the holocaust: 1933-1945. introduction holocaust the word “holocaust” is the greek for...
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THE HOLOCAUST: 1933-1945THE HOLOCAUST: 1933-1945
IntroductionIntroduction
Holocaust
The word “holocaust” is the Greek for “sacrifice by fire.”
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution
and murder of approximately 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime. To put this in
perspective, in 1933 the European Jewish population was roughly 9 million.
Genocide: “The deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an
ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.”
Armenian Genocide - 1915-1918 - 1,500,000 Deaths
The Armenian Genocide, the first genocide of the 20th Century, occurred when two million Armenians
living in Turkey were eliminated from their historic homeland through forced deportations and
massacres.
Cambodia Genocide (Pol Pot) - 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths
An attempt by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot to form a Communist peasant farming society resulted in
the deaths of 25 percent of the country's population from starvation, overwork and executions.
Genocide in Rwanda - 1994 - 800,000 Deaths
Beginning on April 6, 1994, and for the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu
militia using clubs and machetes, with as many as 10,000 killed each day.
Bosnia Genocide - 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
In the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs,
Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.
Anti-SemitismAnti-Semitism
The term “Semitic” refers to a language group; by extension it refers to anyone
who originally spoke this language, in particular the religious groups: Judaism,
Christianity and Islam.
The term “anti-Semite” has come to refer most commonly to an attitude of
hostility towards Jews in particular.
Anti-SemitismAnti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism has its roots in the diaspora (dispersal) of the Jews after the
destruction of the Temple of Jerulsalem in 70 AD by the Roman Empire. In 135 CE
Jerusalem was razed by Emperor Hadrian when he established a new city called
Aelia Capitolina.
The Jewish people moved throughout Europe. They tended to establish closed
communities (to maintain the integrity of their faith).
They also tended to be educated (note a Bar Mitzvah entailed learning to read) so
they ended in positions of management.
These factors tended to engender jealousy of the Jews among “locals.”
Anti-SemitismAnti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism existed in Germany and other European counties before the Nazi party
came to power in 1933.
Politically, Hitler used prevailing anti-Semitism to help build a German nationalism (“us
against them” type of mentality).
Hitler also believed in the Germans as a “master race”. He wanted Germany to be
populated by a pure Aryan race. Hitler aimed for the removal of all individuals or groups
defined as racial, political or social enemies. These included Jews, Slavs and
Siniti/Roma (Gypsies), Communists, the disabled, and homosexuals.
See visual overview of Holocaust here.
In his book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle) (1925-27)
he claimed there was a Jewish conspiracy to
dominate the world…
Hitler’s anti-SemitismHitler’s anti-SemitismHitler saw the Jews as responsible for state of Germany after World War I.
The black-haired Jewish youth lies in wait for hours on end, satanically glaring at and spying on the unsuspicious girl whom he plans to seduce, adulterating her blood and removing her from the bosom of her own people. The Jew uses every possible means to undermine the racial foundations of a subjugated people. … The Jews were responsible for bringing negroes into the Rhineland, with the ultimate idea of bastardizing the white race which they hate and thus lowering its cultural and political level so that the Jew might dominate. …
Economically he brings about the destruction of the State by a systematic method of sabotaging social enterprises until these become so costly that they are taken out of the hands of the State and then submitted to the control of Jewish finance. Politically he works to withdraw from the State its means of subsistence, inasmuch as he undermines the foundations of national resistance and defense, destroys the confidence which the people have in their Government, reviles the past and its history and drags everything national down into the gutter. …
Of religion he makes a mockery. Morality and decency are described as antiquated prejudices and thus a systematic attack is made to undermine those last foundations on which the national being must rest if the nation is to struggle for its existence in this world.
A. Hitler, Mein Kampf
Nazi portrayal of JewsNazi portrayal of Jews
Nazi propaganda presented “the Jew” as greedy, evil, cowardly and
backstabbing. They were blamed for Germanys political and financial failures
post-WWI. They were portrayed as the slayers of Christ and accused of being
witches.
Hitler believed in eugenics (improving a race by selective breeding) and
adopted the idea of genocide resulting in the Final Solution.
Propaganda is the spreading of information, ideas, or rumours deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.
Holocaust timelineHolocaust timeline
• Rise of the Nazi Party (1918-1933). During the fourteen years following the end of World War I, the
Nazi party grew from a small political group to the most powerful party in Germany.
• Nazification (1933-1939). Once Hitler became Chancellor and later Reichsführer, the Nazi party
quickly changed Germany's political, social, and economic structure.
• The Ghettos (1939-1941). Confining Jews to ghettos was another critical step in Hitler's Final
Solution.
• The Camps (1941-1942). The concentration camps were Hitler's final step in the annihilation of the
Jews.
• Resistance (1942-1944). People resisted by any means possible, from stealing a slice of bread to
sabotaging Nazi installations.
• Rescue and Liberation (1944-1945). Some survived through the heroics of neighbours; others were
liberated by the Allies.
• Aftermath (1945-2000). After the war, Nazi perpetrators faced punishment for their war crimes and
survivors began rebuilding their lives.
1933 Hitler becomes German Chancellor and President
Der Sturmer (anti-Semitic news publication) - “Jews are our misfortune”
SS sets up concentration camps for political prisoners (Dachau)
Enabling Act passed (law that made Hitler dictator of Nazi Germany);
separation of Jews from Germans
Jews in public office are ordered to “retire”
1934 Establishment of the Gestapo (secret state police1934)
Hitler becomes Führer of Germany
1935 Nuremburg Laws
Jews are no longer German citizens/marry non-Jews
1936 SS Deathshead Unit put in charge of concentration camps
1938 Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish businesses, people,
and synagogues [See video regarding the Night here]
200,000 sent to camps
1939 Euthanasia program begins; Jews forced to wear yellow star; mass use of ghettos
Ghetto’sGhetto’s
From 1939, hundreds of ghettos, old slum areas designated for Jews only, were created in large towns and cities. They were originally created as a provisional measure to control and segregate Jews. Creation of Final Solution (1941) made ghetto’s relatively useless & many were destroyed.
Largest ghetto in Poland = Warsaw; over 400,000 Jews in 1.3 square miles
See Warsaw ghetto history here.
Extermination campsExtermination camps
Between 1942 to 1943 the Nazi’s “deported” Jews to “concentration camps” in Poland. Deportation was code for mass murder. Jews were transferred from the ghettos to extermination camps to be gassed.
The murder in extermination camps was intended to be humiliating and as dehumanizing as possible.
To avoid resistance, Nazi guards often told groups that they were being taken to “showers” for “delousing.”
AuschwitzAuschwitz
See video regarding Auschwitz here.
The Holocaust: AftermathThe Holocaust: Aftermath
What was the aftermath?
Migration
Creation of state of Israel 1948
International war laws
Psychological effect on survivors
Resurgence of anti-Semitism
War criminals brought to justice
Remembrance
memorials
See flash video regarding aftermath here.