Researchers Uncover Horrific Extent of Holocaust

A  Jewish policeman and a German soldier direct pedestrian traffic crossing the main street between the two parts of the Lódz ghetto, in central Poland.

For thirteen years, a group of researchers and scholars have been cataloging all the ghettos, forced-labor sites, concentration camps, death camps, and various other facilities that were set up by Adolf Hitler’s regime before and during World War II. Based on their findings, the extent of the Nazis’ racist program of brutality and terror that culminated in the Holocaust is being revealed to have been far broader than previously known. The number of camps and sites related to the segregation, exploitation, and murder of Jews and other groups throughout German-controlled areas from France to Russia, and including Germany itself, is upwards of 42,000. The director of the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC, said: “We knew before how horrible life in the camps and ghettos was, but the numbers are unbelievable.”

The names Auschwitz, Dachau, and Buchenwald, among other infamous places where “killing factories” were built, still stand out as the prominent sites of the Holocaust. And Warsaw, Poland, remains the city that had the largest Jewish ghetto. But more is now known about the 30,000 forced-labor sites and the 1,150 other Jewish ghettos, the 980 concentration camps and 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps. Besides these, the Nazi system of enslavement included facilities where women were forced to undergo abortions and where they were sexually exploited by German military personnel. Although Jews were the main targets, others included homosexuals, Roma (Gypsies), Poles, Russians, and many other east European ethnic groups.

The research is beginning to be published, as a multivolume collection, by Indiana University Press in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). The staggering numbers prove, in the words of one of the lead researchers, that Germans at the time “could not go anywhere in Germany without running into forced labor camps, P.O.W. camps, concentration camps. They were everywhere.”

Image credit: © Universal History Archive/Getty Images

Related Links

  • The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking
    This article summarizes the new findings about the Holocaust; includes maps of ghettos and concentration camps for Jews throughout Germany and Nazi-occupied central and eastern Europe.
    (Source: New York Times, March 31, 2013)
  • The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945
    Check out this article in the encyclopedia maintained by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; the website includes a wealth of educational resources.
    (Source: USHMM; accessed March 31, 2013)
  • Timeline: The Ghettos, 1939–1941
    This web page, from A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF, shows events related to the establishment of Jewish ghettos in areas of German occupation.
    (Source: University of South Florida; accessed March 31, 2013)
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Days of Remembrance
    This web page includes the video “Why We Remember the Holocaust” and provides an introduction to the week-long “Days of Remembrance” that include Holocaust Remembrance Day, designated as April 7.
    (Source: USHMM; accessed March 31, 2013)

13 Comments

  1. Sylvie says:

    This didn’t give enough info. I did like it, though. Keep uncovering secrets of this time period.

  2. Billy Bob Joe Jr. says:

    Too short..

  3. Anonymous says:

    i don’t like this!

  4. Nunya says:

    wooah…

    • Angelica says:

      Thank you for your comment. I apcitpraee the fact that you took the time to read my material, and I’m glad you found it enjoyable. I’m currently in the process of moving & transferring to a new school, so my writing output is going to be low. But when I get settled into my new place, I’ll pick up the pace. Thanks again for your comment.

  5. Agata says:

    Women who were visibly pnngeart upon arriving at camps would have been sent straight to the gas chambers. Women who weren’t visibly pnngeart probably would have been sent straight to the gas chambers as soon as they started showing. If they were able to hide their pregnancy, they probably wouldn’t be able to hide the baby and soon enough the baby and the mother would be sent to the gas chambers or hung or shot. And it was nearly impossible for women to get pnngeart while in the camps. The men and the women were kept apart.

    • anonymous says:

      I feel bad for the babies and every one that died in those god awful camps

  6. anonymous says:

    Adolph Hitler never deserved to live

    • Anonymous says:

      Do you know that Adolf Hitler originally wanted to be a painter? But he wasn’t allowed into the academy. Apparently he wasn’t creative and original enough. Sure he did some horrific things in his life, and mad some terrible mistakes, but everyone deserves a chance at life.

  7. Tahj-Mae says:

    wow!, this is really nice :] helps me alot in my WH class. :]

  8. Choquan says:

    hitler sucks and this story isnt that bad nut still boring

  9. Jacobie says:

    Hitler is rude and didn’t deserve to live!!!!!!!!!!! Thats my opinion, agree or disagree?

  10. Anonymous says:

    wow. Glad hes dead