The Holocaust was and still is a very important part of the worlds lives. Hitler killed as many as 1.5 million children and most were Jewish. Dr. Josef Mengele did horrible experiments on most twins. Children and twins had to attend roll call every morning. Children and twins under the age of twelve were used as meical experiments. Schools were required to teach children how to be good Nazis or else they would be punished. The way that children were treated during this time was horrible and children should never be treated this way ever again.

This is a photo of a family being arrested and carried away to a Concentration Camp.

How were the children treated in the Holocaust?

          Hitler and the Nazis killed as many as 1.5 million children, including over a million Jewish children and tens of thousands of Gypsy children, German children with physical and mental disabilities living in institutions, Polish children, and children residing in the occupied Soviet Union. The chances for survival for Jewish and some non-Jewish adolescents (13-18 years old) were greater, as they could be deployed at forced labor. The fate of Jewish and non-Jewish children can be categorized in the following way:

• children killed when they arrived in killing centers
• children killed immediately after birth or in institutions
• children born in ghettos and camps who survived because prisoners hid them
• children, usually over age 12, who were used as laborers and as subjects of medical experiments
• those children killed during reprisal operations or so-called anti-partisan operations. 

Children after being shaven and taken away from their parents.

After Liberation, teens were given food and put into Homeless Camps.

During the Holocaust,children were hopeful that American soldiers would come soon.

               Children and twins were forced to attend roll call at six AM every day no matter what. They attended school daily in camps. Schools were supposed to make sure that children grew into good Nazis. The Minister of Education stated, “The whole point of the children’s education is to create bigger and stronger Nazi armies.” (Life and Death in Hitler’s Europe) “Children,” the League stated, “must no longer be allowed to choose how to grow up anymore.”  Nazis thought of children to be very important because they were the future of the Nazi world. Once children arrived at camps, they were shaven and their clothes were taken away and given to non-Jewish children. The schedule below shows a typical week worth of classes at a girls school in a Nazi camp:

               Children over twelve were used as laborers. Many children had to burn the bodies of family and friends daily. Children and most twins under the age of twelve were used as medical experiments in Auschwitz by Dr. Josef Mengele, otherwise known as Dr. Death. Dr. Satsuki stated, “Until we can talk about the experience and make a connection with our grief and anger we will still be unconsciously trying to get out of our own personal camp.” 

  References

“Children during the Holocaust.” Children during the Holocaust. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2010. <http://www.ushmm.org/‌wlc/‌en/‌article.php?ModuleId=10005142>.

“Children in Auschwitz.” Children in Auschwitz. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2010. <http://www.wsg-hist.uni-linz.ac.at/‌Auschwitz/‌Html/‌Kinder-II.html#top>.

 Concentration camp ovens with human remains.. N.d. Discovery Education Streaming. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

Holocaust Auschwitz. 1 Jan. 1945. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://apimages.ap.org>.

THE HOLOCAUSt PAPERS ANNE FRANK. 22 Nov. 2006. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://apimages.ap.org>.

Poland Obit Sendler. 19 Apr. 1943. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://apimages.ap.org>.

Shaueter, Jane. Life and Death in Hitlers Europe. Chicago, Illinois: Heinemann Library, 2003. Print.

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Also see:

Children's lives in the Holocaust 

How were the children in concentration camps treated 

Children in the Consentration Camps 

Josef Mengele Experiements 

the life of children in the holocaust 

The Conditions in the Concentration Camps 

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