1. The Holocaust:
This PowerPoint presentation was designed for use with my Year 11 students studying GCSE history. They were writing an essay on: What was meant by the term ‘Final Solution’ and how was it organised?

2. Prelude to the Final Solution
Hitler seized power in 1933
began his attack on the Jews, blamed for bringing greed to society and for economic depression.
Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass
Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues had their windows smashed
By 1939, half of Germany’s 500,000 Jews had emigrated to escape Nazi persecution.

3. The ‘Final Solution’
In January 1942, Heinrich Himmler, director of the persecution of the Jews, decided to change tactics
It was decided that the existing methods were too inefficient and that a new ‘Final Solution’ was necessary.

4. How did the Nazis decide who was Jewish?
3 grandparents were Jewish
Married to a Jew
Child of a Jew
Jewish by conversion of faith
Association with Jews
By 1940, all Jews had to have their passports stamped with the letter ‘J’ and had to wear the yellow Star of David.
You were marked as “Jew” so you could be monitored by the Germans
Some historians believe that Hitler’s grandfather was Jewish. His Grandmother used to work for a rich Jewish landowner in Austria and it is believed that she had an affair whilst she worked as his house keeper. He later helped his son get a job as a civil servant. Some Psychologist but this down as being one of the possible reasons why Hitler hated Jews. However, it is interesting to note that the Jewish doctor who helped his mother whilst she was dying of cancer was dropped off at the Swiss boarder by the SS in 1940!

5. How was the Final Solution going to be organized?
Women, children and the elderly would be sent to “the showers”
The young and fit would go through a process called ‘destruction through work.’
Shooting was too inefficient as the bullets were needed for the war effort
On arrival at the concentration camps, the Jews would go through a process called “selection.”
How was the Final Solution going to be organized?
Jews were to be rounded up and put into transitional camps called Ghettos
The remaining Jews were to be shipped to “resettlement areas” in the East.
The Jews living in these Ghettos were to be used as a cheap source of labor.
Conditions in the Ghettos were designed to be so bad that many die whilst the rest would be willing to leave these areas in the hope of better conditions

6. Children Dying of Starvation in the Warsaw Ghetto
Evil is when a few good men decide to do nothing.

7. Entrance to Auschwitz
Notice how it has been built to resemble a railway station

8. Map of Auschwitz
New Arrivals
‘Showers’
‘Destruction Through Work’

9. The Gas Chambers
The Nazis would force large groups of prisoners into small cement rooms and drop canisters of Zyklon B, or prussic acid, in its crystal form through small holes in the roof.
These gas chambers were sometimes disguised as showers or bathing houses.
The SS would try and pack up to 2000 people into this gas chamber

10. Dead bodies waiting to be processed

11. The Crematory at Dachau

12. Shoes waiting to be processed
Taken inside a huge glass case in the Auschwitz Museum. This represents one day's collection at the peak of the gassings, about twenty five thousand pairs.

13. Destruction Through Work
Prisoners would be fed approximately 200 calories a day. They would be forced into hard labor.

14. Destruction Through Work
Same group of Jews 6 weeks later

15. The American response to the Holocaust
Despite knowing about violence toward the Jews, American immigration is limited
Quota of 150,000 annually (per country)
Prohibited those who would be “public charge”
No Exceptions!!!
Finally in 1944, FDR created the War Refugee Board.
Through this board, the United States was able to help 200,000 Jews.
More?

16. Liberating the Nazi Camps
The American Response
Liberating the Nazi Camps
By 1945 Soviets reached Auschwitz.
Also in 1945, American soldiers came upon concentration camps.
Many camp inmates died after being rescued, but some were still strong enough to survive.
The Nuremberg trials
22 Nazis faced trial for their roles in the Holocaust.
The court was located at Nuremberg, Germany.
Several Nazis have since been captured and tried in different courts, including Israel.
Why We Fight

17. Was the Final Solution successful?
The Nazis aimed to kill 11 million Jews
Results:
6 million Jews
5 million others such as blacks, disabled, gypsies, and sick.
Not all Jews went quietly into the gas chambers.
In 1943 the Warsaw Ghetto revolted against the Nazis when the Jews realized what was really happening.
Was the revolt successful?
No, outnumbered by Nazis