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The Holocaust
The Holocaust Defined
The Holocaust was the organized murder of at least _____________ European
Jews by the Nazis during World War II. The Holocaust was the largest
_______________ in history.
Genocide – the attempt to kill an entire ethnic or
religious group of people.
Anti-Semitism – prejudice against Jewish people.
By 1945 at least 66% of the European Jews were killed, with __________ losing
91% of it’s over 3 million Jews. The Nazis also killed a half million gypsies,
250,000 disabled persons, and over 3 million ___________ POWs. Jehovah’s
Witnesses, the clergy, homosexuals, and intellectuals were also victims.
The Ghettos
During WWII the Nazis spread anti-Semitism into nations
they conquered. In occupied Poland Jews had to wear a
yellow ____________________ and were then forced into
____________, or inner city slums.
Poland’s ______________ ghetto was only a few square
miles but housed 500,000 people. The ghetto was sealed
off to prevent escapes.
The Nazis used three main tools to control and force Jews into ghettos:
1. _______________ - Jews were told they were being sent to
“resettlement areas” in the east, and advised to
pack, bring valuables and the tools of their trade.
2. _______________ - People need 2,400 calories a day, but the Nazis
fed the Jews only _____ which made them weak
and easy to control.
3. _______________ - The SS frequently performed on-the-spot public
___________________.
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Einsatzgruppen
When the Nazis invaded the USSR the ______________________, or specially
trained SS killing groups, followed the army to kill Jews and create lebensraum
for Germans in the east.
The Einsatzgruppen brought Jews to _______________ areas and forced them
to give up their valuables and take off their clothes. Many were forced to dig
mass graves and then shot while kneeling at the edge of the pit. Some were
buried alive.
The Einsatzgruppen also used “_______________.” The exhaust from the van
was piped into the back of the van, and then later into a nearby building filled
with prisoners.
Einsatzgruppen squads killed around ___________
people, but this required valuable fuel, manpower,
ammunition, and time, so the Nazis sought a more
_______________ killing plan.
The Death Camps
In 1942 the Nazis decided gassing at ________________ was much faster than
the Einsatzgruppen. Although he referred to the Holocaust with code words, few
historians doubt Hitler was directly involved. Hitler called the Holocaust “the
_________________________ to the Jewish question,” and the “clean sweep.”
All new arrivals to the death camps went through
“______________.” Children, the old and sick were sent
straight to the “________________,” which were really
the gas chambers. The healthy were sent to labor
camps where they died from hard labor and starvation.
The Nazis succeeded in keeping the Holocaust a secret, and those who knew
had no idea it was on such a __________ scale.
The Nazis crammed hundreds at a time in the gas
chambers and dropped ______________ (gas)
through holes in the ceiling. After a few minutes the
prisoners painfully _________________ to death.
__________________ was the largest death camp where 9,000 Jews could be
gassed and __________________ a day. Around 1.5 million people were killed
at Auschwitz.
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Jewish prisoners known as ___________________
first removed the hair, clothes, jewelery, and gold
fillings from the dead, and then shoved the bodies
into giant _________. After four months they were
executed, cremated, and replaced with new arrivals.
Auschwitz was designed to look like a
_______________________________ to deceive
incoming Jews. Jews were also greeted by an
orchestra playing classical music. Auschwitz was
organized like a _____________ complex, which
disguised its true purpose from overhead planes.
Nazi doctors performed gruesome __________________ on prisoners. Jews
were boiled, frozen, poisoned, and cut to pieces. Some even shrunk heads, and
made lampshades from ________.
The Nuremberg Trials
After the war the Axis leaders were tried for
“crimes against ________________,” which
included deportation, enslavement, murder,
extermination and other atrocities.
At the Nuremberg Trials many top Nazis
received death sentences, while others were
imprisoned. Einsatzgruppen and camp leaders
were also executed. The trials showed that
political and military leaders could be held
___________________ for actions in wartime.
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