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Holocaust A Brief History of one of the most Horrific Events in Modern Times. Who were the people involved? Some were forced Some were chosen Some were willing participants Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler review SS troops during Reich Party Day ceremonies. Millions were victimized by the Nazi’s during the Holocaust: Jews, Gypsies, political enemies, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and people with disabilities People who the Nazi’s considered sub-human (socially or racially inferior to the Aryan race) or imperfect, were forced to wear the badge of their imperfection. Hitler created an atmosphere of terror that was maintained by force. Flag of the Nazi Party The National Socialist German Workers' Party or NSDAP, known as the Nazi Party, controlled Germany from 1933 to 45. Legal Policies - Nazis began to whittle away at the rights of Jews and other party enemies soon after Hitler became Chancellor in January of 1933. Jews were no longer considered German citizens, their businesses were taken away and their children were banned from schools. Nuremberg Laws The first law, The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor, prohibited marriages between “Jews ” (the name was now officially used in place of “non-Aryans ”) and “Germans ” and also the employment of “German ” females under forty-five in Jewish households. The second law, The Reich Citizenship Law, stripped Jews of their German citizenship and introduced a new distinction between “Reich citizens ” and “nationals.” Believe Me! Propaganda - Propaganda relies on emotion rather than on logic, concentrates on a few ideas which are presented in simple terms, and then hammers those ideas repeatedly. Hitler had total control of radio, press, publishing, cinema, and the other arts. The caption: "The Jew: The inciter of war, the prolonger of war." This poster was released in late 1943 or early 1944. Violence, Terror and Death The SS, the SA, the SD (security service of the SS) and the Gestapo were all Nazi organizations, which were used as instruments of terror. The SA was founded in 1921 as the Nazi Party militia. It lured new recruits with promises of adventure: participating in parades and secret meetings, painting slogans on buildings, fighting with opponents, and wearing the Brown Shirt uniforms. The SA recruited 15,000 members by 1923, and by the end of 1933, the SA was 4.5 million men strong. The SS began in 1925 as a small personal guard unit to protect Hitler and other party leaders. It developed into the elite corps, the Black Shirts, under the direction of Heinrich Himmler. The Gestapo was composed of professional police agents, unlike the SS or SA. The Gestapo, in addition to their own agents, had block wardens, who kept close watch on the tenants of their block. The Gestapo was everywhere. Even a hint of criticism of the Nazi Party could result in arrest. Bystanders were ordinary people who played it safe. As private citizens, they obeyed with the laws and tried to avoid the terrorizing activities of the Nazi party. They wanted to get on with their daily lives. Bystanders may have remained unaware, or perhaps were aware of what was going on around them, but, being fearful of the consequences, chose not to risk helping Nazi victims. First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the labor leaders, and I did not speak out because I was not a labor leader. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me. --The Reverend Martin Niemöller, a pastor in the German Confessing Church who spent seven years in a concentration camp. Underground resistance organizations existed to provide food, receive and transmit news and information, and boost morale. Opposition newspapers were forbidden, but almost every underground party published one. The penalty for possession of a radio was death. Rescuers are those who, at great personal risk, actively helped members of persecuted groups, primarily Jews, during the Holocaust in defiance of Third Reich policy. They were ordinary people who became extraordinary people because they believed what the Nazi’s were doing to innocent people was wrong. Thousands survived the Holocaust because of the bravery of these rescuers. Allied troops liberated prisoners of concentration camps. Although these soldiers had witnessed all the horrors of war, the condition of the prisoners in the camps was even more shocking. It was beyond any war scene the soldiers had experienced. There were rows upon rows of bodies stacked up like cordwood. Auschwitz Located in Oswiecim, Poland This is one of the Nazi death, or extermination camps that the Allies liberated. The camp Kommandant was Rudolf Höss Men’s barracks This photo was taken by an SS photographer. It is part of an album discovered after liberation by a female prisoner. Most people create family albums containing photos of their children, wives, husbands, mementos of places visited... Evidently this SS photographer was proud of the work he and his comrades were doing. The people in the photo had only just been brought from the trains where they had been crammed in cattle cars with no food, water or sanitation. Look closely at them, these were the people the Nazis considered dangerous. Not long after this photo was taken they were gassed, and their bodies burned. Prisoner identification badges for Dachau Concentration Camp The chances of surviving the war in any of the Nazi death, concentration, or labor camps were slim to none. Those who did survive are the sole witnesses to the horrors put into action behind the barbed electric fences surrounding Nazi compounds. Their stories remind us of the atrocities humans are capable of when led to believe those who are different from them are sub-human or otherwise undesirable. Survivors of the camps were in very poor health. "When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer." Corrie Ten Boom Author and Holocaust survivor Test your knowledge Let's Play a Game References • http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/people/people.htm • http://history1900s.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2F www.schoolhistory.co.uk%2Fgames%2Fwalk%2Fwalk_nazipropaganda.ht ml • http://history1900s.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2F www.calvin.edu%2Facademic%2Fcas%2Fgpa%2Fposters2.htm • http://windsormedia.blogs.com/lipsticking/2004/10/jane_focuses_on.html • http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/GALL31R/05459.htm Created by: Debra Harrington