Transcript THE HOLOCAUST

What is genocide?
The deliberate killing of a large group
of people, especially those of a
particular ethnic group or nation
DIRECTIONS
 Analyze each primary source: what
do you think is going on, how does it
make you feel?
 Record your analysis in your chart
 Then I will reveal information about
the photo. Compare your analysis
with the new information: how do you
feel now that you have more
information?
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Photo #1
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Warsaw, Poland, 1925-1926
Prewar photograph
of three Jewish
children with their
babysitter. Two of
the children perished
in 1942.
Warsaw, Poland,
1925-1926
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Photo #2
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Kovno, Lithuania, 1943
Two cousins shortly
before they were
smuggled out of the
Kovno ghetto. A
Lithuanian family hid
the girls and both
survived the war. No
one in their family
survived.
Kovno, Lithuania,
1943
Photo #3
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Berlin, Germany, 1935
An author and actor
who was imprisoned
in 1937 for 27
months for
homosexuality. In
1942, he was
deported to a
concentration camp
where he was a
prisoner for 3 years.
Berlin, Germany,
1935
 Everyday you walked out in the morning,
you see somebody is laying dead,
covered with newspapers…and people
used to carry the dead people in little
wagons, bring them down to the
cemetery and bury them in mass graves.
And every day thousands and thousands
died just from malnutrition because the
Germans didn't give anything for the
people in the ghetto to eat. There was no
such thing. You can't walk in and buy
anything, or getting any rations. It's your
hard luck. If you don't have it, you die,
and that's what it was.
Warsaw Ghetto
Conditions
 Everyday you walked out in the morning,
you see somebody is laying dead,
covered with newspapers…and people
used to carry the dead people in little
wagons, bring them down to the
cemetery and bury them in mass graves.
And every day thousands and thousands
died just from malnutrition because the
Germans didn't give anything for the
people in the ghetto to eat. There was no
such thing. You can't walk in and buy
anything, or getting any rations. It's your
hard luck. If you don't have it, you die,
and that's what it was.
Abraham Lewent,
age 13
Source #4
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Photo #5
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March-August 1942
A prisoner who has
been subjected to
low pressure
experimentation. For
the benefit of the
Luftwaffe, air
pressures were
created comparable
to those found at
15,000 meters in
altitude, in an effort
to determine how
high German pilots
could fly and
survive. (March August 1942)
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Photo #6
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April 16, 1945
Survivors
suffering from
malnutrition and a
variety of other
diseases in a
section of the
hospital barracks.
The inmates in the
upper bunks were
unable to go to
the latrine,
making the
sanitation in this
section intolerable
and immediate
evacuation
necessary. (April
16, 1945)
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Photo # 7
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April 15, 1945
American
soldiers walk
past rows of
corpses
removed from
the barracks
to their left.
(April 11-15,
1945 )
What Do You Do When
This Has Never
Happened Before?
 The word ‘genocide’ did not exist until the
1940s
 There was no legal mechanism for the
international community to respond to
mass-murder against a people
 If a person killed someone on the street,
he/she would be charged with murder
 But what happens if the government
attempted to kill an entire group of
people?
So, What’s the Next Step?
 The Allies worked together to create a
plan that would rid Germany of any
remnants of the Nazi Party and their
beliefs
 Nuremberg Trials
 Held in Nuremberg, Germany from 19451949
 Allied military courts tried more than 200
Nazi and military officials
 Many men pleaded that they were simply
following orders and that Hitler was the
source of all the crimes
 Dozens were sentenced to death for their
roles in the Holocaust and their war
crimes
Impact of the
Nuremberg Trials
 The Nuremberg trials established that all
of humanity would be guarded by an
international legal shield and that even a
Head of State would be held criminally
responsible and punished for aggression
 The failure of the international community
to develop binding norms of international
criminal law was illustrated by the slow
pace of various UN committees with
drafting both a code of crimes against the
peace and security of mankind and the
statutes for an international criminal
court
Ethnic Cleansing v.
Genocide
 Ethnic cleansing as a concept has
generated considerable controversy.
 Ethnic cleansing and genocide can be
distinguished by the intent of the
perpetrator:
 The primary goal of genocide is the
destruction of an ethnic, racial, or
religious group
 The main purpose of ethnic cleansing is
the establishment of ethnically
homogeneous lands, which may be
achieved by any of a number of methods
including genocide.
Directions:
Read “Defining Genocide” and
answer the guided questions. Be
prepared to share your answers
with the class
Time: 15 minutes
Never Again… Never
Happened
 Nazis were not
isolated
incidents, which
we have since
consigned to
history.
 Hundreds of
thousands and
in some cases
millions of
people have
been murdered
in:
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Russia
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Cambodia 
Chile
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Philippines 
Congo
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Bangladesh 
Uganda
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Iraq
Indonesia
East Timor
El Salvador
Burundi
Argentina
Somalia
Chad
Yugoslavia
Rwanda