The Holocaust The Holocaust The systemic murder of

The Holocaust

The Holocaust • The systemic murder of European Jews & Undesirables by Nazis • About 6 million Jews were killed by the end of WWII

Undesirables 5 to 6 million others were killed: • Homeless • Gypsies • Homosexuals • Physically / mentally handicapped • Political dissenters

Anti-Semitism • Is the prejudice, discrimination, and hatred of Jews as a national, ethnic, religious, or racial group

Nazi Policy • 1933: when Nazi party took control of German’s government, anti-Semitism became the official policy of the nation

“Whenever you see a crucifix, think of the horrible murder of Jesus by the Jews. ”

Nuremburg Laws • Passed 1935 • Strip Jewish Germans of their citizenship

The white circles denote ‘German blood’, the black circles Jewish Everyone categorized as fully Jewish was stripped of their German citizenship, disenfranchised, and forbidden to marry or to have sexual relations with Aryan Germans (gypsies and people of black ethnicity were treated by the sam rules as Jews). Mischlings (part Jewish) were stripped of many of their rights and often denied job opportunities.

What the Nazis did: • Required all Germans to carry an identity card • Jews had a red letter “J” • All given new middle names” • Sarah for women • Israel for men

• In 1938, the Nazi attack on the Jews changed and became more violent • Kristallnacht on 11 th November 1938. • By 1939, half of Germany’s 500, 000 Jews had emigrated to escape Nazi persecution. Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht (“Night of the Broken Glass”) • November 9 -10, 1939

Prelude to the Final Solution • In 1939, Germany invaded Poland which had a much larger population of 3 million Jews. • In 1941, Germany invaded Russia which had a population of 5 million Jews.

Change of Tactics: • Heinrich Himmler sent four specially trained SS units into German occupied territory and shot at least 1 million Jews. Victims were taken to deserted areas where they were made to dig their own graves and shot. • When the SS ran out of bullets they sometimes killed their victims using flame throwers.

Warm-up 10/21 • Why did the Nazi’s target Jews for persecution and why was it successful?

How did the Nazi decide who was Jewish? • If one of person’s parents was Jewish, then they were Jewish. • If 3 of your grandparent’s were Jewish, you were Jewish • It wasn’t about religion anymore, it was about race • By 1940, all Jews had to wear the yellow Star of David on their jacket or coat.

Where were the Death Camps built? The work of the Einsatzgruppen Why do you think that they located them here?

What tactics did the Nazis use to get the Jews to leave the Ghettos? 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. New arrivals at the Death camps were given postcards to send to their friends. Tactics Terror The SS publicly shot people for smuggling food or for any act of resistance 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 Hungry people are easier to control

Children Dying of Starvation in the Warsaw Ghetto

Liquidating the Ghettoes • The Jews were transported in cattle cars in terrible conditions to the camps.

• Naked, dirty and half starved people look like animals, which helped to reinforce the Nazi propaganda.

Tactics: What happened to new arrivals? 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. ’ At Auschwitz the trains pulled into a mock up of a normal station. Deception & Selection At Auschwitz the new arrivals were calmed down by a Jewish orchestra playing classical music. 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.

Entrance to Auschwitz Notice how it has been built to resemble a railway station

Auschwitz Orchestra

Map of Auschwitz New Arrivals ‘Showers’ ‘Destruction Through Work’

Auschwitz from the air Notice how the Death camp is set out like a factory complex The Nazis used industrial methods to murder the Jews and process their dead bodies

The Gas Chambers The SS would try and pack up to 2000 people into this gas chamber • The Nazis would force large groups of prisoners into small cement rooms and drop canisters of Zyklon B, or prussic acid, in its crystal form through small holes in the roof. • These gas chambers were sometimes disguised as showers or bathing houses.

The outside of the Gas Chamber Notice the Ovens easy located near the Gas Chambers

The Ovens at Dachau

Dead bodies waiting to be processed

Shoes waiting to be processed by the sonderkommando Taken inside a huge glass case in the Auschwitz Museum. This represents one day's collection at the peak of the gassings, about twenty five thousand pairs.

Those who escaped immediate death • Men and women had their heads shaved • Registration number tattooed on their arm • Given only one set of clothes • Held in crowded, unheated barracks • Food was a thin, foul-tasting soup made of rotten vegetables

Was the Final Solution successful? • The Nazis aimed to kill • 11 million Jews at the Wannsee Conference in • 1941 • Today there are only 2000 Jews living in Poland. • The Nazis managed to kill at least 6 million Jews. Some Germans helped Jews escape. In 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto, like many others revolted against the Nazis when the Jews realised what was really happening.

The End Evil is when a few good men decide to do nothing.

• Excerpts from an interview with Alexander Aronowicz (Sasha) Pechersky Leader of the Sobibor revolt Soviet Union, 1980 • In the beginning the communication was difficult, because the language problem. • Soon we were able to understand each other without help. I informed her minutes before the escape of the plan. She has given me a shirt. She said, "it's a good luck shirt, put it on right now", and I did. It's now in the museum. I lost her in the turmoil of the revolt and never saw her again. • Luka perished either in the break-out from the camp or in the forest, her fate has never been factually established, Pechersky tried to find her in the forest without success. Sobibor survivors Toivi Blatt and Sasha Pechersky (right)

Sobibor Memorial