11. nazi germany - the holocaust holocaust.pdf · once in power, the nazis used propaganda and...

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The Holocaust

Nazi Germany

For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

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What we will learn today

In this presentation we will consider:

1. how Nazi persecution of the Jews was able to escalate

into state-led mass murder ('The Holocaust').

2. the extent to which the international community and

ordinary Germans chose to ignore what was happening.

3. how the Holocaust still affects international relations

today.

Between 1933 and 1945, Hitler and the Nazi party

systematically persecuted German Jews.


The Escalation of

Persecution 1933–39


When and how were Jews persecuted?


Escalation

In its early stages, persecution was generally non-

violent and mainly focused on attacking Jewish rights

and businesses.

Since many people in Germany and the rest of Europe

were traditionally anti-Jewish, most Germans did not

object to these forms of persecution.

Once in power, the Nazis used propaganda and

indoctrination to persuade people that the „inferior‟ Jews

were conspiring to sabotage the Germanic master race.

Gradually, most Germans came to accept more violent

forms of persecution, culminating in Kristallnacht in 1938.

Those who did not agree with the violence rarely voiced

their concerns for fear of being arrested by the Gestapo.


Life for the Jews

Edith Velmun, who was in Holland during the Nazi occupation.

“…I suddenly

became very

aware of my

Jewish identity.

Up until this

point my religion

had never

seemed an

important part of

who I was.”

“…It wasn‟t very

nice, to look over at

the tennis courts and

to know that you

can‟t go in. You see

your friends on their

way to play tennis or

hockey … and you

can‟t do any of those

things any more.”


Did other countries do enough to help the Jews?


Nazi Actions 1939–45

„The historical guilt of world Jewry for the outbreak

and extension of the war is so clearly proven that

there is no point in wasting any words on it. The Jews

wanted their war and now they have got it. But now

they are feeling the effects of the prophecy which the

Führer made on 30th January 1939 in the German

Reichstag that, if international finance Jewry should

succeed in plunging the nations once again into a

world war, the result would be the annihilation of the

Jewish race in Europe.‟ – Goebbels, 1942


'Resettlement' – The ghettos

As Germany conquered more and more land in Europe,

the number of Jews under Nazi control increased

drastically. Adolf Eichmann was put in charge of „Jewish

resettlement‟. This involved rounding up Jews from

occupied countries and moving them to ghettos in a range

of cities, the largest being the Warsaw ghetto in Poland.

Walls were built to separate the ghetto from the rest of the

city. Jews lived in cramped conditions – 7 or 8 people to a

room, each given only 300 calories of food per day.

Although the Nazis were not yet systematically killing

Jews, it is thought that around 500,000 Polish Jews died

of disease and starvation in the ghettos.


“On the streets children are crying in vain,

children who are dying of hunger. They howl,

beg, sing, moan, shiver with cold, without

underwear, without clothing, without shoes …

emaciated skeletons … Already completely

grown up at the age of five … I no longer look

at the people; when I hear groaning and

sobbing I cross the road.”

A visitor to Warsaw, 1940.

'Resettlement' – The ghettos


Genocide – The Final Solution

Till a few years

ago, I thought of

making a clean

sweep of all

European Jews and

lumping them on

Madagascar or

some other island.

But today, I‟m sure

it‟s far better to

exterminate them,

right on the spot,

wherever you find

them.

But by 1942, Hitler‟s policy

toward the Jews was changing.


In January 1942, a secret conference was held at Wannsee

to discuss the „Final Solution to the Jewish Problem‟.

According to Rudolph Hess during his war crime trial

in 1946:

The „Final Solution‟ of

the Jewish question

meant the complete

extermination of all

Jews in Europe…



Why do you think Hitler’s plans for the Jews changed?

Why did he not want these plans written down?

“Hitler and his lieutenants cloaked their most criminal

activities in euphemistic language, [and] tried … to keep

their murderous plans secret … Hitler was reluctant to

commit himself to paper…”

M Marrus, 1988, on the Final Solution.



Where were the Jews taken?

The Final Solution saw Jews initially herded out of their

ghettos and into existing concentration camps. Some of

these quickly turned from harsh prisons into straightforward

execution sites.

In addition, brand new „Death Camps‟ were created.

These were built by the prisoners themselves and were

designed specifically to kill people as quickly as possible.


Jewish populations in Europe, 1939


Extermination camp locations


What happened to the inmates?


Approximate Jewish death toll 1939–45


Legacy of the Holocaust

After World War II,

the international

community was

horrified to discover

the true scale of

what had happened

to the Jews.

So in 1947, the United Nations, under

pressure from Britain and the USA in

particular, decided that the Jewish people

should be given their own homeland.

Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London.


The Jewish homeland was to be situated in Palestine,

where the ancient Jewish Kingdom of Israel had once

existed.

However, the Muslim Arab peoples who already lived in

this area refused to accept this decision.

This gave rise to the Arab-Israeli conflict which continues

to pose a serious threat to world peace today. The USA

gives strong support to Israel while the Arab world

supports the Palestinians.

Do you think that the UN was right to create

the state of Israel? Explain your answer.

Legacy of the Holocaust


Hitler‟s willing executioners?

The question of who was responsible for the Holocaust is

a highly controversial one.

David Irving argued that Hitler did not even know that the

Holocaust was taking place! Irving‟s views have been

largely discredited by other historians.

Daniel Goldhagen in Hitler’s Willing Executioners (1997)

argues that the Final Solution was the responsibility of

the German people as a whole, not just of Hitler and the

Nazi Party.


In the words of historian Richard Evans:

“Goldhagen argues that Germans killed Jews in their

millions because they enjoyed doing it, and they enjoyed

doing it because their minds and emotions were eaten

up by a murderous, all-consuming hatred of Jews that

had been pervasive in the German political culture for

decades…”

Based on the evidence of this presentation, and

on the extracts shown on the following slide, do

you agree with Goldhagen‟s interpretation?

Who was to blame for the Holocaust?


Who was to blame for the Holocaust?

11. nazi germany - the holocaust holocaust.pdf · once in power, the nazis used propaganda and...

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