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| In October 1939, the Germans announced the creation of a ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski |
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| In October 1939, the Germans announced the creation of a ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski |
Phases of the Holocaust. One can divide it into three or four phases.
The pre-phase started in 1933 and included propaganda and the propagation of anti-Jewish laws in Germany. It was the first step of isolation from the rest of the population. At the same time, Germany rebuilds its military which was a violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Nazi government prepares the German public for war.
The first phase begins with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, the start of World War II. Nazi violence expands in Poland where they start to establish ghettos. The first one, was in Piotrków Trybunalski, just weeks after the German army occupied the city. Thus, together with forced labor was the very first among the physical steps of the Holocaust, the concentration and imprisonment of millions of Polish Jews.
The second phase starts in June 1941 when Germany invades the Soviet Union. It is actually the start of mass killing by Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) that murdered millions of Jews and other targeted groups in mass shootings. This phase is often called the Holocaust by bullets.
The third phase is Industrial killing. Following the decision from the Wansee meeting in January 1942 to annihilate all of the Jews in Europe. Thereafter, six industrial killing centers - Death camps are established. Millions of Jews and other targeted groups are murdered in gas chambers.
The fourth phase is the Death Marches which starts in January 1945 and continue to the end of WWII in Europe, in May 1945. Relocation of the inmates from the concentration- and death camps started already in 1944 when the Red Army pushed the Germans west. The first death- and concentration camp was liberated on July 22, 1944. When the death- and concentration camps were closing, Nazis forced the prisoners to march from Eastern Europe toward Germany. Hundreds of thousands died along the way.
