2. Background to the Holocaust
In his autobiography Mein Kampf, Hitler claimed the “Jewish question” needed to be answered once and for all
Nazi ideology promoted the idea of “Aryan” superiority over other races
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, anti-Semitism became official policy

4. Persecution Begins
The Nazis encouraged Germans to stop patronizing Jewish businesses
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 segregated Jews and did not allow intermarriage
Kristallnacht destroyed Jewish stores, houses and synagogues in 1938 in an attempt to drive Jews from Germany

9. The German invasion of Poland in 1939 led to the creation of “ghettos” where Jews confined

10. Typical Conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto

11. The Einsatzgruppen were created to murder Jews and Hitler’s political enemies throughout Poland and Russia

12. Jews are shot and dumped in mass graves

13. Mobile gas van used by the Einsatzgruppen

14. Genocide
By 1942, the Nazis had decided they needed a more efficient and depersonalized system of mass murder
At the Wannsee Conference of 1942, the Nazis decided it would be much more efficient to murder people by the millions

15. Extermination camps were established throughout Eastern Europe to kill
primarily Jews, but also gypsies, the handicapped, and others the Nazis
considered “subhuman”

16. At Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, 1
At Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, 1.5 m people were gassed and about 90% of these were Jews

18. Cylinder Containing Zyklon B Gas

21. Aerial photo taken by
the Allies in 1944
showing a plume of
smoke near Birkenau
death camp

22. About 6 million Jews and 5 million others were murdered during the Holocaust
Allies insisted the best way to end the genocide was to win the war
When the concentration camps were liberated in 1945, the world saw the true extent of Nazi horrors

27. The Nuremberg Trials
After the war, many demanded that the perpetrators of Nazi genocide be punished
The Nuremberg Trials were established to bring Nazi war criminals to justice