Transcript Death Camps

6,000,000
Important
Jewish Terms
Judaism – the faith
and practice of the
Jewish people. It
emphasizes belief
in one God, who is
the Creator of the
universe and the
highest source of
morality and
values.
Hasidic Jews
– Members
of a strict
Jewish sect.
Hasidim
means
“pious one.”
Cabbala – A system of Jewish
theosophy (intuitive knowledge
of spiritual reality), mysticism,
and magic.
Synagogue – the meeting place
for Jewish worship.
Torah – the first five books of
the Hebrew Bible.
Talmud – a collection of
teachings of early rabbis. It is
next in importance to the
Hebrew Bible.
Kaddish – a
prayer said as
part of the
mourning rituals
in Judaism at
funerals and
memorials.
Sabbath – the 7th day – and the
holy day – of the Jewish week.
It is set aside for worship and
rest.
Passover – an 8-day festival
commemorating the freeing of
the Israelites from Egypt.
Rosh
Hashanah –
the Jewish
New Year
Yom Kippur – the
holiest day of the
Jewish calendar.
It is a solemn day
of fasting and
atonement.
Symbols of
the
Holocaust
The Swastika – the
symbol of the Nazi Party
The Original Meaning
The word "swastika" comes from the
Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good,"
"asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a
suffix.
Until the Nazis used this symbol, the
swastika was used by many cultures
throughout the past 3,000 years to
represent life, sun, power, strength,
and good luck.
Even in the early twentieth century, the
swastika was still a symbol with positive
connotations. During World War I, the
swastika could even be found on the
shoulder patches of the American 45th
Division and on the Finnish air force until
after World War II.
Change in Meaning
In the 1800s, countries around
Germany were growing much larger,
forming empires; yet Germany was not
a unified country until 1871. To
counter the feeling of vulnerability
and the stigma of youth, German
nationalists in the mid-nineteenth
century began to use the swastika,
because it had ancient Aryan/Indian
origins, to represent a long
Germanic/Aryan history.
By the end of the nineteenth century,
the swastika could be found on
nationalist German volkisch periodicals
and was the official emblem of the
German Gymnasts' League.
In the beginning of the twentieth
century, the swastika was a common
symbol of German nationalism and
could be found in a multitude of places
such as the emblem for the
Wandervogel, a German youth
movement; on Jörg Lanz von
Liebenfels' antisemitic periodical Ostara;
on various Freikorps units; and as an
emblem of the Thule Society.
Hitler and the Nazis
In 1920, Adolf Hitler decided that the Nazi
Party needed its own insignia and flag. For
Hitler, the new flag had to be "a symbol of
our own struggle" as well as "highly
effective as a poster." (Mein Kampf, pg. 495)
On August 7, 1920, at the Salzburg
Congress, this flag became the official
emblem of the Nazi Party.
Yellow Star- Yellow cloth
Star of David sewn to
clothing to identify Jews
Holocaust
Terminology
Holocaust- Term used to refer to
the systematic murder of 6
million Jews by the Nazis
between 1933 and 1945. Also
included the extermination of
Gypsies and Poles.
Holo- whole
Caustos – burned
Religious rite in which an offering
was consumed by fire
Nazi- Acronym for the
National Socialist
German Workers Party
Third Reich – Meaning
“third regime or
empire,” the Nazi
designation of
Germany and its
regimes from 1933 –
1945.
Historically, the First Reich was the medieval
Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806.
The Second Reich included the German
empire from 1871 – 1918.
Gestapo abbreviation for
Geheime Staatspolizei
(Secret State Police).
SS- Guard detachments
originally formed in 1925 as
Hitler’s personal guard. The
SS developed into the most
powerful affiliated
organization of the Nazi
party. In 1934, they
established control of the
police and security systems,
forming the basis of the
Nazi police state and the
major instrument of racial
terror in the concentration
camps and occupied
Europe.
Prejudice– An attitude toward a person
or a group of people formed without
adequate information
Anti-Semitism - discrimination or
persecution of Jews
Juden- German word for “Jews”
Aryan- racial term used by Nazis to
describe a “race” they believed to be
superior. It has no biological validity.
Ghetto- Usually established in
the poor section of a city
where Jews, from the city
and surrounding area, were
forced to live.
Often surrounded by barbed wire
or walls, the ghettos were sealed.
Established mostly in eastern
Europe (e.g., Lodz, Warsaw, Vilna,
Riga, or Minsk), the ghettos were
characterized by overcrowding,
malnutrition, and heavy labor. All
were eventually dissolved, and the
Jews murdered.
Deportation- The
forced removal of Jews
in Nazi occupied lands to
concentration camps
Concentration Camp a place
where political prisoners were kept
Dachau the first German
concentration camp established on
March 20, 1933 and liberated on
April 28, 1945
Auschwitz a Nazi camp located in
Poland, notorious as an
extermination center
Belsen a Nazi concentration
camp and extermination center in
Germany
Buchenwald a Nazi
concentration camp and
extermination center in Germany.
It is liberated on April 11, 1945
Mauthausen a Nazi
concentration camp in Austria
Rabbi - Leader of a
Jewish congregation,
similar to the role of a
priest or minister
Kapo - A concentration
camp inmate appointed
by the SS to be in
charge of a work gang
Selection: the
process of
choosing victims
for the gas
chambers in the
Nazi camps by
separating them
from those
considered fit to
work
Death Camps-Nazi centers
of murder and extermination
Death Camps
All were located in Poland.
Chelmno
Sobibor
Belzec
Treblinka
Auschwitz-Birchenau
Majdanek
Gas chambers: Large chambers
in which people were executed by
poison gas. These were built and
used in Nazi death camps.
Zyklon-B- The gas used to kill
Jews in the gas chamber at the
death camps.
Crematoriums furnaces where human
bodies were burned
Death MarchesThe marches
imposed upon
prisoners by the
Nazis in order to
keep them from
liberation by the
Allied forces
.
Genocide: The deliberate and
systematic destruction of a racial,
political, cultural, or religious group.
Final Solution: The Nazi plan to
exterminate all of the Jews in Europe.
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