Geography's Role in the Holocaust

Geography played a role in determining the countries that were targeted by the Nazis, but improved transportation made geography less of a factor in the Holocaust. In the "WWII and the Holocaust" animated map, the Nazis first took over in countries southeast of Germany like Czechoslovakia and then moved east to capture Poland. Geography affected the countries that were taken over because Germany had to initially work away from Britain and France. The Fatherland also took over countries that were closer to its secretive ally at the time, the Soviet Union. Germany had to start out with the bordering countries and build a bigger empire before venturing across the many miles to take over France. We learned that during the Industrial Revolution Europe built many railroads. As shown by "Railroads," most of the extermination camps during the Holocaust were located close to cities with Jewish populations of over 40,000 and were in the thick of Europe's railroad system. The segment "Rescue" made me believe that during the 1930s and 1940s technology and transportation had improved enough to negate geographical advantages and disadvantages. Even though Denmark's government succumbed to Germany the Danish were still able to move many Jews to neutral Sweden by boat. There were also secretive escape routs all the way in France leading out to Spain. The great distances covered by the escapees and types of geography overcome show how the layout of the land (or water) was less of an issue.

I could definitely sense an aspect of memorial in the animated maps through the still images on screen. It's hard to believe but there are a lot of people who downplay the horrors of the Holocaust, and others don't even believe it happened. The USHMM assumes that the people who view the website see the Holocaust as a tragic event and, as shown by the definition of the Holocaust in the segment "WWII and the Holocaust" was the "systematic killing." Museums definitely count as monuments, probably more of memorials, but museums will have more bias than a more simple statue.

This represents exactly 30 minutes of work.