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Holocaust
1933-1945
Life Before Hitler
1933 Hitler was appointed
Chancellor
• In 1933 there was a fire in the
main building of the
government (Reichstag) and
Hitler used this as an excuse
to blame “those working
against the government”
• He suspended all civil
liberties and took complete
control of the government (for
the “protection” of Germany)
• To make sure everyone was
conforming to Hitler’s new
rules, new laws were passed
Boycott of Jewish
Businesses
Burning of non-Nazi Books
Arrests of Enemies of the State
• Enemies included:
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Jews
Communists
Gypsies
Homosexuals
• This list also came to include those who would
“weaken” the German race, ie. the physically
and mentally handicapped
Enforcers of Hitler’s Laws
• SS Troops
• Gestapo
• H.J. (Hitler Youth)
Everyday Germans also helped
to support Hitler’s regime
1935 Nuremburg Laws
• Separated Aryans from
non-Aryans
– Restricted lives of nonGerman citizens (especially
those that did not have 4
German, non-Jewish
Grandparents)
– Jews forced to wear yellow
stars
– Marriage was not allowed
between Jews and nonJews
– Jewish business were
further boycotted and even
closed
Nuremburg Laws cont.
1938 Kristallnacht
• Massive violence against
Jews included:
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Destruction of property
Murders
Beatings
Arrests
• Costs millions in damage and
Jews were expected to pay
for it
• Enacted to encourage Jews to
leave Germany
• Many tried to, but very few
were able to get out.
1939 WWII Begins
• With each
country that Hitler
took over, all
“non-desirables”
were rounded-up
and disposed of.
• Many were sent
to Ghettos and
later to
concentration
camps.
1940 Ghettos
• Ghettos built all over Germany & Eastern
Europe as temporary holding locations for
Jews until extermination.
• Ghettos were usually in areas of towns w/
high concentration Jewish population.
• Those that did not already live in a Jewish
community were “relocated” to the ghettos.
Relocation
Greek Ghetto
Polish Ghetto (Lodz)
Warsaw Ghetto (largest ghetto)
Lithuania Ghetto (Kovno)
1941
• Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing
units)
– Followed behind advancing
German armies liquidating
“undesirables” from conquered
towns (mostly Jews)
– Many of those doing the killing
were not officially German
military, they were “average”
people being swept up by the
fervor of the Nazis and turning on
their neighbors.
• U.S. joins the war in the end of
1941
1942 Wannsee Conference
• German officials
decided on the “Final
Solution”
• Gassing at certain
concentration camps
began as an efficient
method of
extermination
Concentration Camps
Gas
Chambers
Auschwitz-Birkenau 1941-44
1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
• Jews in one of the
largest Ghettos
fought back against
the Germans. Most
died.
• The Germans were
infuriated because
the Jews were
successful at holding
them back for 1
month!
1944 - 1945
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D-Day
Soviets begin moving into Germany
Many camps are discovered and liberated
Nazis retreated from the Soviets and Allies.
They began to destroy evidence:
– Mass murder of prisoners
– Death Marches = evacuation of other camps to
interior camps
• End of 1945 – Germany surrenders = V-E Day!
– Full evil of the Nazis discovered
Liberation of Camps
Patton forced German citizens from nearby towns to walk through
the camps to see what they’d allowed to happen in their country.
See next slide
General Patton
Innocent
Victims