March 11, 2014 Essential Question: How and why did the Nazis systematically kill six million Jews? Students will be able to analyze primary source documents to determine how and why the Nazi Party systematically killed six million Jews. Warm-Up: Watch the harrowing testimonies of Freddie Knoller, Sophie Masereka and Sokphal Din, who lived through mass killings during the second world war, the Rwandan genocide and the Cambodian Killing Fields. The three work closely with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust charity to raise awareness of genocide in the hope that others will be spared similar horrors. rwanda-cambodia-video

Individually… 1. Why do you think groups of people commit genocide? 2. What is your reaction to this video? 3. Would you be able to forgive the people who committed this crime against you? Why or why not?

The Holocaust How and why did the Nazi Party systematically kill six million Jews? Your Task: You have a packet of primary source documents on the table in front of you. Each groups has different documents. You have courtroom testimony, interviews, speeches, decrees, articles, and reports. All of these documents shed light on the awful atrocities committed by the Nazis. These documents are detailed and often upsetting. In your group, read through the documents, but do not write on them. Use the post-its provided to interact with the documents. Begin to identify why the Jews were killed, how they were killed and the overall treatment of the Jews.

The Holocaust Why were they killed? How were they killed? What was life like for them? Steps to Approaching Primary Source Documents 1. Immediately identify the source. Who? Where? When? 2. Identify the purpose of the document. What? What are they talking about? 3. Ask three questions before reading. Write these questions on a post-it and keep it nearby as you read. 4. Begin to read the document keeping the questions we are asking in mind. 5. Use the worksheet provided to you to begin to organize evidence from your own document. You group members will share out their findings at the end of the independent reading time.

The Holocaust Sharing Out Work through each topic on the worksheet provided. Each group member should share out evidence from their document. What are some examples of evidence? On your poster, include some of the evidence you collected as a group. Be prepared to answer the questions below based on your documents. Why were they killed? How were they killed? What was life like for them?

The Holocaust The Nuremberg Trials -International Military Tribunal (IMT) held at Nuremberg, Germany -It was in this context that the IMT was created, a trial of judgment for war crimes. The IMT was not a court convened to mete out punishment for the Holocaust alone. The tribunal was designed to document and redress crimes committed in the course of the most massive conflict the world has ever known. In October 1945, the IMT formally indicted the Nuremberg defendants on four counts: crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit these crimes. Between October 18, 1945, and October 1, 1946, the IMT tried 22 "major" war criminals on charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit such crimes. The IMT defined crimes against humanity as "murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation...or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds." Twelve of those convicted were sentenced to death, among them Reich Marshall Hermann Göring, Hans Frank, Alfred Rosenberg, and Julius Streicher. The IMT sentenced three defendants to life imprisonment and four to prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years. It acquitted three of the defendantsHermann Göring Hans FrankAlfred RosenbergJulius Streicher Unfortunately, many perpetrators of Nazi-era criminality have never been tried or punished. In many cases, German perpetrators of National Socialist crimes simply returned to their normal lives and professions in German society. The hunt for German and Axis war criminals still goes on today.hunt

Martin Bormann Bormann was with Hitler and Goebbels in Hitler’s subterranean bunker on April 30, Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide while Bormann and others fled the bunker in an attempt to escape the rapidly advancing Soviet army. While he was presumed dead or captured, his whereabouts were unconfirmed at the time of the trials in Nuremberg. Bormann replaced Hess as Hitler’s Deputy in charge of Party affairs after Hess was asked to resign following his unofficial flight to England to persuade England to negotiate peace with Hitler. Bormann’s reputation among members of his own Party and, especially, the German army was very negative. He was seen as uncivilized, ruthless and brutal. In his absence from the trial, the Bormann investigation proceeded on the basis of voluminous documentary evidence linking him to the expulsion of millions of Jews to Poland, the utilization of Ukrainian women as slave labor. Martin Bormann was sentenced in absentia to death by hanging. Hermann Goering: Goering was perhaps the most influential person, next to Hitler, in the Nazi organization. He was one of only 12 Nazis elected to the Reichstag in He orchestrated the Reichstag fire on February 27, 1933 and, with Goebbels assistance, used the fire as a propaganda tool against the communists. In the mid-1930's Goering was in charge of the Aryanization of Jewish property, a policy which extended to Jews throughout Europe following the Anschluss.HitlerNazi organizationGoebbels After the events of Kristallnacht, November 8 and 9, 1938, Goering (under instructions from Hitler) called a high- level meeting of the party, on November 12, to assess the damage done during the night and place responsibility for it. Present at the meeting were Goering, Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, Walter Funk and other ranking Nazi officials. The intent of this meeting was two-fold: to make the Jews responsible for Kristallnacht and to use the events of the preceding days as a rationale for promulgating a series of antisemitic laws which would, in effect, remove Jews from the German economy. An interpretive transcript of this meeting is provided by Robert Conot, Justice at Nuremberg, New York: Harper and Row, 1983: ):KristallnachtReinhard Heydrich “Gentlemen! Today's meeting is of a decisive nature,” Goering announced. “I have received a letter written on the Fuehrer’s orders requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or another.” Kristallnacht turns out to be a crucial turning point in German policy regarding the Jews and may be considered as the actual beginning of what is now called the Holocaust. Following that meeting, a wide-ranging set of antisemitic laws were passed which had the clear intent, in Goering’s words, of "Aryanizing" the German economy. The path to the "Final Solution" had been chosen.Holocaust Hermann Goering was sentenced to death by hanging. He evade the sentence by committing suicide in his cell.

The Holocaust Exit Ticket 1. How and why did the Nazi Party systematically kill 6 million Jews? 2. What should be the punishment for the members of the Nazi Party? What should be the punishment for the commanders or leaders?