The Holocaust US History Mr. Owen Spring 2007

Persecution Begins  April 7, 1933 non-Aryans are removed from gov. jobs  Jews blamed for –Economic problems –Defeat in WWI  1935 Nuremberg Laws, caused Jews to lose –German citizenship –Jobs –Property  Jews forced to wear yellow Star of David

Kristallnacht  November 9-10, 1938  Meant “Night of Broken Glass”  Nazi Storm Troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues –30,000 Jews arrested –Hundred of synagogues burned

First Solution  Hitler encouraged emigration –Jews left Germany for other countries –Many nations set quotas –Hitler conquers Europe  Creation of Ghettos –Segregated parts of town –Jews were locked in –Very little food or supplies

Final Solution  Genocide – the deliberate and systemic killing of an entire population  Nazis wanted to “preserve” the master race  Targets of the final solution: –Jews, Gypsies, Freemasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, mentally ill, physically disabled, incurably ill.

Concentration Camps  Originally used to imprison political opponents  SS takes over –Became used to house “undesirables” –Little food –Forced to work from all day Once they were too weak to work, they were killed –Horrible conditions

The Final Stage  Six death camps created in Poland –1941 first camp opened called Chelmno –Could kill 12,000 people per day  Auschwitz was the largest –People were tricked to prevent resistance Told to undress Given soap Told to get into group shower Killed by poison gas  Thousands of Jews died of medical experimentation

The Final Stage