Holocaust

World War II The Holocaust

Hitler and Nazism  Hitler’s

vision of Europe  Germanic people- Aryans  All non-Aryan people were inferior  Lead to Holocaust- systematic mass slaughter of Jews and other groups judged inferior by Nazis

Jews in Germany  Jews

were blamed for defeat in WWI and economic problems  1935- Nuremburg Laws- deprived Jews of their rights to German citizenship – No marriages Jews to non-Jews  Limited

work they could do

Kristallnacht (night of broken glass)

 November

9, 1938  Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, synagogues  Murdered 100+ Jews  Marked start of eradication of Jewish population

Refugees  Many

Jews began to flee to other countries to seek refuge  France, GB, USA- later started to refuse admission of Jewish Refugees.

 Hitler

began to think of another plan.

Isolation  Made

Jews move to designated

cities.  Made them go to ghettossegregated areas

– Sealed areas with barbed wire and stone walls  Hoped

they would starve and die

 Jews

fought hard to stay alive

– Keep traditions – Created theaters and schools – Kept records of happenings.  Still

have these today.

“Final Solution”  Hitler

wanted a more direct action  Genocide  Believed

they had to eliminate all non-German society  Gypsies, Poles, Russians, homosexuals, insane, disabled, ill  ESPECIALLY Jews

Killing Begins  SS

moves from town to town looking for Jews – Rounded up men, women, children – Put in pits and killed.

 Those

not found by killing squads sent to concentration camps, or slave-labor prisons

Concentration Camps  Worked

7 days a week  Guards severely beat or killed prisoners who were not working fast enough  Given very little food (some ate mud instead)- lost weight very quickly  AND

THESE WERE THE EASY TIMES!!

ď ľ

View of the entrance to the main camp of Auschwitz (Auschwitz I). The gate bears the motto "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes one free).

“Final Solution” End Stage  Nazis built extermination camps equipped with huge gas chambers  Could kill 6,000+ a day  Auschwitz- largest of extermination camps 

Auschwitz 







 

Prisoners would walk in front of SS doctors Strong were separatedmostly men Rest were labeled weak and take to take a shower Undressed, put into showers with fake showerheads.

Then gassed Later Nazis installed ovens to cremate the bodies

The note reads: Harmful gas!

Entering endangers your life

Survivors Elie Wiesel  “Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath the silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever…Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust…Never.” 

– Night

Original Jewish Population 3,300,000

Jews Killed Percent Surviving 2,800,000

15%

2,100,000

1,500,000

29%

Hungary

404,000

200,000

49%

Romania

850,000

425,000

50%

Germany/

270,000

210,000

22%

Poland Soviet Untion

(occupied

by Germany

Questions 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Define: Aryan, Holocaust, ghetto, “final solution”, genocide What Nazi actions were part of the “final solution”?

What was the reaction of Jews when Hitler made his views on a “master race” public?

What Nazi action marked the final stage of the “final solution”?

Why might people want to blame a minority group for most of their country’s problems?

What impact did the Holocaust have on the Jewish population of Europe?