The extermination camps were the facilities established by Nazi Germany in World War II initially for the killing of the Jews of Europe as part of what was later deemed The Holocaust. Members of some other groups whom the Nazis wished to exterminate, such as Roma (Gypsies), Serbs exterminated as a main target of Croatian Ustaše, Soviet prisoners of war, Poles and others, were also killed in these camps. There are many famous Holocaust survivors who survived the Nazi genocides in Europe and went on to achievements of great fame and notability. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This is a list of people who helped victims to escape from the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, often called rescuers. The list is not exhaustive, concentrating on famous cases, or people who saved the lives of many potential victims. ... Holocaust resources for main article The Holocaust. ... Book cover The Destruction of the European Jews is a three-volume work published in 1961 by historian Raul Hilberg. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Functionalism versus intentionalism is a historiographical debate about the origins of the Holocaust as well as most aspects of the Third Reich, such as foreign policy. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... World map showing Europe Political map (neighboring countries in Asia and Africa also shown) Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... Selection procedure of Hungarian Jews at the Auschwitz camp on 26 May 1944, where the Nazis chose whom to kill immediately and whom to use as slave labor or for medical experimentation. ... The Roma people (pronounced rahma, singular Rom, sometimes Rroma, and Rrom) along with the closely related Sinti people are commonly known as Gypsies in English, and as Tsigany in most of Europe. ... Serbs (Serbian: Срби, Srbi) are a South Slavic people who live mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia. ... UstaÅ¡e volunteers for the Waffen SS (Domobran Regiment) marching during a parade in the Independent State of Croatia. ... Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem(s): The Internationale (1922-1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991) Capital Moscow Largest city Moscow Official language(s) None; Russian de facto Government Federation of Soviet Republics  - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev  - Last Premier Ivan Silayev... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...

The majority of prisoners at these camps were not expected to live more than 24 hours beyond arrival.

Terminology

The terms extermination camp (German: Vernichtungslager) or death camp (German: Todeslager) specifically refer to the camps whose primary function was genocide. Look up Genocide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

A death camp is a concentration camp which has been deliberately set up in order to kill those imprisoned there; such camps are not intended as punishment for criminal actions, rather, they are intended to facilitate genocide. The most famous death camps are the Nazi extermination camps, used during World War II. ^[1] The term is sometimes also used by political protestors to describe prison camps which they wish to deride.

Extermination camps are distinguished from concentration camps (such as Dachau and Belsen), which were mostly intended as places of incarceration and forced labour for a variety of "enemies of the state" of the Nazi regime (such as Communists and homosexuals). In the early years of the Nazi regime, many Jews were sent to these camps, but after 1942 all Jews were deported to the extermination camps. Prior to and during World War II Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps (Konzentrationslager or KZ) throughout the territory it controlled. ... Memorial at the camp, 1997. ... Bergen-Belsen, sometimes referred to as just Belsen, was a German concentration camp in the Nazi era. ... Slavery is any of a number of related conditions involving control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or other clear forms of coercion. ... This article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual and romantic attraction between two individuals of the same sex. ... Deportation is the expelling of someone from a country. ...

They should also be distinguished from slave labor camps, which were set up in all German-occupied countries to exploit the labor of prisoners of various kinds, including prisoners of war. Many Jews were worked to death in these camps, but eventually the Jewish labor force, no matter how useful to the German war effort, was destined for extermination. In all Nazi camps, there were very high death rates as a result of starvation, disease, exhaustion, and extreme brutality, but only the extermination camps were designed specifically for mass killing. A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in penal labor. ... A female child during the Nigerian-Biafran war of the late 1960s, shown suffering the effects of severe hunger and malnutrition. ... Contagious redirects here. ... Fatigue is a feeling of excessive tiredness or lethargy, with a desire to rest, perhaps to sleep. ...

The distinction between extermination camps and concentration camps was recognized by the Nazis themselves (although not expressed in the official nomenclature of the camps). As early as September 1942, an SS doctor witnessed a gassing and wrote in his diary 'They don't call Auschwitz the camp of annihilation (das Lager der Vernichtung) for nothing!'^[2] When one of Eichmann's deputies, Dieter Wisliceny, was interrogated at Nuremberg, he was asked for the names of 'extermination camps', and answered referring to Auschwitz and Majdanek as such. When asked "How do you classify camps Mauthausen, Dachau and Buchenwald?" he replied "They were normal concentration camps from the point of view of the department of Eichmann."^[3] Adolf Eichmann, Germany 1940. ... Dieter Wisliceny (? 1911 - February 1948) was a member of the German Schutzstaffel, and a key executioner of the German Final Solution. ... The Süddeutsche Zeitung announces The Verdict in Nuremberg. ... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... Majdanek in the winter, 2005 Majdanek is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... Mauthausen is a small town in Upper Austria about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz. ... Slave laborers in the Buchenwald concentration camp (Elie Wiesel is second row, seventh from left). ...

The camps

Most accounts of the Holocaust recognise six extermination camps, all located in occupied Poland. These were:

• Auschwitz II (Auschwitz-Birkenau) (Auschwitz I was a concentration camp and Auschwitz III a labor camp)
• Belzec
• Chelmno (German: Kulmhof an der Nehr, Polish: Chelmno nad Nerem)
• Majdanek
• Sobibór
• Treblinka

Of these, Auschwitz II and Chelmno were located within areas of western Poland annexed by Germany - the other four were located within the General Government area. Auschwitz, Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-Birkenau, KL Auschwitz, Nazi German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi German extermination camps, along with a number of concentration camps, comprising three main camps and 40 to 50 sub-camps. ... Auschwitz, Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-Birkenau, KL Auschwitz, Nazi German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi German extermination camps, along with a number of concentration camps, comprising three main camps and 40 to 50 sub-camps. ... It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ... Auschwitz, Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-Birkenau, KL Auschwitz, Nazi German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi German extermination camps, along with a number of concentration camps, comprising three main camps and 40 to 50 sub-camps. ... A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in penal labor. ... Belzec was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Majdanek in the winter, 2005 Majdanek is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... Sobibór was a Nazi extermination camp that was part of Operation Reinhard. ... Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in German-occupied Poland during World War II. Extermination camps like the one at Treblinka were used in the Holocaust for the systematic genocide of sub-humans by the Nazis. ... Annexation is the legal merging of some territory into another body. ... The General Government (in full General government for the occupied Polish areas, in German Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete) was the name given by Germany to the governing authority in Poland after its occupation by the Wehrmacht in September and October 1939. ...

Another two death camps were located outside Poland:

• Jasenovac extermination camp was operated by the Nazi puppet Croatian Ustaše regime, and had Serbs as its primary victims. However, Jews, Gypsies and political prisoners were also killed there, like in other concentration camps. The genocide in Jasenovac was committed by Croatian Ustaše, who had a racial extermination programme, formulated by Mile Budak, before and independently of the Wannsee plan. Ustaše started exterminating Serbs at such a pace and with such enthusiasm, that in late 1941 German Nazis decided to take measures to restrain the genocide, before they resorted to similar actions in their death camps. Overall, the death toll makes Jasenovac the third most productive in Holocaust, and the only one which did not have Jews as main target.

• Maly Trostenets, a much less known camp than the other, was located in present-day Belarus.

Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibór were constructed during Operation Reinhard, the codename for the systematic killing of the Jews of Europe, widely known under the euphemism, the "final solution of the Jewish question" (Endlösung der Judenfrage). The operation was decided at the Wannsee Conference of January 1942 and carried out under the administrative control of Adolf Eichmann. “Jasenovac” redirects here. ... UstaÅ¡e volunteers for the Waffen SS (Domobran Regiment) marching during a parade in the Independent State of Croatia. ... Mile Budak (1889 - 1945) is Croatian writer and politician, best known as one of the chief ideologists of Ustasha movement. ... The Wannsee Villa, location of the Wannsee Conference, is now a Holocaust museum. ... Maly Trostenets (Belarusian: Малы́ Трасьцяне́ц; Russian: Ма́лый Тростене́ц), a small village on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, was the site of a... Treblinka is a small village in the Mazowieckie voivodship (province) of Poland. ... Belzec was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust. ... Sobibór was a Nazi extermination camp that was part of Operation Reinhard. ... Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard, Einsatz Reinhard, Aktion Reinhardt or Einsatz Reinhardt in German) was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the former General Government and rob their possessions. ... A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. ... A euphemism is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces, or in the case of doublespeak to make it less troublesome for the speaker. ... In a February 26, 1942 letter to German diplomat Martin Luther, Reinhard Heydrich follows up on the Wannsee Conference by asking Luther for administrative assistance in the implementation of the Endlösung der Judenfrage (Final Solution of the Jewish Question). ... The Wannsee Villa, location of the Wannsee Conference, is now a Holocaust museum. ... Adolf Eichmann, Germany 1940. ...

While Auschwitz II was part of a labour camp complex, and Majdanek also had a labour camp, the Reinhard camps and Chelmno were pure extermination camps, built solely to kill vast numbers of Jews within hours of arrival – the only prisoners sent to these camps not immediately killed were those used as slave labour directly concerning the extermination process (e.g. to remove the corpses from the gas chambers). These camps were small in size – only several hundred meters on each side – as only minimal housing and support facilities were required. Arriving persons were told that they were merely at a transit stop for relocation east. A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in forced labor. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

In addition, many non-Jews were also killed in these camps - Serbs were main victims in Jasenovac, while many (non-Jewish) Poles and Soviet prisoners of war were killed in the other death camps.

Major deportation routes to the extermination camps  It should be possible to replace this fair use image with a freely licensed one. If you can, please do so as soon as is practical.

The number of people killed at these death camps has been estimated as follows: Image File history File links Massdeportations. ... Image File history File links Massdeportations. ... Majdanek - crematorium Extermination camp (German Vernichtungslager) was the term applied to a group of camps set up by Nazi Germany during World War II for the express purpose of killing the Jews of Europe, although members of some other groups whom the Nazis wished to exterminate, such as Roma (Gypsies...

• Auschwitz II: about 1,100,000
• Belzec: at least 436,000
• Chelmno:at least 152,000
• Majdanek: 78,000 ^[4] - 235,000
• Sobibór: at least 170,000
• Treblinka: at least 800,000
• Jasenovac: 500,000-840,000^{[citation needed]}
• Maly Trostenets: at least 60,000

This gives a total of at least 3,600,000, and possibly 4,600,000. Of these, over 80% were Jews. These camps thus accounted for about half the total number of Jews killed in the entire Nazi Holocaust, including almost the whole Jewish population of Poland.

Operation of the camps

Majdanek - crematorium

The method of killing at these camps was typically poison gas, usually in "gas chambers", although many prisoners were killed in mass shootings, starvation or sadism. Rudolf Höss, the Commandant of Auschwitz, wrote after the war that many of the Einsatzkommandos involved in the mass shootings went mad or committed suicide, "unable to endure wading through blood any longer". ^[5] The bodies of those killed were destroyed in crematoria (except at Sobibór where they were cremated on outdoor pyres), and the ashes buried or scattered. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1136x852, 256 KB) from [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Extermination camp Majdanek ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1136x852, 256 KB) from [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Extermination camp Majdanek ... Majdanek in the winter, 2005 Majdanek is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... Early detection of chemical agents Sociopolitical climate of chemical warfare While the study of chemicals and their military uses was widespread in China, the use of toxic materials has historically been viewed with mixed emotions and some disdain in the West (especially when the enemy were doing it). ... Gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison A gas chamber is a means of execution whereby a poisonous gas is introduced into a hermetically sealed chamber. ... ... A member of Einsatzgruppe D executes a Jew kneeling before a filled mass grave in Vinnitsa, Ukraine, in 1942. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life. ... Cremation is the practice of disposing of a corpse by burning. ... Sobibór was a Nazi extermination camp that was part of Operation Reinhard. ... A pyre is a structure, such as a mound of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite. ...

The camps differed slightly in operation, but all were designed to kill as efficiently as possible. SS Lt. Kurt Gerstein, who worked in the SS medical service, for example, testified to a Swedish diplomat during the war about what he had seen at the camps. He describes how he arrived at Belzec on August 19, 1942 (at the time, the camp was still using primarily carbon monoxide from a gas engine in its gas chambers), where he was proudly shown the unloading of 45 train cars stuffed with 6700 Jews, many of whom were already dead, but the rest were marched naked to the gas chambers, where, he said: Kurt Gerstein (August 11, 1905 in Münster, Westfalia - July 25, 1945, Paris), was a member of the Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS and aided in mass murders in the Nazi extermination camps Belzec and Treblinka. ... Belzec was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust. ... August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...

Unterscharführer Hackenholt was making great efforts to get the engine running. But it doesn't go. Captain Wirth comes up. I can see he is afraid because I am present at a disaster. Yes, I see it all and I wait. My stopwatch showed it all, 50 minutes, 70 minutes, and the diesel did not start. The people wait inside the gas chambers. In vain. They can be heard weeping, "like in the synagogue," says Professor Pfannenstiel, his eyes glued to a window in the wooden door. Furious, Captain Wirth lashes the Ukrainian assisting Hackenholt twelve, thirteen times, in the face. After 2 hours and 49 minutes - the stopwatch recorded it all - the diesel started. Up to that moment, the people shut up in those four crowded chambers were still alive, four times 750 persons in four times 45 cubic meters. Another 25 minutes elapsed. Many were already dead, that could be seen through the small window because an electric lamp inside lit up the chamber for a few moments. After 28 minutes, only a few were still alive. Finally, after 32 minutes, all were dead...Dentists hammered out gold teeth, bridges and crowns. In the midst of them stood Captain Wirth. He was in his element, and showing me a large can full of teeth, he said: "See for yourself the weight of that gold! It's only from yesterday and the day before. You can't imagine what we find every day - dollars, diamonds, gold. You'll see for yourself!" Christian Wirth, better known by the pseudonym RaD Man, is a computer artist and historian. ...

According to Höss, the first time Zyklon B was used on the Jews, many suspected they would be killed, despite being led to believe that they were only being deloused. As a result, pains were taken to single out possibly "difficult individuals" in future gassings, so they could be separated and shot unobtrusively. Members of the Special Detachment — a group of Jewish prisoners from the camp assigned to help carry out the exterminations — were also made to accompany the Jews into the gas chamber and remain with them until the doors closed. A guard from the SS also stood at the door to perpetuate the "calming effect". To avoid giving the prisoners time to think about their fate, they were urged to undress as speedily as possible, with the Special Detachment helping those who might slow down the process. ^[6] Zyklon B label — Note that “Gift” translates as “poison” Zyklon B was the tradename of a pesticide ultimately used by Nazi Germany in some Holocaust gas chambers. ...

The Special Detachment reassured the Jews being gassed by talking of life in the camp, and tried to persuade them that all would be alright. Many Jewish women secreted their infants beneath their clothes once they had undressed, because they feared the disinfectant would harm them. Höss wrote that the "men of the Special Detachment were particularly on the look-out for this," and would encourage the womenfolk to bring their children along. The Special Detachment men were also responsible for comforting older children that might cry "because of the strangeness of being undressed in this fashion". ^[7]

These measures did not deceive all, however. Höss reported of several Jews "who either guessed or knew what awaited them nevertheless" but still "found the courage to joke with the children to encourage them, despite the mortal terror visible in their own eyes." Some women would suddenly "give the most terrible shrieks while undressing, or tear their hair, or scream like maniacs." These were immediately led away by the Special Detachment men to be shot. ^[8] Some others instead "revealed the addresses of those members of their race still in hiding" before being led into the gas chamber. ^[9]

Once the door was sealed with the victims inside, powdered Zyklon B would be shaken down through special holes in the roof of the chamber. The camp commandant was required to witness every gassing carried out through a peephole, and supervise both the preparations and the aftermath. Höss reported that the gassed corpses "showed no signs of convulsion"; the doctors at Auschwitz attributed this to the "paralyzing effect on the lungs" that Zyklon B had, which ensured death came on before convulsions could begin. ^[10] Zyklon B label — Note that “Gift” translates as “poison” Zyklon B was the tradename of a pesticide ultimately used by Nazi Germany in some Holocaust gas chambers. ...

After the gassings had been carried out, the Special Detachment men would remove the bodies, extract the gold teeth and shave the hair of the corpses before bringing them to the crematoria or the pits. In either case, the bodies would be cremated, with the men of the Special Detachment responsible for stoking the fires, draining off the surplus fat, and turning over the "mountain of burning corpses" so that the flames would constantly be fanned. Höss found the attitude and dedication of the Special Detachment amazing. Despite them being "well aware that ... they, too, would meet exactly the same fate," they managed to carry out their duties "in such a matter-of-course manner that they might themselves have been the exterminators". According to Höss, many of the Special Detachment men ate and smoked while they worked, "even when engaged on the grisly job of burning corpses". Occasionally, they would come across the body of a close relative, but although they "were obviously affected by this, ... it never led to any incident." Höss cited the case of a man who, while carrying bodies from the gas chamber to the fire pit, found the corpse of his wife, but behaved "as though nothing had happened." ^[11]

Some high-ranking leaders from the Nazi Party and the SS were sent to Auschwitz on occasion to witness the gassings. Höss wrote that although "all were deeply impressed by what they saw," some "who had previously spoken most loudly about the necessity for this extermination fell silent once they had actually seen the 'final solution of the Jewish problem.'" Höss was repeatedly asked how he could stomach the exterminations. He justified them by explaining "the iron determination with which we must carry out Hitler's orders", but found that even "[Adolf] Eichmann, who [was] certainly tough enough, had no wish to change places with me." ^[12] The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... Adolf Eichmann (March 19, 1906 — June 1, 1962) was a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany, and served as an Obersturmbannführer in the S.S.. He was largely responsible for the logistics of the extermination of millions of people during the Holocaust, in particular Jews, which was called...

Post war

As the Soviet armed forces advanced into Poland in 1944, the camps were closed and partly or completely dismantled to conceal what had taken place in them. The postwar Polish Communist government further partly dismantled the camps, and generally allowed the sites to decay. Monuments of various kinds were erected at the sites of the former camps; these usually did not mention that most of the people killed in them were Jews. The Taj Mahal, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, as a mausoleum for his wife, Arjumand Banu Begum. ...

After the fall of communism in 1989, the camp sites became more accessible and have become centres of tourism, particularly at the most-recognized Auschwitz. There has been a series of disputes between the Jewish organizations and the Polish about what is appropriate at these sites. Some Jewish groups have objected strongly to the erection of Christian memorials at the camps. In the most notable case (the Auschwitz cross), the cross was located near concentration camp Auschwitz I, where most of the victims were Poles, not the extermination camp Auschwitz II. In the 1970s and 1980s the whole system in Poland was deeper and deeper in the crisis and was beginning to crumble as was the whole Eastern bloc with the USSR as the fading superpower. ... Tourists at Oahu island, Hawaii Tourism is the act of travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes, and also refers to the provision of services in support of this act. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, referred to as Christ. ... The memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii commemorates American dead from wars in the Pacific. ... Auschwitz cross refers to the cross erected near the Auschwitz concentration camp. ...

Holocaust denial

Main article: Holocaust denial

Some groups and individuals deny the existence of Nazi extermination camps. For example, Robert Faurisson claimed in 1979 that "Hitler's 'gas chambers' never existed." He contended that the notion of the gas chambers was "essentially of Zionist origin".^[13] Richard Harwoods Did Six Million Really Die? Holocaust denial is the claim that the mainstream historical version of the Holocaust is either highly exaggerated or completely falsified. ... Robert Faurisson Robert Faurisson (born January 25, 1929) is a French holocaust-denier who generated controversy over various articles he published in the Journal of Historical Review and elsewhere, as well as various letters he has sent in to French newspapers (especially Le Monde) over the years which denied the...

Scholars and historians point out that Holocaust denial is contradicted by the testimonies of survivors and perpetrators, material evidence, and photographs, as well as by the Nazis' own record-keeping. Efforts such as the Nizkor Project, the work of Deborah Lipstadt, Simon Wiesenthal and his Simon Wiesenthal Center, and more at Holocaust resources, all track and explain Holocaust denial. The work of credible historians such as Raul Hilberg (who published The Destruction of the European Jews), Lucy Davidowicz (The War Against the Jews), Ian Kershaw, and many others relegate Holocaust denial to a minority fringe. Anti-Semitic political motivation is often imputed to those who deny the Holocaust. Broadly speaking, a contradiction is an incompatibility between two or more statements, ideas, or actions. ... The Nizkor (Hebrew: we will remember) Project is an ongoing Internet-based project run by Ken McVay which is dedicated to countering Holocaust revisionism. ... Lipstadts book: Denying The Holocaust Deborah Lipstadt is an American historian and author of the book Denying the Holocaust. ... Simon Wiesenthal Simon Wiesenthal, KBE, (Buczacz, December 31, 1908 – Vienna, September 20, 2005) was an Austrian-Jewish architectural engineer who became a Nazi hunter after surviving the Holocaust. ... The Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish organization that declares itself to be a human rights group dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust by fostering tolerance and understanding through community involvement, educational outreach and social action. ... Holocaust resources for main article The Holocaust. ... Many historians and commentators examine the phenomenon of Holocaust denial. ... Dr. Raul Hilberg Raul Hilberg (born June 2, 1926) is one of the best-known and most distinguished of the Holocaust historians. ... Book cover The Destruction of the European Jews is a three-volume work published in 1961 by historian Raul Hilberg. ... Lucy S. Davidowicz, a historian, an author of books in modern Jewish history, about the Holocaust, in particular. ... Lucy Dawidowicz wrote the book, The War Against the Jews. ... Professor Sir Ian Kershaw (born April 29, 1943 Oldham, England) is a British historian, noted for his biographies of Adolf Hitler. ... Richard Harwoods Did Six Million Really Die? Holocaust denial is the claim that the mainstream historical version of the Holocaust is either highly exaggerated or completely falsified. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...

Notes

1. ^ Dictionary definition
2. ^ Diary of Johann Paul Kremer
3. ^ Richard Overy, Interrogations, p 356-7 (Penguin 2002, ISBN 0-140-28454-0)
4. ^ A recent study radically revised downward the estimated number of deaths at Majdanek. According to a piece "Majdanek Victims Enumerated" by Pawel P. Reszka, Lublin, Gazeta Wyborcza 12 December 2005, reproduced on the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, Lublin scholar Tomasz Kranz has recently established this number, and the Majdanek museum staff consider it to be authoritative. Earlier estimates were considerably higher: 360,000, in a much-cited 1948 publication by Zdzislaw Lukaszkiewicz, a judge who was a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland, and 235,000, from a 1992 article by Dr. Czesaw Rajca, now retired from the Majdanek museum staff.
5. ^ Hoss, Rudolf (2005). I, the Commandant of Auschwitz. In Lewis, Jon E. (Ed.), True War Stories, p. 321. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-1533-2.
6. ^ Hoss, pp. 321–322.
7. ^ Höss, pp. 322–323.
8. ^ Höss, p. 323.
9. ^ Hoss, p. 324.
10. ^ Höss, pp. 320, 328.
11. ^ Höss, pp. 325–326.
12. ^ Höss, p. 328.
13. ^ "The Chorus and Cassandra" by Christopher Hitchens

December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 19 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (born April 13, 1949) is an author, journalist and literary critic. ...

Further reading

• Holocaust Journey: Travelling in Search of the Past, Martin Gilbert, Phoenix 1997, gives a good account of the sites of the extermination camps as they are today, plus a great deal of historical information about them and about the fate of the Jews of Poland.

External links

• Aktion Reinhard Camps
• Holocaust sites in Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, France
• The Holocaust History Project