Lodz ghetto by train to Kolo. From there they would be taken by freight train to a point 3 miles away from Chelmno, then a truck would transport them to Chelmno. Once the Jews arrived, 50 to 60 men were chosen and separated from the rest and placed in groups called Sonderkommando. Their purpose was to take care of the bodies of the killed Jews; placing corpses in graves, burning bodies, sorting clothes, and washing out the trucks. The other Jews would be forced to strip and remove their valuables, then they were herded into large trucks with 50-70 others. The driver would then clog the exhaust pipe and start the engine so the truck would fill with toxic, carbon monoxide fumes; Chelmno was the first of the stationary facilities to use poison gas for mass murder. After the people were killed in the truck their bodies were dumped in mass graves in the forested areas, any survivors were shot. By the summer of 1942, “ovens” were frequently used to destroy the decomposing bodies of Jews already killed (“Chelmno”). The administrators of them camp prided themselves on their record keeping, but in truth the records were hurriedly written on temporary surfaces. It is estimated that over 150,000 Jews and 5,000 gypsies were sent to Chelmno, and killed (Holocaust Chronicle