A Jew in Europe

1. A Jew in Europe By: Meghan Mudd

2. Timeline • Auschwitz Timeline • May 1940-Rudolf Höss arrives in the Polish town of Oswiecim to create a new concentration camp on the site of a deserted Polish army barracks. (Auschwitz) • June 14th 1940-The first transport of Polish Political Prisoners arrive at Auschwitz. • 1940-41-Jews around the area of Auschwitz were evicted from their homes and placed inside the camp. • September 1941-First test of Zyklon B gas is used to kill Jews within the camp. • October 1941-Auschwitz 2 (Birkinau) is established. The majority of the mass extinctions at Auschwitz occur here. • January 1942-first gas chamber is established in Auschwitz. • March-June 1943-four large crematorium buildings are made to carry out large mass gassings. One of these could burn 20,000 bodies a day. The highest single day toll was 24,000. • This timeline shows the importance of the mass killings in Auschwitz. This is important because one of the main ideas of the concentration camps was to kill as many Jews as possible. It shows just how horrible some of the things my family and I had to go through were. Dealing with the deaths of my family was very overwhelming.

3. Photos of Auschwitz

4. Explanation • The concentration camps impacted me in many different ways. There was no food, barely any to get by with. Because of this, I got so skinny to the point where you can see my bones. You can see how much hate we had to endure within the camps and it shows just how hard it was for me and my family/friends. These pictures illustrate how people were effected by Auschwitz and makes it easier to see the horrors of this time.

5. Newspaper clipping

6. Importance? • This newspaper clipping is important because it describes what things were like in the camp. It is so hard for me to put what I had to go through into words and this newspaper article helps me explain. It also shows the amount of deaths that happened in the camp. I do not understand what makes us so different that people would want to do these mass exterminations to my religion.

7. Artifacts • This is my hat and shirt that I was forced to wear during Auschwitz. My belongings were ripped from me and off my body. This shows how we were differentiated from the German’s. The number on the shirt shows how I was identified. It made me feel less than the Germans. I had gone from a citizen to a prisoner in a second. I don’t understand what I did to deserve so much hate.

8. Documents This is a document of a punishment that was given to one of my friends. I found out that my best friend was hung and killed this way. They took his life and documented it like it was a normal thing to do. I don’t understand how many more deaths we are going to have to go through before there is an end to this. It makes me wonder if I was going to be next.

9. documents • This is a page from the daily numbers book. I found it laying around the camp. The book contains reports made by the officers. Each record contains: date, number of dead, transferred, and all of our information. It amazes me how they knew so much about us and knew we were people, but justified what they were doing by making us a number. These are people that are in my family, and some of my close friends. My own child was ripped out of my hands. I wonder if one of these people are him?

10. citations • "Auschwitz Timeline." Auschwitz Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. • "Auschwitz." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. • "Gates of Vienna: Here We Go Again." Gates of Vienna: Here We Go Again. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. • Introduction to the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. • Auschwitz-Birkenau - Gallery - Category: Archive Documents - Picture: Page from the Daily Numbers Book." Auschwitz-Birkenau - Gallery - Category: Archive Documents - Picture: Page from the Daily Numbers Book. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.