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Holocaust Background
Preparation for reading
Night by Elie Wiesel.
Essential Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
When was World War II?
Who was fighting?
Where did all this take place?
Who were the Nazis?
Who was Adolf Hitler?
How did Hitler come to power?
Who were the SS?
What was the Holocaust?
What is a Concentration Camp?
How many people were affected?
General Background
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When was World
War II?
Who was fighting?
Where is Germany
located?
World War II
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Allied Powers
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Great Britain
France
Soviet Union
China
USA
1939-1945
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Axis Powers
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Germany
Italy
Japan
Who were the Nazis?
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Nazi is an abbreviation for the National
Socialist Party of Germany.
Nazi’s began to get powerful as a political
party in the 1930’s.
Led by Adolf Hitler.
Who was Adolf Hitler?

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An Austrian born man
who became the
leader of Germany
from 1933-1945.
He committed suicide
after the Allied forces
invaded Germany in
1945.
How did Hitler come to power?

He used national pride and people’s
prejudice against the Jews to manipulate
Germans into electing him during a very
rough time in the country’s history.
Who were the SS?
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SS stands for “Schutzstaffeln” which means
“protection squad.”
A government body created in 1925 to protect
the Nazi Party and Hitler.
After Nazis seized absolute power, the SS
became the most powerful organization in the
government.
Controlled the concentration and death camp
system.
What was the Holocaust?

The systematic mass slaughter of
European Jews and others in Nazi
concentration camps in WWII.

Another word for this is genocide: the deliberate
and systematic extermination of a national,
racial, political, or cultural group.
What is a Concentration Camp?

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A place, similar to a prison, where millions
of Jews were kept by the Nazis during
WWII.
In these camps, Jews were often forced to
work long hours, used for medical
experiments, or killed.
Location of Concentration Camps
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Why do you think
some are shown in
larger type and others
in smaller type?
Are all the camps in
Germany?
How many people were affected?
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How many soldiers were killed in WWII?
How many Jews were killed overall?
WWII Death Totals
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(approximates)
Total estimated human loss of life = 72 million.
Civilian total = 47 million, including 20 million
deaths due to war related famine and disease.
Military total = 25 million, including 5 million
deaths of prisoners of war in captivity.
The Allies lost = 61 million people.
The Axis lost = 11 million.
Total number of US soldiers killed = 500,000.
Total number of Jews killed = 6 million.
10 Historical Core Concepts
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Pre-WWII
Anti-Semitism
Weimar Republic
Totalitarian State
Persecution
6. U.S. and World Response
7. The Final Solution
8. Resistance
9. Rescue
10. Aftermath
1. Pre-WWII
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Jews were living in every country in Europe
before the Nazis came into power in 1933.
Approximately 9 million Jews in Europe.
Poland and the Soviet Union had the largest
populations.
Jews could be found in all walks of life: farmers,
factory workers, business people, doctors,
teachers, and craftsmen.
2. What is anti-Semitism?

Anti-Semistism is hostility, prejudice, or
discrimination against Jewish people or
the Jewish religion.
When did Anti-Semitism begin?
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It traces back at least as far as 70 A.D.
Romans disliked the Jews because they
would not worship the Roman gods.
Christians didn’t like Jews either and saw
Judaism as a rival form of the same
religion.
Why the Jews?
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Jews have faced prejudice and
discrimination for over 2,000 years.
Jews were scapegoats for many
problems.
Hitler blamed them for everything that was
going wrong in Germany.
Why did people believe him?
Accusations against Jews
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Stole Christian children
Poisoned wells
Caused the black plague
Engaged in a world wide conspiracy to
destroy Christianity
There is no evidence that the Jews
actually did any of this.
Restrictions on Jews
in the Middle Ages
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Not allowed to own land or farm.
Most professions off limits.
Not allowed to practice law or medicine.
Not allowed to join guilds or hold public office.
Barred from manufacturing activities.
Prohibited from living in certain parts of town;
Ghettos in all major cities.
Since Christians were prohibited from usury
(lending money) Jews took over banking
functions.
Between 16th and 18th Centuries
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Changes in attitudes for the better.
Europe’s economy improved for everyone,
including the Jews.
Jews gained full citizenship rights in
western Europe
Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism
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As Jews became more successful, old antiSemitic hatreds resurfaced.
Use of modern “science” for racial theories—
helped to legitimize anti-Semitism.
Measured skull size and nose length and
recorded eye and hair color to determine
whether people belonged the “Aryan race.”
These ideas spread throughout Germany and all
of Europe, even in the USA.
Extermination of the Jews
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The idea came about before WWI.
Not taken seriously by most people.
Calls for the genocide or for the removal of
the Jews to a distant land (Madagascar!)
WWI
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1914-1919
Germany loses.
Had to repay (make reparations) to all of the
countries that they had “damaged” in the
war.
Nearly 6 million Germans were unemployed.
German economy suffers and enters a
depression.
3. Weimar Republic

After Germany lost World War I, a new
government formed and became known
as the Weimar Republic.
Weimar Republic
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The total bill that the Germans had to
“pay” was equivalent to nearly $70 billion.
The German army was limited in size.
Extremists blamed Jews for Germany’s
defeat in WWI and blamed the German
Foreign Minister (a Jew) for his role in
reaching a costly settlement with the
Allies.
Weimar Republic
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The German mark became worth less than
the paper it was printed on—hyperinflation
occurred.
A loaf of bread could cost 1 million marks.
A ten million
mark that was
issued by the
German national
bank during the
height of the
inflation in 1923.
Bad Economic Times
Good for the Nazis
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WWI reparations
1929 US stock market crash
Economic depression in Germany
In 1930 the Nazis gain ground in elections
With bad economic times came good
times for the Nazis. Why?
Nazi Propaganda Posters
before Hitler came into Power
What is propaganda?
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A form of communication to large groups
of people for the purpose of manipulating
their thoughts.
Joseph Goebbels giving a speech
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Goebbels was the
Minister of
Propaganda.
He made sure that
the German people
only got one side of
Nazi ideology.
“Work and Bread”
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What is this poster
saying?
What was the
situation in Germany
like at this time?
“Our last hope: Hitler”
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Why do you think it
would claim that Hitler
is “our last hope”?
This is the kind of
message he used to
gain power.
“We have had enough! Elect Hitler”
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What do you think the
man represents?
Why would the idea
of breaking free of
enslavement speak to
the German people at
that time?
“The year is over.
The struggle continues.”
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Who do you think is
represented by each
of these characters?
“The worm”
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“Where something is
rotten, the Jew is the
cause.”
The worm is named
“Jewish scandals”
The apple is named
“the German
economy”
Hitler came to power in 1933
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He quickly consolidated power, although:
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He had no powerful connections.
He never even graduated from high school.
People in powerful positions both in
Germany and internationally
underestimated him.
How did he do it?
4. Totalitarian State
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Totalitarianism is
the total control of
a country in the
government’s
hands.
This is the kind of
government Hitler
set up.
In a Totalitarian State:
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Paranoia and fear dominate.
Individual have no rights.
The government maintains total control over the
culture and media.
The government is capable of severe
aggression, torture, and killing.
During this time in Germany, the Nazis passed
laws which restricted the rights of Jews,
including the Nuremberg Laws.
Nuremberg Laws
1935
The Nuremberg Laws
stripped Jews of their
German citizenship.
They were prohibited
from marrying with
persons of “German
or related blood.”
Nuremberg Laws
Jews, like all other
German citizens,
were required to
carry identity cards,
but their cards were
stamped with a red
“J.” This allowed
police to easily
identify them.
5. Persecution
The Nazi plan for dealing with the “Jewish
Question” evolved in three steps:
1. Expulsion: Get them out of Germany
2. Containment: Put them all together in one
place – namely ghettos.
3. “Final Solution”: annihilation (mass killing)
– started in the fall of 1941
Persecution
Nazis targeted other
individuals and
groups in addition to
the Jews:
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Gypsies
Homosexual men
Jehovah’s Witness
Handicapped Germans
Polish people
Political dissidents
Nazi ideal of beauty
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Very important because it prepared the
way for the Holocaust.
The death camps became the instruments
to “beautify” the world.
The authorization of government, science,
and medical authority made things appear
legitimate.
Lead up to the Holocaust
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An idea came about that for the German
people to be healthy and beautiful, they
had to be pure (i.e. no racial mixing).
People who were not German, not pure,
and hence “not beautiful,” were associated
with degenerate, sick and evil.
Killing became a form of “cleansing” for
the German people.
First “cleansing” was euthanasia.
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In the 1930’s they began to kill the
mentally and physically handicapped.
This was hidden from the public, and the
deception made easier by the confusion
caused by the WWII (begins in 1939).
First Concentration Camp
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Dachau concentration camp set up on
March 20th, 1933.
First inmates included communists,
socialists, homosexuals and Jews.
Ultimate “cleansing”—Holocaust
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WWII began when Germany invaded Poland in
1939.
Now the Nazis had 3 million Jews in Poland to
deal with.
They applied what they had learned from their
“euthanasia” program to the “problem” in
Poland.
Unforeseen Danger for the Jews
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Jews, especially those living outside of Germany,
did not see the danger coming.
They thought the Nazis were a passing phase to
deal with and to survive.
After the war began, it was difficult for anyone to
emigrate (move to another country).
Jews were ordered to wear the Star
of David in November 1939 so they
could be easily identified.
The Holocaust
spread all over Europe
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As the Nazis occupy different countries,
the persecution and deportation of Jews
and other “undesirable” groups spreads.
Nazi Propaganda Posters
after Hitler comes into Power
“One people,
one empire, one leader”
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This copies an old
poster for another
German politician of
the past—Otto von
Bismarck.
“Germany is free!”
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What irony can we
find in this message
today?
The youth serves the Fuhrer
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The poster
encourages all ten
year olds to join the
Hitler youth.
Why is that important
to the Nazis?
6. U.S. and World Response
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Many Jewish people tried to leave
Germany and Austria.
32 countries met to discuss what to do
about the Jewish refugees.
Although sympathetic, most countries
made excuses for not accepting more
refugees.
7. Final Solution
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The Nazis aimed to control the Jewish
population by forcing them to live in areas
that were designated for Jews only, called
ghettos.
Ghettos were established across all of
German occupied Europe, especially in
areas where there was already a large
Jewish population.
Ghettos
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Many ghettos were closed by barbed wire or walls and
were guarded by SS or local police.
Jews sometimes had to use bridges to go over Aryan
streets that ran through the ghetto.
Life in the Ghettos
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Food was rationed.
Several families often shared a small
space.
Disease spread rapidly.
Heating, ventilation, and sanitation were
limited.
Many children were orphaned.
Killing Squads
Einsatzgruppen
were mobile killing
squads made up
of Nazi (SS) units
and police. They
killed Jews in
mass shooting
actions throughout
eastern Poland
and the western
Soviet Union.
Concentration Camps
There were many concentration and labor
camps where many people died from
exposure, lack of food, extreme working
conditions, torture, and executions.
Death Camps
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In 1942, high-ranking Nazi officials met and
devised a plan to establish death camps with
gas chambers.
There were six death camps: AuschwitzBirkenau, Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor,
Majdanek, and Belzec.
Each used gas chambers to murder the Jews. At
Auschwitz prisoners were told the gas chambers
were “showers.”
Gas Chambers
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Most of the gas chambers used carbon
monoxide from diesel engines.
In Auschwitz and Majdanek “Zyklon B” pellets,
which were a highly poisonous insecticide,
supplied the gas.
After the gassings, prisoners removed hair, gold
teeth and fillings from the Jews before the
bodies were burned in the crematoria or buried
in mass graves.
Nazi Propaganda goes mainstream
More propaganda
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Begins to appear in all sorts of places.
Its purpose was to project powerful
images of internal and external foes.
This helped to maintain the illusion of
national unity.
Helped to keep the people committed to
the war effort.
“Devil’s plan”
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What do you think is
represented in this
poster?
“The Jew:
War instigator and war lengthener”
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How can you tell what
this poster is trying to
convey?
Propaganda for Children
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This is a children’s
book called The
Poison Mushroom.
What does this
picture imply?
8. Resistance
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Despite the high risk, some individuals
attempted to resist Nazism.
The “White Rose” movement protested Nazism,
though not Jewish policy, in Germany.
9. Rescue
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Less than 1% of non-Jewish Europeans
helped any Jew in some form of rescue.
Countries like Denmark and Bulgaria had
some national resistance movements
against the Nazi’s attempt to deport their
Jews.
The U.S. War Refugee Board worked to
rescue Jews from Nazi-occupied
territories.
10. Aftermath
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Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate
camp prisoners on July 23, 1944, at
Maidanek in Poland.
British, Canadian, American, and French
troops also liberated camp prisoners.
Troops were shocked at what they saw.
Aftermath
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Most prisoners
were emaciated
to the point of
being skeletal.
Many camps
had dead bodies
lying in piles
“like cordwood.”
Many prisoners
died even after
liberation.
Aftermath
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Many of the camp prisoners had nowhere
to go, so they became “displaced persons”
(DPs).
These survivors stayed in DP camps in
Germany, which were organized and run
by the Allies.
Initially, the conditions were often very
poor in the DP camps.
Aftermath
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Jewish displaced persons, eager to leave
Europe, pushed for the founding of a
Jewish state in British-controlled
Palestine.
U.S. President Harry Truman issued an
executive order allowing Jewish refugees
to enter the United States without normal
immigration restrictions.
Nuremberg Trials
1945-1946
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An International
Military Tribunal
called the
Nuremberg Trials
brought some of
those responsible
for the atrocities of
the war to justice.
Nuremberg Trials
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There were 22 Nazi criminals tried by the Allies
in the International Military Tribunal.
12 subsequent trials followed as well as national
trials throughout formerly occupied Europe.
12 prominent Nazis were sentenced to death.
Most claimed that they were only following
orders, which was judged to be an invalid
defense.
Why did the Germans
accept the Nazis ideas?
Because…
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It was a time of crisis.
The party propaganda gave them easy answers
to the problems and turmoil they saw around
them.
People needed someone to blame.
Eventually this propaganda made it easier for
the Nazis to implement the Holocaust.
“We had the moral right to annihilate the people
who wanted to annihilate us.”
Lessons for us
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We are influenced by what we see in the media
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This is why advertising works and billions of dollars
are spent on it.
We need to critically examine message we
receive (from government, companies, and
individuals) before accepting them as “the truth.”
Avoid getting caught up in a “bandwagon effect”
and just going along with the crowd.
Why study the Holocaust?
Elie Wiesel
Author of Night
Former prisoners of Buchenwald stare out from the wooden bunks in
which they slept three to a "bed." Elie Wiesel’s picture is circled.
Could another Holocaust happen?
History Repeats Itself
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Slavery & KKK
American Indians & Reservation System
Japanese American Internment Camps
“Separate but equal” treatment for blacks
Kosovo (Yugoslavia)
Darfur, Sudan
U.S. immigration problems
Terrorism and wars in the Middle East
Elie Wiesel says…
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Never forget, speak out.
To give in to the silence is to give in to
cynicism and to allow the very forces that
caused the Holocaust the opportunity to
gain the upper hand once again.
Photo Credits
Slide 4-5: #22718
Date: 1930 - 1939
Locale: Sighet, [Transylvania; Baia-Mare] Romania
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Mitchell Eisen
Copyright: USHMM – used with permission
Slide 13: #97471
Date: Sep 15, 1923
Locale: Berlin, [Berlin] Germany; Credit: USHMM, courtesy of
Margaret Chelnick
Copyright: USHMM – used with permission
Slide 16:NARA, College Park, Md.
Slide 17: #25784
Date: Apr 3, 1939
Locale: Stettin, [Pomerania] Germany;
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Walter Jacobsberg
Copyright: USHMM – used with permission
Slide 18:#40000
Date: 1938
Locale: Germany
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Lawerence E. Gichner
Copyright: USHMM – used with permission
Slide 21:#86838
Date: Nov 10, 1938
Locale: Berlin, [Berlin] Germany
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 24:#11291
Date: Jun 3, 1939
Locale: Havana, Cuba
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 26: #30082
Date: 1941
Locale: Lodz, [Lodz] Poland
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Zydowski Instytut Historyczny
Instytut Naukowo-Badawczy
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 28: #19124
Date: Dec 15, 1941
Locale: Liepaja, [Kurzeme] Latvia;
Photographer: Carl Strott
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Zentrale Stelle der
Landesjustizverwaltungen (Bundesarchiv- A
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 32:#45460
Date: After Apr 27, 1945
Locale: Sachsenhausen, [Brandenburg] Germany
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Gedenkstatte und Museum Sachsenhausen
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 33: #26559
Date: Apr 19, 1943 - May 16, 1943
Locale: Warsaw, Poland; Varshava; Warschau
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 37: #62191
Date: 1943
Locale: Sweden
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Frihedsmuseet
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 39: Copyright USHMM – used with permission
Slide 41: #74607
Date: Apr 16, 1945
Locale: Buchenwald, [Thuringia] Germany
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 44: #61330
Date: Nov 20, 1945 - Oct 1, 1946
Locale: Nuremberg, [Bavaria] Germany
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park
Copyright: Public Domain
Slide 46: #74607
Date: Apr 16, 1945
Locale: Buchenwald, [Thuringia] Germany
Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park
Copyright: Public Domain