Holocaust Definition holocaust n Greek holo whole caustos

Holocaust

Definition • holocaust- (n. Greek holo, “whole”; caustos. “burned”) A great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire • Holocaust-The systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II

Problems in Germany • Treaty of Versailles (1919) - signed after WWI blamed Germany for causing the war and made them pay heavy reparations ($33 billion) • Hyperinflation in Germany (1923) - 4. 2 trillion Reichmarks to purchase one US dollar

Rise of Hitler • Mein Kampf (my struggle) (1925) - details Hitler’s radical ideas and becomes ideological base for the Nazi party – – German Nationalism Anti-Semitism And anti-communism Aryans are the superior race • 1933 - Hitler and the Nazi party come to power

Nuremburg Laws • Strict guidelines for determining who was Jewish • Deprive Jews of basic civil rights • Marriage between Jews and non-Jews illegal • Sept 1941 - German Jews required to wear a yellow star on their clothing

Kristallnacht (Nov. 9 1938) • night of broken glass • Nazi’s destroyed 200 synagogues, 7, 000 Jewish businesses, hundreds of Jewish homes • First large round up of Jewish men

Ghettos (created 1939) • Used to consolidate the population of Jews in Poland • Separate walled-off areas of cities – Only Jews were allowed in or out • People died of disease and starvation • Mass deportation of German Jews not until Sept 1941 • There were 356 ghettos created by the Nazi’s – Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, and Lvov

• Einsatzgruppen (1941) - mobile killing squads in Poland Soviet Union • Killed Jews and communists • “Final Solution” Jan. 20 1942 - plan outlined by Reinhard Heydrich to exterminate entire Jewish population in Europe by using extermination camps (death camps) • Camps built in Poland • Inmates were stripped of possessions and forced into gas chambers – Zyklon B

Concentration camps • Built throughout Europe • Served as slave labor • Worked in factories or mines • Long hours and poor nutrition led to many deaths • Some served as temporary holding until they were sent to extermination camps • Hitler commits suicide on April 30, 1945