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"The Nazis viewed
children as a liability and showed them no mercy. It is estimated
that less than 10 percent of Europe’s Jewish children under the age
of sixteen survived the Holocaust. The Nazis also targeted Gypsy
children and all children with mental or physical disabilities. Many
other children starved to death during the war.
When the Nazis rounded
up families, if they wanted to use the parents as laborers, children
were sent to the gas chambers alone, or were shot and buried in mass
graves.
In some instances,
children were allowed to go to the camps with their parents. Some
children were even sent to camps by themselves. Older children,
provided they were healthy and strong, were put to work. Because
conditions in the camps were so bad, most children eventually
succumbed to starvation or disease.
"Nobody knows how many
Jewish children went into hiding. Figures range from 10,000 or
100,000. Many of these children were hidden in monasteries and
convents, on remote farms, in secret rooms in houses, or in
underground sewers. They were never totally safe."
Children
- U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum - watch the movie (see the
picture, "Liberation of Auschwitz").
Proceed to Females in the Camps
Surviving Hitler, 136
For further research:
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