The Holocaust
The “Final Solution” Hitler’s plan for the Jews was NOT set from the beginning It EVOLVED over time
4 Stages of the Holocaust Identification Expropriation Concentration Extermination
First step seems harmless Identifies the “enemy” Identification First step seems harmless Identifies the “enemy”
Nuremberg Laws 1935 Reich Citizenship Law - Jews are no longer citizens The Nuremberg Law for the Protection of Blood and German Honor - no marriage between German and Jew - No Jew can employ in their household a German woman under the age of 45 - Jews cannot fly the German Flag
WHO? Jews- 6 million died 5 million others died - Mentally and Physically Handicapped - Gypsies (Roma) - Russians - Poles - Slavs - Homosexuals - Jehovah Witnesses - Political enemies
Expropriation Taking the Jewish Wealth Jews lost their jobs Businesses were taken from them Special taxes were placed on them
Kristallnacht Nov. 9-11 1938: The Night of Broken Glass Germans destroy Jewish - synagogues - businesses - cemeteries Thousands sent to Dachau Turning Point
Austria 1938
Concentration Ghettos established in E. Europe to isolate the Jews After war began Located near rail lines Walled in and entrances guarded Death rate skyrockets from starvation and disease
The gate of Dachau concentration camp in Germany The gate of Dachau concentration camp in Germany. “Work will set you free”
Einzatsgruppen Mobile killing units Follows invasion of Russia in 1941 Shot Jews and disposed of bodies in mass graves Process ends due to - effect on German soldiers - not efficient enough
Single largest massacre occurred in Babi Yar just outside of Kiev 33,000 Jewish men, women, and children are killed
Extermination Wannsee Conference Transported to camps Gassed and bodies cremated
Where?
Chelmno was the first death camp. Prisoners died in Gas vans
The other Death camps were: Treblinka Sobibor Belzec Majdonek Auschwitz/Birkenau Gates of Auschwitz
If chosen to Die
The Germans told the prisoners they were being sent to the showers but they were actually gas chambers
Inside a gas chamber in the Majdonek Death Camp
The Gas was put in through this hole in the ceiling
The canisters of Poisonous Gas known as Zyclon B
Bodies were taken to the crematorium and burned
The crematorium in Majdonek
Part of the Monument at Majdonek where the human ashes are kept
Hill of Ashes – First Memorial
At Auschwitz-Birkenau the Germans destroyed the 4 Gas chambers before they escaped
These gas chambers were the largest ever built by the Germans These gas chambers were the largest ever built by the Germans. They were a combination dressing room, gas chamber, and crematorium.
If chosen to Live
People who were kept alive to work were tattooed with a number
Prisoners were known by their number not their name
They also had their hair shaved
Some prisoners wore striped uniforms others wore old clothes
Prisoners were kept alive to work In the concentration camp Mauthausen prisoners carried heavy stones up stairs known as the stairway of death
Some people were kept alive for medical experiments
How long can a person survive in freezing cold water?
High Altitude Experiment
Liberation
Impact of the Holocaust Nuremberg Trials - Nazi war criminals put on trial - crimes against humanity Jewish Homeland of Israel - UN establishes in 1948
Questions?