1. Non-Jewish Prisoners in the Holocaust
Madeleine Morris
History II
September 21, 2014
Mr. Porter
Non-Jewish Prisoners in the Holocaust

2. Five Million Non-Jewish Victims
Poles
Jehovah Witnesses
Afro-Europeans
Rom Gypsies
Homosexuals
The Disabled
Catholics

3. Poles Nazis considered them racially inferior
first, Hitler killed Poland’s leading class, the Intelligentsia
-Nazi’s shot thousands of priests, teachers, and other intellectuals
then, citizens were rounded up and forced into labor for German farms and factories, or concentration camps where they would be starved and worked to death or used for scientific experiments

4. Jehovah Witnesses
Hitler saw them as a threat due to their strong opposition to war and organized government
were deemed dangerous because they would not give the Nazi salute, join party organizations, let their children join Hitler Youth, participate in elections or plebiscites, or adorn their houses with Nazi flags
building numbers of Witnesses were sent to the camps after refusing to be drafted or perform military work

5. Afro-Europeans
during WWI France brought many black Africans to fight as soldiers
Germans hated the dark skinned “invasion” and saw black men as rapists of German women and carriers of venereal and other diseases
children with a German mother and black father were social outcasts
many mulatto children or “Rhineland bastards”, as they were called, were taken from homes
or schools without parental
permission and were sterilized

6. Rom-Gypsies
chosen for complete extermination because of their race, like the Jews
considered racially inferior and completely worthless
subjected to forced labor and mass murder
Gypsies were forced into ghettos and died quickly due to disease, starvation, and lack of shelter
those who survived were put into concentration camps where they were gassed to death or used for medical experiments
Nazis wiped out half a million Gypsies

7. Homosexuals
Nazis persecuted homosexuals as part of their crusade to purify Germany
not included in the plan for a “Master Race” because they were considered weak and unfit to be soldiers
Hitler persecuted, tortured, and executed many men from many nations, including those in his military suspected of being gay
At least ten percent of the more than one million homosexual Germans were arrested, others were imprisoned in mental hospitals, and hundreds were castrated by court order
In concentration camps, they were forced to
wear pink stars for further humiliation

8. The Disabled
Hitler began a “cleansing program” where thousands of people with various disabilities and handicaps were put to death as if they were not even people
anyone with a hereditary disability such as mental illness, learning disabilities, physical deformity, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, or severe alcoholism was euthanized
about 5,000 infants and children with disabilities were also murdered by starvation or lethal overdose of medication

9. Catholics
Hitler wanted to replace Jesus Christ as someone to be worshipped
Catholicism had a big influence in the community which he saw as a threat
Catholic priests and Christian pastors were sought out and sent to concentration camps
they were also targeted because of their aid to Jews and other victims
They helped thousands escape and hid another 4,000