1. Aim: Describe the Results of the “Final Solution”

2. The “Final Solution”
Hitler soon grew impatient waiting for Jews to die
Decided to take more direct action
Plan was called the “Final Solution”
Program of Genocide- Systematic killing of an entire people
To protect racial purity, the Nazis had to eliminate other races, nationalities, or groups they viewed as inferior or “subhumans”
Included Roma (gypsies), Poles, Russians, homosexuals, the insane, disabled, & the incurably ill
Nazis focused especially on the Jews 2

3. The Killing Begins
Units from the SS (Hitler’s elite security force) moved from town to town to hunt down Jews
Shot prisoners in pits that became the prisoners’ graves
Jews in communities not reached by the killing squads were rounded up & taken to concentration camps or slave-labor prisons
Prisoners worked seven days a week as salves for the SS
Guards severely beat or killed workers for not working fast
Hunger was so intense 3

4. The Final Stage
1942: The Nazis built extermination camps equipped with huge gas chambers that could kill as many as 6,000 human beings in a day
Auschwitz: Largest extermination camp
Doctors separated the strong from weak
Those labeled weak would die that day
The weak were told to undress for a shower (Gas Chamber)
After doors closed, cyanide gas poured in & killed all within minutes
6 Million European Jews died in the death camps 4