UNIT VI THE HOLOCAUST HOLOCAUST IN HISTORY AND

UNIT VI- THE HOLOCAUST

HOLOCAUST IN HISTORY AND KRISTALLNACHT

DAILY QUESTION • In what way could historians argue that Kristallnacht was the “beginning” of the Holocaust?

ANTISEMITISM AND KRISTALLNACHT • The Holocaust in History Many historians argue that the Holocaust is the logical conclusion of Nazi ideology • Völkisch ideology, Social Darwinism, eugenics, and general European antisemitism critical to the foundations of the Holocaust • Implementation of the Holocaust was not fully planned, but was pieced together between 1941 -1945. • • Ideology always pointed towards extermination, but how this would happen was unclear and was a gradual process German citizenry and the Holocaust: responsibility through general complicity or complacency? • Can historical method and research ever fully “explain” the Holocaust? •

ANTISEMITISM AND KRISTALLNACHT • Historical debate: Intentionalists vs. functionalists (debate of the 1980 s and 1990 s) • Central questions: Was there an original master plan formed by Hitler for the Holocaust? 1. • Intentionalists say yes, functionalists say no Did the initiative of the Holocaust come from orders from above? Or was the initiative of the Holocaust from within the ranks of Nazi bureaucracy? 2. Intentionalists argue initiative comes from above, functionalists argue initiative comes from within the entire system • However, neither side disputes Hitler’s personal responsibility for promoting antisemitism within Germany •

ANTISEMITISM AND KRISTALLNACHT • Jewish response to Hitler’s rise to power Many Jews believed the most extreme Nazi ideological standpoints would die down after ascension • Others thought the Nazis were a temporary power in a time of economic unrest • Why didn’t they leave Germany? • Too expensive • Identified as well assimilated Germans (just as “German” as anyone else) • False hope: early Nazi policies commonly failed (as a part of Hitler’s culture of competition) • Not too many alternatives! •

ANTISEMITISM AND KRISTALLNACHT • Foundations for Kristallnacht • Nazis encouraged boycott of Jewish stores and business • • Laws against Jews between 1933 -1935 increase antisemitism within Germany • • Attempted boycott in 1933, completely fails Nuremburg laws encourages ostracization of Jews Assassination of Ernst vom Rath • Vom Rath was a Nazi diplomat in Paris, shot on Nov 7 1938 • • Shot by Herschel Grynszpan, a Polish Jew Nazis had just expelled thousands of Polish Jews from Germany Grynszpan’s parents were among the expelled • Parents were then not allowed into Poland, lived in a refugee camp •

ANTISEMITISM AND KRISTALLNACHT • Vom Rath dies on Nov 9, 1938 15 th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch • Goebbels uses assassination as a way to unleash violence against Jews • • • States: “Hitler has decided that commands for demonstrations should not come from above, but spontaneous demonstrations should not be hampered” The night of the 9 th-10 th, local party Gauleiters issued orders for “spontaneous” riots • Members of the SA and the HJ participated in these riots, most wearing civilian clothing to promote spontaneity

ANTISEMITISM AND KRISTALLNACHT • After the first waves of violence, Reinhard Heydrich gave specific orders to local SD and SA offices No violence towards non-German Jews • No endangerment to non-Jewish Germans and their property • Must remove synagogue archives from the buildings prior to destruction and send the archival material to the local SD office • Police officers should arrest as many Jews as the jails could hold • • Preferably young, healthy Jewish men

ANTISEMITISM AND KRISTALLNACHT • Property damage due to Kristallnacht 267 synagogues were destroyed, firemen were instructed to stand by unless fires began to spread to neighboring buildings • Rioters destroyed over 7500 Jewish businesses • Jewish cemeteries were destroyed and bodies and remains were destroyed • Berlin and Vienna were hit the hardest • • • Two largest Jewish populations in Germany 30, 000 German Jewish males were arrested, eventually transferred to concentration camps • Around 100 murders on Nov 9 th and 10 th, with many rapes and suicides documented in the aftermath

ANTISEMITISM AND KRISTALLNACHT • Aftermath First example of outright largescale violence towards Jews based only on their ethnicity • Jews were blamed for the violence due to the assassination of Vom Rath • Jews were fined for the damages caused, 10 billion marks • Nazi officials seized all insurance payouts to Jewish businesses • • Kristallnacht remembered as one of the most critical moments in antisemitic policy in Nazi Germany • • Attempted to encourage emigration After Kristallnacht, many German Jews fled the country

DAILY QUESTION • In what way could historians argue that Kristallnacht was the “beginning” of the Holocaust?