The Holocaust

Describe the Holocaust and explain its historical significance

Segregation• Separation of the races• Jews were separated from other Europeans by the ideals and philosophies

of Adolf Hitler

Systematic attempt to rid Europe of Jews• The Holocaust is a state-sponsored murder of six

million Jews by the Nazis in Europe during WWII• The “Final Solution” to a ‘perfect’ Germany• "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to

power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.

• During the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority“: Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others). Other groups who were persecuted: Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals.

Aryan SupremacyThe belief that the Aryan race (Caucasian, Blonde-hair, blue-eyed Northern Europeans) are better than other races

Anti-Semitism• prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews

for reasons connected to their religion or heritage

This newspaper’s caption reads "Where one is ruled by the Jews, freedom is only an empty dream." The Nazis claimed that Jewish people were all a part of an international conspiracy to rule the planet.

Boycott of Jewish Stores• Nazi controlled Germany shut down Jewish owned

businesses

Ghettos• Racially segregated

areas with poor living conditions

• Jewish citizens in Germany were arrested by the SS, forced to leave behind all of their property, and taken to central locations in major cities to the East, frequently in Poland. Jewish citizens were forced to live in cramped conditions without resources for basic needs and without medical care. Many were brutalized by Nazi guards and mistreated throughout this period – but things would get horribly worse.

Genocide• Killing of all or part of a

racial, ethnic or religious groupThe Nazi propaganda film “The Eternal Jew”, purporting to be a documentary, was given its public premiere on 28th November 1940. It was all part of the continuing process of de-sensitizing the general population to the growing persecution of the Jews. The message was presented very crudely, as can be imagined from the poster. Notoriously the film juxtaposed footage of rats with scenes of Jewish life.

Concentration Camps• A place where

people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions

• Once the war began in earnest, extermination camps were opened and the systematic murder of non-Aryan people began. People were forced into railroad boxcars and sent to the camps.

Forced Labor• Jews who were taken to concentration camps were

forced to work

Death Camps• Those who could not work were sent to death

camps

Auschwitz• German Nazi concentration and death camp

Liberation of Camps by the Allies• The Soviet (and then US) discovery of the camps• Freedom for the survivors • In total, 6 million Jews (plus 7 million others) – were killed

First, They Came For . . . By Martin Niemoller

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the incurably sick, and I did not speak out – because I was not sick;

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 out for me.