Method of Execution used by the Germans to execute Jews during WW2

At first, firing squads were the preferred method.

Having Jews stand in front of mass graves, and getting shot by Nazi firing squads. During Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the Einsatzgruppen would march Jews in front of graves and fire at them.

Believe it or not, this ended up causing psychological trauma to the soldiers. After so many executions, the Nazis couldn’t help but feel pity, guilt, and severe PTSD for murdering innocent men, women, and children. This caused the Nazis to drink on duty to help cope with the trauma.

Under the instructions of the Reichsführer, Heinrich Himmler, the Einsatzgruppen implemented the gas van:

Jews would be told they were being transported from the war zone and would be herded into the cabin. Up to 70 people could be crammed in there. The exhaust was able to be fixed into the cabin. So the soldiers would start the engine and either idle it or drive to the mass graves.

This didn’t really help as the victims would be heard screaming and hitting the walls inside. Gasoline was also really important for the war effort. These vans would be used to kill thousands of Soviet Jews.

The van would end up being phased out as the Nazis had a more favored way of killing thousands of people that would cost much less and wouldn’t cause as much trauma to the soldiers.

Zyklon B was a disinfectant that was very cheap and had a long shelf life. A single can was able to kill a thousand people.

Throughout the death camps, gas chambers would serve as room where Jews would be herded into a room (sometimes with fake shower heads to reduce panic). The gas handlers would open a chute in the roof, pour the pellets down, and wait around 20 minutes until the screaming stopped.

Zyklon B was a very poisonous gas that was able to travel into the smallest spaces of the lungs and cause death within minutes. The Nazis used this method on a wide scale until 1945 to exterminate over 2 million Jews.

Other method of Execution being used

A) Death by Starvation:

3 million Jews were locked up in Nazi ghettos located in Poland. They were put on starvation rations and lived 10 to a room. About 800,000 were killed by starvation and typhus from 1940 till early 1943.

B) Death by Shooting:

Over a million Jews were shot by the Einsatzgruppen mobile units when Nazi Germany occupied the USSR. About 1,200,000 were killed from 1941 till early 1943.

C) Death by Gassing:

3 million Jews were killed at Auschwitz and 4 other death camps. This was done in gas chambers or by hard labor. This was in occupied Poland from 1942 till the end of 1944.

D) Death Marches:

300,000 emaciated Jewish prisoners were marched from Poland to Germany in early 1945.. About half died or were shot.