The Holocaust Def. - Nazi Germany’s systematic murder of European Jews –6 million Jews –2/3’s of Europe’s Jewish population –6 million others’ Gypsies, mentally ill, physically disabled, homosexuals, homeless, Socialist, and Communist

Why? Scapegoats – economic and political Anti-Semitism –Persecution or hostility towards Jews Nazi Philosophy of “Aryan Race”

The Nuremberg Laws 1935

What are they? These included the Civil Service Law and the Preservation of Blood and Honour Laws –ARTICLE 2 A citizen of the Reich may be only one who is of German or kindred blood, and who, through his behavior, shows that he is both desirous and personally fit to serve loyally the German people and the Reich. German Jews were systematically denied their rights of citizenship and pushed out of the German nation

1. Stripping of Citizenship Examples –Forbid marriage b/w Jews and non-Jews –Banned Jewish doctors from treating non-Jews –“Aryanize” Jewish business - dismissed Jewish managers and employees –carry ID cards - Star of David

Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht November 9-10, 1938 “night of broken glass” Destroyed Jewish stores, houses, and synagogues

2. Placed in Ghettos Sealed off Jewish communities by barbed wire or walls Often overcrowded Lack of food and sanitation Brought about disease, increase in death rate

Warsaw Ghetto Largest Jewish ghetto (Poland) –450,000 Jews –30% of population In an area of 1.3 miles

3. Deportation & Concentration Camps Put on trains for concentration camps - labor camps –Usually for POW’s and political leaders –Very harsh life –All work, very little food

Deportation to Concentration Camps

German Enforcement

SS - Einsatzgruppen mobile killing units –Kill by firing squad –Murder racial or political leaders behind the front lines

Gestapo Secret Police

Wannsee Conference

Plan for “Final Solution” Death camps - extermination centers, ovens, gas chambers –Mass murder of Jews Zyklon B

The Holocaust Exposed

Horrors of the Holocaust

Auschwitz - Birkenau Entrance to Auschwitz: Work Makes You Free

Auschwitz - Birkenau "wall of death"

Most of those killed at the "wall of death" were Poles. A sand pit was dug along the wall to collect the blood. Victims were made to undress in washrooms in Block 11 before they were taken outside and shot. If their number was small, sometimes the prisoners were simply shot in the washrooms. The SS also used the courtyard to flog prisoners or hang them from a post by their wrists, which were twisted behind their backs. The wall now serves as a memorial to its victims.

The Barracks Slave Labor at Buchenwald Eli Wiesel

Gas Chambers

Crematoriums Crematoria at Majdanek

Horrors of the Holocaust Exposed Mass Graves at Bergen-Belsen

Liberation to set free –The Russians were 1 st to liberate many camps –Americans could not believe what they saw

Nuremberg Trials

November leading Nazis on trial –Planning the war –Committing war crimes –Committing crimes against humanity –Conspiring to commit crimes –12 received the death penalty –7 received jail sentences –3 were acquitted –Thousands of other Nazis were tried and jailed in other courts Most important – ind. were responsible for their own actions

Escaping Nazis Escape to Latin and South America –Adolph Eichmann – architect of Jewish extermination program –Josef Mengele – Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death”