morning roll call without his cap was shot ."

What would it be like if your life depended on something as simple as whether or not your hat was in your possession? To have a simple twist in fate be the deciding factor in whether or not you were going to live? This was everyday living for some European Jewry. Six million people's twist of fate ended tragically. To classify all of the Jew's experiences - both survivors and the deceased- as similar is unfair, for many different factors played a role in their experiences from 1933 to 1945. As the Nazi's hold on Europe was clenched tighter and tighter, a living Jew became more and more of a rarity.

Throughout history Jews have been discriminated against, yet in 1933 things changed. No longer was a Jew looked at as religiously different, but now they were considered biologically different.

Hitler's rise to power in Germany changed life drastically for the German Jews. But the question arose, what was a German Jew (it is important to keep in mind this applies only to the Jews of Germany)? To begin the large-scale classification system, Germans were first broken up into two main groups

However, there were exceptions to this rule which were rightfully called "liberations." Liberations simply meant that the Mischlinge was reclassified. Oddly enough, a Nazi official, Ministerialrat Killy, fell under the category of a second degree Mischlinge and was married to a Mischlinge of the first degree. Having played a significant role in the persecution of Jews, Killy's superior spoke to Hitler himself about the situation. At this time, Killy and his family were granted liberation and were no longer subject to discrimination .

During the time of the Nuremberg Laws, all Jews were required to wear the star of David to differentiate them from the Aryans. Jews were quickly becoming European scapegoats. With the stars having made them more identifiable, more opportunities arose for soldiers and citizens to harass the Jews. A mere walk through town could be life threatening as Gerda shares in her memoir. On her way to a friend's house she glanced longingly at the swimming pool from which she was banned. An officer, seeing her properly displayed star, asked her what her business was there. Rummaging through Gerda's belongings, the officer found Gerda's English books- a severe offense- to which he replied, "Come to the police station. Learning English will be the last pleasure of your life! "

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In 1941, a new step to the annihilation process was introduced, mass murder of Jews by special killing squads called Einsatzgruppen. When Operation Barbarossa (the German attack of the USSR) was taking place, the Einsatzgruppen (consisting of SS and police) accompanied the Wermacht as they pushed further and further east. Jews were shot on sight, through the space saving "sardine" method, and other inhumane techniques. The Jews of Western Europe were spared the mercilessness of the Einsatzgruppen who liquidated 900,000 Jews in Russian territory .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Auschwitz Sonderkommandos, Final Solution, Jews Germany, Jews Russian, Jewry Six, Rudolf Vrba, Aryans Jews, Donat Majdanek, Kurt Klein, Laws Aryan, final solution, mass killings, tell people, extermination camps, nuremberg laws, death marches, german jews, mass murder, twist fate, jews leave,
Approximate Word count = 1918
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)