Transcript The Holocaust

The
Holocaust
An examination of
the crimes of the
Nazis
Yellow - Jew
Brown - Gypsy
Violet - Jehovah's Witness
Pink - Homosexual
Green - Habitual criminal
Red - Political prisoner
Black - Asocial
Blue - Emigrant
SHOAH - a great terrible
wind
(Hebrew)
HOLOCAUST(Greek): Holos
means “whole”, caustos
means
“burnt”.
HOLOCAUST is an example
of GENOCIDE.
The United Nations
Convention of 1948 defines
genocide as
“acts committed to destroy
in whole or in part a national,
ethnical, racial or religious
groups.”
Genocide in History
1904-5: annihilation of Herero
in Africa by German settlers.
1915-16: Turks massacre 1 M.
Armenians.
German
Imperialism
in S.W. Africa
(Namibia)
Armenians
killed by
Turks
1965-66: 1 M communists and
their families massacred by
Indonesian army.
1972: 150,000 Hutus massacred
by ruling Tutsis in Burundi.
1975-79: Up to 2 M.
Cambodians murdered by
Khmer Rouge in Kampuchea.
1975-2002: 200,000 Timorese
murdered by Indonesian army.
Brazilian Indians by
destruction of rainforests.
“Ethnic Cleansing” in former
Yugoslavia.
Two Approaches to
Examining this history:
When they examine the factors which
enabled the Holocaust to occur they are
then what is called FUNCTIONALIST.
When they believe that from the moment
of the Nazis gaining of power that all
Jewry was to be annihilated then this is
what is called an INTENTIONALIST.
Steps to Genocide
1. You have no right to live
among us as Jews.
2. You have no right to live
among us.
3. You have no right
to live.
Deaths caused by the
Nazis
Jews
Soviets sold./civil.
Polish civilians
Yugoslavian civilians
Handicapped
Gypsies
Gays/Pol. Pris./res.
5-6 million
5 million
1 million
1 million
70,000
200,000
Unknown
Anti-Semitism: A History
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
The revolutions in Judea under
Roman rule…Diaspora.
The Crusades.
The Enlightenment.
19th Century nationalism.
In the late 19th cent. Jews were
seen as anti-nationalist: they
were Zionists.
Two Peoples One
Religion
Sephardim: means
Spain; refers to
Jews in the
Mediterranean
basin.
They speak Ladino;
eat couscous;
listen to Oriental
music.
 Ashkenazim: means
Germany; all Jews
living in western,
central and eastern
Europe…and North
America.
 Speak Yiddish:
Hebrew + Medieval
German.
 Listen to Slavic
melodies.
The Nazi Approach
Step One:
Nuremberg Laws (1935)
Jews could not enjoy German
citizenship
Step Two:
Forced ghettoization.
Especially in Poland.
Step Three:
The Final Solution 1942
Killing factories.
The Evian Conference, July, 1938:
Many countries discuss why they
can’t accept refugees.
“Suppose the conference actually
does find territories other than
Palestine to shelter Jewish
refugees? If other doors are open,
it will damage Zionism in Palestine!
Better the conference comes to no
decision.” David Ben-Gurion (18861973) future PM of Israel.
“If the international Jewish
financiers in and outside Europe
should succeed in plunging the
nations once more into a world
war, then the result will be not
the Bolshevization of the earth
and thus the victory of Jewry,
but the annihilation of the
Jewish race in Europe.” Hitler,
January, 1939, speaking the the
German parliament.
There was a plan to ship Jews to
Madagascar, but with Britain still
fighting on, this was scrapped in
the summer of 1940.
Shipped to centralized locations
in Poland; ghettos (once more).
Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin
were the most popular cities
with Jewish ghettos.
“Non-productive” Jews were taken
out of the ghettos for “resettlement”.
The approach to a solution.
The Final Solution
Several ways of mass killing
were utilized, but they were slow
and psychologically painful on
the murderers: shooting and
carbon-monoxide.
Solution: Zyklon B
On January 20, 1942, the aims
of the Final Solution were
dictated:
11 million JEWS in Europe. 4.5
are in German held areas, 5 are
in Russia.
All are to be gathered in the
East.
They are to be used as slave
labour. Most will die from
disease, starvation, and
brutality.
Jews will be taken to transit
ghettos and then to camps.
The Economics of the
Final Solution.
Nearly 500,000 slave labourers
were used in German industry.
Many companies found in
Germany today utilized this force:
Krupp Steel, I.G. Furban
Chemicals, Siemans, Graetz, and
Krone-Presswerk.
Most produced war material.
Auschwitz-Birkinau
The most
infamous
camp: 1/5th of
all killings
3 camps
Zyklon-B used
in gassing.
Thirty minutes.
12,000 a day
In two months
the entire
Jewish
population of
Hungary was
murdered.
Jewish Resistance
No chances
Many collaborated with Nazis to
hunt down Jewish people.
Warsaw Ghetto, April 18, 1943.
Treblinka Death Camp Rebellion,
summer, 1943.
By December, 1941, reports had
been received by the allies of the
genocide going on.
Two Czech Jews that had
escaped from Auschwitz had
evidence of what was happening
and numbers; both were
registrars in the camp.
The Allies chose not to believe
this.
By August, 1944, aerial
photographs of Auschwitz
were taken.
Chimneys of the crematoria
could be seen.
Rather than bomb that, the
Americans aimed at Auschwitz
III, the synthetic rubber factory.
In the end it was felt that
bombing death camps would
endanger crews.
War Crimes and Trials
Holocaust crimes were not
pursued as fervently as other
crimes.
Especially by the British.
Of the thousands involved in the
Holocaust only a fraction have
been brought to justice.
More Japanese soldiers/leaders
were executed than Germans.
Many prominent businessmen
who benefited by the slave
labour, were not punished, or
were given light sentences.
The Endurance of AntiSemitism
In Poland nine months after the
war, more than one thousand
Jews were murdered in a series
of pogroms.
Revisionist historians seek to
prove that the Holocaust is a
Jewish conspiracy.
Japanese War Crimes
Comfort Women:
Sex slaves for
Japanese Soldiers
One woman was required for every
thirty-five soldiers.
100,000 plus women were forced
into this.
Eighty percent were Korean.
The rest Taiwanese or Filipino.
Few of them have ever been
compensated.
POW Abuse & Murder
Death rate for POWs in Nazi
camps: 3%
Death rate for POWs in
Japanese camps: 37%.
Nan king Massacre
Nanjing Massacre Dec. ‘37- Mar. ‘38
300,000 massacred Chinese
were in Nanjing.
Over 20,000 women were
raped.
Japanese Diet members commemorating
the service of their war criminals, i.e. Matsui
Iwane of the Nanking Massacre
http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/NanjingMassacre/NMB&
J.html
Canadian Crimes…Somalia
Canadian Airborne
Regiment on U.N.
Peacekeeping Mission
to Belet Huen,
Somalia.
Under U.N. Charter 7,
same as Korean War
and Gulf War.
Somalia was engaged
in a civil war.
Members tortured a
Somali boy, Aaron, till
he died from his
wounds.
The mission met with
violence every day.
They did meet their
objectives.