Section 3-The Holocaust

The Holocaust Targets: Mainly targeted European Jews Anti-Semitism: Hatred of Jews Hitler blamed Jews for Germany’s failures They became an easy scape goat 1935-Nuremberg Laws: Jews stripped of citizenship, property, forced to wear the star of David

The Holocaust Kristallnacht-Night of broken glass Took place from the evening of November 9th to the morning of the 10th, 1938 Nazis attacked Jewish homes and businesses killing roughly 100 people and arresting 30,000 others The Nazi’s blamed the Jews for the destruction

Nazi Targets During the Holocaust the Nazi’s targeted the Jews, European Gypsies, Freemasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, mentally or physically challenged, homosexuals and anyone physically disabled Final Solution- A form of genocide that systematically killing of an entire population

Forced Relocation Jews were forced into ghettos, segregated areas in Polish cities The Warsaw ghetto wad meant for 5,000 but had to cope with 50,000 residents Some Jews form resistance movements; others simply try and maintain their culture

Concentration Camps- Many Jews taken to concentration camps, or labor camps Jewish families often separated Camps originally prisons; given to SS to warehouse “undesirables” Prisoners crammed into wooden barracks, given little food Work dawn to dusk, 7 days per week Those too weak to work are killed Usually the elderly first then the women and children

Concentration Camps- Concentration Camps: They operated both as labor and death camps 1942: Mass exterminations began Bullets were too expensive and starvation took too long so the Nazi’s needed a faster way to reduce their number of captives Chelmo-1st of the concentration camps to be built Auschwitz- Largest They also preformed medical experiments there

Mass Exterminations- Gas Chambers could kill 2,000 people at a time with some camps killing up to12,000 people a day On arrival, SS doctors separate those who can work Those who can’t work immediately killed in gas chamber At first bodies buried in pits; later cremated to cover up evidence Some are shot, hanged, poisoned, or die from experiments

Survivors- By 1945 nearly 6 million Jews had died in the camps Some escape, many with help from ordinary people Some survive concentration camps For all of the survivors their lives were forever changed by experience