DEATH MARCHES

THESIS

• At the end of World War Two, Nazis made Jewish and other prisoners walk or ride train, from camp to camp, to not get caught by other soldiers, this occurrence was called death marches.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Up too 250,000 people died during this time. Death marches ranged from two weeks to two months at a time. People who were weak and slow were shot if they could not keep up with everybody else.

GENERL INFORMATION

• When a prisoner stopped to pick up a potato or too eat a root were also shot. When someone was killed, they were put underground with only six inches of dirt too cover them.

PERSONAL STORIES

• Stella Marcus
• For two months, Stella Marcus was forced to walk or ride train to different camps. "You had too hold on to your cup, bowl, and spoon for dear life. Should you lose that, there was no replacement," Stella remarks.

STELLA MARCUS

• "Once we were joined by a group of criminals, the cattle cars we took had a sign on it saying 'eight horses or 40 men' 200 people were packed into cattle cars with murderers, rapist, and thieves." On May 1, 1945, Stella, her mother, and cousin were liberated in Denmark by American soldiers.

IRVING ROTH

• Irving Roth was only a child when taken to a camp. Irving knew that if he went on the death march, he would not survive, knowing this, every time they chose people to go, he would hide. "I was a really small boy so I could fit into small spaces easily" Irving told the reporter.

IRVING ROTH

• At 15 the American soldiers liberated his camp. Irving did not know if he was the only survivor in his family or not, later, he discovered that his mom and dad were still alive. In 1947 he was reunited with his parents and moved too the United States.

Sam Itzkowitz

• Sam was raised and was a Jew. When the war started no one knew why they were treated badly and was hated by so many. While Sam was in a camp he and other prisoners were forced to march towards the Bavarian mountains. "I was so weak, I could barely walk" Sam told the interviewer. The march was 10 days to two weeks. "It snowed all the time, snow in the daytime, snow at night."

Sam Itzkowitz

• "We saw planes coming over us everyday, and we were praying 'come on drop them, get it over with,' well I don't know. I think the pilots saw that we were prisoners and drop bombs all around us, but never on us."

LILY MAZUR MARGULES

• Lily was only a teenager when the war started, lots of her friends were taken to other camps and never saw them again. During her death march they knew too stay in the front or they would get shot by the guards.

Lily Mazur Margules

• One of Lily's friends started slowing down, and getting weaker. After a while, they started dragging her from her arms, because her legs were completely frozen. Later a guard noticed and took her to a field and shot her.

Benjamin (Beryl) Ferenz

• Ben Ferenz was not a Jew or a German. He was born in a small village in Romania, later moved to the United States. Ben attended Harvard University, where he studied criminal law. After graduating in 1943, he joined a US antiaircraft artillery battalion.

Benjamin (Beryl) Ferenz

• He went to Germany during the Holocaust to help stop the Germans. "I was able to follow this trail through the woods of mass grave. I would get the nearest farmer and tell them 'dig them up' after that we would dig them a new grave." "The bodies would only be covered with six inches of dirt."

LIBERATION

• When liberated everyone was joyful and glad the war was over. Usually the Germans knew when the American's or other soldiers were coming so, they would run away.

LIBERATION

• When the prisoners were liberated the soldiers would give them food, clothing, and water. Lots of people had no idea if they were the only survivor in their family's or not. Most were separated from loved ones or watched them get shot.

LIBERATION

• By Spring of 1945 American GI's had liberated 11 camp; Buchenwald, Dachau, Dora-Mittellbau, Flossenburg, Ebensee, Gunskirchen, Güsen, Landsburg, Mauthausen, Ohrdruf, and Wöbbelin.