1. Examining the Depths of Humanity
The Holocaust
Examining the Depths of Humanity

2. OVERVIEW In the following lesson, you will examine:
Background of anti-Semitism
Steps leading towards “The Final Solution”
Consequences and impact of the Holocaust

3. Reasons for anti-Semitism
The Jews in Europe traditionally faced persecution for various reasons:
Responsibility for Christ’s crucifixion
Jewish customs appeared evil and mysterious
Belief in the “Jewish conspiracy”
Association with greed and destructive industrialism
Propagators of communism

4. Forms of anti-Semitism
Throughout European history, Jews were:
Discriminated against and libeled in society
Prevented from certain occupations, universities or residence
Murdered in anti-Semitic campaigns (“pogroms”) in Russia

5. Beyond pogroms State-sponsored anti-Semitism took various forms:
Boycott of Jewish businesses
Nuremburg Laws
Social exclusion
“Krystalnacht” (“Crystal Night”)
Notes: Methodically and gradually, the Nazis increased the levels of persecution against the Jews. Within the first 3 years of rule, the Nazis had economically marginalized the Jews, forbade them from many public places as well as stripped them of citizenship. By July 31, 1941, Hermann Goering ordered Reinhard Heydrich to prepare a “final solution” to the Jewish problem.

6. The “Jewish Question”
Jews, Gypsies, prisoners of war and the “unfit” were hunted by the SS Einsatzgruppen (“Death Squads”)
Labour camps
Ghettoes
Machine guns, CO exhaust, explosives, fire, axes or cavalry charges
Notes: With WWII and the invasion of the USSR, the Jewish question demanded a clear answer because the number of Jews increased and the methods of extermination appeared inefficient.

7. The “final solution” Auschwitz, Chemlo, Treblinka, Sobibor and Belzec
Gas chambers using Zyklon B could kill 12,000 people per day
Clothing, hair, teeth, and valuables were recycled
Bodies were burned in mass crematoriums
Notes: After defeating France, Hitler toyed with the idea of sending all the Jews to Madagascar. The Allied blockade prevented this possibility. Gas chambers with automotive exhaust were deemed to be inefficient, thus attention turned towards the use of chemicals.

8. First they came for the communists, I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
When they came for the social democrats, I did not speak out because I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews I did not speak out because I was not a Jew;
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
Pastor Martin Niemöller (translated from German) 1976

9. Liberation and uncertainty
Nearly 6 million European Jews and other enemies of the Nazi regime had been killed
Nazi leaders were put on trial and crimes against humanity were defined by the United Nations
Many Jews began to leave Europe towards their spiritual homeland of Palestine
Notes: Towards the end of the war, German forces attempted to destroy evidence of the camps.

10. SUMMARY QUESTIONS What were the sources of European anti-Semitism?
In what ways did historical anti-Semitism differ from Nazi anti-Semitism?
What factors pushed the Nazis towards implementation of the death camps?
In what ways did the people seek peace and to prevent future genocide?