Bell Ringer

• What was the Holocaust?

CH 34-37: World War II- Part II

International Concern for Jews

• Nations of the world were aware of increased anti-Semitism in German controlled areas

• In 1938 Hitler authorized Kristallnacht, “the night of broken glass.” Nazi supporters destroyed Jewish run businesses, synagogues, and community centers

• Some 30,000 Jews (mostly community leaders) were arrested and sent to concentration camps

• Reliable information about “death camps” would not reach the American public until 1942

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. 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 for me.”

~ Martin Niemöller

• The Russian military would push towards Germany in the East, and Hitler’s army was trapped in an increasingly small space.

• It was only once the Russians liberated Poland that many of the death camps were discovered, and the scale of the genocide was understood.

• Reports of “living skeletons” came in

• This will be known as the Holocaust, or the German supported systematic killing of Jewish individuals and political dissenters.

Hitler’s Role: Action T4 (1939-41 [45?])

• Nazi Germany’s “Euthanasia Program” during which physicians murdered thousands of people, “judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination.”

• About 275,000 were murdered under T4

• Victims were German

Holocaust Death Totals

WHAT DID THE UNITED STATES KNOW ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST AND HOW DID IT RESPOND?

• Despite a history of providing sanctuary to persecuted peoples, the United States grappled with many issues during the 1930s that made living up to this legacy difficult.

• These issues included widespread anti-Semitism, xenophobia, isolationism, and a sustained economic depression.

• Unfortunately for those fleeing Nazi persecution, such issues greatly impacted US refugee policy, reinforcing an official and popular unwillingness to expand immigration quotas to admit greater numbers of people endangered by Nazi persecution and aggression at a time when doing so might have saved lives.

Nuremburg Trials

• The surviving top ranking Nazi officials were placed on trial for War Crimes- Nuremburg Trials

• Arose from the dilemma of what to do to these captured Nazis: Free them, Kill them, or Try them?

• The trial had international judges, lawyers, witnesses, evidence, etc.

• In the end of the 23 men placed on trial: 12 received death, 7 prison sentences (10yrs-Life), and 3 were acquitted.