First they came for the socialists and I

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me. - Martin Niemoller

Introduction - Jews in Europe have been persecuted since the 1800 s - Anti-Semitism → discrimination or hostility, often violent, directed at Jews - Germanic people = Aryans - Hitler expressed the idea of Aryan superiority in Mein Kampf - He especially despised the mixing of the two “races” - Holocaust → Nazi Germany’s systematic murder of European Jews (5 - 6 million other non-Jew people would also die in Nazi captivity)

Ghettos - An enclosed area of a city where Jews were forced to live - Warsaw Ghetto - 400, 000 Jews forced into about 3% of the city’s area - Jews received little food - Hunger and overcrowding brought on disease

Einsaztgruppen - German for “task forces” or “intervention groups” - operated by the SS before and during WWII - principle task was “the annihilation of the Jews, Gypsies, and political commissars”

Einsaztgruppen Method: - entered a town and issued orders for Jews to assemble for deportation - those gathered were sent to designated sites outside the cities and towns - pits were usually dug in advance - executioners would often force everyone to strip naked just before their execution - lined up and shot – often with machine gun - victims’ graves would be buried with hand shovels or bulldozers to cover up the crimes

Einsaztgruppen Babi Yar - Babi Yar is the name of a ravine in the northwestern section of Kiev - it was here that the Nazis shot the Jews - according to the Einsatzgruppen – 33, 771 Jews were killed at Babi Yar - the Einsatzgruppen continued to use Babi Yar as a killing sight for Gypsies, mentally handicapped, and prisoners of war - estimated that 100, 000 people were murdered there

The wild grasses rustle over Babi Yar. The trees look ominous, like judges. Here all things scream silently, and, baring my head, slowly I feel myself turning gray. And I myself am one massive, soundless scream above thousand buried here. - Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Einsaztgruppen The Jager Report: - the most famous of the official records kept by the Einsatzgruppen - includes a detailed list summarizing each massacre, totaling 137, 346 victims - was used as evidence of war crimes