European Holocaust

European Holocaust

VictimsThere were 11-12 million victims of the Holocaust, including Jews, Gypsies, political prisoners, Jehovah Witnesses, and homosexuals.

“Not every victim was Jewish, but every Jew was a victim.” – Elie Wiesel

Why the Jews?

Anti-Jewish attitudes deeply rooted in European Christian culture and society.

Jews historically charged with the crime of deicide (murder of God).

All measures taken by the Nazis against the Jews had precursors in European history (badges, ghettos, restrictive laws, etc).

If Jews were so hated why did the Holocaust not happen earlier?

Only a modern state could carry out murder on such a scale bureaucratic organization, mass

communication/propaganda, and modern technology (e.g. railroads, mass communications)

To carry out the transport and murder of millions took significant organization and involved many government agencies and tens of thousands of workers

The Nazis came to power in January 1933. The systematic murder of Jews didn’t begin until 1941.

The Holocaust was preceded by government policies designed to isolate the Jews and condition the population to accept anti-Jewish policies.

First Stage of the Holocaust• Anti-Jewish Legislation (1933-1935) (a) Boycott of Jewish businesses in

Germany (April 1, 1933) (b) Nuremberg Laws (1935) stripped

Jews of rights of citizenship and barred Jews from education, professions, and public spaces (parks, pools, theatres, etc). Jews disappeared from German public life.

Second Stage of the Holocaust

Persecution (1938-39) *Kristallnacht (November 1938)

Anti-Jewish pogrom orchestrated by Nazis

*Expulsion: Germany attempted to expel many Jews from the Reich. Few nations would accept Jewish refugees.

Think of the St. Louis and Canada’s dismal record

Third Stage of the Holocaust Ghettoization

The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 brought millions of Jews under German control in an area called the General Government.

Jewish ghettos, reminiscent of the Middle Ages, were established. Jews were segregated in ghettos were they were systematically starved and exploited as slave labour.

Ghetto Life

Fourth Stage of the Holocaust

The Final Solution• began with the invasion of Russia in June

1941• Nearly 2 million Jews murdered by

Einsatzgruppen (“special action” units)• Method of killing (mass shooting)

deemed too slow and difficult for killers

Stages of the Holocaust (5)Wannsee Conference (Jan 1942)

SS leaders (under Heydrich and Eichmann) met in Berlin to confirm plans for “final solution” to the Jewish question.

Extermination camps (1941-1944) Millions of Jews killed at Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka.

Jewish Resistance

During Passover 1943, the surviving Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto revolted. They held off the Nazis for nearly three weeks before they were subdued.

Gate to Auschwitz: Work Makes One Free

Question

How come the Jews didn’t resist?

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) Revolt of the Sonderkommando at Auschwitz

(1944) Sobibor Uprising (1943)

Why was resistance limited?

There was little support in the larger community.

Jews were deceived about their fate.

Nazi retaliation threatened the entire community.

Family members protected each other.

Dehumanization of victims diminished capacity to resist.

Why was resistance limited? (2)

The Jewish experience with persecution “conditioned” Jews to accept their fate.

The concept of the total annihilation of the Jewish communities of Europe was inconceivable to the victims.

Question

How was it possible for the world to stand by without stopping this destruction?

From 1935 until the outbreak of war, many Jews tried to leave the Reich (Germany and Austria), but found few nations willing to take them.

Why? Economies suffering by depression had little capacity to absorb refugees. Anti-Jewish attitudes pervasive among world leaders and among larger populations

Canada’s Response

Of all the nations of the western world, Canada’s response was the most dismal.

Between 1933 and 1946, Canada admitted only 5,000 Jewish refugees, fewer than Cuba, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic.

Roles in the Holocaust Perpetrators

▪ Where they monsters or ordinary people? The sad truth is that few individuals resisted orders to kill Jews.

▪ Stanley Milgrim – Obedience

Bystanders▪ By far the largest group in Europe were bystanders. To

varying degrees they knew what was taking place, but did nothing.

Rescuers▪ Despite grave risk to themselves and their families,

some individuals and communities rescued Jews.

Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe