Thinking About Genocide The holocaust

Background Long history of anti-Semitism Rise of Nationalism Hatred of Jews Blamed them for any failures or problems in society Scapegoats Responsible for the defeat in WWI and depression afterward Rise of Nationalism Be loyal to your nation above all else - Israel

Step by Step Toward Genocide 1933 – non-Aryans are not permitted to work government jobs 1935 – Nuremburg Laws are passed Jews are no longer citizens No rights, can’t own property or hold jobs 1938 – Kristallnacht “the night of broken glass” Nazis attack Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues 100 Jews killed, 30,000 arrested, hundreds injured Germans later blame the Jews for the destruction of that night

Step by Step Toward Genocide Jews try leave Germany but other countries are reluctant to take them in France 40,000 Great Britain 80,000 Palestine 30,000 United States 100,000 Often the US only took “exceptional” people Such as Einstein MS St. Louis – refused access to the US More refugees mean less jobs for Americans during the Great Depression

Step by Step Toward Genocide 1939 – The Final Solution 250,000 Jews in Germany at the time – millions more in the newly occupied territories To preserve the purity of the Aryan race a policy of genocide was adopted by the government Organized “Death Squads” that rounded up Jews and undesirables and shot them on the spot Einsatzgruppen

The Final Solution Ghettos – segregated areas in cities where Jews were forced to live Were enclosed by fences and barbed wire Groups with proper documentation were let out each day for forced labor factories Shindler’s List Very bad living conditions Jewish resistance movements emerge

The Final Solution Concentration Camps – Jews were rounded up from ghettos and sent by truck or train to labor camps Crammed in like livestock Most families were separated forever In the camps were crude barracks that housed 1,000 people each Horrible living conditions Starvation, fleas, rats, disease, work Forced to work until they collapsed – then shot

Death Camps – six camps were built in Poland specifically as extermination sites 1942 – extermination was ordered by the government Belongings were taken and turned over to the government Gas chambers disguised as group showers and then filled with poison gas – killed 12,000 people per day Could be hanged, shot or injected with poison Crematoriums to burn the bodies – ash would cover the camps The Final Solution

The Final Solution Some were kept to dig mass graves and haul bodies for disposal Others were separated to be in medical experiments Purposefully injected with germs to study disease Practice methods of sterilization, amputation or experimental surgeries Study how far the body can be mutilated and still survive There were survivors! People with hope and spirit held on until the end of the war and camps were liberated by the Allied forces Elie Wiesel – author Wrote Night to share his experience

Effects 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust 6 million Jews 5 million other non-Aryan peoples Other ‘inferior’ races or ‘undesirable’ peoples Gypsies, freemasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, mentally deficient, mentally ill, disabled/handicapped, Slavic peoples, prisoners of war and incurably ill Decline in anti-Semitism 2/3 of Europe’s Jewish population was killed Increased determination in the Jewish community to establish the nation of Israel

A New Order in Asia Japan wanted to use its captured territories for raw materials to fuel the war (tin, oil, rubber) Severe extraction policies Forcibly took rice and shipped it abroad  over a million Vietnamese starve to death

A New Order in Asia Set up indirect rule through local governments who would cooperate and work under Japanese control Arrogance and contempt for local populations No respect for the lives of occupied peoples or prisoners of war Must bow in the direction of Tokyo, recognize the divinity of the Japanese emperor, local holy places used as latrines Forced local people to serve in the military or work on public works projects 800,000 Koreans were sent to Japan as slave labor