The Holocaust

Prelude to Genocide

• What do you already know about the Holocaust?

• What caused it?

Before Hitler…

• There was Anti-Semitism even before Hitler

• Anti-Semitism: a fear and hatred of the Jewish people

• Centuries old

Aftermath of World War I

• Germany was:– Beaten– Broke– In a depression– Yet they were

winning the war…

• How did they lose?

The Man Who Knew The ‘Truth’

• Adolf Hitler, a charismatic veteran of World War I

• Knew the Jews were responsible for the betrayal

• Told people about the Jewish plot to rule the world in his work ‘Mein Kampf’

The Jews…

• The Jews did it.

• They put a knife in the back of Germany and cost them the war.

• Everything that happened afterwards is their fault.

‘Mein Kampf’ – ‘My Struggle’

Excerpt from ‘Mein Kampf’• “… the personification of

the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew.”

• Foreshadowing – Hitler hinted about his plans since when?

Did People Read Mein Kampf?

Year On Hand Editions Printed Sold Gross Royalties

Commission Tax Net

Royalties

1933 1–8 19,400 18,125

1934 1,275 9–10 3,500 4,695 £7.1.2 £15.4.4 £58.5.6/ RM 715

1935 79 11–12 3,500 2,989 £74.18.6 £14 £7.3 £52.15.1/RM653

1936 590 13–16 7,000 3,633 £243.14.1

£48.14.10 £36.17.5

£158.1.1/ RM1,941

1937 2,055 17–18 7,000 8,648 £173.4 £35.6 £23.3 £114.4 /RM1424

1938* 16,442 19–22 25,500 53,738 £1,037.23 £208 £193.91

£635.68 /RM 7410

The Nazis Come to Power

• January 30, 1933 – Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany

• Begins setting laws that will alter the fate of the Jewish people forever.

Before The Jews…

• Initial targets of Nazi extermination were the mentally-ill, the elderly, those with disabilities.

• Those who were considered ‘impure’.

• Nazi troops went to hospitals and institutions killing all patients inside.

If the Nazis Still Reigned…

• Would we be discussing universal health care for the sick and elderly?

Early Jewish Discrimination

• Nuremberg Laws: 1935, banned marriage between Jews and non-Jews, segregated Jews at every level of society

• Jewish shops and businesses were labeled and boycotted

Kristallnacht – ‘Night of the Broken Glass’

• November 9, 1938 – the most serious open riot/attack against Jews in Germany

• Jewish refugee had killed a German diplomat in Paris, Nazi regime ordered open attacks as revenge

• 1,500 synagogues and 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses destroyed

• Over 200 Jews dead, thousands arrested

Jewish Refugees Attempt to Flee

• Jewish refugees could not find salvation elsewhere

• 1939 – The St. Louis, a passenger liner carrying 1,128 Jews travels the world looking to free its passengers

• Every country refuses to take them, including the United States

Why do you think the United States would not take them…?

It Wasn’t Just the Jews…