Geography in the Holocaust

The Holocaust and Hitler's plan to control the world was heavily influenced by the geography of his surrounding area. His first claim to Poland and Czechoslovakia was based on their close proximity to Germany. As illustrated in the video "World War 2 and the Holocaust," Germany conquered and allied with all the countries surrounding it, slowly spreading it's influence to all surrounding areas. They didn't just shoot through one direction, but instead extended their power out in all directions until they were stopped and pushed back. It is important to note that many Jews were moved from the edges of German power to Poland which was closer to the center of their growing empire. This may also have been because the Jewish population in Poland was "relatively numerous and densely settled." As the Soviets started cutting into Germany's territory they began to pull people out of the extermination camps in the northeast and move them further into the center their territory. As shown in the video "Liberation," the marches and transportation methods to get the Jews to the center of Germany's power were brutal. Many referred to them as "death marches." These death marches and worsening conditions of the concentration camps as more and more people packed into fewer and fewer camps killed many, many more people.

There is always a bias in memorials and monuments. A memorial by default has a good connotation, even if it commemorates something bad. It demands respect for whatever it is memorializing, whether it be a person, place, or event. It does not necessarily demand an appreciation for whatever it memorializes, but it does demand recognition for it. Even if the respect is given towards something bad like the Holocaust, a monument still requires people to respect it.