1. The Nazification of Germany and The Holocaust

2. “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them that they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” Hermann Goering Hitler’s second in command

3. Hermann Goering
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

4. 1922 photo of Nazi Party members.

5. In the late 1920s, Adolf Hitler reviews stormtroopers at a Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany.

6. Hitler and Von Hindenburg
Paul Von Hindenburg called Hitler to the chancellorship of Germany on January 20, 1933 in Potsdam, Germany. Within one month, the Reichstag (Germany's Parliament) building burned and Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to sign an emergency decree. This authorized Hitler to suspend all civil rights and arrest and execute any suspicious person.

7. Reichminister Joseph Goebbels delivers a speech to a crowd in Berlin urging Germans to boycott Jewish-owned businesses. He defends the boycott as a legitimate response to the anti-German "atrocity propaganda" being spread abroad by "international Jewry." April 1, 1933.

8. A woman reads a boycott sign posted in the window of a Jewish-owned department store. The sign reads, "Germans defend yourselves against Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy only at German shops!" The boycott was staged April 1, 1933.

9. Nazi students and SA unloading "un-German" books as fuel for a book burning on May 10, 1933 in Berlin, Germany. The SA (Sturmabteilung or "Stormtroopers") was the Nazi paramilitary organization under Ernst Röhm. The banner on the back of the truck states, "German students march against the un-German spirit."

10. A group of Nazis hold hands on the steps of the University of Vienna in an attempt to prevent Jews from entering the building. The action led to a day of student rioting which had to be suppressed by the police.

11. Hitler Youth march through Nuremberg, Germany past Nazi officials, including Julius Streicher, 1933.
Streicher was the editor of the anti-Semitic newspaper, Der Stürmer.

12. Germans pass by the broken shop window of a Jewish-owned business that was destroyed during Kristallnacht in Berlin, Germany. The "night of broken glass" was a planned series of acts of violence against Jews throughout Germany. November 10, 1938.

13. A synagogue burns in Siegen, Germany, during Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. November 10, 1938.

14. German children watch as a synagogue in Kuppenheim, Baden Germany, burns during Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. November 10, 1938.

15. The way is opened for the invasion of Poland
Soviet Foreign Commissar, Vyacheslav Molotov, signs the German-Soviet nonaggression pact. Joachim von Ribbentrop and Josef Stalin stand behind him. Moscow, August 23, 1939.

16. Germany's invasion of Poland marked the beginning of World War II
Germany's invasion of Poland marked the beginning of World War II. Here a Nazi unit is en route to Poland at the end of September Handwritten on the side of the train car is, "We are going to Poland to thrash the Jews."

17. German troops parade through Warsaw, Poland, September 1939.

18. Wehrmacht (German Army) soldiers amuse themselves by harassing a Jewish man.

19. Many of the photographs documenting the Holocaust, which are available today, were taken by the Nazi government as part of their passion for detailed record keeping. This photograph was taken in late 1939 in southwestern Poland.

20. As Germany pushed its borders eastward into Poland, Jews in western Poland who lived in areas overtaken by the Third Reich were forced to move east. This mass deportation occurred in the winter of The Third Reich refers to the German government from the end of the Weimar Republic until the fall of Nazi Germany.

21. On November 14, 1939, the President of Lódz decreed that all Jews must wear arm bands or badges with a Jewish star.

22. In Cracow, Poland, as decreed on March 1, 1940, Jews could only ride in certain areas of the streetcar. The sign indicates which section was for Jews (FÜR JUDEN) and which was for non-Jews (FÜR NICHT JUDEN).

23. A sign states that Jews may not enter parks or the Market Square in Cracow, Poland. April 29, 1940.

24. The 1939 census became the basis for a national register of Jews
The 1939 census became the basis for a national register of Jews. That year, German census forms for the first time included explicitly racial categories. Jews were identified not only by religious affiliation, but by race as well. Within three years, the completed national register of Jews and some Jewish Mischlinge ("mixed breeds") was to become one of the sources for Nazi deportation lists. Most of those deported perished in the Holocaust.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Hollerith machines were the best data processing devices available. The Nazi regime employed thousands of people in 1933 to 1939 to record national census data onto Hollerith punch cards. The SS used the Hollerith machines during the war to monitor the large numbers of prisoners shipped in and out of concentration camps. The machines were manufactured by DEHOMAG-Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft or German Hollerith Machine Company, a subsidiary of IBM since 1922.

25. IDENTITY CARD NR. 13037 FOR THE JEW HIRSCHBERGER – ISIDOR
The identification card was valid for only 30 days. If another 30 day renewal was denied, the bearer was subjected to deportation or evacuation, the Nazi euphemism for extermination. The 30 day renewal threat, hung over the bearer of the ID, like the sword suspended by a hair over the head of Damocles.

26. Jews carried whatever personal belongings they could as they left in mass deportations from Plonsk, a town 50 miles northwest of Warsaw, Poland.

27. Jews stand in line with what few possessions they can carry during their relocation to the Warsaw ghetto in late They will be searched by the German police before entry into the ghetto.

28. On October 2, 1940, the Warsaw ghetto was formally established
On October 2, 1940, the Warsaw ghetto was formally established. Six weeks later, on November 15, the ghetto was sealed with walls, as shown in this 1941 photograph. "Ghettoization" restricted the rights of Jews, created deplorable living conditions, and clustered Jews into condensed areas facilitating their eventual deportation to extermination camps.

29. In 1940, this brick wall was built sealing the Warsaw ghetto off from the rest of the city. Approximately 138,000 Jews were herded into this ghetto while 113,000 Poles were evacuated from this section of the city.

30. The entrance to the Jewish Police Station in the 4th precinct of the Warsaw ghetto. The Jewish police and the Judenrat were established by the Nazis and were charged with enforcing the orders of the German authorities concerning the Jewish population.

31. Two Jewish police in Wegrów, a part of the Warsaw Province.

32. Warsaw ghetto, January Pedestrian bridge over Chlodna Street connecting the "big ghetto" to the north with the "little ghetto" south of Chlodna Street. The bridge was constructed to allow the tram to pass uninterrupted through the ghetto.

33. Ghetto ration card for October 1941
Ghetto ration card for October This card officially entitled the holder to 300 calories daily.

34. One form of Nazi plunder was the circulation of substitute bank notes for use exclusively in the ghetto. This ghetto "money" had no value outside of the ghetto.

35. Children scale a wall to smuggle food into the ghetto
Children scale a wall to smuggle food into the ghetto. Conditions were so extreme that they engaged in this activity despite the proclamation issued by Dr. Ludwig Fischer (Governor of the Warsaw District from October, 1939 to January, 1945), imposing the death penalty on any Jews who left the ghetto and also on those who helped them.

36. Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum ( ), one of the leaders of the Anti-Fascist Bloc in the Warsaw ghetto, organized the underground ghetto archives. His Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto gives detailed accounts of daily events and conditions. He was murdered by the Gestapo in March, 1944.

37. Three of the ten metal boxes and two milk cans in which Dr
Three of the ten metal boxes and two milk cans in which Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum hid documents and materials to preserve for future generations detailed information about life in the Warsaw ghetto. In September, 1946, the metal boxes were discovered under the ruins of a house. In December, 1950, the milk cans with the second part of the archives were recovered. These materials and documents are now in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

38. There were some people in the Gentile community who put themselves in danger to help hide Jews from the Nazis. Irena Sendler and her group, Zegota, helped rescue 2500 children from the Warsaw ghetto.

39. She wrote the names of the children and where they had been placed so families could be united after the war. She put the names in a jar and buried them under a tree. She was arrested by the Nazis and her feet and ankles were broken. She was never able to work again.
Irena Sendler as a young woman (Photo courtesy of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous)

40. Warsaw ghetto, 1941. Homeless children.

41. This is a shop producing wooden shoes
This is a shop producing wooden shoes. It was one of several German enterprises in the Warsaw ghetto equipped with machinery and raw materials stolen from the Jews. With the aid of practically unpaid Jewish slave labor, ghetto factories filled orders for the German war economy.

42. Warsaw Ghetto Inhabitants Hide in a Bunker
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 19-May 16, 1943) was the twenty-day battle initiated by the Jewish fighting forces in Warsaw when German troops entered the ghetto to begin the final round of deportations.

43. SS assault troops capture two Jewish resistance fighters pulled from a bunker during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The original German caption reads alternately: "Pulled from a bunker" or "Bandits."

44. The bodies of Jewish resisters lie in front of the ruins of a building where they were shot by the SS during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The original German caption reads: "Bandits killed in battle."

45. SS troops wait at the end of a smoke-filled street for Jewish resistance fighters to exit apartment buildings set on fire on the fourth day of the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

46. A German gun crew in action during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

47. A German gun crew shells a housing block during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The original German caption reads: "Fighting a pocket of resistance."

48. Jewish families surrender to the SS during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The original German caption reads: "Smoking out the Jews and bandits."

49. A man perched on the ledge outside of a 4th story window prepares to commit suicide by jumping rather than be captured by the SS on the fourth day of the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The original German caption reads: "Bandits jump to escape arrest."

50. Smoke rises over Warsaw from the burning ghetto
Smoke rises over Warsaw from the burning ghetto. The view is from the neighborhood of Kolo.

51. Children from an orphanage in Marysin, Poland wait in line to board a truck which will take them to the Chelmno concentration camp where they will be killed.

52. Dutch Jews, seized in their homes, are brought by truck to the Muiderpoort railroad station in the Polderweg district to be deported to Westerbork, 1943.

53. Jews at the Muiderpoort railroad station in the Polderweg district before their deportation to the Westerbork transit camp. Three children wait with toys and bed rolls while their father has their luggage checked.

54. Jews from Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands stand for roll call in the Buchenwald concentration camp soon after their arrival on February 28, 1941.

55. Prisoners from Buchenwald awaiting execution in the forest near the camp.

56. Bones of anti-Nazi German women are visible in the crematoria in the concentration camp at Weimar, Germany, April 14, 1945.

57. A crate full of rings confiscated from prisoners in Buchenwald and found by American troops in a cave adjoining Buchenwald.

58. A warehouse full of shoes and clothing confiscated from the prisoners and deportees gassed upon their arrival.

59. Bales of the hair of female prisoners found in the warehouses of Auschwitz at the liberation.

60. A large pile of prayer shawls (tallesim, tallitot), that were confiscated from arriving prisoners are stored in one of the warehouses in Auschwitz.

61. Chart of prisoner markings from Dachau concentration camp.

62. SS-women at the Belsen Camp.

63. A warehouse filled with containers of Zyklon B (poison gas pellets) at the Majdanek death camp.

64. A group of Jewish men awaiting death in a gas van at the Chelmno death camp.

65. In 1943, the Allies stopped Germany's eastward advance into the U.S.S.R. The Soviet Army began pressing westward, through Poland, toward Germany. Under pressure of the Soviet Army offensive, SS-men selected those inmates from concentration camps still fit for work. The rest were killed. In this photo, inmates to be transported to camps inside the Third Reich say good-bye to those who are left behind.

66. Allied troops entered Europe through Sicily and Salerno, Italy, in 1943 and through Marseilles and Normandy, France, in 1944 and marched toward Germany. American infantrymen here were traversing woods riddled with mine fields.

67. Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on January 27, 1945.

68. Alongside the concentration camp, 50 box cars sat with over 1500 prisoners who were shipped by train without food from Buchenwald to Dachau. American soldiers find one lone and thankful survivor in a train on the siding outside the Dachau concentration camp. All of the others had perished.

69. Young survivors behind a barbed wire fence in Buchenwald concentration camp, April 11, 1945.

70. Slave laborers in Buchenwald are liberated by the American Army in April, They survived in spite of miserable conditions: overcrowding, lack of food, hard labor, and psychological torture. Eli Weisel appears as the last full face on the second bunk from the bottom.

71. Emaciated Jewish survivors, who had been confined to the infirmary barracks at Ebensee, are gathered outside on the day after liberation. The survivor at center-left holding his metal name tag is Joachim Friedner, a twenty-one year-old Polish Jew from Krakow.

72. Survivors in a barracks in Mauthausen
Survivors in a barracks in Mauthausen. Note the tattoo on the chest of the man in the left foreground.

73. German civilians from nearby Weimar are forced by American soldiers to see the remains of prisoners in the crematorium ovens of Buchenwald during their tour of the concentration camp, April 16, 1945.

74. German civilians from the town of Nordhausen bury the corpses of prisoners found in the Nordhausen concentration camp in mass graves.

75. Some survivors work out the memories through art
Olère collects food, abandoned near the undressing rooms of crematorium III at Birkenau, so he can throw it over the fence to the prisoners at the women's camp.
David Olère: L'Oeil du Témoin/The Eyes of a Witness. New York: The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, 1989,

76. The Experimental Injection by David Olère
The Experimental Injection by David Olère. 1945, 92x72 cm, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, New York. The infamous Dr. Mengele administers an injection as terrified prisoners look on.