The Holocaust: Basics Trivia Quiz

Answer: The attempt by the Nazis in 1941-45 to kill all Jews in areas under their control

The term came into widespread use in this sense as a proper noun (with an upper-case H) in the late 1970s. Especially in the US the term is sometimes used popularly for *all* acts of illegal mass killing committed by the Nazis.

The term was adopted specifically in order to replace earlier expressions, such as the cumbersome 'Nazi genocide of the Jews' and the Nazis' own term 'The Final Solution (of the Jewish Question)'.

Obviously, historians are well aware that there were many other groups that the Nazis subjected to mass murder on the basis of group identity.

Answer: Communists and Social Democrats

The early concentration camps were intended primarily for political opponents of the Nazis, not for Jews as such or for Roma or homosexuals. Some of the Communists and Social Democrats sent to these camps were also Jews. Moreover, some people who had offended Nazi party officials were also sent to the concentration camps, regardless of their politics, religion or ethnicity.

Answer: September 1941 (shortly before the first deportations from Berlin)

In Nazi-occupied Poland the Jewish 'badge' (originally a blue Star of David on a white background) was introduced in November 1939. The date of introduction of the badge varied from country to country.

Despite its later status as a key icon of the Holocaust, the 'badge' was in fact introduced relatively late, except in Poland.

Answer: True

This applied, in particular, in ghettos. The Nazis appointed 'Jewish Councils' (in German 'Judenräte') which had to administer the ghettos and do the Nazis' bidding. Initially, the prospect of being run and policed by fellow Jews, rather than the SS, had obvious attractions. (Early in "Night", Elie Wiesel describes how the establishment of the ghetto led to a false sense of security among the Jews of Sighet). The level of enforced collaboration was soon stepped up and in many cases the Jewish Councils had to provide lists of Jews for deportation.

In addition, in most camps some of the prisoners were appointed by the SS to positions of trust.

Answer: Those considered fit for work were separated from the rest

Auschwitz was the only camp where 'selections' of this kind occurred on a routine basis. It was not standard practice at the other extermination camps, though from time to time a handful of new arrivals were chosen to assist with various aspects of the Holocaust itself, in particular with the disposal of corpses. A few others had to help the SS sort the victims' belongings.

Answer: A prisoner (trusted by the SS) with authority over others

Strictly speaking, a Kapo was in charge of a group or team of workers in a concentration camp, and a prisoner in charge of a block was a 'Blockältester'. However, the term 'Kapo' is often used generically for all trusted prisoners. Some Kapos were extremely cruel and ardent collaborators. A few were tried after the war, and some were convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

The etymology of 'Kapo' is obscure. One plausible suggestion is that the term 'Capo', used in southern Bavaria in the early 1920s for gangmasters in charge of groups of Italian workers, may have been later adopted by the Nazis.

Answer: In open air shootings and as a result of starvation and disease in ghettos

Ghettos - isolated from surrounding areas - were established in Nazi-occupied Poland from October 1939 onwards, and later also in other east European countries. Conditions in the ghettos deteriorated rapidly and the death-rate rose sharply. Well known Nazi ghettos included those in Warsaw, Lodz, Lviv (Lemberg), Krakow, Bialystock, Vilnius, Riga and Minsk.

Most of the deaths outside camps occurred in mass open-air shootings carried out by the four Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units). In the early stages of the Holocaust, the SS sent the killers to the victims. The Einsatzgruppen themselves were relatively small, and in many areas they recruited additional killers from the local population. It was only somewhat later that they decided to organize things differently and sent the victims to the killers.

At least as many Jews were killed or perished outside camps as inside.

Answer: Disposing of the victims' corpses

Other duties (at least for some members of these units) included escorting victims on the final stage of their journey to the gas chambers, and those who were multilingual were sometimes used as interpreters and had to try to keep the victims calm.

(The term 'Sonderkommando' also has regular military uses).

Answer: By rail in enclosed cattle wagons (boxcars)

This was the standard mode of transport. Usually 80, and later 100 victims were crammed into one wagon. Often they were given two buckets per wagon in which to relieve themselves. There were no stops for food or water and often they had to spend days in those wagons. Perhaps the journey was worst for the Greek Jews.

Thessaloniki to Auschwitz is about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) and the journey by slow freight train took at least five days and nights. The trains did not always go straight to their final destination but sometimes first went to one or more other camps to unload some of the victims en route.

It is not surprising that some of the victims arrived dead.

Answer: The Soviet Army

On 27 January 1945 the Soviet Army liberated the three camps on the main site, starting with Auschwitz III (also known as Monowitz or Buna). About two hours later they reached Auschwitz I (the original camp with the well known mock-Alpine buildings) and Auschwitz II (Birkenau). They were greeted by about 7,500 prisoners, many of them very ill: most of the other prisoners still alive when the Soviet Army approached had been taken on death marches to other camps. The various satellite camps were liberated soon afterwards.

Auschwitz (Oswiecim) is in southern Poland, about 30 miles (50 km) west of Krakow.