Forced+Labor

__**Forced Labor**__  During the Holocaust, many of the children’s only hope to get through and stay alive was to do work. Many, however, looked too weak or old to stay alive and were sent directly to gas chambers. Also women that were pregnant immediately got sent to gas chambers because Nazi’s didn’t want more Jewish people to be brought into the world; so they would kill them before they were born. Another reason pregnant women were send directly to gas chambers was because they couldn’t do any work so Hitler’s people just got rid of them by using the gas chambers.

Younger children were not thought to be a useful work force so “children’s actions” were carried out by the Nazi’s in order to lower the number of “useless eaters” in the ghettos. Some children, mostly at the age of twelve and older, were spared and used as laborers or had new medicines tested on them. Most kids that had medical experiments tested on them did not survive.

Non-Jewish kids’ destinies can be put into about five different groups. They could be killed when they first get to the killing centers (1), they could be killed when they are first born (2), some of them could be saved because prisoners hid them (3), kids could be used as workers or have medical things tested on them (4), and they could be killed by reprisal operations. Children eating in the streets in ghettos (above) Picture provided by ushmm.org 