Holocaust History

In the early 1930s, the mood in Germany was grim. Economic depression had hit the country especially hard, and millions of people were out of work. Nearly 40% unemployment.

The German government was weakened by the defeat during WWI fifteen years earlier.

These conditions provided the chance for the rise of a new leader, Adolf Hitler, and his party, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nazi party for short.

Hitler Comes to Power

Hitler was a powerful and charismatic speaker who attracted many Germans who were desperate for change.

He promised a better life and a new and glorious Germany.

The Nazis appealed to the unemployed, young people, and members of the lower middle class (small store owners, office employees, craftsmen, and farmers).

Hitler Comes to Power

In January 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor, the head of the German government, and many Germans believed that they had found a savior for their nation

Hitler moved quickly to turn Germany into a one-party dictatorship and to organize the police power necessary to enforce Nazi policies.

Hitler Comes to Power

Under the new Nazi rule:Reichstag passes Enabling Act (legally for five

years)Hitler put an end individual freedoms, including

freedom of press, speech, and assembly. Individuals lost the right to privacy, which meant that

officials could read people's mail, listen in on telephone conversations, and search private homes without a warrant.

An important tool of Nazi terror was the Protective Squad (Schutzstaffel), or SS, which began as a special guard for Adolf Hitler and other party leaders. 

Nazi Rule

By 1934 Hitler became a dictator with the death of the president Hindenburg.

SS chief Heinrich Himmler also turned the regular (nonparty) police forces into an instrument of terror

Secret State Police or Gestapo; these non-uniformed police used ruthless and cruel methods throughout Germany to identify and arrest political opponents and others who refused to obey laws and policies of the Nazi regime.

Nazi Rule

Create a master raceAryan Create a thousand year empire(Third

Reich)Expand territoryHitler used methods of terror and

spectacle SS (Schutzstaffeln) began massive rearmament programReduced unemployment to less than

500,000

Hitler’s Goals

The HolocaustBegan soon after Hitler took powerJews were main targetsNuremberg laws (1935) (defining who was

Jewish)Jews were encouraged to leave Germany

After the invasion of the Soviet Union, mass exterminations of “undesirables” began to take place

Einsatzgruppen (Mobile Killing Units)Followed behind army in Russia and would line

up people and shoot them into mass graves. Reinhard Heydrich- one of the architects of

the Concentration Camp/ Holocaust System (SS Final Solution Coordinator)Probably killed one million people this way

The Holocaust

After Einsatzgruppen squads proved too slow, SS decides on more efficient method

Death/work campsMillions of Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, mentally ill,

disabled, homosexuals, and others were rounded up were either killed or sent to camps

At these camps, victims were worked and died or were immediately killed

Concentration Camps

These camps became giant death factoriesLarge gas chambers and crematoriumsSometimes large pit fires were usedVictims were also used for medical

experimentationIn the end, 11,000,000 victims6,000,000 were Jews

Concentration Camps

Concentration CampsAfter Einsatzgruppen squads proved too

slow, SS decides on more efficient methodDeath/work campsMillions of Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, mentally

ill, disabled, homosexuals, and others were rounded up

Either killed or sent to campsAt these camps, victims were worked and

died or were immediately killed

Concentration CampsThese camps became giant death factoriesLarge gas chambers and crematoriumsSometimes large pit fires were usedVictims were also used for medical

experimentationIn the end, 11,000,000 victims6,000,000 were Jews

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