Download The Holocaust - McCullough Junior High School

The leaders,
the ghettos, the camps
German dictator. Joined
the Nazi Party after
WWI and rose to power.
January 30, 1932 he
was appointed
Chancellor and shortly
after he had taken total
dictatorial control of
Germany.
Head of the SS and main
advisor to Hitler. He is
considered the architect
of the “Final Solution.”
He used the SS to carry
out his plan in the
concentration camps and
the death camps. He
oversaw the deaths of
millions of Jews and
undesirables.
Director of the Reich’s
Central Office of Jewish
Emigration. He was
tasked with all of the
scheduling of the “Final
Solution” of the
Jews…every train, every
deportation was
scheduled through him to
keep the machinery
efficient.
Nazi leader and
deputy under Hitler.
Participated in the Beer
Hall Pusch. Staunch
supporter of Hitler, he
even edited Mein
Kampf. He was a
minister in Hitler’s
cabinet.
Propaganda Minister. He
was responsible for
“nazifying” every aspect
of German life in order to
brainwash the citizens of
the Reich. He produced
Nazi films, took over radio
and created pogroms such
as Kristallnacht, boycotts
and book burnings to
further the cause of the
NSDAP.
Founder of the Gestapo
and the Luftwaffe. He
commanded the SA. In
1932, the was made
Reichstag president to
represent the Fuhrer in
other countries. However,
when the Luftwaffe
couldn’t defeat Britain,
he was stripped of all
titles and forced into
retirement.
Chief of the Nazi Security
Service. He controlled many
of the anti-Jewish policies. In
1941, he ordered the
Einsatzkommando units to
murder 1 millions Soviet
Jews and officials. He was
assassinated by Czech
partisans in 1942.
Then, the operation for
extermination of Polish
Jewry was named Aktion
Reinhard after him.
German doctor who
was the chief physician
at Auschwitz. He had
total control over who
would live and who
would die. He would
send prisoners to the
right to LIVE and to the
left to DIE. He also
performed medical
experiments on children,
dwarves and others.
SS Officer and commander
of the Plaszow labor
camp. The movie,
Schindler’s List, was based
on Oscar Schindler’s
dealings with Goeth. At
trial, he was accused of
shooting between 30-90
Jews from his balcony
along with sending
thousands to their deaths
at Auschwitz and Belzec.
 No citizenship.
 No ownership of land or
business.
 No valuables. Must hand
them over to the Reich.
 No freedom to come and go
as you please.
 Give up cars, bicycles, using
public transport and even
walking on the sidewalk.
 Only allowed to buy from
certain businesses during
certain hours.
 Curfews enforced with arrest.
 Only Jewish schools and then
NO schooling.
 Names changed to include
Israel for men and Sara for
women.
 Wear a Star of David on ALL
clothing.
 No going to parks, cinemas,
theaters.
 No communication with any
non-Jews.
 No religeous services.
 Report to the Gestapo when
your turn for resettlement
comes.
“We were deprived of
our citizenship. We
were deprived of our
address. Then of our
home, then of our
family, then of our
name, then of our life.”
Anschluss – meaning union or annexation. Germany annexed Austria
on March 13, 1938. While Germany and Austria viewed this as a
cultural and social reunification, the West saw it as an invasion.
Schutzstaffel or SS – originally bodyguards for Hitler, they eventually
became the most ruthless of all the Nazis. They were run by Heinrich
Himmler and were in charge of the camps. Each had to be proven
Aryan and it was demanded that they marry only Aryan women.
Himmler also forced them to have at least 4 children once married.
Gestapo – the Secret State Police. This was a political police force.
But, under Nazi rule, they became the terror of the German people.
In 1936, it was absorbed into the SS under Heinrich Himmler and
Reinhard Heydrich. The section headed by Adolf Eichmann was in
charge of sending the Jews to concentration camps. Gestapo officers
headed the einsatzgruppen.
Partisans – Groups of organized guerilla fighters who aimed to
damage the German war effort by attacking military targets, often
using the forest for cover.
Einsatzgruppen / Einsatzkommando – “mobile killing units” of the SS.
They would travel around the eastern front and in Soviet Russia with
the soldiers and would shoot any Jews, partisans and officials they
came across. They destroyed most of the Jewish population in
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine. They are
responsible for 2 of the largest mass murders between June 1941
and early 1942. In Vilna, the capitol of Lithuania, the
einsatzgruppen killed more than 33,000 Jews in the Ponary forest just
outside of the ghetto. In Babi Yar, a huge ravine on the outskirts of
Kiev in the Ukraine, 33,771 Jews were rounded up, marched out to
the small valley and shot on September 30, 1941.
Resettlement – being forced to move East to either a ghetto or
directly to a concentration camp.
Volksdeutcher – German living outside of Germany. Often used as
spies in conquered countries.
Euthanasia Program – Established as so-called “mercy killings.” These
were performed by Nazi doctors on the mentally handicapped,
mentally ill, the infirm, the aged and habitual criminals as well as
anyone else who was deemed “unfit” by Nazi standards. Four
centers were established in Germany. Victims were either gassed,
shot or killed by lethal injection. This was the Nazi way of purifying
the Aryan race.
Eugenics – The science that attempts to improve the traits that people
inherit in order to weed out undesirable characteristics. It’s aim was
to perfect future generations. Himmler was obsessed with these
ideas. Children were taught “raceology” classes in school to help
them determine who was a Jew.
Judenrein – German term for “free of Jews”
Untermensch – German for “sub-human”
Mischling – “mixed blood” or “mongrel”
Pogrom – An assault on a Jewish community
Kindertransport – A program to allow children in Germany, Austria
and parts of Czechoslovakia to be sent to Great Britain (at great
cost to the parents) to await the end of the war.
Ghetto – a small area of a larger city where Jews would be
forced to move through “resettlement” programs. They were
separated from the rest of the populace by walls or fences.
Ghettos were extremely overcrowded and unsanitary. Many
Jews died of starvation and disease as a result.
Judenrat – Jewish council established in each ghetto by the
Nazis. They were in charge of the Jewish Police and making
sure that Nazi commands were met. They scheduled
deportations, meted out the food rations and found work for
those that were able.
Jewish Police – Jews within the ghetto chosen to enforce Nazi
laws and deportation lists. They were often seen as traitors to
their own people. Some hoped to win favor with the Nazis by
being cruel.
Umschlagplatz – train station gathering point for deportation.
Deportation – “resettlement in the East” but truly to the camps.
Lodz, Poland – was the first ghetto and the model. It had a
health dept., hospital and factories for those able to work. This
worked well until refugees were sent from all over the eastern
front and it became overcrowded.
Warsaw, Poland – it was the largest of them all. 30% of the
city’s population was Jewish and was crammed into 2.4% of its
area. At it’s peak, it was home to more than 500,000 Jews. The
Judenrat was led by Adam Czerniakow and he established
housing block committees, soup kitchens (to dole out the rations)
and orphanages for those who had lost their parents. There
were schools, religious services and even cultural events to keep
a sense of normalcy. However, the numbers of inhabitants
began to rise. During this time, resistance organizations within
the ghetto began forming and planning.
In the summer of 1942, more than 30,000 Jews were
rounded up by the Jewish Police, SS soldiers and German police
for deportation. Czerniakow had heard the rumors by this time
that the deportees were being taken to Treblinka (a death camp).
He was then instructed by the Nazis that he should prepare to
empty all of the orphanages within the ghetto by the next
morning. He wrote in his diary: “The SS want me to kill children
with my own hands.” In desperation, he killed himself.
Between July and September 1942, 265,000 Jews had
been deported to Treblinka. By this time, only 50,000 Jews
remained in the ghetto. The resistance fighters formed the Jewish
Fighting Organization or ZOB and along with the exiled Polish
government’s own resistance fighters (Zegota), they formed a
plan.
On April 19th, 1943, the Nazi Colonel von Sammern ordered the
soldiers to go into the ghetto and get the 8,000 Jews who had not
shown up for deportation. Within 90 minutes, the Germans were
sent running from the ghetto. Jews were hiding in the buildings,
sewers, on the roofs and hurtling Molotov cocktails and shooting at
the soldiers with guns smuggled into the walls. The Germans cut
off the electricity, water and gas to the ghetto. The next time they
came in, they encountered hidden mines. Finally, a decision was
made to smoke them out and the ghetto was set on fire block by
block. In all, the resistance was able to hold the Germans outside
the ghetto for almost a month. All Jews who survived the Uprising
were either shot or sent to death in Treblinka.
• “What really matters is that the dream of my life has become
true. Jewish self-defense in the Warsaw ghetto has become a
fact. Jewish armed resistance and retaliation have become a
reality. I have been witness to the magnificent heroic struggle
of the Jewish fighters.
 Transit / Concentration camps – These camps were merely a
stop along the way to a final destination. Ex. Westerbork and
Theresienstadt
 Labor camps – These camps were for workers. Those of ablebody could find themselves working for the German war effort
in factories, quarries, mines, etc. BMW, Volkswagen, Krupp and
Siemens made use of the slave labor in their factories. Ex.
Plaszow and Auschwitz-Buna
 Extermination camps – There were 6 of them and they had one
purpose: To wipe all European Jews from the face of the Earth.
They were: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor,
Majdanek and Belzec.
 Appell – The roll call of the prisoners. Sometimes, it would take
hours to complete and was done before the sun came up and
after it went down in all kinds of weather. It was called in
order for all to be counted and/or for prisoners to witness
special punishments or deaths.
 Arbeit Macht Frei – German for “Work makes you free.” This
was posted on the gates outside the camps to deceive prisoners
about the camp’s function.
 Canada – The name given to the storage buildings by the
prisoners who worked in them. They held clothing and other
possessions of the arriving Jews.
 Crematorium – Ovens built in concentration camps to burn and
dispose of the large number of murdered bodies.
• Kapo/Capo – A prisoner within the camp who was elevated to a
position to oversee work duties in that camp. Many are remembered
negatively by survivors.
• Lebensraum – German for “living space,” this was the excuse used by
Hitler for taking over territories for the “superior” Aryan race.
• Night and Fog – German term for political prisoners from Western
Europe who disappeared without a trace.
• Yiddish – the language spoken by many Jews in Eastern Europe; a
combination of German, Hebrew and dialects of the countries in
which the Jews were living.
• Zyklon B Gas – A chemical developed as an insecticide, the pellets of
which were shaken down an opening in the “showers” or gas
chambers. The Nazis found this to be the quickest, cheapest and
most reliable way to commit mass murder.
• Final Solution – At the Wannsee Conference, Jan. 20, 1942, it was a
term used to define the mechanical extermination of all European
Jewry. The plan was set and put into action.
• Classification
• Humiliation
• Ghettoization
• Deportation
• Dehumanization
• Annihilation
• The largest death camp, located in southwestern
Poland in the town of Oswiecim. Established in
1940, it grew to incorporate the slave labor
camp, Buna-Monowitz, the death camp
Birkenau, and many other sub-camps. It was
liberated in January 1945 by Soviet troops.
• A Nazi concentration camp in Germany. It was
initially a camp in which prisoners for potential
exchange with other countries were
incarcerated. As the war was ending, the Nazis
marched thousands of prisoners from camps in
the east to Bergen-Belsen. It was liberated by
British troops in April, 1945.
• Also knows as Auschwitz II, it was the primary
Jewish camp of Auschwitz and the site of 4 gas
chambers.
• Nazi concentration camp in central Germany. It
was built in 1937 for the internment of German
political prisoners. Buchenwald was liberated
by its own inmates in April 1945, just a few
hours before the arrival of US troops.
• The first concentration camp, it was opened by
the Nazis in 1933 near Munich, Germany and
was primarily used to incarcerate German
political prisoners until late 1938, when large
numbers of Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
homosexuals, and other supposed “enemies of
the state and anti-social elements” were sent as
well. It was liberated by US troops in April
1945.
• A Nazi concentration camp in northern Austria,
it was established in April, 1938.
Approximately 120,000 prisoners perished
there, including some 38,000 Jews. It was
liberated by US troops on May 5, 1945.
• Nazi extermination camp in eastern Poland, it
was built in March 1942. From May 1942, until
October, 1943, approximately 250,000 Jews
were murdered there. After a prisoner revolt
on October 14, 1943, the Nazis dismantled the
camp.
• Nazi concentration camp in northwestern Czechslovakia, it was
established in 1941 and was shown to the Red Cross inspectors
as a “model camp.” Hitler called it “My gift to the Jews” but it
was no gift. When the Red Cross came for inspection, all of the
sick had been sent off to Auschwitz, building had been painted,
the inmates fed and even fake restaurants built to fool the
world.
• Of the approximately 144,000 Jews sent to Theresienstadt, some
33,000- almost 1 in 4- died there, and about 88,000 were sent to
Auschwitz and other death camps. By the end of the war, only 19,000
were alive. About 15,000 children were amond the prisoners, of whom it
is estimated only 150 survived to see liberation.
• Nazi extermination camp that opened in July,
1942, 50 miles northeast of Warsaw. At least
750,000 Jews were murdered there, more than
250,000 of them from the Warsaw Ghetto. On
August 2, 1943, a planned prisoner revolt
occurred. Although they killed several guards,
most of the 200 or more escapees were either
caught or killed. The Nazis dismantled the
camp in October 1943.