1. Holocaust and End of WWII
Main Idea: During World War II, Germany’s Nazi government deliberately murdered some 6 million Jews and 5 million others in Europe. These actions became known as the Holocaust. In 1945 the Allies finally triumphed over the Axis powers in Europe and the Pacific, but the war left many nations in ruin.

2. Nazi Anti-Semitism
At the time of Hitler’s rise to power in Germany there were approximately 9 million Jews living in Europe – most of whom lived outside of Germany.
Hitler blamed the Jews for many of Germany’s problems and promoted a belief in the racial superiority of the German people.
There was a long history of anti-Semitism in Europe but Hitler’s Germany took it to another level.
The Nuremberg Laws created a separate legal status for Jews living in Germany.
Thousands of Jews were deported from Germany, but many left on their own.
Many German Jews found themselves without money or property due to the Nuremberg laws and were therefore unable to emigrate to other countries.
As many as 250,000 Jews were trapped in Germany at the start of WWII.

3. The “Final Solution”
Hitler and Nazi Germany adopted a plan they called “The Final Solution” or the deliberate mass execution of Jews.
The first phase of the plan required all Jews living in Germany to be forced into ghettos that were fenced in using barbed wire and walls to prevent the Jews from leaving.
Other Jews were sent to concentration camps that were meant to hold the people that Hitler considered “enemies of the State.”
During the invasion of the Soviet Union Nazi’s established mobile killing units to kill Jews living in the Soviet Union.
Lastly, Jews were sent to execution camps that were designed specifically for the purpose of killing mass numbers of Jews and destroying their bodies.
At concentration camps Jews were subjected to harsh working conditions or even used in cruel medical experiments.
Many Jews in the concentration camps died of starvation.

4. The “Final Solution”
Jews were not the only group targeted in the “Final Solution” – other groups they considered inferior were also included such as the Poles, Slavs, homosexuals, people with disabilities, and Roma gypsies.
Approximately 5 million people other than Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
Jews, however, suffered the most during the Holocaust resulting in 6 million dead.
The mass murder of the Jews is known as the “Holocaust.”
Other countries were aware of the Nazi’s anti- Semitism in the 1930s, but the full extent of Hitler’s crimes was shielded from the outside world.
In 1942, people in the United States and other countries began to hear disturbing reports of widespread killing of Jews in Europe.
The United States and Great Britain met to discuss possible responses but there were no decisions made.
The United States and Great Britain were unwilling to do too much due to fear of interrupting the war effort.
As the war began to end United States and Soviet troops began to find the concentration and death camps.
The scenes of horror made the evidence clear of what the Nazi’s had done.

5. War Ends in Europe
By the end of the war Axis powers had suffered 2 million casualties and were outnumbered and unable to stop the Allied advance.
The Soviets were able to end the Siege of Leningrad and drive the Axis forces out of the Soviet Union and back into central Europe.
As the Soviet’s forced the Axis armies back toward Germany, the other Allies were finalizing their plans for a massive invasion of Western Europe.
On June 6, 1944 American generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower led the Allied forces into a invasion of France along the beaches of Normandy, France.
Casualties were high, but D-Day was a huge victory for the Allies.
With an entry point secured on the Normandy beaches Allied troops poured into France.
Allied forces were able to break through the German defenses by July – by the end of August they had surrendered Paris.

6. War Ends in Europe
In December 1944 Hitler ordered one last, massive counterattack in Belgium.
At first Germans made a solid advance, producing a bulge in the Allied battle lines – the battle became known as the Battle of the Bulge.
By January 1945, the Allies had crushed the German offensive at the Battle of the Bulge.
Germany’s defeat marked the end of major German resistance.
Three Allied leaders (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) met in Yalta to plan the end of the war and the peace to follow, called the Yalta Conference where they agreed to three things:
Divide Germany into four sectors, occupied by either France, United States, Soviet Union, or Great Britain.
Soviets take over Eastern European countries and ensure they would establish democracies.
Soviet Union would declare war on Japan to help US
By the end of 1945 the Soviet and American troops advanced effortlessly to Berlin.
Hitler was found dead on May 2, 1945 by Soviet troops, shortly following Berlin surrendered.
Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945 and became known as V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.

7. War Ends in the Pacific
Although the Allies had achieved victory in Europe, war was still raging in the Pacific.
By mid 1945 American bombers had begun regular bombing raids on Japanese cities.
In February 1945 Allied troops landed on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima.
At the Battle of Iwo Jima nearly 7,000 Americans died to capture the tiny island.
All but a 1,000 Japanese died to protect the island.
After Iwo Jima the Americans invaded Okinawa – barely 350 miles from Japan.
At the Battle of Okinawa lost nearly 12,000 American lives, but the island was claimed for the Americans.
After Okinawa the Allies sought to take the island of Japan itself but the Allies had lost many troops at Iwo Jima and Okinawa and did not want to attempt a land invasion believing that it would be too costly.
American leaders had been developing an atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project in the United States and hoped that this weapon would be able to bring the war to a quick halt.
On July 26, 1945 the Allies issued a demand for Japanese surrender, when the Japanese refused the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima – yet the Japanese did not surrender.
On August 9, 1945 the Allies dropped the second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki – finally the Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945 on what became known as V-J (Victory in Japan) Day.

8. The Postwar World
At the end of the war much of the world lay in ruins and millions of people had died.
Entire cities, villages, and farms had been destroyed.
Food, shelter, and medicine were scarce.
There were millions of displaced people in Europe and Asia due to being prisoners of war, survivors of Nazi concentration camps, or people who had fled their homes during the war.
Roosevelt convinced Stalin to agree to join a new world organization proposed by the Allies call the United Nations.
The United Nations (UN) was designed to encourage international cooperation and prevent war.
The United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China formed the UN Security Council.
The UN issued the Declaration of Human Rights that stated that all humans have equal and inalienable rights.

9. The Postwar World
The Nuremberg Trials for Nazi and military officials were held in Nuremberg, Germany between 1945 and 1949.
Several dozen Nazi leaders were sentenced to death for their roles in the Holocaust and in other war crimes.
Three Allied leaders met to continue their work from the Yalta Conference at Potsdam in Germany, called the Potsdam Conference.
America was concerned about the growing influence of Communism from the Soviet Union.
The Allies wanted to ensure Stalin would live up to his promises from Yalta.