The 2nd of February 1943 marked a turning point in World War II with the German 6th army’s surrender at Stalingrad
The battle had a significant psychological impact on the war, marking the end of German victories and the beginning of their retreat westward
The Soviet army continued to push forward and on January 27th, 1945, they liberated the Auschwitz extermination camp, where at least 1.1 million people had been murdered
Heinrich Schwarz: A Perpetrator of Atrocities
- Schwarz was born in 1906 in Munich and originally worked as a book printer and photographer
- He joined the Nazi Party and SS in 1931, during a time of economic crisis and increased crime in Germany
- As the Nazis came into power in 1933, Schwarz quickly rose through the ranks of the SS
- He was transferred to the SS-Concentration Camps Inspectorate and was posted to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1941
- Schwarz established a reign of terror at Auschwitz III, where he rented out the slave labor of prisoners to German companies, leading to the deaths of thousands of prisoners
The Holocaust and the Jews in Germany
- By 1933, the Nazi regime had brought significant changes to the German Jewish community through legislation
- Jews were marginalized and disenfranchised and had been expelled from professions and commercial life
- Kristallnacht, a series of coordinated riots against Jews in 1938, resulted in thousands of Jews being interned in concentration camps
- By 1939, only 16% of Jewish breadwinners had steady employment
- Of the 522,000 Jews in Germany in 1933, 304,000 emigrated during the first six years of Nazi dictatorship
Conclusion
- The Battle of Stalingrad and the liberation of Auschwitz were significant events in World War II and the Holocaust
- Heinrich Schwarz played a significant role in the atrocities committed at Auschwitz as a perpetrator and leader in the SS
- The Holocaust resulted in the murder of millions of Jews and the persecution of Jewish communities in Germany and Europe.
