1. WWII Notes 14: Hitler’s Final Solution – The Holocaust World Wars – Ms. Hamer May 19, 2010

2. We last left off.. September 1939 Heydrich had created The Jewish Question in the Occupied Territories after the invasion of Poland Jews in Germany and Poland were transferred to concentration centers Einsatzgruppen were rounding up Jews in occupied regions Himmler ordered the construction of a camp at Auschwitz for at least 30,000 inmates

3. Forced Labor Jews Making a Wall Around the Krakow Ghetto

4. 1940 Still no “solution” Options in early 1940: – Idea of reservations for Jews in Eastern approved by Goering and Himmler but then dropped – Madagascar Plan Move all of Europe’s Jews to Madagascar (had been controlled by the French) Would be a problem because of the Royal Navy interfering

5. 1941 Still no plan War against Soviet Union affected Nazi racial policy – Remember the indoctrination the troops were given upon beginning Operation Barbarossa – Were supposed to allow SS in Barbarossa accomplish their “special tasks”

6. Anti-Jewish Violence in Barbarossa Einsatzgruppen operating in USSR conducted a massive blood bath in the Soviet Union against Russian and Ukrainian Jews Began experimenting: – Would shoot whole villages that were forced to dig a trench and then were shot The German army still saw this and SS realized that this method was too public, sloppy, and inefficient – Tried special mobile gas vans – September 3, 1941: Auschwitz used for the first gassing of 600 Russian prisoners

7. Mobile Killing Units Being led to Babi Yar RavineBabi Yar Ravine

8. Orders for a Final Solution In the Summer of 1941 Nazis thought they had won the war because victory over Russia seemed to be at hand – Hitler ordered a verbal order to Himmler to find a “Final Solution” to the Jewish question Gesamptloesung: total solution or Endloesung: final solution Himmler again delegated this to Heydrich

9. Heydrich’s Planning Drew together lots of ideas: – Concentration camp idea (were not intended as death camps before this though lots died there from bad treatment) – Would be built in Eastern Europe (Poland) – Would be vernichtungslager – death camps – Jews would be “resettled” – euphemisms were used instead of outright admittance of massacre – Would have gas installations instead of mass shootings – Systematic plan for mass murder Hitler was big picture man, but Heydrich worked out the details and Hitler approved

10. Wannsee Conference January 20, 1942 In the official notes, the message was very vague: – Jews would be sent to work in Eastern Europe where many would die – Some would just go to a concentration camp (elderly primarily) – Those who didn’t die in Eastern Europe would have to be dealt with According to later testimony more was discussed but either left out of the official notes or talked about after the official meeting over cognac

11. Wannsee Conference

12. In the end the Final Solution looked like: Series of death camps in Poland Mothers, small children, old, and infirm would be killed immediately by poison gaschildren Heydrich emphasized need for secrecy – don’t tell German public or foreign press – also ignorance of the victim had to be maintained Building started Spring 1942

13. In the end the Final Solution looked like: 10% of any trainload of inmates would be selected for work The rest had to undress, women and girls had their hair cut, marched to “Shower Stalls”. Then people were shoved in to 1 person per square foot. Gas was released from above and took 10-30 minutes to kill the last person Spring 1942 – End of War 1945: 6 million Jews died in the death camps as well as Russians, Poles, Gypsies, and othersEnd of War

14. The Final Solution Selection of Jews for work or death at Birkenau

15. Crematoria at Majdanek Entrance to Auschwitz The Final Solution

16. Who Knew About This? German people knew rumors and saw their Jewish neighbors being moved or trainloads of people passing by Allies had heard reports as early as the summer of 1941 from Poland and the Soviet Union – Known about the activities of the Einsatzgruppen (1-1.5 million dead from this “mobile pogrom”) – Allied governments had issues adding up the pieces 3 Molotov notes in 1942 mentioned atrocities, but said they were against all Soviet people

17. Slave Labor at Buchenwald The Holocaust

18. Who Knew About This? cont. December 1942 (camps had been functioning since March 1942) – Soviet foreign minister issued a statement dealing with Nazi plans to exterminate Jews in occupied territories. – Said that millions of Jews were being concentrated for the point of killing them – National press did not really emphasize this, but it was published This was overshadowed by news from the fronts

19. Who Knew About This? cont. BBC broadcast a report in summer of 1942 that 700,000 Jews had been killed so far Took until the summer of 1942 for the Allied governments to realize that this wasn’t a “normal” pogrom Jewish world groups began to pressure US and British governments – Official response was: any effort on the camps would sidetrack the Allies from the military objectives Fear about reactions similar to those after the false atrocity info from WWI Not to mention anti-Semitism in British and US governments

20. Allies Have to Decide What to Do By 1944 Allies were getting considerable info, for instance they knew what Auschwitz was, but what could they do? – Bomb camps or railway lines except: Raids deep into Germany were extremely costly to Allied planes If you bombed railroads you had to do it over and over – They decided that the best way to save Jewish lives was to win the war as quickly as possible – If you bomb the camp you kill them anyway – who would make this choice?

21. Allies Have to Decide What to Do cont. BBC issued a warning in 1944 to anyone in Europe helping with the deportation of Jews: You will be held accountable at the end of the war Allies didn’t reveal the true nature of the Holocaust to the public because to let the public know about what was happening would reveal Allied weakness in “not being able” to stop it Saving the Jews was not part of the war objectives of the Allied cause – just end the war quickly and that will save everyone

22. Estimated Deaths from the Holocaust An estimated 5 to 6 million Jews, including 3 million Polish Jews Estimates place total number of Polish deaths around 5 million – 1.8 – 2 million Christian Poles and other (non-Jewish) Poles 2-3 million Soviet Prisoners of War 200,000 – 1 million (or more) Roma & Sinti (Gypsies) 200,000 – 300,000 people with disabilities 80,000-200,000 European Freemasons 100,000 communists 10,000 – 25,000 homosexual men 2,500 – 5,000 Jehovah's Witnesses

23. Mass Graves at Bergen-Belsen The Holocaust