The Holocaust

Facts During the Holocaust 11 million men, women, and children were murdered. Approximately six million of those were Jews. Two thirds of the Jewish people living in Europe at the time of WWII were killed by the Nazis The Nazis not only target Jewish people but they also targeted: gypsies, people with disabilities, Jehovah's witnesses, homosexuals, and those that opposed the Nazi regime. The Nazis targeted children because they believed that if the Jewish, or other disliked groups, children lived they would grow up and have Jewish, or other disliked groups, children. – Because of this 1.5 million children were killed.

Racial Purity Hitler and the Nazis take power in – They believed that the Germans were members of a “master race” that was superior in mind and body to all other people. – They sought to uphold this supposed “master race” by not allowing Germans to intermingle with “inferior races”, which included the Jewish people. Racial Purity Law: 1933 – Prohibited “undesirables” from having children and mandates forced sterilization of certain physical or mental impaired individuals.

Nuremberg Laws 1935 Remove Reich, German, citizenship from all Jews. Classifies a Jewish person as anybody who had three or four Jewish grandparents. – It did not matter if you actually practiced Judaism or not, if you had Jewish grandparents, in the eyes of the law, you were Jewish. Prohibits Jewish people from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of “German or related blood.” The laws were later extended to include: – Jewish people were required to register their property and the Nazi’s began to “Aryanize” Jewish businesses Jewish workers and managers were dismissed and ownership of the businesses were taken over by non-Jewish Germans – Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat non-Jewish people and Jewish lawyers were forbidden to practice Law.

Yellow Star of David Nazis order all Jews to sew on the Star of David on all their clothes so Jews would be easily recognized.

Kristallnacht Referred to as the “Night of Broken Glass” November , the Nazis created Anti- Jewish riots against the Jewish communities. The Nazis destroyed Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. – 267 Synagogues were destroyed throughout Germany’s territory and an estimated 7500 Jewish businesses. There were specific orders for the police to arrest as many Jews as the jails could hold.

St. Louis Ship with over 900 refugee’s from Germany. – Nearly all are Jews. – Set sail for Cuba, with the intention of entering the United States Cuba denied entry so they headed for the United States When the St. Louis got near Miami the US Coast Guard followed it to prevent the ship from docking. – The refugees were forced to return to Europe. There were so many refugees from Germany already taken in by European nations that room was limited.

Ghettos First Ghetto established in Poland in Jewish people began to be sent to Ghettos. – Isolated Jewish communities away from any non-Jewish people. Ghettos were used as places to segregate Jews. Ghettos were overcrowded and sealed off with barbed wire and stone walls. – The Warsaw Ghetto had 400,000 Jews living in an area of 1.3 miles Opened factories near the Ghettos and forced Jews to work. The Ghettos were malnourished, unsanitary, and overcrowded. This combination led to many deaths. – In the Warsaw Ghetto 1 in 10 died because of this combination. – People began to die in the streets.

Concentration Camps The first Concentrations camps were established after Hitler’s rise to power. Originally political opponents of the Nazis were sent here but later Jews, gypsies, and criminals were captured and placed in concentration camps. Typical concentration camp consisted of barracks secured by barbed wire, watchtowers, and guards. – Inmates slept in overcrowded barracks on bunk beds – Inmates forced to do hard labor all day – Often inmates died from malnutrition, disease, and being over worked. – The sick, old, and those that could not keep up were killed, usually by gas.

Final Solution Hitler’s “final solution” of his supposed problem, the Jews, was to commit mass genocide. – The murder of all the Jews. In 1942 the Nazis began to deport all Jews to extermination camps, where they would be murdered. – Jewish people would be shot or gassed at these camps and their bodies burned in mass graves.

Auschwitz Originally a concentration camp that was turned into an extermination camp. Literally translates into “Work makes you free” Approximately 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz alone. Ag-Y Ag-Y