Introduction to the Holocaust and World War II

Definitions

Genocide: the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

Holocaust: the genocide of European Jews, the disabled, Gypsies, criminals, homosexuals, and other groups by Nazis

during World War II

Definitions

Allied: countries that went against the Germany and the Axis powers (like Britain and the United States).

Axis: countries that sided with Germany and Hitler.

During World War II, the Nazi party of Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, systematically killed more than 6 million people.

What does systematically mean?

Timeline of Holocaust Events

1918-1933 Rise of the Nazi Party1933-1939 Nazification and the Start of War1939-1941 The Ghettos1942-1944 The Camps1942-1944 Resistance1944-1945 Rescue and Liberation1945-2000 The Aftermath

The Rise of the Nazi PartyWorld War I ends in 1918 with the Treaty of

Versailles.Germany becomes humiliated with the ‘laws’ put

upon the country by the Treaty of Versailles: Nearly half of its conquered land was redistributed German army could not have more than 100,000

men and NO tanks Germany could not have an air force, and its navy

was limited (couldn’t even have submarines!) Germany even had to admit full responsibility for

starting the war as well as pay reparations

The Rise Continued…

Nazi Party begins in 1919 as a gang of unemployed soldiers who blamed losing WWI on Jews and Communists.

Adolf Hitler joins the Nazis and rises to power because of his powerfully captivating speeches, and impressive leadership skills

Nazification and the Start of War

Hitler goes against the Treaty of Versailles and starts to re-arm its army. At the same time, he makes peace talks with neighboring countries as a front.

Hitler begins an aggressive search for more land to stretch his power (Britain, France, and Russia allow Germany to take Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia to avoid another war)

World War II officially begins September 1, 1939 when the Nazi party invades Poland

The Ghettos

Ghettos were poor sections of cities, surrounded by barbed wire and guards where Jewish residents were forced to move when Hitler came to power.

Ghettos were not a “Hitler-invention”.

Hitler’s ghettos were the first step along the way to the “Final Solution”

The Camps

The Nazi party used concentration, forced labor, extermination, transit, and prisoner of war camps throughout the war; all of which had horrible living conditions

Some of those imprisoned include: Jews, homosexuals, clergymen, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, criminals, POWs, and those opposed to Nazism

The Camps

There were 6 death or extermination camps in Poland (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Lublin, and Chelmno)

Terezin held mostly children 15,000 children went

through this camp; only 132 survived

Resistance and Liberation

Resistance took many forms (armed and unarmed)

Allied troops stumble upon the camps

General Eisenhower insisted on documenting what the troops found in order to inform future generations

Allied forces made neighboring people look at what they had lived next to for years

AftermathAfter the war ended, there

were two major issues to be resolved Punishment for the terrible

deeds of party leaders Re-locating the people who lost

their homes during warThe United Nations assisted

in finding homes for those displaced during the war

The Nuremberg Trials provided a place to try some of the most infamous members of the Nazi Party

References

www.google.com/images

http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/timeline.htm

http://www.ushmm.org