THE HOLOCAUST

Anti-Semitism

Discrimination or hostility, often violent, directed at Jews

Genocide

The deliberate destruction of an entire ethnic or cultural group

The Holocaust

Nazi Germany’s systematic murder of European Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, homeless, and Mentally and Physically Disabled

Nazi Policies April 1, 1933- One day boycott of Jewish

Businesses Nuremburg Laws (1935)

Banned German/Jew mixed marriages Jews are no longer German citizens Considered Jewish if 2 or more of your

Grandparents were JewsIf you were a mix you were known as a

Mischling Jews and Mischlings had no political or social

rights

Nazi Policies 1938- Jews had to surrender their

businesses to Germans for a fraction of their value

Forced to wear the yellow Star of David All Jews were given the middle name

Sarah or Israel depending on their gender so they could be identified

Jewish students were expelled from public schools

Jewish doctors could not help non-Jews

Hitler’s Henchmen SS (Schutzstaffel) – elite

guard, guarded concentration camps

Gestapo – Nazi Political Police

Einsatzgruppen – Mobile Killing Units Usually rounded up their

victims, took them to gullies or pits and shot them

Killed 53,000 Jews in 2 days in Kiev (USSR)

Kristallnacht November 9, 1938 “Night of Broken Glass” Nazi followers

destroyed Jewish stores, houses, and synagogues

Nearly every synagogue (Jewish Temple) was destroyed

The remaining Jews sought to leave the country by any means possible

Ghettos

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.php?MediaId=3375 Warsaw Ghetto

Millions of Jews were put into Ghettos (self contained areas, usually surrounded by a fence, wall, or armed guards)

Warsaw ghetto – Put 30% of the Polish Capital’s population into an area the size of 3% of the city (400,000 people)

Concentration Camps

Camps where political prisoners are confined, usually under harsh conditions

Concentration Camps

Wansee Conference

January 1942 Nazi officials met to

discuss “Final Solution” to the “Jewish Question”

Outlined the plan to construct more death camps in Poland that would exterminate the Jews and undesirables

Death Camps Unlike concentration camps, death camps were

constructed primarily for mass murder Six of these camps were constructed in Poland

At 4 of the 6 camps most were killed immediately after arrival

The Poison gas Zyklon B was used to kill many of those who died

Disguised gas chambers as showers, gassed the Jews to death, then cremated them in mass ovens

At Auschwitz 12,000 could be killed and cremated in a day

1.5 million died at Auschwitz (90% Jews)

Life at a Death Camp At camps like Auschwitz, those that were

not immediately killed suffered the worst Life expectancy for a normal Jew was a

few months Prisoners were tattooed with a number,

starved, beaten, and often sickly Some Jews underwent medical

experiments Those too weak to work were sent to the

gas chambers

Auschwitz Gas Chambers

Auschwitz Crematorium

Auschwitz Entrance

Auschwitz Train Entrance

Fighting Back Some Jews resisted the Nazis Jews in several Ghettos formed underground resistance

groups and took part in violent uprisings Rioting Jews in the Treblinka death camp damaged the

camp so badly it had to be closed Escape was the most common form of resistance,

although it normally failed Word got back to the Warsaw Ghetto that the 300,000

Jews taken from the Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp were exterminated

The 50,000 Jews remaining in the Ghetto fought back against the Nazis with handguns and homemade bombs Stopped the deportations for a while

Rescue and Liberation U.S. knew about the mass murder of the Jews as early as

Nov. 1942 1944 - Roosevelt created the War Refugee Board (WRB)

to try to help people threatened by the Nazis Saved 200,000 lives

As Allied forces advanced at the end of the war they discovered the camps and freed the Jews

Many Jews were killed by Germans when they discovered the Americans were coming to liberate them

Other Jews were marched from the camps to escape the American advancement, many died

http://www.history.com/topics/the-holocaust/videos#concentration-camp-liberation

Nuremburg Trials November 1945 Allied troops convicted

24 Nazis of war crimes and crimes against humanity

12 sentenced to death

Rejected the Nazis’ argument that they were following orders

Showed that individuals must be responsible for their own actions

Holocaust Statistics:

6 million Jews perished 5-6 million other people would also die

in Nazi captivity (Gypsies, Mentally and Physically Disabled, Homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and political prisoners)

11 Million total 91% of Polish Jews died Two thirds of Europe’s Jews died

Animated Map

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.php?MediaId=3372

Pre War Jewish Population

Post Holocaust Jewish Population