The Holocaust: The Ladder Of Prejudice

Holocaust Research Paper

In the beginning, the Ladder of Prejudice started with the use of avoidance. Adolf Hitler had a way to talk and make the Germans believe the Jews were causing all the problems in their country. Hitler blamed the Jews for the loss of World War One and the economic crisis happening in their country. A few short months after Hitler rose to power, he enforced the first boycott against Jewish businesses on April 1, 1933. The morning of April 1, uniformed and armed Natzis stood outside of Jewish owned shops. The businesses were were marked with the yellow Star of David, and Jewish shops signs were posted in-front of the all door steps. Many of the signs read “The Jews are our Misfortune” and “Don't buy from the Jews.” Despite

the fact the boycott was supposed to be peaceful, many business and shops were damaged. Many windows were shattered and businesses owners were attacked. Even though the boycott lasted only one day, it marked the beginning of years of persecution to follow. In following years, Hitler would use anti-Jewish boycotts as one of the basic weapons to vitimize the Jewish population (“Boycott”).
Due to the boycotting of Jewish business, many Jews migrated to surrounding areas. Boycotting was not the only factor for why the Jews started to migrate. Many migrated for the segregation in the country and for the increasing violence towards them. Many Jews moved to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland to escape Hitler's control. The German guidelines officially supported Jewish emigration, until October of 1941. To stop the Jews from fleeing the country, the Natzis established a heavily increased tax on emigration. They also restricted the amount of money that could be transferred out of German banks. Due to the harsh restrictions for leaving the country, there was a decline in emigration over the next two years. Jewish emigration increased rapidly after the events of 1938. In the article it is stated:
The German annexation of Austria in March, the increase in personal assaults on Jews during the spring and summer, the nationwide Kristallnacht ("Night of Broken Glass") pogrom in November, and the subsequent seizure of Jewish-owned property caused a flood of visa applications. (“German-Jewish Refugees”)
The hardest part for the Jews was finding a place to flee too, due to the major refugee crisis in surrounding countries. Before the ban of emigration in October of 1941, approximately 400,000 Jews had fled from Germany and Austria. There were about 163,000 Jews still left in Germany. During the next few years, the majority of these Jews were killed in Natzis death camps and in gettos (“German-Jewish Refugees”).
Next, physical attack was the second event listed in the Ladder of Prejudice.

During the Holocaust prisoners received tattoos at Auschwitz, a concentration camp complex made up of three camps, Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II, and Auschwitz III (“Tattoos and Numbers”). According to Adams, Auschwitz I, housed homosexuals, political opponents, and prisoners of war. Auschwitz II was the biggest of all three camps. Which contained undressing rooms, gas chambers, and ovens working day and night to burn bodies. Auschwitz III was a labor camp, next door to I.G. Farben petrochemical plant. Slave labor ran this camp to produce supplies for the German war effort (22-23). Jewish people arrived day and night, by train to Auschwitz (Sheehan 24). Auschwitz was the only camp that tattooed their prisoners. At first, newly entering prisoners were only assigned a serial number, which was sewn into their clothes (“Tattoos and Numbers”). Once the prisoners arrived, they were separated into two groups, the group on the right and the group on the left. The group on the right was healthy enough to work in labor camps, while the group on the left was sent to the gas chambers. Everything about the Auschwitz camp was made to seem calm and relaxing. The gas chambers were meant to look like showers. The prisoners were even driven to the gas chambers in cars that looked like ambulances. Prisoners who were sent straight for gas chambers were not registered, nor received a serial number. Prisoners selected

for work were assigned a serial number, had their heads shaved, and a uniform to work in (Sheehan 25).
At first, SS officers used serial numbers to identify people, but after they died there was no way to identify the bodies.

Since death rates were increasing, they started to tattoo the Jews once they arrived. To tattoo the prisoners the SS officers first used a metal stamp with interchangeable numbers to puncture the skin. The ink was then rubbed into the wound. Most of the tattoos were received on the left forearm of the vitium. Once the stamp was found useless, they started using a single needle. The needle was used to pierce the serial digits onto their skin. Auschwitz tattoed more than 400,000 serial numbers onto prisoners arms during the

Holocaust.
In Auschwitz, the prisoners had a daily work routine of begging role call at 4:30 a.m. and after roll call the prisoners reported to their duties for the day. Some of their duties would include working in the kitchen or hospital, or in the sheds where they stored the clothes and belongings of victims (Sheehan 26). Only a few women were allowed administrative jobs. Other women had to build roads, new buildings, or were sent to work in coal mines. Many of the women died due to the harsh working conditions. At the end of the day, prisoners were sent back to camp, given only soup and bread to ease their hunger. Inmates were crammed together on wooden bunks, and given only a few hours of sleep each night. The diet for workers in Auschwitz was slim to none, leading up to a weight lost of 7 pounds a week for an individual. After about 3 months, people were too weak for work and were sent for the gas chambers (Sheean 27).