The Holocaust

Pgs. 333-334

The Holocaust

• During WWII, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis placed Jews, Gypsies, and persons with disabilities in concentration camps.

• Jews were the main targets because Hitler blamed them for Germany’s economic problems after WWI.

• Railroad cars were used to transport Jews to concentration camps.

The Holocaust

• The Nazis forced Jews to wear a yellow Star of David to make them stand out. It was sewn onto their clothing.

• They arrested Jews throughout Europe, including Jewish children.

The Holocaust

• Concentration camp conditions were not good.

• Nazi doctors performed medical experiments.– Freezing Experiments– Mustard Gas– Twin Experiments

The Holocaust

• Work Camps – Anyone who couldn’t work was killed.

• Starvation• Lack of water• Crematoriums –

used to dispose of bodies

Auschwitz

• Auschwitz (Death Camps) – was a temporary holding area for mass murder.

• Gas chambers (4,000 at a time – took about 20 min.)

• Bodies were burned

• Firing Squads

The Holocaust

• 1938 – Nazis arrested between 20,000 ot 30,000 Jews

• 1939 – Germany invaded Poland and gained control over 3 million Jews.

• 1940-41 – German arrests millions more in Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, the Netherlands, and the Soviet Union.

Auschwitz

• 1941 – “Hitler’s Final Solution to the Jewish Question”– A mass murder campaign against all

European Jews.– This mass murder became known as the

Holocaust.– Estimates are 12 million men, women, and

children were killed. – Six million were Jews.