THE HOLOCAUST
Nazi Persecution of the Jews
HOLOCAUST -- persecution and death of millions of Jews in Europe
(6 million) SHOAH (catastrophe) --Hebrew name for the holocaust
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Nazi Ideology
European anti-semitism can be traced back centuries.
Anti-semitism --hatred of JewsSept. 1935 -- Nuremberg Laws -- laws took Jewish citizenship
--Jews couldn’t marry Germans
Persecution Timeline
2 months after the Nuremberg laws, one grandparent means Jewish (not pure)
By 1938 many Jews were unemployed Jews were being sent to Ghettos (poor areas of the
city) November 7, 1938 -- A young Jew kills a German
diplomat in Paris because his family had been sent to a ghetto in Poland
This was the spark Hitler needed to destroy the Jews Joseph Goebbls (head of propaganda) began to make
attacks on the Jewish communities
KRISTALLNACHT
Night of broken glass -- burnt synagogues and businesses
90 Jews dead7500 businesses destroyed180 synagogues destroyed
Jews Flee Germany
Many Jews were trying to flee Germany Why didn’t more flee before 1938? 1. They felt a part of Germany 2. Thought it would get better After 1938 1. They couldn’t take more than $4 out of Germany 2. Many countries wouldn’t take them
S.S. St. Louis -- 930 Jewish refugees went to Cuba, waited in U.S. and ended up back in Germany
THE FINAL SOLUTION
Hitler’s plan to destroy the Jewish population in Germany
Jan. 20, 1942 -- 15 NAZI officials met at the Wannsee conference to decide what to do with the Jews.
Remember more land = more Jews and unwanted people
Concentration camps
Work camps built prior to the conference Started out for POWs and undesirables Many Jews were forced to them Example -- Buchenwald and Dachau After the conference the NAZIS began to
build extermination camps to kill many people very quickly
Examples -- Treblinka and Auschwitz
HIDING FROM THE NAZIS
Many Jews began to realize their fate and tried to hide from the German military and often from their own neighbors
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AUSCHWITZ
Largest extermination camp In Poland Housed 100,000 people in 300 barracks Gas chambers could kill 2,000 at a time Gassed 12,000 in a day 1.6 million killed here
Stages of Life for the Jews
1. Restrictions on everything: school, business, practicing their faith, marriage 2. Moved to the Ghettos (poor part of the city)
3. Moved to forced labor camps4. THE FINAL SOLUTION
