Answer: A death (or extermination) camp is a concentration camp with special apparatus specifically designed for systematic murder. Six such camps existed: Auschwitz-Birkenau (the largest), Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka. All were located in Poland.
7. What does the term “Final Solution” mean and what is its origin?Answer: The term “Final Solution” (Endlösung in German) refers to the Nazi plan to murder all the Jews of Europe. The term was first used in documents in the summer of 1941 and later at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin on January 20,1942, where top German officials met over lunch to discuss killing millions of innocent men, women and children.
8. When did the “Final Solution” actually begin?Answer: While thousands of Jews were murdered or died as a direct result of discriminatory measures instituted against Jews during the initial years of the Third Reich, the systematic murder of Jews did not begin until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.
9. How did the Germans define who was Jewish?Answer: The “Nuremberg Laws” (so-called because they were promulgated in that city) were declared in a series of laws drafted between September and November 1935. The Nazis defined a Jew as: Anyone with three Jewish grandparents; someone with two Jewish grandparents who belonged to the Jewish community when these laws were passed on September 15, 1935, or joined thereafter; or married a Jew after September 15, 1935, or married another person with two Jewish grandparents, or was the offspring of a marriage or extramarital liaison with a Jew on or after September 15, 1935.
10. How did the Germans treat those who were perceived as having “some Jewish blood” but were not classified as Jews?Answer: Those who were not classified as Jews but who had “some Jewish blood” (an absurd fiction) were categorized as Mischlinge (hybrids) and were divided into two groups: Mischlinge of the first degree—those with two Jewish grandparents; and Mischlinge of the second degree—those with one Jewish grandparent.
The Mischlinge were officially excluded from membership in the Nazi Party and all Party organizations (e.g. SA, SS, etc.). Although they were drafted into the Germany Army, they could not attain the rank of officers. They were also barred from the civil service and from certain professions. (Individual Mischlinge were, however, granted exemptions under certain circumstances.) Nazi officials considered plans to sterilize Mischlinge, but this was never done. During World War II, many first-degree Mischlinge, were incarcerated in concentration camps and some were deported to death camps.
