The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. “holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire."

- In the early years of the Third Reich, Hitler promised to "free" Germany from Jews. - But there was no clear-cut policy for getting rid of the German Jewish population.

Before the War (1933-1938) Steps taken by Nazis to free Germany 1. stripping Jews of their German citizenship 2. using harsh discrimination laws to pressure them to leave the country 3. finally expelling them from Germany

Jews in Pre-WWII Germany - only made up 1 percent of the German population - 66 million Germans and only 525,000 Jews   1933 - Boycott of Jewish Businesses 1935 - Nuremberg Laws 1935-1938 - Pressure forces Jews from Germany

Three Jewish businessmen are forced to march down a crowded Leipzig street while carrying signs reading: "Don't buy from Jews; Shop in German businesses!" Leipzig, Germany

Sign on truck carrying Storm Troopers urges "Germans! Defend yourselves. Don't buy from Jews." Berlin, Germany, April 1, 1933.

Legal Definition of Jew - any child born to a Jewish parent after 1935 - a person with three Jewish grandparents - a person married to a Jew and who had two Jewish grandparents

Economic Segregation German takeover of Jewish property 1938 - Nazi law required Jews to register all their belongings (eventually taken by Nazis) Oct. 1938 - Jews were stripped of their businesses, lost their livelihood.

Social Segregation - Jews became public outcasts - banned from all place of entertainment - beaches, theaters, park, public restrooms Jews were forced to wear a yellow star (easy to identify)

Nazis invade Poland and begin WWII - Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe - 3.3 million Jews

2nd Solution Sept. 1939 - June 22, 1941

Hitler ordered all Jews to be moved to Poland and held in Ghettos. Ghetto - separate section of a city where members of a minority group are forced to live.   Cattle trains were used to transport Jews from all over Europe to Poland.

Cattle Cars - Jews were packed so tight, they had no room to sit or breathe - unheated, windowless train cars - the only bathroom was a bucket or barrel - many died before even arriving at the Ghettos                                                                                                                                                     

The Nazi Ghettos - isolated Jewish communities - located in cities of Eastern Europe - a section of the city would be sealed off, no one could enter or leave - The largest Ghetto was Warsaw, Poland - 650,000 Jews living on a 1-mile stretch of land

Reasons Nazis set up Ghettos 1. To concentrate Jews in small areas 2. Stations for forced labor and eventually for death camps

Forced Slave Labor - Nazi decree in 1939 - All Jewish men and women between 14-65 years of age were to become slave laborers for the Third Reich Jews worked in German industries (12 hr days)

The Final Solution (1941-1945)   - no European Jew was to remain alive - genocide (elimination of an entire race of people)  

Evolution of Methods used to eliminate the Jews 1. Firing squads - Jews were gathered together and shot - On Sept. 29/30, 1941 over 34,000 Jews were gunned down in a 36 hour period.

2. Gas Vans - trucks specially built with a hose emptying the exhaust fumes into the back of the truck. - Trucks could hold 90 people in the back and it took around 15 minutes for them to succumb to the fumes. 3. Gas Chambers and Crematoriums

Groups targeted for extermination: 1. Jews 2. Gypsies “Contaminated” Germans: 3. Mentally ill 4. Physical Deformities 5. Criminals 6. Homosexuals

The Death Camps - SS engineers designed death camps in Poland - A death camp was NOT a concentration camp - Death camps had no facilities to house prisoners, just gas chambers - These camps were capable of doing murder in assembly-line fashion - Gassing was the main murder method in these camps

Auschwitz - the largest Nazi Death Camp - it had 4 giant-sized gas chambers designed to hold 2,000 people at once - This camp used a new type of gas known as Zykion B - This chemical could kill 2,000 people in 5-6 minutes  - Auschwitz "processed" 12,000 Jews every day - They murdered, reduced to ashes, and shipped all their belongings (glasses, tools, clothing, jewelry, money, etc) to collection centers within 24-hrs.

Gas Chambers - most victims walked willingly into the gas chambers because they had no idea they were going to die. - prisoners were given work permits and told they were being transported to work camps - the Nazis would put food on the trains to trick prisoners to get on board

Tricking prisoners into the Chambers - after arriving at the camps weak/sick prisoners were told to board "Red cross" trucks for transport to hospitals (they were taken to the gas chambers) - Massive gas chamber buildings were labeled BATHS  - Prisoners were told they would be taking showers to freshen up before going into the work camps

- Prisoners would undress and enter large rooms with shower head, towels and soap - Once the doors were shut and sealed the lights were turned out and the gas was pumped in - After 10 - 30 minutes exhaust fans would be turned on to empty out the gas and prepare for clean up  -Bodies would be taken to elevators which carried the corpses to the crematoria below

Nazi Medical Experiments - SS doctors used prisoners as guinea pigs for medical experimentation

Purpose of medical experiments: 1. survival of military personnel - experiments tested human endurance - How long can a man survive in freezing seawater? - At what altitude do lungs burst under pressure? - experimental treatments for wounds 2. Testing New Medication - what treatments work best on infectious disease? 3. Genetic Experiments - How do we speed up production of the "master race"? - How do we eliminate genetic flaws? (dwarfs)

Dr. Josef Mengele - known as the “Angel of Death” - based at Auschwitz - in charge of genetic experiments - he would be there when the trains arrived to select his subjects for testing

Twins experiments at Auschwitz - Mengele had twin shipped here for study - they wanted to understand multiple births and how they could use it to speed up the master race - twins were measured, killed (injection), and dissected for the purpose of gaining "scientific data"

Jewish Resistance Why didn't all the Jews resist the Nazi's? - remember the Jews had no weapons - they wanted to live, so they dared not rebel - violence was against the religious beliefs of the strict Orthodox Jews

Passive Resistance - some Jews defied the Germans, without using force - Jews committed sabotage in the factories - making faulty parts or ammunition

In Hiding - a number of Jews escaped capture by hiding - attics, closets, cellars, barns - most received help in the form of food and shelter from non-Jewish citizens

Armed Resistance Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April - May 1943) - Jews resist attempt to liquidate the ghetto - used stolen weapons and homemade explosives to attack Nazi troops - 15,000 Jews were killed in the battle and the remaining 50,000 were shipped to death camps

Sobibor Concentration Camp - October 1943 - several hundred prisoners attacked the guards with stolen weapons and ran out the front gate into the woods. - many were captured but 200 did escape - the camp was ordered closed after this incident

Liberation of the Camps