The Holocaust (Shoah): A Human Catastrophe

Nuremberg Laws (Sept. 1935) Nazi persecute Gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs, disabled Nazi hatred for the Jews was strongest Hatred of Jews in Europe was not uncommon Nuremberg Laws- took citizenship away from Jewish Germans and prohibited marriage between Jews and other Germans -defines a “Jew” as anyone w/ Jewish grandparent -bars Jews from holding public office or voting -Jews w German sounding names adopt Jewish ones Jews can’t practice law, med., or run business

Kristallnacht Herschel Grynszpan shot German diplomat in Paris – Nov. ‘38 -sought revenge for deportation of Jews to Poland & persec. Hitler ordered Jos. Goebbels (propaganda min.) to stage attacks on Jews that would look like a spontaneous public reaction (Nov. 9, 1938) – “Night of Broken Glass” 7500 Jewish bus., 90 dead; Nazis forbid police to interfere Gestapo (gov’t secret police) arrested 20,000 wealthy Jews -released only if they agreed to emigrate & surrender possess. -state confiscated insurance payments owed to Jews

Jewish Refugees Try to Flee From , 350,000 Jews fled Germany By ‘38 one American consulate in Germany had backlog of 100,000 visa applications -why did US limit Jewish immigration? -Nazis prohibited Jews from taking more than $4 -American immigration law forbade granting visa to anyone likely to become a public charge -High unemployment rates in US didn’t help either -US law permitted 150,000 immigrants w/ quotas -law didn’t allow for exceptions for refugees

International Response US, Europe, L.A. regret they cannot take more Jews Goebbels: “... Any country that believes it has not enough Jews, I shall gladly turn over to it all of our Jews” By ‘39, many desperate Jews were leaving w/ forged visas St. Louis Affair – May 27, 1939 ship enters Havana w/ Jewish refugees w/ improper documents -couldn’t dock at Cuba; US refused it also -ship went back to Eur. to France, Holl., G.B., Belgium -refugees docked here & later perished in “Final Solution”

Concentration Camps Previous “solutions” to Jewish problem - rounding up Jews, Slavs, Gypsies from conquered areas, shooting them & piling in mass graves Also, putting them in trucks & piping in fumes to kill them -but these methods were too slow/inefficient for Nazis Wannassee Conference: decided to round up Jews from all over Europe & place in camps Concentration Camps: healthy persons would work as slave laborers until they dropped dead from exhaustion/disease Buchenwald- camp near Weimar; 200,000 prisoners worked as slave laborers for 12 hour shifts in factories American soldier: “I looked at the bottom bunk & there saw one man. He was too weak to get up; he could just barely turn his head. He was skin and bones. He looked like a skeleton; and his eyes were deep set. He didn’t utter a sound; he just looked at me with those eyes, and they still haunt me today.” (Leon Bass at wars end)

Extermination Camps Extermination Camps: elderly, sick, children were sent here to be executed in huge gas chambers Auschwitz: 1.6 million died (1.3 mil. were Jews) Jewish culture in Europe had been obliterated in short time How could the Holocaust happen? -Germans sense of injury after WWI -severe economic problems -Hitler’s control over the German state -German fear of Hitler’s SS -long history of anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe