Transcript The Holocaust - Mayfield City Schools

“All that is necessary for the
triumph of evil is that
good men do nothing”
-Edmund Burke
The Nazis placed a great emphasis on encouraging the
children to view what Hitler was doing as being right
Posters encouraged
children into
recognizing that Hitler
was a savoir. Schools
became places to pick
on the Jews
Various efforts were made to ensure that the children were
brought up to believe that the Jews were inferior and a
danger to German people.
Children would be
brought to the front
of the class to see if
they could be
classified as Jews or
not. If they were,
then they would be
humiliated
From 1939 onwards, Jews were rounded up. They were forced to move
out of their homes. To start off with they were sent to areas in cities
designed only for them, called ghettos
Jewish people had:
•Their property confiscated
•They were forced to move
to new areas/ghettos
•They had their citizenship
taken away
PRELUDE TO THE FINAL SOLUTION
• In 1939, Germany
invaded Poland
which had a much
larger population of 3
million Jews.
• In 1941, Germany
invaded Russia
which had a
population of 5
million Jews.
CHANGE OF TACTICS:
EINSATZGRUPPEN
• Himmler sent four specially trained SS units
called “Einsatzgruppen battalions” into German
occupied territory and shot at least 1 million
Jews.
• Victims were taken to deserted areas where
they were made to dig their own graves and
shot.
• When the SS ran out of bullets they sometimes
killed their victims using flame throwers.
CHANGE OF TACTICS:
EINSATZGRUPPEN
THE “FINAL SOLUTION”
• In January 1942, Himmler
decided to change tactics
once again and called a
special conference at
Wannsee.
• At this conference it was
decided that the existing
methods were too
inefficient and that a new
‘Final Solution’ was
necessary.
WANNASEE CONFERENCE
Women, children,
the old & the sick
were to be sent for
‘special treatment.’
The young and fit would go
through a process called
‘destruction through work.’
On arrival the Jews
would go through a
process called
‘selection.’
How was the Final
Solution going to
be organized?
The remaining
Jews were to
be shipped to
‘resettlement
areas’ in the
East.
Conditions in the Ghettos were
designed to be so bad that
many die while the rest would
be willing to leave these areas
in the hope of better conditions
Shooting was too
inefficient as the
bullets were needed
for the war effort
Jews were to be
rounded up and put
into transit camps
called Ghettoes
The Jews living in
these Ghettos were
to be used as a
cheap source of
labor.
WHERE WERE THE DEATH CAMPS BUILT?
The work of the
Einsatzgruppen
Why do you think that they located them here?
WHAT TACTICS DID THE NAZIS USE TO GET
THE JEWS TO LEAVE THE GHETTOS?
Deception
The Jews were told
that they were
going to
‘resettlement
areas’ in the East.
In some Ghettos
the Jews had to
purchase their
own train tickets.
They were told
to bring the
tools of their
trade and pots
and pans.
New arrivals at the
Death camps were
given postcards to
send to their
friends.
Tactics
Terror
The SS publicly shot people
for smuggling food or for
any act of resistance
Starvation
The Jews in the
Warsaw Ghetto were
only fed a 1000
calories a day .
A Human being
needs 2000 calories
a day to maintain
their weight
Hungry people are
easier to control
CHILDREN DYING OF STARVATION IN
THE WARSAW GHETTO
SS TACTICS: DEHUMANIZATION
• The SS guards who murdered the Jews were
brainwashed with Anti-Semitic propaganda.
• The Jews were transported in cattle cars in terrible
conditions.
• Naked, dirty and half starved people look like
animals, which helped to reinforce the Nazi
propaganda.
• The SS used to train their new guards by encouraging
them to set fire to a pit full of live victims – usually
children.
TACTICS: WHAT HAPPENED TO NEW
ARRIVALS?
All new arrivals went
through a process
known as ‘selection.’
Mothers, children,
the old & sick were
sent straight to the
‘showers’ which were
really the gas
chambers.
The able bodied
were sent to work
camp were they
were killed through
a process known as
‘destruction through
work.’
At Auschwitz the
trains pulled into a
mock up of a normal
station.
Deception &
Selection
At Auschwitz the new
arrivals were calmed
down by a Jewish
orchestra playing
classical music.
The Jews were
helped off the cattle
trucks by Jews who
were specially
selected to help the
Nazis
At some death camps
the Nazis would play
records of classical
music to help calm
down the new
arrivals.
Political
Enemies
Habitual
Criminals
Emigrants (Foreign
Forced Laborers)
Jehovah’s
Witnesses
Gay
Males
Asocials
Roma
and Sinti
Basic
Colors
Markings
for
Repeaters
Inmates of
Penal
Battalions
Markings for
Jews
Inmate Number
Jewish Race
Defiler
Female Race Offender
Escape Suspect
Special
Markings
Pole “P” on a
red Triangle
Czech “T” (the
German word for
Czech is Tscheche on
a red triangle
Member of the
Armed Forces
Red Triangle
Special Inmate
Brown arm
band
Applicable marks were worn in descending
order as follows: inmate number, repeater
bar, triangle or star, member of penal
battalion, escape suspect. In this case, the
inmate is a Jewish convict with multiple
convictions, serving in a penal battalion in
exchange for a reduced sentence or
parole.
ENTRANCE TO AUSCHWITZ
Notice how it has been built to resemble a railway
station
AUSCHWITZ, BUCHENWALD ORCHESTRAS
MAP OF AUSCHWITZ
New Arrivals
‘Showers’
‘Destruction
Through
Work’
AUSCHWITZ FROM THE AIR
Notice how the Death
camp is set out like a
factory complex
The Nazis used
industrial methods
to murder the Jews
and process their
dead bodies
THE GAS CHAMBERS
• The Nazis would force
large groups of prisoners
into small cement rooms
and drop canisters of
Zyklon B, or prussic acid,
in its crystal form
through small holes in
the roof.
• These gas chambers
were sometimes
disguised as showers or
bathing houses.
The SS would try and pack up to 2000 people into this gas
chamber
THE OUTSIDE OF THE GAS CHAMBER
Notice the Ovens easy located near the Gas Chambers
PROCESSING THE BODIES
• Specially selected Jews
known as the
sonderkommando were
used to to remove the
gold fillings and hair of
people who had been
gassed.
• The Sonderkommando
Jews were also forced to
feed the dead bodies
into the crematorium.
THE OVENS AT DACHAU
BODIES WAITING TO BE PROCESSED
SHOES WAITING TO BE PROCESSED
BY THE SONDERKOMMANDO
Taken inside a huge glass case in the Auschwitz Museum. This
represents one day's collection at the peak of the gassings, about twenty
five thousand pairs.
DESTRUCTION THROUGH WORK
This photo was taken by the Nazis to show just how
you could quite literally work the fat of the Jews by
feeding them 200 calories a day
DESTRUCTION THROUGH WORK
Same group of Jews 6 weeks later
WAS THE FINAL SOLUTION
SUCCESSFUL?
• The Nazis aimed to kill • Men like Schindler helped
11 million Jews at the
Jews escape the Final
Wannsee Conference in Solution.
1941
• Not all Jews went quietly
• Today there are only
into the gas cambers.
2,000 Jews living in
• In 1943, the Warsaw
Poland
Ghetto, like many others
• The Nazis managed to
revolted against the Nazis
kill at least 6 million
when the Jews realized
Jews
what was really
happening.
HOW DID THE U.S. RESPOND
TO THE HOLOCAUST?
• U.S. had received numerous press reports in the
1930s about the persecution of Jews
• By 1942, U.S. & Great Britain had confirmed reports
about “the final solution”
• Influenced by anti-Semitism and fear of massive
influx of refugees – neither country modified their
refugee or immigration policies
• Stated intention was to defeat Germany militarily
took precedence over rescue efforts