Jewish Holocaust of World War II Holocaust: Derived from the Greek holokauston which meant a sacrifice totally burned by fire. Arbeit Macht Frei “Work Shall Set You Free”

Why? Anti-Semitism – “Anti-Jewish” feelings Jewish Diaspora, or movement, from Judea (Israel) throughout history Jews spread throughout Europe Basic doctrinal differences b/w Christians and Jews Diaspora: From the Greek word meaning dispersion, the term dates back to 556 B.C.E. when Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Judeans to Babylonia and refers to the Jewish communities outside Israel.

Jewish Diaspora from 1100-1500

Victim Statistics Six years of killing, 1939-1945 Over 5,700,000 dead (Population of Maryland: 5,375,156) Babies killed before births could be recorded – death toll is much higher Largest amount of deaths took place in modern Poland

In post-World War I Europe, the former empires of Germany and Austria were dissolved to create new countries. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was disbanded and the new states of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia were put in its place.

World War II officially began with the invasion of Poland in 1938 World War II officially began with the invasion of Poland in 1938. After Germany invaded, Hitler divided the land with Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. The bulk of territory went to the German Reich.

Persecuted Groups Roma (Gypsies) WWII Deaths - 245,810 - 263-110 Homosexuals 5,000-15,000 incarcerated in concentration camps Over half of those incarcerated believed murdered Jehovah's Witnesses 6,000 individuals sent to concentration camps Only 3,900 survivors in 1945 Mentally / Physically  Handicapped 400,000 forcibly sterilized 275,000 murdered

German Identifying Marks Jew Gypsy  Bible Researcher  Homosexual                            Habitual Criminal Political Prisoner Asocial  Emigrant The Purple Triangle was used for those termed Bible Researcher. Sometimes this group is termed Jehovah's Witnesses. Most of the Bible Researchers were Sabbath keeping Christians who were not part of the Christian system. The "Asocial" category was the most diverse. It included prostitutes, vagrants, murderers, thieves, lesbians, and those who violated laws prohibiting sexual intercourse between Aryans and Jews.

The Camps Over 15,000 camps established Categories: -Work camps -Extermination camps -Prison camps Although there were six major death camps, there were numerous other camps that had a variety of functions. Many of these smaller camps “reported” to the larger camps such as Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

Major Nazi Death Camps Chelmno Treblinka Sobibór Majdanek Belzec Auschwitz-Birkenau Six major Nazi death camps.

In what occupied country are many of the camps located? (Poland) Why Poland? (Solicit ideas)

Jewish Population in Europe - 1939 Poland had the highest amount of Jews living within their boarders.

All roads lead to Auschwitz if you’re a Jew in world War II Europe.

Railcars were always overstuffed with victims Railcars were always overstuffed with victims. Many never made it to the camps, awaiting death while gasping for air between their fellow humans. Many perished en-route to the death camps. Prisoners were not fed, nor allowed to use the restroom.

The Camps Auschwitz Layout Dachau Layout The Nazi regime was very systematic and detailed. Plans for both camps and gas chambers can still be viewed today. As is the case with these top-down view of the Auschwitz and Dachau Camps.

Site of the station platform at Treblinka where Jews disembarked Site of the station platform at Treblinka where Jews disembarked. The stones lying to the side represent the train tracks; the standing stones, the barbed wire fences.

Treblinka was one of four “pure” death camps in Poland Between eight and nine hundred thousand would perish here, including the Jews of Warsaw. Treblinka was one of four “pure” death camps in Poland -it served only to murder.

Death Gas Chamber-Crematorium complex at Dora Slave Labor Camp. Those too weak to work would find their way here. Germans used carbon monoxide, car exhaust (gassing vans), and finally Zyklon B upon their victims.

Carbon monoxide gas chamber at Majdanek Elsewhere in this building Zyklon B was also used to kill. Nazis guards could watch the dying through barred windows.

Men await death inside of a gassing van.

This is the opening to one of the four gigantic gas chamber-crematoria complexes at Birkenau. Over one million perished in the Auschwitz camps.

Period Photo of Crematorium Complex IV at Auschwitz

The Crematoriums Tword the end of the war, so many Jews were being burned that they often did not need to fuel the furnaces. They ran off of their own source of fuel…the caked body fat of Nazi vicitms. In the last days of the death camps system, the Germans did not even wish to

Burning site: The Nazis used truck frames to create human pyres to dispose of the dead bodies. The fused, blackened material is all that remains.

HUMAN ASHES This mound of ashes is about fifteen feet high and one hundred-plus feet in diameter.

The words on the marker of this mass grave site at Bergen-Belsen reads: “Here lies 2500 dead.” When the British troops arrived they were amazed and outraged at what they found.

They set about forcing the Nazi guards and local townspeople to view and then bury the dead.

Atrocities Dissection Table Adjacent to this room, on one side is a gas chamber, on the other, the ovens. In between victims would give up their gold teeth.

Barbaric medical experiments, often without anesthetic and hope of recovery.

Death Squads Men, women and children were force to dig large pits, only to find that they had dug their own graves. As the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, mobile killing squads followed behind them to implement the Nazi's racial policies in the East. These death squads, or Einsatzgruppen, murdered millions of people.

Hermann Graebe, German civilian engineer, October 5th, 1942 “Then I heard a series of shots. I looked into the pit and saw that the bodies were twitching or the heads, lying already motionless on top of the bodies that lay before them. Blood was running from their necks. I was surprised that I was not ordered away, but I saw that there were 2 or 3 postmen in uniform nearby. The next batch was approaching already. They went down in the pit, lined themselves up against the previous victims and were shot.”

Those liberated rejoiced at the sight pf American and Soviet troops. Hope & Liberation Retreating Germans left boxcars in the camps. Some of them empty, some of them full. Those liberated rejoiced at the sight pf American and Soviet troops. Charles V. Ferree, 1st Lieutenant, 9th Air Force,7th Army Headquarters Group Participated in the Lliberation of Dachau Concentration Camp “We entered the gates, and were met by a Major General who disappeared with our passengers. The smell burned my nostrils and permeated my pores. Every direction I looked, I saw dead bodies and former prisoners running around. Soldiers gathered in groups, bayonets fixed on their rifles. Chaos like I had never seen before. We observed crazed inmates beating and clubbing their former tormentors to death.” “The jeep driver asked me if I wanted to look around. He wore a shoulder patch from the 45th Infantry Division, an outfit I had trained with in 1940-41. We drove toward a long freight train, eighty-six cars. Medics were checking the open coal cars and some regular cars with locked doors. Frost still covered the ground, and the hundreds of skeletal, naked corpses were piled into every car and overflowing onto the tracks. An unimaginable sight.” “Later I learned each car held fifty to eighty prisoners and had been shuttled all over trying to stay away from our troops. The prisoners starved, or froze, or perished from disease.”

Justice