The Holocaust

Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.

What was it?◦The murder of 6 million European Jews◦(1.1 million children)

When was it?◦Began with Hitler’s election in 1933◦Continued through WWII (1939-1945)

Where was it?◦Jewish citizens of European countries were

sent to death camps or murdered

◦www.yadvashem.org

Why did it happen?1) Long history of Religious anti-Semitism Prejudice & discrimination against people of

Semite descent

Belief that Sanhedrin had a hand in the death of Jesus

Why did it happen?2) Economic anti-Semitism Resentment of Jews for economic reasons

Negative stereotypes: Control business world Stingy, greedy, etc.

Accelerators German desire to expand territory

(Mitteleuropa)

Great Depression Increases economic resentment Instability =Hitler

Platform: Territorial expansion Less immigration Power of the volk

Hitler Plan & Nuremberg Laws (1933-1938)◦A series of bills which laid the foundation1)Boycott of Jewish Businesses2)German Jews lose citizenship, respected jobs3)Prohibits Jews from owning property4)The yellow star5)Gathered and grouped

into Ghettos6) Krystallnacht

World War II & The Final SolutionHitler’s “Final Solution” was extermination1) Concentration camps2) Death camps (i.e. Auschwitz)

How did they get away with this?Propaganda (Joseph Goebbels)

Who were some key people? What did they do?◦ Raoul Wallenberg◦ Giovanni Palatucci◦ Oskar Schindler◦ Andre Trocmé◦ Irena Sendler◦ Nicholas Winton◦ Chiune Sugihara◦ Varian Fry

"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Reflection Questions

Have you ever witnessed an injustice, and not stepped in? What held you back? Would your help have changed things? What would you do differently now?

Reflect on what you have learned about the Holocaust. What lessons can modern society learn from this tragedy?

Nazis had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews.

Nazis did not use gas chambers to mass murder Jews. The figure of 5 to 6 million Jewish deaths is a gross

exaggeration, Myth created by the Allies to demonize Germans. Jews

spread this myth to help in the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine,

Documentary evidence from photographs to the Diary of Anne Frank, is fabricated.

Survivor testimonies are filled with errors and inconsistencies, and are thus unreliable.

Interrogators obtained Nazi prisoners' confessions of war crimes through the use of torture.

The Nazi treatment of Jews was no different from what the Allies did to their enemies in World War I