The Holocaust

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

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

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”

Definition of a Jew: At least one Jewish grandparent:

Mischling 3-4 Jewish grandparents: Full Jew

Kristallnacht

November 1938- 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

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

Following the night of violence, the Gestapo (government’s secret police) arrested 30,000 Jewish men

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

Jewish Refugees Try to Flee

Many Jews began to flee to the US Between 1933-1939, 350,000 Jews

escaped Nazi-controlled Germany Ie: Albert Einstein and Otto Frank

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

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

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

The Final Solution

January 1942- Nazi leaders met at Wannsee Conference to determine the “final solution of the Jewish question”

Attendees of Conference

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

Wannsee Conference

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

Wannsee Conference

How was the Final Solution going to be organized?

Shooting was too inefficient as the bullets were needed for the war effort

Jews were to be rounded up and put into transit camps called Ghettos

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

On arrival the Jews would go through a process called ‘selection.’

The remaining Jews were to be shipped to ‘resettlement areas’ in the East.

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.’

What tactics did the Nazis use to get the Jews to leave the Ghettos?

Tactics

Starvation

The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were only fed a 1000 calories a day .

A Human being needs 2400 calories a day to maintain their weight

Terror

The SS publicly shot people for smuggling food or for any act of resistance

Deception

The Jews were told that they were going to ‘resettlement areas’ in the East.

In some Ghettos the Jews had to purchase their own train tickets.

They were told to bring the tools of their trade and pots and pans.

Hungry people are easier to control

New arrivals at the Death camps were given postcards to send to their friends.

Tactics: What happened to new arrivals?

Deception & Selection

At Auschwitz the trains pulled into a mock up of a normal station.

The Jews were helped off the cattle trucks by Jews who were specially selected to help the Nazis

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.

All new arrivals went through a process known as ‘selection.’

Mothers, children, the old & sick were sent straight to the ‘showers’ which were really the gas chambers.

The able bodied were sent to work camp were they were killed through a process known as ‘destruction through work.’

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

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

Map of Concentration and Death Camps

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