Download The Final Solution

• “In completion of the task which was
entrusted to you… on] January 24, 1939,
of solving the Jewish question… …in the
most convenient way possible… I [now]
charge you with making all necessary
preparations… for an overall solution of
the Jewish question…I further charge
you with submitting to me promptly an
overall plan… for the execution of the
intended final solution of the Jewish
question.”
What is this
message really
saying?
• 31 July 1941, Hermann Goering orders
to Reinhard Heydrich of the SS.
The Final Solution
Lesson Objectives
To understand how Jewish people
were treated during the war years
escalated from persecution to
extermination.
Discrimination
1933-35
Laws
1935-38
Discrimination
1933-35
Nuremberg Rally, 1935:
• Law for the Protection of
German Blood and Honour –
forbids marriage and sex
between Aryans and Jews.
• Reich citizenship Law –
deprives Jews of German
citizenship.
• April 1938 – all property over
5000RM had to be registered.
• June – October – Jewish
doctors and dentists could no
longer treat Aryans and Jewish
passports had to be stamped
with a J.
Violence
1938 - on
Laws
1935-38
Discrimination
1933-35
Kristallnacht: 9-10
November 1938:
• Thousands of
Jewish businesses
attacked.
• 91 Jews
murdered.
• 20,000 sent to
camps.
• Jews forced to
pay 1 billion RM
for the damage
caused.
Violence
1938 - 39
Laws
1935-38
Discrimination
1933-35
Violence
1938 - 39
Laws
1935-38
Discrimination
1933-35
What effect do you think the
outbreak of war would have on
Jewish people in Germany?
Violence
1938 - 39
Laws
1935-38
Discrimination
1933-35
The outbreak of war changed Nazi
attitudes in 4 ways
 Removal of the Jews – emigration was now more
difficult.
 Actions could be more extreme as did not need
to worry about opinions of other countries – who
could stop them?
 As Germany successfully occupied more territory
number of Jews under Nazi control increased(also
removed possible land for them to emigrate to).
 Previous solutions to the ‘Jewish problem’
seemed increasingly inadequate.
September 1939:
Conquest of Poland.
Millions of Jews under
Nazi control – slave
labour and ghettos.
Ghettos
Jewish reservations in towns
Surrounded by walls
Largest ghetto was in Warsaw( 55,000 died)
Appalling conditions
The second idea was special murder
squads
Following the German army into battle were the
Einsatzgruppen – Death Squads.
Local people supported these killing squads, one of
the main tasks of which was to kill all Jewish men,
women and children in the areas that were being
conquered.
By December 1941, over 500,000 Soviet Jews had
been murdered.
However, for the Nazis leadership, conventional
killing methods were insufficient and inefficient.
August 1941- Himmler visited
the east and witnessed the
killings – concerned for the
‘psychological burden’ on the
killers – easier methods of
killing developed.
And lastly they decided on the
Final Solution
• On 20 January 1942, 15 leading officials of the Nazi
state met at a villa in Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin, to
discuss the ‘Final solution of the Jewish Question’.
• The ’Final solution’ was a code name for the murder
of all the Jews of Europe. The people present at the
conference were to discuss how to make mass
murder happen in an organised and methodical way.
And lastly they decided on the
Final Solution
The 'Wannsee
protocol', the
Nazis listed the
Jews living in all
of the countries
of Europe.
Have you
noticed that
Jews of England
are included?
Wannsee 20
Jan 1942
• "Under proper guidance, in the
course of the final solution the Jews
are to be allocated for appropriate
labour in the East. Able-bodied
Jews, separated according to sex,
will be taken in large work columns
to these areas for work on roads, in
the course of which action
doubtless a large portion will be
eliminated by natural causes. The
possible final remnant will, since it
will undoubtedly consist of the most
resistant portion, have to be treated
accordingly, because it is the
product of natural selection and
would, if released, act as the seed of
a new Jewish revival"
Decisions made at Wannsee
• The SS decided gassing would be more efficient.
• Killing camps were to be built in Poland where Jews
were to be exterminated.
• Gas chambers and crematoria built at camps such as
Auschwitz, Treblinka.
• Carbon monoxide and Zyklon B gases were used
• By time the camps were liberated by the Allies in
1945 up to 6 million Jews had been killed.
Plot on the Graph: How did the Nazi’s treat Jews
between 1933 and 1945
Bad
Good
1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
How did the treatment of the Jews
change between 1939-1945?