Aftermath of the Holocaust

Liberation, Recovery, & the Nuremberg Trials

Mass Grave in Bergen-Belsen

Dead Bodies in Buchenwald

Dead Bodies

Dead Bodies in Dresden

Dead Bodies

Corpses in Ohrdruf

Mass Grave in Prager

Introduction


The Holocaust's lasting impact on generations - descendants of liberators, survivors, & Nazis

  • Liberation
    • Atrocities & discoveries shocked the world
  • Healing
    • Uncountable deaths took painful tolls on workers
  • Recovery
    • Persisting antisemitism even after the Holocaust
  • Nuremberg Trials
    • Shocked the world again with evidence in trials




The Liberation

Discoveries that Shocked the World

Soviet Troops


  • Most Polish Jews were already killed when Soviet troops overrun camps

  • When Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz, most were already on "death march"
  • Auschwitz: last of 6 extermination camps, created for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem"
  • More than 3 of 6 million died in Auschwitz

Death Marches


  • Germans evacuated camps, losing in battle
  • Prisoners forced to march non-stop for days to the next death camp
    • Several prisoners died on the way
  • Crowdedness, starvation, dehydration, disease, & lack of shelter
    • Epidemics quickly spread among the prisoners - typhus, dysentery, tuberculosis

Bergen-Belsen



  • Germans afraid of diseases, neglected to provide basic life necessities
  • Some prisoners starved to death outside
  • Rotten stenches were detected up to 3 miles away
  • Went without water for 6 days, no attempt to fetch
  • 20000 naked, unburied, emaciated corpses

Items Recovered



  • 348820 men's suits found
  • 836255 women's outfits found
  • 14000 pounds of human hair
  • Corpses, bones, human ashes found

Shoes


Hair




Healing the Victims

The Psychological Toll on Liberators

Bergen-Belsen


  • Many survivors critical from typhus epidemic
  • 20,000 of 50,000 survivors critically ill
  • 13,000 survivors died within weeks of liberation
  • Prisoners were barely alive - "living skeletons"
    • Protruding ribs, distended bellies
  • Some lost the ability to digest from starving so long
  • Some were too weak to even respond to liberators

A Survivor in Bergen-Belsen

"Living Skeletons"

Holocaust


Healing



  • Doctors washed, disinfected, fed, & rehydrated - many were still too weak to recover
  • Developed nutritious & easily digestible concoction, mostly through trial & error
    • "If they did not go blind drunk each night, they would go 'stark staring mad'"

Effects



  • Local German population led on compulsory tours of camps - forced to inspect atrocities
  • SS camp guards forced to carry corpses into mass graves
  • Constant danger of epidemic spread - forced to burn down Bergen-Belsen
  • Large memorial of "man's inhumanity to man" lost

Mass Graves in Bergen-Belsen

Mass Graves in Bergen-Belsen





Jewish Recovery

The Arduous Road to Reestablishmement

Relocation


  • 7-9 million people displaced
  • 1.5-2 million reluctant to return to former homes
  • Antisemitism persisted in certain regions
    • Polish pogroms (violent revolts) - most significant in Kielce 1946, 42 deaths
  • Jews housed in DP (displaced person) camps
    • Remained "persona non grata" (unwelcome person)
  • Migrated westwards to European countries

Organizations

  • American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
    • Provided shelter, food & supplies
  • Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training
    • Vocational training to Jews
  • Sh'erit ha-Pletah - "surviving remnant"
    • Largest Jewish survivor organization
  • Jewish Brigade Group
    • Palestinian Jewish unit of British army
  • Brihah/B'richa
    • Group to facilitate Jews from Europe to Palestine
    • Aliyah Bet - illegal immigration by ship

Settlement



  • Act of Displaced Persons
    • 400,000 immigration visas
    • Strong antisemitic elements remained
  • Jewish State of Israel established in 1948
  • Attacked by neighboring Arabs 2 days later
  • 170,000 migrated to Israel by 1953




The Nuremberg Trials

Punishment for Atrocious Crimes Delivered

Prosecutions

  • High ranking Nazis, military leaders
  • Adolf Eichmann tried & sentenced to death - 1960
    • Large part of the "Final Solution"
  • Herman Göring - committed suicide
  • International Military Tribunal established
    • Tried top Nazi politicians, party functionaries, technocrats, military personnel
    • Several imprisoned or executed
  • Showed the world much more about the Holocaust

Nuremberg Judges


Nuremburg Trials


Conclusion

  • Liberation
    • Germans' unbelievable measures to exterminate Jews
    • Germans' shockingly inhuman treatment in camps
  • Healing the Victims
    • New diseases & sicknesses never seen before
    • Painful effects on doctors, workers, & liberators
  • Recovery
    • Jews faced a difficult task to restore their status
    • Antisemitism & hostility persisted in several regions
  • Nuremberg Trials
    • Important leaders prosecuted & punished
    • Evidence revealed in courts also taught the world




Thank you.






Presentation by Kye W. Shi
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