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• The systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps before and during WWII • Over 9 million Jews lived in Europe prior to The Holocaust • Approximately 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazi Anti-Semitism is discrimination, prejudice and hostility towards Jews Anti –Semitism was not a new phenomenon Jews were blamed for the death of Christ which led towards hostility • Jews were blamed for causing the “Black Death” by poisoning the drinking water • Jews were rounded up and burned in bonfires • Those Jews that did not convert to Christianity were expelled from England, France, Spain and Portugal WHY ANTI-SEMITISM AROSE IN GERMANY • • 1. 2. 3. 4. After WWI, Germany was devastated and demoralized The Treaty of Versailles called for Germany to: pay reparations for damages admit they were the aggressors in a war they lost Dissolve their offensive military Give up land ownership People lost all faith in the Weimer Republic (ruling government) Throughout this difficult time, the Jews in Germany were still prospering Led to accusations that the Jewish people were the cause of Germany’s problems • Germany lost over 1 million square miles of land • With the loss of land came the loss of valuable natural resources • Due to reparations and a highly reduced male work force, inflation set in • Inflation is a substantial rise in the general prices related to an increase volume of money with a loss of value (their money had little value and prices of goods were inflated) THE RISE OF HITLER AND NAZISM The German Workers’ Party Forerunner of the Nazi Party Adolph Hitler joined this small political party in 1919 He rose to leadership through his emotional and captivating speeches He encouraged national pride, militarism, racially pure Germany and a commitment to the Volk (superiority of the German people and their culture). Hitler condemned the Jews, exploiting antiSemitic feelings that had prevailed in Europe for centuries Hitler changed the name of the party to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or Nazi Party Within a year Hitler became its official leader, or Fuhrer In 1923 Hitler’s attempt at an armed overthrow of local authorities fails miserably Hitler and a codefendant preparing for trial Hitler and other Nazi leaders were jailed and charged with treason During the trial Hitler gained public support for the end of the Weimer government MEIN KAMPF • Hitler receives a light sentence and only serves one year of his term • While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My struggle) • Mein Kampf detailed his radical ideas of German Nationalism, antiSemitism, and anti – Bolshevism • Bolshevism was a Russian political movement that called for all people to be equal (Hitler believed this was a Jewish ideal pushed on the Russians) • Mein Kampf became the ideological basis for the Nazis Nazism grows in power From 1925 to 1929, the Nazi Party grew from 27,000 to 108,000 members The SA or Sturmabteilung (Storm Troopers), were formed in order to create terror amongst those who were in disagreement with the Nazis (usually through physical violence) Made up of young men that were out of work The SS or Schutzstaffelor formed out of the SA The SS 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 Hitler Becomes The Fuhrer of Germany The Great Depression coupled with hyperinflation of post World War I Germany left the German public looking for answers The SA or Brownshirts were involved in daily street violence against non Nazis German President Hindenburg died in 1934 On August 19, about 95 percent of registered voters in Germany went to the polls and gave Hitler 38 million votes of approval (90 percent of the vote) Hitler becomes Fuhrer of Germany The Nazification of Germany The Nuremburg Laws In 1935 Hitler introduced the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their civil rights as German citizens Separated them from Germans legally, socially, and politically Defined as a separate race under “The Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor” The law forbade marriages or sexual relations between Jews and Germans Stripped Jews of their German citizenship Jews could not vote or hold public office If a Jew held public office, they were forced to retire Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colors. On the other hand they are permitted to display the Jewish colors Jews must have identification stating they were Jewish The Nazis issued instructional charts to help distinguish Jews from Mischlinge (Germans of mixed race) and Aryans Effects of Nazism and the Nuremburg Laws • Many shops and restaurants did not serve the Jewish population • Placards saying "Jews not admitted" and "Jews enter this place at their own risk" began to appear all over Germany • Jews were banned from public parks, swimming-pools and public transport • Germans were also encouraged not to use Jewish doctors and lawyers. Jewish civil servants, teachers • Pressure on people not to buy goods produced by Jewish companies Many Jewish people who could no longer earn a living left the country The number of Jews emigrating (to move out of a country) increased after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws Hitler wanted all Jews gone He stated that if the Nuremburg Laws did not solve the Jewish problem he would come up with a final solution Lebensraum The main reason for the Nazi expansion into its neighboring western countries was built upon the principle of lebensraum (living space) lebensraum carried with it the desire for the Nazis to expand into other countries to provide living space for the growing German race In 1938 Germany united German speaking people by taking over Austria and part of Czechoslovakia During this time, the “inferior” races, such as the Jews and Gypsies, who occupied the new Nazi territories, were stripped of their possessions, jobs, and “resettled” in ghettos or concentration camps Hitler was violating the provisions of Treaty of Versailles France and Britain chose to do nothing in order to avoid war The Nazis would later take over France, Poland, Hungary and others • Kristallnacht “Night of the Broken Glass” • A German politician was shot by a Jewish man • Hitler and Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels devise a pogrom (destruction) against Jews • Nazi party officials and the SA (Nazi Storm Troopers) initiate a free for all against Jews in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia • 1,000 synagogues were set on fire • 7,000 Jewish homes and businesses were looted • 100 Jews were killed • 30,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps • Soon after, Jewish owned businesses were transferred to Aryans • Jewish pupils were expelled from school • Jews were forced to pay for the damages of Kristallnacht September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland Two days later Britain and France obliged by a treaty with Poland declare war on Germany Hitler’s armies used the tactic of Blitzkrieg (lightning war) Use of an armored attack accompanied by an air assault Within four weeks, Poland collapsed The Ghettos Confining Jews in ghettos was not Hitler's brainchild For centuries, Jews were often confined to live in designated areas called ghettos Nazi ghettos differed in that they were a preliminary step in the annihilation of the Jews The ghettos became transition areas used as collection points for deportation to death and concentration camps The Nazis established 356 ghettos in Poland, the Soviet Union, the Baltics, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Hungary Jews were forced to leave their homes and possessions and move to the ghettos In order to make it easier for identification, Jews had to wear yellow Stars of David Nazi authorities gave the official reason that the Jews had to be segregated since they were natural carriers of all types of diseases Most of the ghettos were sealed off so no one could go in or out and therefore could not work or get supplies Life in the ghettos Appalling, inhuman living conditions Filthy due to poor sanitation Extreme overcrowding forced families to share living spaces Disease was rampant Staying warm was difficult during the winter due to a lack of warm clothing and fuel Food was in such short supply that many slowly starved to death Parents educated their children in secret schools Many held religious services secretly The Camps Transportation to the Camps The Nazis used the Ghettos as centers in order to facilitate the transportation of the Jews to the camps Nazis used cattle cars to transport the Jews to the camps Conditions in these cars were deplorable TRANSPORTATION • The transportation to the camps was done secretly under the ruse of resettlement of the Jews • The Nazis even charged Jews for a one-way train fare • Often just prior to their murder, the unknowing victims were forced to send reassuring post cards back to the ghettos • This deception led to most of the Jews going unwittingly to their deaths with no resistance Rail lines often directly entered the camps • The deportees were forced into rail cars, most of which were windowless, unheated cattle cars squeezed in so tightly that most were forced to stand • The doors were then sealed shut from the outside • Neither drinking water nor sanitary facilities were available • Each car held more than 120 people, and many froze or suffocated to death or succumbed to disease during the trip to the camps • The dead were not removed from the cars during the journey because the Nazi bureaucracy insisted that each body entering a car be accounted for at the destination Concentration Camps The concentration camps formed an important part of the Nazi regime’s systematic suppression of Jews, gypsies, political dissidents, homosexuals and other groups that were viewed as socially and racially “undesirable” in the Nazi state. • The concentration camps were established with different purposes • For instance, there existed forced labor camps, reformatory camps, POW camps and transit camps • Their common denominator was the fact that the living conditions were extremely horrible and cruel for the inmates • Little food and terrible living conditions resulted in the deaths of an enormous amount of prisoners In the beginning of the systematic mass murder of the Jews, Nazis used mobile killing squads called Einsatzgruppen They followed the German troops into the Soviet Union killing Jewish citizens along the way In all, they murdered 1,500,000 Jews The Nazis were looking for a more effective means of murder In September 1941, the Nazis began using gassing vans until the completion of the first death camp Groups of people were locked in and asphyxiated by carbon monoxide Gas vans and later on Death camps proved to be a faster, less personal method for killing Jews If you didn’t see them dying, were you doing the killing? The Death Camps • In January of 1942, officials of the Nazi Government presented the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem • This would be done through the transport and destruction of all 11 million Jews of Europe • Plans were to use the latest technology in cost efficient engineering and mass production techniques for the sole purpose of killing off the undesirables (particularly Jews ) Termination Ultimately, the Nazis were responsible for the deaths of 2.7 million Jews in the death camps Many of the Jews died from unsanitary conditions and a lack of food and water Others were sent to gas chambers Jews were handed bars of soap and told to take communal showers Upon entering, doors were sealed and deadly gas filled the chamber The Nazis were running out of space for all of the murdered They turned to crematoriums to dispose of the bodies German scientist performed medical experiments on Jews The experiments were meant to help the Aryan Race EXAMPLES: Freezing / Hypothermia Genetics Infectious Diseases Interrogation and Torture High Altitude Pharmacological Sterilization experiment in order to see Surgery the effects of food Traumatic Injuries deprivation Murder by the numbers 1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 Jewish Deaths 400,000 200,000 0 Non-Jewish Deaths Throughout the Holocaust, victims received help from rescuers Those who did this put their own safety at risk Better known rescuers include Raoul Wallenberg who led the effort to save 100,000 Hungarian Jews and Oscar Schindler that saved over 1,000 Polish Jews Over 13,000 people risked their own lives to help the Jews As allied troops entered Nazi – occupied territories the rescue of the Jews was at hand Allied troops were shocked at what they found when they came to the camps • Large ditches filled with bodies • Rooms filled with baby shoes • Piles of bones • Gas chambers with fingernail marks • Living skeletons left for dead U.S. General Eisenhower insisted on photographing the horror so that future generations could not ignore history Eisenhower also forced villagers neighboring the camps to view what had occurred in their own backyards THE AFTERMATH After the War When the war ended, most Jews did not want to return to their homelands With help from the UN, Britain divided up their territory of Palestine into a Arab state and Israel Jews now have an official homeland Surviving Nazis leaders faced their crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials in Nuremberg, Germany 11 defendants were sentenced to death and 8 were imprisoned for their crimes In former Nazi occupied territories, Nazi officials were sentenced to death or jailed To this day surviving Nazis are still hunted down and brought to justice