1. The Causes of the Holocaust
Mr. Wolf
Marina High School

2. Causes
Hitler had to tell people that their lives would get better

3. Causes
During the Great Depression in the 1930s Germans were especially hard hit.

4. Why
Why was Germany especially hard hit??
Hint: Versailles Treaty
Versailles treaty forced Germany to pay reparations to Allies for War Guilt

5. Causes
Hitler takes over a country in debt. The people hate banks and the Treaty of Versailles.

6. To make people think things could get better, he focused their anger on an easy target.
A common enemy brings people together, and Hitler made Jews the enemy of Germany
Hitler took the anger towards the Versailles treaty and used it to unite the people.

7. Causes
People like someone to blame, and Jews became an easy target

8. Why Jewish People?
Why did Hitler choose the Jews as his Scapegoats??

9. Why
Europe was predominantly Christian and discriminated against Jewish people for hundreds of years.
Jews were described as part of the devil because Christians believed only the Devil would kill Jesus
Jews were not allowed to live in the same areas as Christians because they were considered to be harmful

10. Why
Any bad thing that happened such as a flood or a drought was blamed on Jews.
People were really superstitious back then, they thought the world was flat, and burned “witches” at the stake
Prejudice is easy to believe if you do not interact with the people you dislike

11. Jews were not allowed to be citizens till the 19th century

13. Racial Social Darwinism in 1930s

14. Racial Social Darwinism
Scientists did phony experiments to classify races and put whites on the top. They said that Jews were an inferior race.
Hitler said Jews were the biggest threat to Germany’s survival
As soon as he came into power he began making laws to humiliate the Jews and strip them of citizenship

16. Laws got progressively worse for Jews until Nazis finally decided upon the Final Solution
The concentration camps

18. Why did Germans go along
Prejudiced already against Jews
Brainwashed by propaganda
Scared of being next target
Were poor and needed Hitler and the Nazis to help them
Didn’t know how bad it would get, bad treatment of Jews evolved over time

21. If you think it couldn’t happen here

22. President Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9066