The Holocaust

Prior to World War II, Europe’s Jews had been persecuted for centuries. Anti-Semitism is the word used to describe discrimination or hostility (often violent hostility) directed at Jews.

When Hitler became Germany’s leader in 1933, he made anti-Semitism the official policy of the nation. No other persecution of Jews in modern history equals the extend and brutality of the Holocaust.

In all, some six million Jews, about two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population, lost their lives.

Nazi Policies Nuremberg Laws - stripped Jews of their German citizenship and outlawed intermarriage.

Anti-Semitic Propaganda

Hitler’s SS, the Nazi party’s private army identified and pursued enemies of the Nazi regime.

One duty of the SS was guarding the concentration camps, places where political prisoners are confined, usually under harsh conditions. “Work Makes You Free” Dachau Concentration Camp

In addition to Communists, the Nazi camps soon held many other “undesirables”… mainly Jews, but also homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gypsies and the homeless. Dachau Concentration Camp

Despite the ever-increasing restrictions on their lives, many Jews believed they could endure persecution until Hitler lost power. Kristallnacht changed this.

From , about 130,000 Jews, fled Germany. However, few countries welcomed Jewish refugees. Evian Conference - 32 nations refused to open their doors to more immigrants. St. Louis - carried 930 Jewish refugees in US officials refused to waive immigration restrictions.

As German armies overran most of Europe, more and more Jews, including many who had fled Germany, came under their control. In Poland, 2 million Jews came under German control. The Nazis forced many Jews to live in ghettos.

Each month, thousands died in the ghettos, but the Nazis looked for a more efficient way of killing Jews. Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads Babi Yar Massacre 33,000 killed in 2 days

January, 1942 Wannsee Conference Came up with the Final Solution to the Jewish question.

The Death Camps The Nazis chose poison gas as the most effective way to kill people.

The Death Camps Unlike concentration camps which also functioned as prisons and centers of forced labor, death camps existed primarily for mass murder.

Jews in Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, and other lands were crowded into cattle cars and transported to the camps. Most were told they were going to the “east” to work.

At four of the six death camps, nearly all were murdered soon after they arrived. However, at the two largest camps, Auschwitz and Majdanek, prisoners went through selections.

Those who weren’t immediately selected, worked in the camps. Some died from torture, starvation, or medical experiments.

Finally, in 1944, FDR created the War Refugee Board to try to help people threatened by the Nazis. These programs did save about 200,000 lives. Rescue and Liberation Raoul Wallenberg rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews by issuing special Swedish passports.

Rescue and Liberation As Allied armies advanced in late 1944, the Nazis abandoned camps and either killed or marched prisoners to camps closer to Germany.

Rescue and Liberation In 1945, American troops witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust when they came upon Mauthausen camp in Austria.

Nuremberg Trials Nazi leaders were tried in Nuremberg in Twenty-four Nazi were tried. Twelve received the death sentence.