The Boxcar Horrors: The Tragedies Of The Holocaust

The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, is a tragic event that took place during World War Ⅱ. Adolf Hitler served as a key figure in the ethnic cleansing of the Jewish people in Germany. Approximately six million Jews died and only three million survived. May 8, 1945, the Holocaust finally came to an end. The Boxcar Horrors were one of the many tragedies of the Holocaust. The horror of the boxcar exudes from its use and conditions during this period in history.

During the Holocaust Nazi officers used boxcars to transport European Jews from one camp to another. Manufactured in Germany, the boxcars were made of wood and steel. Referred to as cattle cars, boxcars weren’t made to use humans as cargo but cattle and horse . The Nazi’s used these cattle/box cars as a humiliation tactic towards the Jewish community. They wanted the Jews to feel like they were worthless and deserving of the treatment they were receiving. With the boxcars the Nazi’s would transport the Jews to many concentration camps

As stated above, hundreds of Jews were crammed into small boxcars made it impossible to sit down. Consequently, the Jews stood with their arms raised above their heads to make room. On average transportation to the camps would take four or more days. The longest transportation to a camp lasted eighteen days. None of the passengers survived. SS officers didn’t give the Jews food or water. If they were lucky they received little crumbs of bread and drops of water. The boxcars didn’t have any facilities for restrooms so the Jews relieved themselves in a bucket. The buckets of waste were not emptied and therefore caused a strong stench. To make matters worse there were no windows on the boxcars, only 4 small slats. Jews who traveled in the sealed boxcars endured smothering heat in the summer and bitterly cold temperatures in the winter. Due to these cruel conditions many of the passengers died there before they even made it to the