Transcript The Holocaust

The Holocaust
1933-1945
Vocabulary
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Holocaust: mass destruction or loss of life
Concentration Camp: guarded compound
for detainees during the Holocaust
Anti-semitism: hatred towards the Jewish
Liberation: to set free
Liquidate: to get rid of, eliminate or kill
Ghetto: section of the city where Jewish
were forced to live
Synagogue: Jewish place of worship
Holocaust
Plan to exterminate Jewish
population during Nazi regime
 Targets: Jewish, Communists,
homosexuals, disabled, Russians,
Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, etc.
 Mastermind: Nazi leader Adolf Hitler
 Mein Kampf outlined plan
 German race superior, others inferior
 Between 10-12 million died
 90% of Polish Jewish exterminated
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How Did They Know?
Nazis would demand membership list
from synagogues
 Those suspected had to prove they
were not Jewish (produce certificates
of baptism)
 Following traditions (eating only
kosher food, dress, etc)
 Association & whereabouts
 Family background
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Why the Jewish?
Majority of Europe was anti-Semetic
 Anti-Semetic pamphlets distributed
 Jealousy
 Jewish were only group singled out for
extermination
 Nazi propaganda
 Threat to Germany
 Interfered w/ Aryan dominance
 Criminals
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The Beginning…
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Hitler gained power in 1933
Spoke of Jewish hatred
Used propaganda to rally Jewish hatred
Education geared towards war & antiSemitism (pg. 16)
Turned all aspects of German life against
Jewish
Boycott Jewish Business
Hitler on Education
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“I do not want an intellectual
education. I want young people who
will grow up to frighten the
world…arrogant, violent, unafraid,
cruel youth who must be able to
suffer pain. Nothing tender and weak
must be left in them.”
The Beginning Cont….
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Nuremberg Laws passed in 1935
Citizenship & civil rights deprived
Forced out of public life:
Couldn’t go to public schools, theatres,
walk in certain parts of city/town
removed from professions
Kristallnacht “Night of Broken
Glass” pg. 24
Violence against Jews
 Synagogues burned
 Businesses trashed
 Cemeteries, hospitals, and schools
looted (pg. 24)
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Fleeing Germany
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By 1938, roughly 500,000 fled Germany
Thousands fled to Palestine, Belgium,
Czechoslovakia, Holland, Britain, Sweden
& France
Dominican Republic openly allowed
refugees
Voyage of the St. Louis
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SS St. Louis, a German ocean liner
936 passengers left Germany May of 1936
All had passports for Cuba in hopes of
emigrating to U.S. (waiting list)
Turned away when they reached Havana
U.S. Coast guard did not allow entry
Returned to Europe (288 got off in
England)
Belgium, Holland, and France took the rest
(perished in the Holocaust)
Evian Conference
Conference held in 1938 to discuss
issue of increasing Jewish refugees
 Hitler welcomed emigration of Jewish
 Other countries would not accept
Jewish refugees or set quotas
 Failed economies, Anti-Semitism &
distrust of foreigners, racial problems
 Most Jewish remained in Germany
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Pg. 26
And it Begins…
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In 1940, forced to relocate to ghettos
Usually marked off the oldest, most run down sections
of cities.
11 mile wall built to keep from escaping
Guards stationed throughout
Living conditions miserable; 70,000 died in 2 years.
Trolley cars still ran through. Outside passengers
gawked and sneered at ghetto prisoners
Jewish Council
Ghetto Life Description
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“Life in the ghettos was usually
unbearable. Overcrowding was common.
An apartment might have several families
living in it. Plumbing broke down, and
human waste was thrown in the streets
with the garbage. Contagious diseases
spread rapidly in such cramped,
unsanitary housing. People were always
hungry. Germans deliberately tried to
starve residents. During winter, heating
and fuel was scarce, and most lacked
adequate clothing. Tens of thousands died
in the ghettos from illness, starvation, and
Resistance
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Revolts in over 100 ghettos
Armed themselves w/ any weapon
possible
Thousands escaped & hid in forests
Resisters met w/ extreme force
Auschwitz: 4 prisoners stole & dressed in
SS gear stole an automobile & drove out
main gate
Warsaw Ghetto: pg. 70
And it Begins…
1939: “Incurably ill” first to die
 Ex.
 Babies born w/ disability
 Mentally ill
 Killed by starvation, lethal injection &
gas chambers
 German hospitals released
information
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Pg. 32
Mobile Killing Squads
After Soviet Union invasion in 1941
 Emigration turned to mass murder
 SS soldiers killed any Jews they
could find
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Pg. 42
Final Solution
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Solving “The Jewish Question”
Ghettos not killing fast enough
Final Solution: Ghetto survivors deported
to death camps for extermination
The SS rounded up ghetto survivors for
deportation
On the Train
Most did not know reason for
boarding trains
 Crammed into boxcars until no room
left
 No seats, bathrooms & only had
slated openings as windows.
 When doors opened, the passengers
felt relief as nothing could have been
worse than the train ride.
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Concentration Camps
6 main death & labor camps
 Built near railroad line for
faster transportation
 Up to 1,500
 Transit & detention camps
 Death camps: Auschwitz, Treblinka,
Majdanek, etc
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NaziGerman_concentration_camps
Camp Arrival
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Women, children, elderly & sick
immediately sent to “showers”
Greeted by SS soldier (physician) to make
decision on slave labor
Others segregated by sex
Possessions taken away, heads shaved,
uniforms issued & numbers tattooed
Medical experiments conducted on
inmates
Camp Life
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10-12 hr labor
Confined to
crowded barracks
Infested with bugs
& rats
Little to no
sanitation
Food ration
depended on labor
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1300 calories for
less demanding
1700 for physical
Leveled grounds,
Laying of roads &
bricks
Digging ditches
Camp Life
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The prisoners' day began at 4:30 am with "reveille" or roll
call, with 30 minutes allowed for morning ablutions. After
roll call, workers would walk to their place of work, five
abreast, wearing striped camp fatigues, no underwear, and
wooden shoes without socks, most of the time ill-fitting,
which caused great pain. A prisoner's orchestra was forced
to play grotesquely cheerful music as the workers marched
through the gates in step. Prisoners who had been
promoted to foremen—were responsible for the prisoners'
behavior while they worked, as was an SS escort. The
working day lasted 12 hours during the summer, and a
little less in the winter. No rest periods were allowed. One
prisoner would be assigned to the restrooms to measure
the time the workers took.
Medical Experiments
Freezing Tests
 Sea Water Tests
 Malaria Experiments
 Bone & Muscle Transplants
 Head Injury Experiments
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Experiments on Twins
Dr. Josef “Uncle” Mengele
 Twins singled out immediately
 Received “special treatment”
 “Mengle’s Children”
 Eye Injections
 Shots & Disease Injections
 Surgeries
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Executions
Death marches
 Mass shootings
 Gas Chambers
 Hanging
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Prior to Gas Chamber Entrance
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Speech given a group of Greek Jews in the
undressing room shortly before the group was led
into the gas chamber to be killed:
"On behalf of the camp administration I bid you
welcome. This is not a holiday resort but a labor
camp. Just as our soldiers risk their lives at the
front to gain victory for the Third Reich, you will
have to work here for the welfare of a new
Europe. How you tackle this task is entirely up to
you. The chance is there for every one of you.
We shall look after your health, and we shall also
offer you well-paid work. After the war we shall
assess everyone according to his merits and treat
him accordingly."
Killing Centers
Strip down and turn over all their
valuables
 Steel door was locked behind once
inside
 Poison (Zyklon B) emitted
 Die within minutes from lack of oxygen
 Bodies burned in crematoria or mass
graves
 Bodies pillaged for profit (gold teeth)
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Escape?
End of Holocaust
Inmates forced on death marches
after news of Allies arrival
 Germans attempt to destroy camps
to hide evidence
 Camps liberated by Allies w/ few
survivors (100,000-200,000)
 End of war in 1945 signifies end of
Holocaust
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Death Marches
Soviets closed in
 Mass movement of camp inmates
 March long distances without food or
water
 If you fell behind, you were shot and
killed.
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Allied Liberation
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Soviets 1st arrived in July 1944
Auschwitz, January 1945
Americans freed survivors of Dachau
“There were about a dozen bodies in the dirty
boxcar, men and women alike. They had gone
without food so long that their dead wrists were
broomsticks tipped with claws. These were the
victims of a deliberate starvation diet…”
Survivors died within days
Guilt fell upon survivors
Nuremburg Trials
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1946: Trials held to prosecute Nazi war
criminals
Prosecuted for initiating war, Holocaust,
etc.
21 Nazi war officials sentenced to death or
life imprisonment
International Response
Could Allies have saved more lives?
 Countries set up quotas
 Alaska as a safe haven?
 Bombing of concentration camps?
 Aside from Denmark & Bulgaria,
most occupied countries cooperated
 Pope expressed sympathy, but
remained neutral
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Full Support?
Not all of Germany agreed, but most
went along
 Some aided Jewish in hiding
 Italy & Japan would not cooperate &
refused to deport Jewish
 Japanese accepted refugees
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Supporters
Righteous Among the Nations:
 Non-Jewish who risked life by
helping Jewish to avoid
extermination
 Ex. Miep Gies: aid provided to Anne
Franke
 Nominated by Jewish family
 Receive award, certificate,
gratification, etc.
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Holocaust Denial
Claims:
-Gas chambers not used
-Nazi never authorized or intended to
exterminate Jewish
-# of deaths exaggerated
-Myth created by Allies to demonize
Germany
-Survivor testimonies unreliable
-Denial illegal in 17 countries
Propaganda
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“Germans defend yourselves; don’t purchase from the Jews!”
Arrival
Right: Slave Labor
Left: Gas Chambers
Holocaust Map
Warsaw Uprising
Deportation
“Work Makes One Free”
Aushwitz Today
Roll Call
Barracks
Life in the Barracks
Shoes & Clothing
Overflowing Warehouse
Bales of Human Hair
Liberation
After Liberation
Children Being Liberated
Citizens Confronted
Aushwitz Today
Review…
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1) What was the Holocaust?
2) What Nazi leader led the Holocaust?
3) What are 2 ways Jewish people were
forced from public life?
4) What were the Nuremberg Laws?
5) Where were Jewish people forced to
live before deportation?
6) Where were Jewish people deported to?
7) What did the Final Solution state?
8) How did the Holocaust end?
Holocaust Timeline
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Kristallnacht
Camps Liberated
Hitler becomes
Chancellor
Hitler Commits Suicide
Nuremburg Trials*
Nuremburg Laws
Passed*
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Massive Deportation
Begins
Holocaust Ends
WWII Begins
Jewish relocated to
Ghettos