The Holocaust

The Holocaust

• During World War II, Nazi Germany and its allies murdered approximately six million Jews.

• The Holocaust is the name used to refer to this systematic persecution and murder. Beginning with racially discriminatory laws in Germany, the Nazi campaign expanded to the mass murder of all European Jews.

Germans were considered "racially superior" and the Jews, and others deemed "inferior," were "life unworthy of life."

Nuremberg Laws: Sept. 15, 1935

• Marriages between Jews and Non-Jews are illegal and invalid• Jews cannot display the German flag• Jews may not be citizens• Non German citizens may not hold political rights• Jews may not attend public schools, go to theaters, reside or

even walk in certain areas of German cities• Jews are required to wear arm bands or badges bearing the

Star of David to publicly identify them as Jewish

Small Group Discussion Questions

• What things would make one group feel superior to another group?

• Why could this probably not happen in the United States?

What tactics did the Nazis use to get the Jews to leave the Ghettos?

Tactics

Starvation

The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were

only fed a 1000 calories a day .

A Human being needs 2400 calories a day to maintain their weight

Terror

The SS publicly shot people for smuggling food or for

any act of resistance

DeceptionThe Jews were told

tthat they were going to ‘resettlement

areas’ in the East.

In some Ghettos the Jews had to purchase their

own train tickets.

They were told to bring the tools of their

trade and pots and pans.

Hungry people are easier to control

New arrivals at the Death camps were given postcards to

send to their friends.

Ghettos• Ghettos were city districts (often enclosed) in

which the Germans forced the Jews to live under miserable conditions.

• Ghettos isolated Jews by separating Jewish communities from the non-Jewish population.

• The Germans established more than 800 ghettos throughout eastern Europe.

• At least one million Jews were imprisoned in ghettos over the course of the war.

8

1940 HITLER’S NEXT STEP WAS TO ISSUE

IDENTIFICATION CARDS TO ALL

PEOPLE LIVING IN GERMAN

TERRITORIES. JEWISH CARDS HAD A

YELLOW STAR TO EASILY IDENTIFY

THEM.

HITLER THEN MADE JEWS WEAR THE

YELLOW STAR EVERY TIME THEY

LEFT THEIR HOMES

Testimony of the Ghetto

10

Sign reads: "City of Hersbruck. This lovely city of Hersbruck, this glorious spot of

earth, was created only for Germans and not for Jews. Jews are therefore not

welcome." Hersbruck, Germany, May 4, 1935.

Illustration from an anti-Semitic children's primer. The sign reads "Jews are not wanted here." Germany, 1936.

HITLER BEGINS HIS PROPAGANDA OF ANTI-SEMITISM

Jews killed Under Nazi Rule

Country Original Jewish Population

Jews Killed Percent Surviving

Poland 3,300,000 3,000,000 10%

Soviet Union

2,850,000 1,252,000 56%

Hungary 650,000 450,000 30%

Romania 600,000 300,000 50%

Germany 240,000 200,000 16 2/3%

Deportation of Jews• The Nazis used deportation by train to forcibly

remove members of ethnic groups from the territory on which they lived. They intended to remove all Jews from Europe, eventually through systematic mass murder.

Where were the Death Camps built?

Why do you think that they located them here?

The work of the Einsatzgruppen

• After they began to kill Jews in killing centers, the Nazis deported Jews by train and, when trains were not available and the distances were short, by forced march.

Deportation of Jews to the

Concentration Camps

Testimony

Concentration Camps

• The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are confined or kept, usually under harsh conditions and without regard.

Testimony

Testimony

Experiments

• (Above)– Prisoner placed in icy

water to test hypothermia

• (Below)– Tuberculosis test – often

used on children

Aerial view of Dachau concentration camp

Sleeping Bunks in a Concentration Camp

Killing Camps• The Nazis established killing centers for

efficient mass murder. Unlike concentration camps, which served primarily as detention and labor centers, killing centers (also referred to as "extermination camps" or "death camps") were almost exclusively "death factories." German SS and police murdered nearly 2,700,000 Jews in the killing centers.

The ‘Final Solution’

• In January 1942, Himmler decided to change tactics once again and called a special conference at Wannsee.

• At this conference it was decided that the existing methods were too inefficient and that a new ‘Final Solution’ was necessary.

Almost all of the deportees who arrived at the killing camps were

sent immediately to death in the gas chambers.

Testimony from a killing camp

Inside of a gas chamber in Auschwitz

24

DEATH CAME

IN MANY

FORMS

EINSATZGRUPPEN STARVATION

ZYKLON B POISON GAS

GAS CHAMBER

Entrance to Auschwitz

Notice how it has been built to resemble a railway station

Auschwitz Orchestra

Auschwitz from the air

Notice how the Death camp is set out like a

factory complex

The Nazis used industrial methods to murder the Jews and

process their dead bodies

The Gas Chambers

• The Nazis would force large groups of prisoners into small cement rooms and drop canisters of Zyklon B, or prussic acid, in its crystal form through small holes in the roof.

• These gas chambers were sometimes disguised as showers or bathing houses.

The SS would try and pack up to 2000 people into this gas chamber

The outside of the Gas Chamber

Notice the Ovens easy located near the Gas Chambers

Processing the bodies

• Specially selected Jews known as the sonderkommando were used to remove the gold fillings and hair of people who had been gassed.

• The Sonderkommando Jews were also forced to feed the dead bodies into the crematorium.

The Ovens at Dachau

Dead bodies waiting to be processed

Shoes waiting to be processed by the sonderkommando

Taken inside a huge glass case in the Auschwitz Museum. This represents one day's collection at the peak of the gassings, about twenty five thousand

pairs.

Destruction Through Work

This photo was taken by the Nazis to show just how you could quite literally work the fat of the Jews by feeding

them 200 calories a day

Destruction Through Work

Same group of Jews 6 weeks later

Nuremberg Trials

• The International Military Tribunal was opened on 18 October 1945, in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg.

• The prosecution entered indictments against 24 major war criminals and six criminal organizations.

• The indictments were for:– Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the

accomplishment of crime against peace – Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and

other crimes against peace – War crimes – Crimes against humanity

Verdicts of the Trials

• Of the twelve defendants sentenced to death by hanging, two were not hanged: Hermann Göring committed suicide the night before the execution and Martin Bormann was not present when convicted. The remaining ten defendants sentenced to death were hanged.

Effects of the Holocaust and the Nuremberg Trials

• Nuremberg Principles = Describes the definition of a war crime, based on the events of the Holocaust

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights• The Genocide Convention• Founding of the State of Israel

Discussion

• Give examples of racism in out society today?

• Is there more racism among adults or people your age? Why?

• How can we end racism?

• Photos, videos and information was found on the website for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

www.ushmm.org

Bibliography