13 Million Died in Death Camps?

[Max2Cam]

There was an interesting segment on National Public Radio yesterday about a survivor visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The narrator said that "13 million" people died in the Nazi "death camps."

I just wonder where that number comes from and how accurate it is?

[David Thompson]

Max2Cam -- Did you ask them (the NPR folks)?

[Oleg Grigoryev]

I belive the quote went somethink like 13 million died in Nazi camps - half of them are Jews.

[Dan]

I belive the quote went somethink like 13 million died in Nazi camps - half of them are Jews.

Then that would be worthy of file 13.

Current numbers are about 3 million in camps of all causes for Jews, so the figure if based on this number is exaggerated by at least two fold.

[Mostowka]

Are there any accurate figures for Gypsies, Poles, Russians, Communists ? I´m guessing that the figure didn´t exceed 2-4 million but it´s interesting that you don´t hear that number mentioned that often, maybee because it was marginal ?

[Benoit Douville]

Mostowka,

You don't hear it often because they were not Jews... And the Jews always remind us of the genocide and they are right but the fact is that they control a lot of the media... We should not forget what happened to the other nationality, Poles, Gypsies, Ukrainians and all of the others who were murdered by the Nazi. Do you remember the genocide of the Armenian commited by the Turks during World War I?

Regards

[Mito]

No way.

[RACPISA]

It's not totally uncommon for narrators in shows to make mistakes. I remember one time I was watching a show about Hitler and it said he was born in 1899, not 1889. So I'm thinking that it had to be some kind of mistake because I sincerely doubt that that many people perished in death camps.

[Rob - wssob2]

I just did a search on NPR's website and couldn't find results with the search terms "death camp" "13 million" or "holocaust museum" for recent stories.

Perhaps the show was a repeat. It would help if we knew the particular programs (e.g. "All Things Considered," "Fresh Air" etc.)

Jews always remind us of the genocide and they are right but the fact is that they control a lot of the media

BTW NPR has been repeatedly accused of a "pro-Palestinian" bias in its coverage of current events in the ME:

http://home.comcast.net/~jat.action/Talk2Press.htm

http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/cmndo.html

http://www.npr.org/yourturn/ombudsman/020405.html

http://www.npr.org/yourturn/ombudsman/020222.html


I guess "the Jews" don't control NPR.




Perhaps the narrarator used the phrase "death camp" (lowercase letters) to describe all three levels (I-III) of concentration camps, plus slave labor camps, PW camps, civilian refugee camps, etc. as opposed to the phrase "Death Camps" (capital letters) which specifically refer to Level III KZs like Auschwicz. If the former is true, 13 million is possible (combine Holocaust deaths with Soviet PW deaths with slave labor deaths etc.)

We should not forget what happened to the other nationality, Poles, Gypsies, Ukrainians and all of the others who were murdered by the Nazi.

The USHMM's archives include documentation relating the the persecution of Gypsies, Poles, Ukrainians, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Freemasons, etc. etc. The museum also develops programs about contemporary examples of racism and genocide, such as their exhibits on Rwanda, Chechnya and the Sudan.

http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/index.u ... /sudan.php

[Lawrence Tandy]

I'm sure it is on the forum somewhere, but how many non-jewish Germans died in the camps?

[Max2Cam]

I listen to NPR a lot, but I "think" it was on "All Things Considered." It was about some old guy from Germany (who I believe was Jewish) now living in the Midwest but visiting the National Holocaust Museum in Washington. The 13 million death camp figure definitely came from the narrator.

I found it on the NPR website. Harry Mayer was the survivor (I remember the name now).

An audio clip of the program is there, but it won't play for me.

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1490149

Survivors Gather at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Listen to All Things Considered audio

Nov. 2, 2003
NPR's Steve Inskeep reports on this weekend's gathering of survivors of the Nazi Holocaust at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Inskeep speaks with survivor Harry Mayer, a native of Germany who as a young Jewish boy was interned at a camp in southwest France. Mayer was rescued by a group of Quakers who smuggled him to Switzerland, but his parents were believed killed at Auschwitz.

[Max2Cam]

Here is the exact quote, taken from the audio clip:

"(Mayer's)...parents were left behind and moved to other camps and were finally killed at Auschwitz. They were among an estimated 13 million people killed in Nazi death camps, roughly half of them Jews."

This would appear to be the standard death camp figure as now given out on a major U.S. media source.

[Mostowka]

Well Benoit,

You don't hear it often because they were not Jews... And the Jews always remind us of the genocide and they are right but the fact is that they control a lot of the media...

If you degrade yourself to using the old cliché "The Jews own the media" then explain why the holocaust had such a marginal role in the media, tv, press before 1967 ? Is it because the Jews didn´t own the media ? Or that they choose not to expose the holocaust ?

One good explanation is perhaps that Poles and Russians were not systematicly sent to deathcamps and that the small group of people that were sent there were done soo becasue of the political allegiance and not race. When speaking of the gypsies tha majority was not sent too the deathcamps but shot on site where they were found (Source: Raul Hilbergs last chapter in "The destruction of the European Jews").

Do you remember the genocide of the Armenian commited by the Turks during World War I?

Well as I was not there it´s hard for me too remember it although I have read about it and the most accurate number of persons killed was 2 million. Very horrible and stands among ALL the other genocides of the 2000-th century equally.

We should not forget what happened to the other nationality, Poles, Gypsies, Ukrainians and all of the others who were murdered by the Nazi.

They are aboslutley not forgotten and you should see all the moments dedicated too the murdered Poles and Ukrainians that stand there today in remebarance of the killed. The big diffrence is that Jews fled after the war to USA, France, Israel, Great Britian - The Poles and Ukrainians did that to a far lesser extent and that is perhaps a reason that the far more extensive destruction of the Polish Jewry gets more attention.

[chalutzim]

I'm sure it is on the forum somewhere, but how many non-jewish Germans died in the camps?

Total Deaths from Nazi Genocidal Policies

Group/Deaths

European Jews/5,600,000 to 6,250,000
Soviet prisoners of war/3,000,000
Polish Catholics /3,000,000
Serbians/700,000 (Croat Ustasa persecution)
Roma, Sinti, and Lalleri/222,000 to 250,000
Germans (political, religious, and Resistance)/80,000
Germans (handicapped)/70,000
Homosexuals/12,000
Jehovah’s Witnesses/2500

http://www.holocaustchronicle.org/Holoc ... dices.html

[viriato]

It seems that Chalutzim somewhat forgot (did he?) to quote some other numbers:

Jewish deaths - Gerald Reitlinger (4.204,400 to 4,575,400) and Raoul Hilberg (some 5,1 million)

Polish non-Jews deaths - the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (1,8 to 1,9 million)

Serbian deaths - Kocovic and Zerjavic (respectively 487,000 and 530,000, not all due to Ustasa terror)