1. The Holocaust

2. Overview
Refers to the systematic killing of Jews by the Nazis during WWII
During the Holocaust, Nazis killed 6 million European Jews
Hebrew term for Holocaust is “Shoah”= catastrophe
Also killed millions of people from other groups they considered inferior
Disabled, gypsies, homosexuals, slavic people

3. As part of their vision for Europe, the Nazis proposed a new racial order.
Aryans would be the master race
Hitler tapped into a hatred for Jews that had deep roots in European history
Jews as scapegoats for
Personal failures
Germany’s defeat in World War I

4. The Nuremberg Laws Established in Sept. 1935
Took citizenship away from Jewish Germans
Banned marriage between Jews and other Germans
Barred from holding public office and voting
Must adopt “Jewish” names
Passports were marked with a red “J”
After the nazis took power, they quickly moved to deprive german jews of many established rights
Names…if their name sounded german

5. Definition of a Jew: At least one Jewish grandparent: Mischling
3-4 Jewish grandparents: Full Jew
By summer of 1936, at least half of Germany’s Jews were jobless, having lost the right to work as civil servants/journalists/farmers/teachers/actors/medicine/law
Many chose to remain in germany because they were well integrated into German society

6. Kristallnacht
November Herschel Grynszpan shot and killed a German diplomat in Paris
Hitler ordered his Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, to stage attacks against the Jews
Led to a spree of destruction
A jewish refugee
His father and +10,000 other jews had been deported from germany to poland…he was seeking revenge for this/persecution in general
The attacks would seem like popular reaction to the news of the murder

7. +90 Jews dead, hundreds injured, thousands terrorized
Anti-Jewish violence throughout Germany and Austria was called Kristallnacht, or “night of broken glass”
+90 Jews dead, hundreds injured, thousands terrorized
Nazis forbade police from interfering while groups destroyed 7,5000 Jewish businesses and synagogues
Broken glass littered streets everywhere

8. Following the night of violence, the Gestapo (government’s secret police) arrested 30,000 Jewish men
Released them only if they agreed to emigrate and surrender their possesions

9. Isolating the Jews
Hitler then ordered Jews in all countries under his control to be moved to designated cities called ghettos.
After 1941, all Jews in German controlled areas had to wear a yellow Star of David patch

10. Jewish Refugees Try to Flee
Many Jews began to flee to the US
Between , 350,000 Jews escaped Nazi-controlled Germany
Ie: Albert Einstein and Otto Frank
When hitler took power to the start of wwii
Franks moved to amsterdam

11. Limits on Jewish Immigration
+100,000 visa applications from Jews trying to leave for the US
Several factors limited immigration:
High unemployment rates in 1930s
Americans didn’t want to raise immigration quotas
Anti-Semitic attitudes
Most never received visas
No exceptions for refugees or victims of persectuion

12. International Response
At an international conference, several European countries, the US, and Latin America regretted that they couldn’t take in more of Germany’s Jews
Many ships departed Germany crammed with Jews
forged/illegal visas
Many countries denied these
Discussing refugees in 1938
With war looming in 1939…

13. St. Louis Affair
May 1939
SS St. Louis entered harbor at Havana with 930 Jewish refugees
Certificates improperly issued by Cuba that gave them permission to land there
Government revoked certificates once they landed
For several days, captain steered ship in circles around Florida
Disembarked in France, Holland, Belgium, Great Britain
Hoped to get to US
Cuban government revoked
Within 2 years, the first 3 of these countries fell under Nazi domination…many refugees perished in “final solution”
Denied permission to dock…turned around for Europe

14. The Final Solution
January Nazi leaders met at Wannsee Conference to determine the “final solution of the Jewish question”
Previous solutions: rounding up Jews, Gypsies, Slavs and shooting them and piling them into mass graves…another method forced Jews and other undesirables into trucks and then piped in exhaust fumes to kill them…proved too slow and inefficient

15. Attendees of Conference

16. The Final Solution
Plan: round up the Jews from Nazi-controlled Europe and take them to concentration camps
Work as slave laborers
Elderly, sick, and young children were sent to extermination camps
Until they dropped dead of exhaustion, disease, or malnutrition
To be executed in mass gas chambers

17. Wannsee Conference

18. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland which had a population of 3 million Jews
In 1941, Germany invaded Russia which had a population of 5 million Jews

19. Wannsee Conference How was the Final Solution going to be organized?
Women, children, the old & the sick were to be sent for ‘special treatment.’
The young and fit would go through a process called ‘destruction through work.’
Shooting was too inefficient as the bullets were needed for the war effort
On arrival the Jews would go through a process called ‘selection.’
How was the Final Solution going to be organized?
Jews were to be rounded up and put into transit camps called Ghettos
The remaining Jews were to be shipped to ‘resettlement areas’ in the East.
The Jews living in these Ghettos were to be used as a cheap source of labour.
Conditions in the Ghettos were designed to be so bad that many die whilst the rest would be willing to leave these areas in the hope of better conditions

20. What tactics did the Nazis use to get the Jews to leave the Ghettos?
Deception
New arrivals at the Death camps were given postcards to send to their friends.
Starvation
The Jews were told that they were going to ‘resettlement areas’ in the East.
The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were only fed a 1000 calories a day .
Tactics
In some Ghettos the Jews had to purchase their own train tickets.
A Human being needs 2400 calories a day to maintain their weight
Terror
They were told to bring the tools of their trade and pots and pans.
The SS publicly shot people for smuggling food or for any act of resistance
Hungry people are easier to control

21. Tactics: What happened to new arrivals?
All new arrivals went through a process known as ‘selection.’
At Auschwitz the trains pulled into a mock up of a normal station.
Mothers, children, the old & sick were sent straight to the ‘showers’ which were really the gas chambers.
The Jews were helped off the cattle trucks by Jews who were specially selected to help the Nazis
Deception & Selection
The able bodied were sent to work camp were they were killed through a process known as ‘destruction through work.’
At some death camps the Nazis would play records of classical music to help calm down the new arrivals.
At Auschwitz the new arrivals were calmed down by a Jewish orchestra playing classical music.

22. Concentration Camps
Nazis established first camps in 1933 to jail political opponents
Stripped of their clothes, given a uniform, and a number was tattooed on their arms

23. Extermination Camps
After Wannsee, Nazis built extermination facilities in the camps, mostly in Poland, to kill Jews efficiently
Ie: Treblinka and Auschwitz
Auschwitz housed 100,000 people; gassed 12,000 people a day
1,300,000 out of 1,600,000 who died were Jews…others were Poles, Soviet POWs, and Gypsies

24. Map of Concentration and Death Camps

25. Looking Back- Why? Germany’s sense of injury after WWI
Severe economic problems
Hitler’s control over Germany
Long history of anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination in Europe
No firm concensus has been reached about how something to horrendous could have happened