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HOLOCAUST
THE THREE STAGES OF NAZI
PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS
Background
Anti-Semitism (words or actions that are
anti-Jewish) goes back thousands of years
to the times of the Israelites
During the Middle Ages, Jews in Europe
were restricted to certain sections of cities
called ghettoes
Anti-Semitism was not limited to Nazi
Germany during the 20th century
Stage I:
Anti-Semitic measures and laws
The Nazi government used anti-Semitic propaganda
such as posters and even children’s books
Propaganda minister
Joseph Goebbels
organized:
book burnings by
Jewish writers
boycotting Jewish
stores
banning Jews from
many professions
The Nuremberg Laws were passed in
1936 which denied Jews any rights to
German citizenship
Mixed marriages between Jews and
“Aryans” also became illegal at this point
Kristalnacht
In 1937, the Nazi
storm troopers
destroyed many
Jewish shops and
synagogues
(Night of the Broken
Glass)
Stage II: Deportations/Confinement
Nazis deported
Jews to Nazi
occupied countries
in Eastern Europe
(mostly in Poland)
Jewish families were
forced to live in
ghettoes such as the
Warsaw Ghetto (above
right)
Jews were forced to
wear the yellow star
(Star of David)
Some executions
were ordered
Ex:Babi Yar Massacre
near Kiev where 30
000 Jews were killed
in two days and
buried in a ravine
(1941)
Stage III: The Final Solution
The decision to
proceed with the
elimination of all
European Jews was
made at the Wansee
Conference in 1942
SS officer Adolf
Eichmann (right) was
put in charge of this
task
The euthanasia program
was originally
established to dispose of
the physically and
mentally disabled
Executions began in
experimental gas vans
which used a cyanide
gas called Zyklon B
Many concentration
camps were
converted to death
camps such as
Auschwitz (right),
Treblinka, Belzec and
others; most of these
were in Poland
European Jews were
deported by train
The trains would
arrive at Auschwitz,
where the selection
process would begin
(lower right)
The fit would be put to
work and the others
would be sent for
special treatment
The gas chambers (upper
right) were disguised as
showers
After the gas was poured
in, they suffocated to
death within 30 minutes
The dead bodies were
transported to the
crematoriums to be
burned
Some camps were killing
factories that could gas
thousands of people per
day
Towards the end of
the war in 1945, the
Soviet Red Army
liberated the death
camps and found a
small number of
survivors such as
Simon Wiesenthal
(right)
Following the war,
dozens of Nazi
officials were
prosecuted for war
crimes and crimes
against humanity in
the Nuremberg Trials
Images: United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum