1. The Holocaust
“Survival is both an exalted privilege and a painful burden.”
-Gerda Weissmann Klein
During the Holocaust, Hitler’s Nazis kill 6 million Jews and 5 million other “non-Arayans.”

2. 1933: Thousands of Jews leave Germany Why didn’t France and Britain accept as many German Jews as they might have?
France and Britain didn’t want to fuel more feelings of anti-Semitism in their countries

3. 1939: U. S. Coast Guard prevents Jewish refugees on the St
1939: U.S. Coast Guard prevents Jewish refugees on the St. Louis from landing in Miami Why didn’t the United States accept as many German Jews as it might have?
Widespread anti-Semitism
Desire to avoid greater competition for jobs during the Depression
Fear of “enemy agents”

4. The Holocaust Begins Racist Beliefs
Hitler and Nazis say Aryans—Germanic peoples—are “master race”
They launch the Holocaust—systematic murder of Jews and others
Anti-Semitism
Nazis tap into long-held feeling of many Europeans against Jews
1935 Nuremberg Laws take away rights of German Jews
“Night of Broken Glass”
Kristallnacht—“night of broken glass,” November 9, 1938
Jewish homes, businesses, synagogues attacked; 100 Jews killed

5. Stars, Triangles, and Markings
Those prisoners who were targeted by the Nazi’s and sent to the camps were required to wear one of these on their uniform.
The yellow star of David was worn by Jewish prisoners.

6. The Holocaust Begins A Flood of Refugees
Fearing more violence, many German Jews flee to other countries
Hitler favors emigration but other countries limit Jewish refugees
Isolating the Jews
Hitler has all Jews moved to designated cities
They are forced to live in ghettos—separate Jewish areas
Hitler hopes that Jews in ghettos will die of disease, starvation
Despite bad conditions, Jews survive in these areas

7. The “Final Solution” Hitler Seeks New Answer
“Final Solution”—Hitler’s final plan for treatment of Jews
Chooses genocide—systematic killing of an entire people
The Killings Begin – “Einsatzgruppen”
Nazis in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union create killing squads
They shoot men, women, children in mass executions
Other Jews sent to concentration camps or slave labor prisons

8. continued The “Final Solution”
The Final Stage
By 1942, Nazis building huge, efficient extermination camps
Camps separate strong from weak people
Weak (mostly women, children, elderly, sick) killed immediately
The Survivors
Nazis kill about six million European Jews during the war
Fewer than four million survive

9. 1941: Nazis build 6 death camps in Poland What groups did the Nazis single out for extermination?
All non-Aryans, Jews, Slavs (Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, etc) communists, socialists, liberals, gypsies, Freemasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, LGBT population, developmentally disabled, mentally ill, physically disabled, the incurably ill
The Nazi’s ultimate goal: to create an Aryan “super race”

10. First They Came - Pastor Martin Niemoller (Confessing Church)
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me

11. “Righteous Persons” of World War II
Oskar Schindler (German industrialist)
Aristides de Sousa Mendes (Portugese diplomat)
Raoul Wallenberg (Swedish diplomat)
Sempo Sugihara (Japanese diplomat)
“Righteous Persons” of World War II
Many people risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis. In recognition, the “Knesset”, or Israeli Parliament, bestowed on these individuals the title of “Righteous Persons”.
By 2001, 18,269 individuals had been honored with this title.

12. Japanese War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
Rape of Nanking
Torture/murder of POWs
Battaan Death March
Unit 731 (medical experiments on living subjects)
Sexual slavery of over 200,000 “comfort women”
Many members of the Japanese high command were sentenced to death or life imprisonment for war crimes.

13. Allied War Crimes – Virtually All Unprosecuted
The London “Cage”
Civilian Air Raids
Mistreatment, Torture and Murder of POWs (Dachau, Normandy invasion)
Use of nuclear weapons and murder of non-combatants
Mass rape of German and Austrian women during Allied occupation
Many people would argue that comparing Allied war crimes with Axis war crimes is a “false equivalency”, however it is important to remember that Allied forces committed war crimes during World War II as well, for which no one prosecuted.
“People should be understanding if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometers through blood and fire and death has fun with a woman or takes some trifle”.
-Joseph Stalin

14. The Nuremberg Trials “I was only following orders”.
24 high-ranking Nazi officials, ministers, military leaders and industrialists put on trial (12 sentenced to death and most of the rest were imprisoned for 10 years to life)
Nearly 200 more lesser leaders also found guilty in later trials
Crimes:
Crimes against the peace (planning and waging an aggressive war)
War Crimes (acts against war customs, Eg. Killing hostages/prisoners, plundering of private property, destruction of civilian areas)
Crimes Against Humanity (murder, genocide, unlawful deportation or enslavement)

15. Japanese War Crimes Trials
November 4, 1948:
25 out of 28 high-ranking Japanese officials found guilty by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
7 executed, including Hideki Tojo and most of the rest received life in prison
Additional tribunals outside Japan found almost 5000 other Japanese military officials guilty of war crimes, more than 900 executed
Some believed that Emperor Hirohito should have been tried as well, but U.S. authorities protected him, seeing him as a symbol of Japanese unity and continuity
The Nuremberg Trials and the Japanese War Crimes Trials set a legal precedent that would be used later for the development of a body of international law. (United Nations, International Criminal Court (ICC)