Holocaust Stations

Anti-Semitism The word Anti-Semitism means having hatred towards Jews. Hitler was not the first person to hate the Jews. Jews have been persecuted by different people throughout history. They were killed by the thousands during the Spanish Inquisition. They were only allowed to have certain jobs, and were often not allowed to marry people who were not also Jewish. Hitler took the racist ideas that were already in place and expanded on them. By the 1800’s they are considered to be their own race and are not accepted by other people in Europe.

Jewish boys being picked on in school. FACT: Even in Roman Society Jews were picked on. They were often forced to have jobs dealing with money because those jobs were seen as “the work of the devil”. As a result, Jews became very good at banking and accounting. This gave them the stereotype of being frugal and stingy (not willing to spend a lot of money).

Hitler’s Views Hitler took anti-racist views and expanded on them. He wrote the book Mein Kampf where he described why he believed the Jews were “poisonous” for society. He accused them of trying to control the world’s money, control the media and spreading their own culture in an attempt to take over. He convinced other German’s that the Jews were planning a “take-over”. It was NOT JUST Jews that Hitler disliked. He also targeted ethnic groups such as the Poles, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics, Homosexuals, handicapped, and anyone who spoke out against him. Hitler took anti-racist views and expanded on them. He wrote the book Mein Kampf where he described why he believed the Jews were “poisonous” for society. He accused them of trying to control the world’s money, control the media and spreading their own culture in an attempt to take over. He convinced other German’s that the Jews were planning a “take-over”. It was NOT JUST Jews that Hitler disliked. He also targeted ethnic groups such as the Poles, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics, Homosexuals, handicapped, and anyone who spoke out against him.

Adolf Hitler FACT: Hitler passed the Nuremburg Lawsin 1935 to isolate the Jews and make them second-class citizens. For example…Non- Jewish people were not allowed to marry or date Jews because he did not want the Jews to “poison” the Aryan race.

Schutzstaffeln or S.S. The Schutzstaffeln is more commonly refered to as the S.S. This was Hitler’s secret police during WWII. They were an elite group that was chosen according to their race, beliefs, and ability. Hitler used his SS officers to carry out a lot of his dirty work during the Holocaust. The S.S. officers were responsible for rounding up the Jews and taking them to the Ghettos and concentration camps. They were also responsible for most of the killings that took place.

A group of SS officers pick on a Jewish man in the Ghettos. FACT: Heinrich Himmler was the leader of the S.S. He was Hitler’s right hand man who helped him carry out the mass murder of millions of Jews.

Beginning of the End… Hitler approached his plan of killing the Jews slowly. It all began when he opened Dachau in March of It was a concentration camp for political prisoners (those who spoke out against the Nazi Government). In Dachau, people were forced to do manual labor for long hours in extreme weather. The purpose of these camps was originally to punish those who spoke out against Hitler.

Buchenwald… One of the concentration camps run by Hitler. FACT: The concentration camps were full of disease and illness. People were forced to work all day in cold/hot weather with little to no food. As a result…MOST Jews died of disease or malnutrition before they were killed in the gas chambers.

The Ghettos When Hitler first began his assault on the Jews he forced them to move into Ghettos. Jews were forced to leave their homes, and most of their belongings and move to the cities. From there they were crammed into a small area that was walled off. Jews were rarely allowed to leave the Ghettos unless they had a work release. This was a way to isolate them from society and make them feel like second class citizens. In the Ghettos, the Jews were heavily abused by the Nazi SS officers, often killed for minor offenses.

A synagogue that was destroyed on Kristallnacht (a synagogue is a Jewish church) FACT: Kristallnacht or “Night of Broken Glass” took place on the night of Nov. 9th, Nazi officers attacked many businesses, homes, and synagogues across Germany. They burned buildings and destroyed Jewish artifacts.

Hitler’s Final Solution Hitler expanded his mistreatment of the Jews using the plan that he called his Final Solution. At the Wannsee Confernce in 1942 he outlined how he planned on killing all of the Jews. First they would be moved from the Ghettos to the Death Camps. The young, old, and weak would be killed immediately. Those who were capable of working would be allowed to work (at a few camps…Auschwitz). They were segregated by gender to minimize the chance of revolts and separate families.

Gate at the entrance to Auschwitz. Ironically it reads… “Work will set you free”. FACT: People often wonder…how was Hitler able to get the SS officers to commit these crimes. Hitler worked very hard to “dehumanize” the Jews. They were stripped of their clothes, hair was shaved, etc. To make the SS officers view them as less than human. This helped them be able to kill many Jews with little remorse.

Concentration vs. Death Camps Hitler started by using concentration camps where prisioners were forced to work long hours with little food. Eventually he turns a lot of these camps into Death camps where people were murdered instantly after entering the camp. Towards the end of the war, when Hitler realizes that Germany will probably lose, he sends orders to the SS officers to kill as many Jews as they could. At this time, the concentration camps quit began to kill people immediately after their arrival.

Street dividing Auschwitz Crematory at Auschwitz FACT: Some of the camps were just extermination or death camps. Some functioned as both. Belzec, Chelmno and Treblinka were camps that functioned as death camps only. Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Bergen, and Dachau were a few of the concentration camps.

Death Toll When Hitler decides to exterminate all of the Jews, he has to figure out what to do with all of the bodies. Originally, the Nazis dug mass graves where they buried all of the bodies. There was no way to bury them all individually. Towards the end of the war, as they ran out of space and in a effort to hide the evidence of what the Nazi’s were doing, they began to burn the bodies.

Mass grave during WWII. FACT: Towards the end of the war the SS went back and dug up many of the Jews’ bodies and burned them. They did this in an effort to get rid of the evidence of how many people they killed. Most of the time, the SS forced the Jews to dig up the dead bodies themselves.