By Abbie, Jenny and Eve

THE HOLOCAUST

The Holocaust is the name given to the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis during World War II. It was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews led by Adolf Hitler, the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Although millions of others, such as Romani, Sinti, homosexuals, the disabled and political opponents of the Nazi regime, were also victims of persecution and murder, only the Jews were singled out for total extermination. There are two main phases to the Holocaust, the period between 1933 and 1939, the Nazi rise, and the period between 1939 and 1945, the period of war, or more specifically, World War II. The first concentration camp opened in January 1933, when the Nazis came to power, and continued to run until the end of the war and the Third Reich, 8th of May, 1945.

Adolf Hitler was the man behind the ordering of this mass genocide called ‘The Holocaust’. Hitler was born in the Austrian village of Brannau in 1889. After his parents died he moved to Vienna where there was a history of anti-semitism. This was where his hatred towards the Jews originated.

When the Nazis became the largest single party in Germany, Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor in January of 1933. He believed that the Jews were to blame for all Germany’s difficulties during the ‘inter-war’ years, he persuaded others to think so also.

It was during World War II, Hitler undertook the ‘final solution’. He sent the jewish to live in Ghettoes and concentration camps such as Aushwitz. The Nazis ordered the SS (police force) to begin gassing older men, women and children. Young me who were fit and able enough for work were used as slave labour until they died.

LEADERSHIP

ANTI-SEMITISM

A strong factor of the Holocaust was anti-semitism. The state-sponsored persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators is history’s most extreme example of anti-semitism. Anti-semitism can be defined as discrimination against or prejudice or hostility toward Jews. The term "Semitic" refers to the descendents of Shem, a common ancestor of Middle Eastern people, but is now used specifically to refer to Jews. Social scientists consider it a form of racism. In the period before World War II, when animosity towards Jews was far more commonplace, it was not uncommon for a person, organization, or political party to self-identify as an anti-semite or anti-semitic. In the aftermath of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, German propaganda minister Goebbels announced: "The German people is anti-Semitic. It has no desire to have its rights restricted or to be provoked in the future by parasites of the Jewish race.” After the 1945 victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany, and particularly after the extent of the Nazi genocide of Jews became known, the term "anti-semitism" acquired pejorative connotations. This marked a full circle shift in usage, from an era just decades earlier when "Jew" was used as a pejorative term.

NEO-NAZISM

Following the Holocaust, came the growth of neo-nazism. A neo-nazi can be defined as a person who belongs to a political organization whose beliefs are inspired by or reminiscent of Nazism. Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism. The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements. Neo-Nazism borrows elements from Nazi doctrine. Holocaust denial is a common feature, as is incorporation of Nazi symbols and admiration of Adolf Hitler. Neo-Nazi activity appears to be a global phenomenon, with organized representation in many countries, as well as international networks. Some European and Latin American countries have laws prohibiting the expression of pro-Nazi, and anti-Semitic views. Many Nazi-related symbols are banned in European countries in an effort to curtail neo-Nazism. Neo-Nazis also hold an entire array of pseudoscientific ideas and conspiracy theories, regarding the Holocaust.

The Nazis came to power in January 1933, they believed that they were racially superior and the Jews were a threat to the German racial community. In the years between 1933 and 1939, the Nazi regime had affected the social, economic and communal parts to the German Jewish Community. On April 1, 1933 the Nazis had announced a boycott of all Jewish-run businesses, on this day the star of david was painted on doors and windows on Jewish business and signs were posted saying ‘Don’t buy form Jews’ . This was the first act against the Jews which marked the beginning of the campaign by the Nazi party against the entire German Jewish population.

JEWS

The most drastic change for the Jewish community came with the outbreak of war on September 1,1939, this is when Germany invaded Poland, soon after in 1940 the Nazis began establishing ghettos for jews living in Poland and eastern Europe. The largest ghetto was in Warsaw with 445,000 jews living there, In each ghetto there was a jewsih council known as a Judenrat, these councils were responsible to respond to Nazi demands and regulate life of ghetto, Up to 1,000 people per day would be loaded onto a train and sent to Concentration Camps.

THE GHETTOES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slZMOkYJFO0

OPRAH AND ELIE WEISEL AT AUSCWITZ