The HolocaustThe Holocaust

CIS 101 – 01Adam Landstrom

Picture: Angst, created by Felix Stohlmann, as

found at holocaustforgotten.com

Table of Contents What was the Holocaust Germany leading up to the Holocaust The Final Solution! Who is Elie Wiesel? World War II The End of the Horror

What was the Holocaust? “During World War II, Nazi Germany

and its collaborators murdered approximately six million Jews. The Holocaust is the name used to refer to this systematic, bureaucratic, and state-sponsored campaign of persecution and murder. Beginning with racially discriminatory laws in Germany, the Nazi campaign expanded to the mass murder of all European Jews. The Nazis also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority": Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others). Other groups were persecuted on political and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals”

As found at the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museums

Germany Leading Up to the Holocaust

1933 Jewish population in Germany is 566,000 Adolf Hitler is elected Chancellor of Germany; later that year he would

become dictator The concentration camp Dachau is created for political prisoners SS, SA, and the Gestapo are created The Nazis are declared to be the only official political party The first laws restricting Jews are passed Mentally Handicapped and those with genetic defects are forced to be

castrated 1934

Hitler becomes Führer

Timeline (1933-1938)

1935 Nuremburg Jewish Race Laws are passed Forced abortions are endorsed

1936 Nazi office to combat abortions and homosexuals is started Germany holds the Olympics

1937 Restrictions of Jews is continued with a ban on them from many professions

1938 Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass. Germany enters Austria Jews suffer further restrictions including the turning over of their businesses

THE FINAL SOLUTION!!! “The Final Solution of the Jewish Question refers to the

Nazis' plan to engage in systematic genocide against the European Jewish population during World War II.”

“The term was coined by Adolf Eichmann, a top Nazi official who supervised the genocidal campaign.”

“The implementation of the Final Solution resulted in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust. The expression reflects the Nazi belief that the Jewish European population itself posed a "question" and a problem.”

As found on wikipedia.org

“Mass killings of over 1 million Jews occurred before the plans of the Final Solution were fully implemented in 1942, but it was only with the decision to eradicate the entire Jewish population that the extermination camps were built and industrialized mass slaughter of Jews began in earnest.”

By the end of WWII 6 million Jews would be killed.

As found on wikipedia.org

Who was Elie Wiesel? “Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in

Sighet, Transylvania, which is now part of Romania.”

“He was fifteen years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perished, his two older sisters survived. Elie and his father were later transported to Buchenwald, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945.”

Cited text found at Elie Wiesel Foundation’s website

Who was Elie Wiesel? After the war, Elie Wiesel

studied in Paris and later became a journalist. He would go on to write internationally acclaimed memoir, La Nuit or Night, that dealt with his survival of the Holocaust.

Cited text found at Elie Wiesel Foundation’s website

World War II

World War II Timeline

1939 Germany invades Poland and Czechoslovakia Britain, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

declare war on Germany

1940 Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark,

Norway, and the Netherlands (all would surrender that year)

Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister The Battle of Britain starts Axis is formed

World War II Timeline

1941 Germany invades the Soviet Union, Greece, and

Yugoslavia Japan bombs Pearl Harbor The United States and Britain declare war on Japan Germany declares war on the United States

1942 Operation Torch is undertaken by the Allies in North Africa First American forces arrive in Europe

1943 The Soviets defeat German forces at Stalingrad Allies take Italy and North Africa

1944 Normandy D-Day landing of Allied troops Battle of the Bulge

1945 Dresden bombings Italian dictator Mussolini is killed Adolph Hitler commits suicide Soviet forces take Berlin Germany surrenders to the Allied forces

The End of the Horror!!!

Germany and Japan unconditionally surrendered to Allied forces

Survivors of concentration camps were liberated

Germany would be separated into two until the country reformed in 1990

Leaders of the Nazi party were removed from office and put on trial in Nuremburg

The nation of Israel was created for the Jewish people after WWII

All things related to the promotion of the Nazi party are still illegal in Germany

The nation of Germany continues to this day to Vergangenheitsbewältigung or deal with their past

Works Cited Picture: Angst, created by Felix Stohlmann, as found at www.holocaustforgotten.com, 2007,

www.holocaustforgotten.com/Angst.htm, 04-05-07

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museums, ushmm.org, 04-07-07, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005143, 04-07-07

George Washington University, www.gwu.edu/~ww2/scenes.html