Transcript The Holocaust

The Holocaust
A Nightmare in History
Taken from the book A Nightmare in
History by Miriam Chaikin
Adolf Hitler
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Two core aims:
1) Win power/territory for
Germany
2) Create a master race
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Believed Germans to be
superior and pure blooded
Blue eyed, blond haired
ideal
People of mixed blood are
racially impure/worthless
Pathological hatred of Jews
– wanted a world
“Judenrein” (without Jews
Hitler Comes to Power
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1933 – Elected Der Fuehrer
Begins to put his plan into action:
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1) Begins a march across Europe
Organizes powerful war machine (soldiers,
tanks Europe to start WWI
2) Launches racial plans
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Initiates Nazi party
Army, air force
Of 9 million Jews, only 3 million survived
Attacks against Russians, Poles, Slavs
The Biggest Part of the Nightmare
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Some called Hitler mad
The people around him
were not!
Germany was one of the
most advanced nations
in the world!
“Our words pale before the
frightening spectacle of human
evil unleashed upon the
world…But, we must strive to
understand, we must teach the
lessons of the Holocaust, and
most of all we ourselves must
remember.”
-Former President Jimmy Carter
Holocaust Remembrance Day
1979
Origins of Anti-semitism
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Bible teaches that Noah and his family were good,
all others were evil
Noah builds the ark
Floods sent by God
Noah’s three sons populate different areas of the
world:
Ham – Egypt/Ethiopia
Japheth – Northern lands
Shem – Jews and Arabs (Shemites = anti-Semitism)
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Abraham and his wife Sarah of Ur – first to worship
God
They go to Canaan and find Hebrew people
Their grandson was named Jacob (an angel changes
his name to Israel)
Israelites have several great kings: David and
Solomon
Moses was their prophet
Israelites Conquered
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Israelites were conquered by the Greeks, then
Romans:
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They could still practice their religion
In the 1st century BC there were three groups of
Jewish leaders:
Sadducees (wealthy) – strict to Torah
Essenes – studied; lived in the desert
Pharisees – teachers/preachers (rabbis)
Jesus
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Spoke out against unfair Roman practices
Encouraged compassion
Gets followers who call him
Christ/messiah – sent by God; son of God
His claims were contrary to Jewish belief;
Jews had lost their independence to the
Romans. They were hoping for a messiah
to put the world right again.
Romans in Judea saw Jesus as a “rabble
rouser”. His followers were calling him
King. Jewish court met to try Jesus. He
was turned over to Pontius Pilate for
execution in AD 29.
The Split
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Judeans (Jesus followers)
Jewish Christians
During time of Nero, Rome
was hostile to them; threw
them to the dogs.
AD70 – Jews revolted
Roman soldiers kill Jews and
destroy their temple
Jews banished
Gospels written around this
time AD 70 – AD100
Christians – believe in
Gospels; New Testament
•Traditional Jews –
non-followers of
Jesus
•Jews believe in Old
Testament
Constantine Legalizes Christianity
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Christianity legalized 4th century AD
New laws separate Christianity/Judaism
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Christians can’t marry Jews
Couldn’t visit synagogues
Marrying Jews = death
Sabbath changed to Sunday, not Saturday
Easter celebrated instead of Passover
Suggested Jews be degraded until accepting
Jesus as son of God
Examples: badge of shame = yellow
 Special hats to identify Jews
 Special clothing
 Barred from schools of higher learning
 Threatened with death to convert to Christianity
 Ghettos
 Reminiscent of Exodus (Egypt)
Persecution existed from AD 500 – 1500
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Hitler’s Anti-Semitism
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Hitler said Jews wanted to take over Germany
Excellent public speaker
Germany lost WWI
Massive unemployment
Put blame on Jews for losing war
Germans master race/Jews a force for evil
Jews taking over Germany (1% of population)
Hitler an atheist
Created Storm Troopers (SA) – brown shirts
Created Nazi flag with swastika (ancient symbol of
good luck)
Created a Nazi salute
Nazis were told to beat up Jews
Hitler spoke of a war of revenge against
France/Russia/US
By 1932, the Nazis were the second largest political
party in Germany
By 1933, Der Fuehrer (supreme leader) of Germany
Once Hitler was in Power….
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Abolished freedom of speech/assembly
Bans all but Nazi party
All political enemies were murdered
GOERING
Gestapo
Secret police
Murdered
political enemies
Spied on public
Power over
courts
GOEBBELS
In charge of
propaganda
Control over all
media :
newspapers,
magazines,
movies, radio
HIMMLER
Schutzstaffel (SS) – Security
Squad
Professional elite
Symbol – skull and crossbones
Door to door for enemies
SD department – spied on
themselves looking for traitors!
The Beginning
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First concentration camp built at Dachau
Second camp built at Buchenwald
Nazi SS began beating Jews, mocking
them, humiliating them, looting and
boycotting Jewish stores and homes
Some Jews left and went to America, some
to Palestine
1935 – Anti-semitism becomes part of
German law – Nuremberg Laws of
September 1935 expelled Jewish
professionals, expelled Jews from their
schools, all Jews had to have a “J” stamped
on their papers, and had to change their
names
Hitler gave Jewish jobs and businesses to
Germans – many were grateful.
Goal to deport all Jews from Germany
Annihilation
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March 1938 Germany takes over Austria
Made Jews run until they fainted, climb trees, twitter like
birds, etc. Many deported to Germany and
Czechoslovakia.
Hitler wanted to start a huge war, but his country did not
support it. One Polish Jew shot a German official, the
chance Hitler was waiting for…triggers Kristallnacht in
Germany and Austria. Synagogues, homes, stores
looted.
March 13, 1939 Hitler invades Czechoslovakia
September 1, 1939 invades Poland. Britain and France
have treaties with Poland. They declare war on
Germany, beginning World War II
Polish Jews and refugees from conquered countries try to
flee
 Hitler has Polish Jews wear a 6 point star
 Forced to obtain Jewish ID cards
 Must step off sidewalks for Germans
 Forced to do push ups, dig ditches, clean latrines
with hands, dragged Jewish men off to work
The New Problem
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Jews were everywhere in Poland – about 3.5 million
He couldn’t arrest and ship them elsewhere anymore
New Plan = Vernichtung (annihilation)
Spoke about it in code = final solution
Reinhard Heydrich – forms Einsatzgruppen (special duty
group)
In chage of creating ghettos for 3 ½ million Jews
Build near RR tracks for easy transporting
1940 – Germans conquer Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and
France
SS come and set up ghettos or concentration camps
Jews go into hiding, take new identities, walk to other
countries. Germans offer rewards for information about
Jews.
SS busy searching for other methods of mass killing
Organized 50+ ghettos) slums) around Poland
Christians were moved out
Slums were prisons controlled by armed Nazis
Warsaw Ghetto
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The story of all ghettos
100 square city blocks
Made Jews build a brick enclosure
Around 400,000 Jews packed inside
Most were children/orphans under 15 years
Parents mainly in concentration camps or died of
hunger/disease/ 15 people living in one
apartment
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Little heat
Not enough water
Dirty, crowded streets
People in rags
Kill as many as possible by natural means
Typhus
Corpses
Jews sold what they owned to buy food
Use of terror to keep order
German factories were opening to satisfy war
requirements. Ghettos = labor reservoir
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Repair roads and RR tracks
Repair buildings
Haul brick/cement
Workers beaten with whips
Warsaw Uprising
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Underground groups forming in all major ghettos
One German shot, 4,500 Jews shot in retaliation
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Underground tried to learn German plans
Make underground tunnels
Acted as court for Jews collaborating with Germans
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Found out about death camps
Stole and bought guns/ammunition
Feb. 1943 Himmler orders destruction of Warsaw ghetto. April 19, 1943
(Passover) celebrating the story of the Exodus – Jews win the battle!
Fought off two more times
Bombs dropped on ghetto
Fire set to it
Held out 40 days – longer than Poland and France
Jewish underground killed each other rather than surrender to Nazis
Many buried diaries in hopes that Germany would lose the war
Stage 2
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First death camp Chelmno – December 1941
1941 – Germans invade/occupy Russia
Einsatzgruppen = form Aktion groups – machine gunning masses of
people into graves all around Russia
Jews also rounded up for “resettlement” out of town. Dig pit, shoot
them.
Women/children loaded into gas vans – diesel fuel pumped out of
shower heads.
2 days of shooting, killed 33,771 Jews (2 million by war’s end)
News of massacres reaching ghettos.
December 1941 – Jews in Kolo told they were being sent to work
camps
Gassed at Chelmno -700/day
War spreading at the same time. December 7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor
US declares war on Japan December 8th.
Japan, Germany, Italy (Axis powers) – declare war on US on
December 11th
US, England, Russia (Allies)
July 19, 1942 – Annihilation plans leap forward. More death camps
built. All Polish ghettos ordered emptied.
Treblinka opens 7/23/42, 1 day after Tisha b’Au – 200 years before
Rome destroys Jerusalem and temple
Round-ups
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Trains = cattle cars/comfortably = 40 people – Nazis fit a
hundred
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Used guns and tree trunks to push
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Doors bolted from outside
Auschwitz/Birkenau
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Death and labor camp
“Arbeit Macht Frei” - Work makes a
person free
Routines in death camps similar
Most death camps = all killed on
arrival
About 20% kept for slave
labor/factories set up in camps for war
supplies
Auschwitz had one killing unit;
Birkenau had four
Consisted of:
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Undressing hall
Gas chamber
Crematorium (3 ovens)
Improvement ??
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Hitler was getting nervous as Russian
army was moving closer. Wanted mass
graves dug up and burned. Jewish
prisoners were used for the job. Made
piles of 3,500 which were burned.
Hoess appointed by Hitler to identify
flaws with Treblinka death camp.
Victims knew about the gassing and their
“kicking and screaming slowed down the
process.”
Hoess set up an “improved” situation at
Auschwitz:
 Planted fruit trees/prisoners played
orchestra music
 Used fast acting poison rather than
monoxide
 Capacity to kill 2,000 at a time
Incinerate 4,756 people in a 24 hour
time period
Efficiency at Auschwitz
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Men sent to the right, women to the left
Mengele was the chief medical officer in the SS
Helping Hitler to create the master race
Injected dye into brown-eyed people to make
them blue
Experimented on twins to try to double the
German population
Made selections as trains came in (Right =
death, Left = work)
Luggage sorted and shipped to Germany
Strongest chosen to work
Weak sent to the showers
Constantly dark smoke coming from chimneys
Jews would whisper warnings
To the Right
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Showers/disinfect
Luggage sorted
Cut hair (sold to stuff mattresses, coat
linings, slippers)
Led to gas chamber
Gas pumped from shower heads
Locked doors
Corpses came out the other side
Sonderkommando (Jewish prisoners)
removed bodies
Ashes buried or used as fertilizer
Auschwitz a museum today
To the Left
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Sent to factories/mines/construction projects
Gassed when no longer able to work
Sonderkommando were isolated and periodically
gassed
Prisoners tattooed on the forearm in blue ink
Hair shaved
Given uniform
Slept 8 to a bunk (in straw)
Beaten regularly
Forced to walk on glass, run, jump, crawl, etc.
Always hungry – SS guards often stole rations to
send home to their families!
Pulled out fingernails/water poured down throat to
torture
Allies Get Closer
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1943 – the German army surrenders in
Russia!!
July 1943 – the Allies invade Italy
Still, by the end of 1943, with the exception of
Auschwitz, the surrounding areas were
Judenrein.
The War Ends
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1944 – the war turns to favor the Allies
Soviet troops entered Poland
British and American planes were bombing all over
Allies were planning D-Day invasion, led by Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Problem for Hitler: About one million Hungarian Jews were still alive
Hungary was a war partner with Germany
Hungary reluctant to take the last step of deportation; Germany appeared to be losing the war and
they were getting uncomfortable about being Allies
Hitler got impatient and invaded in March 1944
June 6 – Normandy invasion – Allies start to push Germany out of western Europe.
Soviets are doing the same in the East
Elie Wiesel deported from Hungary – later wins Nobel Peace Prize in 1986
September 1944 – Anne Frank’s family arrives from Holland
As Allies get closer, Sonderkommando stage a revolt and blow up the Auschwitz crematorium. The
Nazis start covering up and dismantling the gas chambers.
Grew grass over burial pits
Burn corpses
Anne and Margot – taken as workers to Bergen Belsen
January 1944 – Warsaw falls to the Soviets
Germans start death marches- marching to German work trains.
8,000 sick prisoners left behind
January 27, 1945 – Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz (Otto Frank)
The War Ends (part 2)
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Allies found “skeletons in striped
rags”
April 11th – 28th – US and Britain
liberate Buchenwald, Dachau, and
Bergen Belsen (Franks had died
of typhus 2 mos. earlier)
Eisenhower said it left him “a bit
sick” but looked so it could never
be called propaganda
George Patton refused to enter
May 7, 1945 – GERMANY
SURRENDERS
What Happened to Hitler?
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Hitler committed suicide in Berlin a few days prior to
Germany’s surrender
Himmler and Goebbels did, too
Goering and Hoess arrested
Other Nazi leaders escaped to the Middle East, Canada, and
the US
Guilty Nazis are still being found today
Japan surrendered August 14, 1945
Jews “awoke from their own horror”
Many were refugees
Some went to former death camps as displaced persons
Many went to British-controlled Palestine
Some of the Heroes
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Quakers
British and USA originally closed doors to Jewish refugees
Italy and Japan helped Jews, yet allied with Germany!
Least help came from countrymen (Poles, etc.)
People of Holland were occupied, but most showed support of Jews
(Frank informant earned $1.40)
Denmark publicly opposed anti-Jewish laws
King Christian X refused to deport Jews
Danish people hid many Jews
Neutral Sweden helped to hide Danish Jews
Finland refused to help Nazis
Germany was forced to honor the passports of neutral countries
Bulgaria fought with Germany but saved the lives of Jews
Nazis executed all who spoke out
Schindler – German-owned factory in Poland – saved many from
death
Raol Wallenberg saved Hungarian Jews
Bought buildings and flew the Swedish flag over them – neutrality.
Saved ½ of the Hungarian Jews
Gestapo tried to assassinate him – disappeared! Went into Soviet
headquarters after liberation.
Jewish legend says 36 good souls exist in every generation of people
– called lamed vav niks – many believe Wallenberg to be lamed vav
nik
After the War
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Reports filtered out to the free world
Churchill – “There is no doubt that this is
probably the greatest and most horrible single
crime ever committed in the whole history of the
world.”
Holocaust was a destruction of an entirety, a
whole. So unprecedented that a new category of
crime was created, the “crime against humanity.”
Many Nazis brought to trial in Germany
(Nuremberg!)
Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson –
representing US at Nuremberg said, “The wrongs
we seek to condemn and punish have been so
calculated, so malignant, so devastating, that
civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored
because it cannot survive their being repeated.”
May 14, 1948 – Jewish state created (Israel)
Invaded by Arabs but Israelis won
Yom Ha Shoa
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Late March/early April remembrance of the
Holocaust
So large a figure as six million people hard to
grasp
Some Jews, after the Holocaust, questioned
“Where was God?”
Some felt that a better question would be,
“Where was man?”