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Joe\\\'s Holocaust Final and Bibliography
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This paper describes three important events that helped free the Jews from the Holocaust. One event that I chose was, “Soviet troops liberate Majandek concentration camp; assassination attempt on Hitler in July, 1941.” Another was when “American troops liberate Buchenwald in July, 1937.” The last event was when, “The day the Soviet troops took Berlin on May 2, 1945.” These events were very important in the war and in the Holocaust timeline because they involved freeing Jews. Also, no more Jews would be sent to concentration camps, and all the camps would be liberated.

SOVIET TROOPS LIBERATE MAJDANEK CONCENTRATION CAMP; ASSASINATION ATTEMPT ON HITLER

When the Soviet Troops liberated Majdanek concentration camp, and when there was an assassination attempt on Hitler happened during the Holocaust in July 1941. SS chief Heinrich Himmler ordered the SS and Police Leader in Lublin, and SS Major General Odilo Globocnik, to construct a concentration camp in Lublin. On March 24, 1942, the SS Main Office in Oranienburg, Germany, informed Majdanek commandant Karl Otto Koch that Jews from Slovakia would arrive there in three days. Between March 29 and June 15, 1942, the SS diverts around 7,000 Slovak Jews bound for Auschwitz and Belzec to Majdanek.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_20_Plot


In 1944, there was a failed attempt to assassinate German dictator Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Germans. And to take power by means of a plan called Operation Walküre, which was supposed to subdue possible unrest. Wehrmacht Heer officer Claus von Stauffenberg, who was in charge of the German Reserve Army’s Walküre, played the key role. It was a role that gave him access to Hitler for reports. This assassination attempt was one of many. Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg arrives in Budapest, Hungary, and saves nearly 33,000 Jews by issuing diplomatic papers and establishing \"safe houses.\"
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007298


On 1 July, 1944 Stauffenberg was appointed chief-of-staff to General Fromm at the Reserve Army headquarters on Bendlerstrasse in central Berlin. This position enabled Stauffenberg to attend Hitler’s military conferences, either in East Prussia or at Berchtesgaden, and would thus give him a golden opportunity, perhaps the last that would present itself, to kill Hitler with a bomb or a pistol. Conspirators who had long resisted the idea of killing Hitler on moral grounds now changed their minds—partly because they were hearing reports of the mass murder at Auschwitz, of up to 250,000 Hungarian Jews, the culmination of the Nazi Holocaust. Meanwhile new key allies had been gained. These included General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, the German military commander in France, who would take control in Paris when Hitler was killed and, it was hoped, negotiate an immediate armistice with the invading Allied armies.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/maidanek.html


Soviet troops liberate the first concentration camp at Majdanek, where more than 360,000 people have been murdered. Auschwitz-Birkenau records its highest-ever daily number of people gassed and burned, at just over 9,000. Six huge pits are used to burn bodies, as the number exceeds the capacity of the crematories. All of these events happened in July of 1944. By the summer of 1944 the Gestapo was closing in on the conspirators. There was a sense that time was running out, both on the battlefield, where the Eastern front was in full retreat and where the Allies had landed in France on 6 June, and in Germany, where the resistance’s room for maneuver was rapidly contracting. The belief that this was the last chance for action seized the conspirators. By this time the core of the conspirators had begun to think of themselves as doomed men, whose actions were more symbolic than real. The purpose of the conspiracy came to be seen by some of them as saving the honor of themselves, their families, the Army and Germany through a grand, if futile gesture, rather than actually altering the course of history.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/julyplot.html


The Majdanek concentration camp is situated in a major urban area, four kilometers from the city center of Lublin, and can be easily reached by trolley car. The location of the Majdanek camp is in an area of rolling terrain and can be seen from all sides; it could not be more public or accessible. It is located in an entirely open area with no trees around it to hide the activities inside the camp, as at Dachau. There was no security zone established around the Majdanek camp, as at Birkenau, and there is no natural protection, such as a river or a forest, as at Treblinka. Besides the fact of having any access to the camp, the assassination attempt on Hitler was a failure, and the assassin was to be killed. http://www.yellowstarfoundation.org/timeline/timeline.htm#1944


AMERICAN TROOPS LIBERATE BUCHENWALD

Buchenwald concentration camp was a Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg, near Weimar, Thuringia, Germany, in July 1937, and one of the largest such camps on German soil. Camp prisoners worked primarily as forced labour in local armament factories. Inmates were Jews, political prisoners, homosexuals, Romani people, Jehovah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Witnesses, Sinti, religious prisoners, criminals, and prisoners of war. They came from countries as varied as Russia, Poland, France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Spanish Republic, Latvia and Italy. Most of the political prisoners from the occupied countries were people of the resistance. From 1945 to 1950, Soviet authorities used the camp only.
http://www.newseum.org/holocaust/html/publicaccepts.html


A primary cause of the deaths was illness due to harsh camp conditions, and hunger was also prevalent. Malnourished and suffering from disease, many were literally \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"worked to death\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", as inmates had only the choice between slave labour and inevitable execution. Many inmates died as a result of human experimentations or fell victim to arbitrary acts perpetrated by the SS guards, and yet other prisoners were simply murdered—the two primary methods of execution were shooting and hanging. At one point, the ashes of dead prisoners would be returned to their families in a sheet metal box—postage due, to be paid by the family. This practice was eventually stopped as more and more prisoners died.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/buchenwald.html


The SS left behind accounts of the number of prisoners and people coming to and leaving the camp, categorizing those leaving them by release, transfer, or death. These accounts are one of the sources of estimates for the number of deaths in Buchenwald. According to SS documents, 33,462 died in Buchenwald. These documents were not, however, necessarily accurate: Among those executed before 1944 many were listed as “transferred to the Gestapo.” Furthermore, from 1941 forward Soviet POWs were executed in mass killings. Arriving prisoners selected for execution were not entered into the camp register and therefore were not among the 33,462 dead listed in SS documents.
http://www.worldwariihistory.info/1945.html


The camp was also a site of large-scale trials for vaccines against epidemic typhus in 1942 and 1943. In all 729 inmates were used as test subjects, with 280 of them dying as a result. Because of their long association in cramped quarters in Block 46, the typhus killed more people and infections lasted longer than would have been the case had healthy adults been infected with the disease.
http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_holocaust1.html


Up to 1942 the majority of the political prisoners consisted of communists. Later the proportion of other political prisoners increased considerably. Among the prisoners were also writers, doctors, artists, former nobility, and an Italian Princess. As late as April 6, 28,000 inmates were evacuated as part of Germany\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s liquidation of the camp programs. 19,000 remained. Half of them were Jews. This was a camp where prisoners, Jews and Gypsies alike, were tied up and dogs would attack them mercilessly. In the last few days it was estimated that 13,500 inmates died from exhaustion or were killed. http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Buchenwald/Liberation4.html


SOVIET TROOPS TAKE BERLIN

On May 2nd, 1945, a very large soviet troop army marched into Berlin. The final chapter in the destruction of Hitler\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Third Reich began on April 16, 1945 when Stalin unleashed the brutal power of 20 armies, 6,300 tanks, and 8,500 aircraft with the objective of crushing German resistance and capturing Berlin. The Battle of Berlin was one of the final battles of the European Theatre of World War II.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/berlin.html


German engineers turned the Oder\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s flood plain, already saturated by the spring thaw, into a swamp by releasing the waters in a reservoir upstream. Behind this the engineers built three belts of defensive emplacements. These emplacements reached back towards the outskirts of Berlin (the lines nearer to Berlin were called the Wotan position). These lines consisted of anti-tank ditches, anti-tank gun emplacements, and an extensive network of trenches and bunkers.
http://www.tech/edu.org


The Germans first came as brutal conquerors. Then they posed as liberators, only to betray the cause by overstaying their welcome and helping prop up an infamous wall. Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin sought to remind Germans, as well as the rest of the world, of just what a big favor the then-Soviet army did for everyone in World War II. At a loss of 20 million citizens and soldiers, the highest casualties suffered by any nation. The Soviets barely held off a Nazi onslaught before slogging and pounding all the way to the center of Berlin, where a surrounded Adolf Hitler took his own life rather than submit to his hated enemies from the east.
http://www.tech/edu.org


The Battle of Berlin was one of the final battles of the European Theatre of World War II. In what was known to the Soviets as the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Berlin Offensive Operation\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", two massive Soviet army groups attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran German forces positioned north of Berlin. The battle of Berlin lasted from late April 1945, until early May and was one of the bloodiest battles in history. The city\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s defenders surrendered on May 2. The Battle of Berlin was also one of the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"bloodiest\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" battles of World War II. It was also one of the last battles in the destruction of Hitler\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Third Reich. And Berlin was one of the biggest cities that the Soviets have ever taken. This battle was a great conquer for the Soviet Union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin


Berlin was then considered as the “Nazi/German headquarters” at the time. The city of Berlin was a great conquer for the soviet troops. Stalin wanted to take control of one of the most powerful cities in Europe. It would be very difficult to pull it off, but he did it. On April 16, 1945, Stalin ordered his 20 armies, 6,300 tanks, and 8,500 aircraft support. It took about 4 years until Berlin belonged to the Soviet Union.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/berlin.html


By this time, it was clear that the final defeat of the Third Reich was only a few weeks away. The Wehrmacht had, at most, eight percent of the fuel it needed to operate effectively, and both the production and the quality of fighter aircraft and tanks deteriorated from their heights in 1944. However, it was also known that the fighting would be as fierce as at any other time in the war. The Germans fought bitterly, because of national pride, the Allied insistence on unconditional surrender, and to buy time for the German people to flee from the Red Army.
http://en.wikipedia.org


The Western Allies had tentative plans to drop paratroopers to occupy Berlin in case of a sudden German collapse. No offensive was planned to seize the city. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower saw no need to suffer casualties in attacking a city that would be in the Soviet sphere of influence after the war. The major Western Allied contribution to the battle was the strategic bombing of Berlin during 1945. During 1945 USAAF launched a number of very large daytime raids on Berlin and for 36 nights in succession scores of RAF Mosquitos bombed the German capital, ending on the night of 20/21 April 1945 just before the Soviets entered the city.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.html


On March 20, General Gotthard Heinrici was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula replacing Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. Heinrici was one of the best defensive tacticians in the German army. He immediately started to lay defensive plans. Heinrici correctly assessed that the main Soviet thrust would be made over the Oder River and along the main east-west Autobahn. He decided not to try to defend the banks of the Oder with anything more than a light skirmishing screen. Instead, Heinrici arranged for engineers to fortify the Seelow Heights, which overlooked the Oder River at the point where the Autobahn crossed it. This was some 17 kilometers west of the Oder and 90 kilometers east of Berlin.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main


These three important events helped free the Jews. One of these events was, “Soviet troops liberate Majandek concentration camp; assassination attempt on Hitler.” Another was when “American troops liberate Buchenwald.” The last event was when, “The Soviet troops took Berlin.” These three events were important in the war and in the Holocaust timeline because they involved freeing Jews from their concentration camps. And with Hitler dead, no more Jews would be sent to concentration camps, and all the concentration camps were liberated.

**BIBLIOGRAPHY**
SOVIET TROOPS TAKE BERLIN
May 2, 1945

1\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The Battle of Berlin, 1945,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2002). Accessed Febuary 1st, 2008. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/berlin.htm
The final chapter in the destruction of Hitler\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Third Reich began on April 16, 1945 when Stalin unleashed the brutal power of 20 armies, 6,300 tanks and 8,500 aircraft with the objective of crushing German resistance and capturing Berlin.




2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin. Accessed Feb. 6 2008. The Battle of Berlin was one of the final battles[12] of the European Theatre of World War II.

3http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/01/24/wbeev24.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/01/24/ixworld.html. Accessed Feb. 6 2008. Berlin was one of the biggest cities that the Germans have ever taken.

4http://www-tech.mit.edu/V114/N37/russian.37w.html. Accessed Feb. 6 2008. They came as brutal conquerors. Then they posed as liberators, only to betray the cause by overstaying their welcome and helping prop up an infamous wall.

5http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0CE5DD103BEE3ABC4C53DFB3668383609EDE. Accessed Feb. 6 2008. GERMANS DEFEAT FINNS, TAKE 20,000; Berlin Reports Decisive Victory After Five Days\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Battle Near Lakhti and Tavasthus.

SOVIET TROOPS LIBERATE MAJDANEK CONCENTRATION CAMP; ASSASINATION ATTEMPT ON HITLER
July 20, 1944

1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_20_Plot. Accessed Feb. 19, 2008. The July 20 plot of 1944 was a failed attempt to assassinate German dictator Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, and to take power by means of a plan called Operation Walküre, which was supposed to subdue possible unrest.

2http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007298. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. On a visit to Lublin in July 1941, SS chief Heinrich Himmler orders the SS and Police Leader in Lublin, SS Major General Odilo Globocnik to construct a concentration camp in Lublin.

3http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/julyplot.html. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. At the end of 1943 the Schutz Staffeinel (SS) and the Gestapo managed to arrest several Germans involved in plotting to overthrow Adolf Hitler. Major Claus von Stauffenberg now emerged as the leader of the group opposed to Nazi rule. In 1942, he decided to kill Adolf Hitler.

4http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/maidanek.html. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. The Majdanek concentration camp is situated in a major urban area, four kilometers from the city center of Lublin, and can be easily reached by trolley car. The location of the Majdanek camp is in an area of rolling terrain and can be seen from all sides; it could not be more public or accessible.

5http://www.yellowstarfoundation.org/timeline/timeline.htm#1944. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. Soviet troops liberate the first concentration camp at Majdanek, where more than 360,000 people have been murder.

AMERICAN TROOPS LIBERATE BUCHENWALD
April 11, 1945

1http://www.newseum.org/holocaust/html/publicaccepts.htm. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. April 1945: American troops liberate concentration camps, including those at Buchenwald and Dachau.

2http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/buchenwald.html. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. With a solemn and highly emotional gathering at the site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany today began a month of ceremonies to remember the victims of the Nazi horror.

3http://www.worldwariihistory.info/1945.html. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. U.S. troops reach the Buchenwald concentration camp and discover that the prisoners had liberated themselves from a forced evacuation.

4http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_holocaust1.html. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. American troops liberate Buchenwald, Dachau and Mauthausen.

5http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Buchenwald/Liberation4.html. Accessed Feb. 25, 2008. The first soldiers who arrived at the Buchenwald camp on April 11, 1945 were with the 6th Armored Division of the US Third Army, but the camp had already been taken over by the prisoners a few hours earlier and it was not necessary to break down the fence surrounding the camp.