Download Section 3: The Holocaust

America: Pathways to the Present
Chapter 25: World War II: Americans at War (1941–1945)
Section 1: Mobilization
Section 2: Retaking Europe
Section 3: The Holocaust
Section 4: The War in the Pacific
Section 5: The Social Impact of the War
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George Washington; Federalist (1788)
John Adams; Federalist (1796)
Thomas Jefferson (1800)
James Madison (1808)
James Monroe (1816)
John Quincy Adams (1824)
Andrew Jackson; Democrat (1828)
Martin Van Buren; Democrat (1836)
William Henry Harrison; Whig (1840)
John Tyler; Whig (1841)
James K. Polk; Democrat (1844)
Zachary Taylor; Whig (1848)
Millard Fillmore; Whig (1850)
Franklin Pierce; Democrat (1852)
James Buchanan; Democrat (1856)
Abraham Lincoln; Republican (1860)
Andrew Johnson; Democrat (1865)
Ulysses S. Grant; Republican (1868)
Rutherford B. Hayes; Republican (1876)
James Garfield; Republican (1880)
#21 - …
Chester A. Arthur; Republican (1881)
Grover Cleveland; Democrat (1884)
Benjamin Harrison; Republican (1888)
Grover Cleveland; Democrat (1892)
William McKinley; Republican (1896)
Theodore Roosevelt; Republican (1901)
William Howard Taft; Republican (1908)
Woodrow Wilson; Democrat (1912)
Warren G. Harding; Republican (1920)
Calvin Coolidge; Republican (1923)
Herbert Hoover; Republican (1928)
Franklin D. Roosevelt; Democrat (1932)
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CORE OBJECTIVE: Analyze the causes &
consequences of World War II and the
impact the war had on American society.
 Objective 7.5: Describe the causes and effects
of the Holocaust.
During World War II, the Nazis carried out a brutal
plan that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews
and millions of other victims.
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Jews in Europe faced persecution for their religious beliefs for
centuries.
 In the 1800s, some thinkers developed the theory that European peoples,
whom they called “Aryans” were superior to Middle Eastern peoples, called
Semites.
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Europeans began to use the term Anti-Semitism to
describe discrimination or hostility, often violent, directed
at Jews.
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Anti-Semetic beliefs
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy49l05oKPc
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When Hitler became Germany’s leader in 1933,
he made Anti-Semitism the official policy of the
nation.
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No other persecution of Jews in modern history
equals the extent and brutality of the Holocaust,
Nazi Germany’s systematic murder of European
Jews.
 In all, some 6 million Jews would lose their lives.
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Repressive policies against Jews slowly escalated
during the 1930s.
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In 1935, the Nuremberg laws stripped Jews of their
German citizenship.
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Some other policies included:
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exclusion from public schools
forced sale of Jewish businesses
marked identity cards
Jews were also forced to sew yellow stars marked “Jew” on
their clothing.
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Hopes that they could survive persecution under Hitler were dashed on the
night of November 9, 1938.
 Nazi thugs throughout Germany and Austria looted and destroyed Jewish stores,
houses, and synagogues.
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This incident became known as Kristallnacht, or “Night of
the Broken Glass.”
 Nearly every synagogue was destroyed
 thousands of Jews were arrested and sent to concentration
camps, beginning on Nov. 9, 1938
 After Kristallnacht many Jews sought any possible means to leave the country.
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Jewish refugees were not welcomed in many nations, in part because of
the Depression.
 To deal with this problem, FDR called the Evian Conference in 1938.
 But still, most nations, including the United States, refused to open their doors to more
immigrants.
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When Hitler came to power he formed the SS, or the Schutzstaffel, an
elite guard that became the private army of the Nazi Party.
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The SS guarded the concentration camps, or places where political
prisoners are confined under harsh conditions.
 Nazi camps held people whom they considered undesirables — mainly Jews,
but also Communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gypsies, and the homeless.
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As German armies invaded other European countries (like Poland), more and
more Jews (even those who had escaped) came under German control.
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Nazis dealt with these Jews by confining them in ghettos, areas in
which minority groups are concentrated.
 Nazis confined more than 400,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto in Poland.
 Thousands of Jews died in the ghetto as a result of disease.
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In 1942, Nazi officials met at the Wannsee Conference outside
Berlin.
 They developed their plan to commit genocide, or the deliberate
destruction of an entire ethnic or cultural group, against the Jewish people.
 To carry out their plan, the Nazis outfitted six camps in Poland with gas chambers.
 Unlike concentration camps, these death camps existed primarily for mass murder.
 The “Final Solution”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCuTRaXIyFE
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The U.S. government knew about the mass murder of Jews
for two years before President Roosevelt created the War
Refugee Board (WRB) in January 1944.
 Despite its late start, the WRB’s programs helped save some lives.
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Horrified by the German death camps, the Allies
conducted the Nuremburg Trials in November
1945.
 They charged a number of Nazi leaders with crimes
against humanity, and war crimes.
 Nazi officers were found to be held accountable for
actions
Why was Kristallnacht a critical event for Jews living under Nazi
control?
(A) It proved that they could resist the Nazis.
(B) It proved that Hitler would lose power quickly.
(C) It proved that they would have to leave Germany to escape
persecution.
(D) It proved that the United States and other countries in Europe would
not protect them from the Nazis.
How did the United States government initially respond to the news
of the Holocaust?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
They showed little interest in dealing with the problem.
They opened the doors for immigration.
They entered World War II to end Jewish persecution.
They helped fund Jewish resistance groups.
Why was Kristallnacht a critical event for Jews living under Nazi
control?
(A) It proved that they could resist the Nazis.
(B) It proved that Hitler would lose power quickly.
(C) It proved that they would have to leave Germany to escape
persecution.
(D) It proved that the United States and other countries in Europe would
not protect them from the Nazis.
How did the United States government initially respond to the news
of the Holocaust?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
They showed little interest in dealing with the problem.
They opened the doors for immigration.
They entered World War II to end Jewish persecution.
They helped fund Jewish resistance groups.