Transcript Night by Elie Wiesel - JordanEnglishHonors2

The Holocaust
1933-1945
 In Greek, Holocaust means sacrifice by
fire or burnt whole.
 After World War II, the murder of six
million Jews by the Nazis came to be
known as The Holocaust.
 However, nearly 6 million
more non-Jews were
killed by the Nazis in
the same period.
Genocide
 Genos + cide
 (race) + (killing) = the murder of a race
 The word was created after World War II
to describe what had happened to the
Jews.
 A particular race or ethnic group is
blamed for a problem (scapegoating),
and the solution is seen as exterminating
them.
 Ex. Rwanda, Armenia, Darfur (Sudan)
Adolf Hitler,
Fuehrer of
Nazi Germany.
Nazis
(Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party)
 Adolf Hitler was elected the leader of
Germany in 1933, representing the Nazi
party.
 He quickly proclaimed himself dictator.
 Nazi beliefs: Germans (Aryans) were
“racially superior” and the “master race.”
 Nazis blamed Jews for the economic
depressions and the Germany’s defeat in
WWI.
Judaism
 A religion based on the Old Testament
whose followers worship a JudeoChristian god. Jewish people do not
believe that Jesus Christ was the son of
God. Their place of worship is called a
synagogue.
 Being Jewish is not just about religion,
but about culture. There are Jewish
foods, holidays, and even languages
(Yiddish and Hebrew).
Victims






Roma (Gypsies)
Polish
Homosexuals
Mentally/physically handicapped
Russians
Anyone who helped or sheltered Jewish people
or anyone on the list above
 According to Nazi rationale, everyone on
the list above would “weaken” the Aryan
race.
Extermination
 The Nazis tried many methods to kill
the Jews systematically and
efficiently.
 It was too expensive and time
consuming to shoot them one by
one, so they tried mass killings,
forcing the prisoners to dig a huge
grave before killing them.
Methods:
 Limited Rights:
Jews couldn’t
participate in
government, go to
school, marry anyone
other than Jews, or
property. Doctors and
dentists weren’t allowed
to practice.
own
Ghettos
 The Nazis' ghettos were a preliminary
step in the annihilation of the Jews,
rather than a method to just isolate them
from the rest of society.
 As the war against the Jews progressed,
the ghettos became transition areas,
used as collection points for deportation
to death camps and concentration
camps.
 Jews could not leave the ghettos and
they were forced to wear badges with the
Star of David.
Jews were often sent to ghettos
before transport to the camps.
Deportation and
Imprisonment
 Jews were forced to leave their homes or
the ghettos and
travel to
concentration
camps on cattle
cars.
Children Being Sent to
Their Death.
 Children from an
orphanage in
Marysin, Poland wait
in line to board a
truck which will take
them to the Chelmno
concentration camp
where they will be
killed.
Homeless Children
in the Ghetto
In the Warsaw Ghetto
 A young man in the
Warsaw ghetto eats
some food. Ration
cards allowed ghetto
residents only 300
calories of food daily,
a small fraction
needed for
sustaining health.
Concentration
Camps
Prisoners in Buchenwald
Murder
 Jews and other victims were killed.
 The Nazis found shooting and burying
the dead to be too “costly and inefficient.”
 The Final Solution: a Nazi plan to use
crematories and gas chambers to kill the
Jews en masse.
 Six death camps were built and kept
going around the clock, killing thousands
each day.
An execution in front of a
mass grave.
 German soldiers of the
Waffen-SS and the
Reich Labor Service look
on as a member of
Einsatzgruppe D
prepares to shoot a
Ukrainian Jew kneeling
on the edge of a mass
grave filled with the
bodies of previous
victims.
Awaiting Execution
 Jewish women and
children who have
already surrendered
their belongings form a
small group as others in
the background are
ordered to discard their
outer clothing and their
possessions prior to
execution. Photograph
was taken October 16,
1941 in Lubny, the
Ukraine.
Timeline:
 1933-1939: Jews’ rights were limited and
property seized.
 1938: Kristallnacht (30,000 Jews were arrested
in a 2-day period and homes/businesses were
attacked.)
 1939: Hitler began attacking all Jews in
Europe, not just in Germany.
 1940: Germany conquered Denmark, Norway,
the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg,
France, Yugoslavia and Greece.
 1941-1945: Most of the killing took place. By
1945 2 out of 3 European Jews had been
killed.
 May 1945: Nazi Germany collapsed. Hitler
committed suicide on April 30, 1945.
Setting:
 Most death camps were in Germany and
Poland.
 Many Jews left Europe while they could
and went to Palestine in the Middle East.
 Eventually these Jews founded a Jewish
state known today as Israel.