Holocaust Lecture #2 The Final Solution Information taken from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Holocaust Lecture #2

The Final Solution

Information taken from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Two German Jewish

families at a gathering before the war. Only

two people in this group

survived the Holocaust. Germany,

1928.

Evolution of the Final Solution• Attempts to force Jews to move out

– Nuremberg Laws– ¼ of Germany’s Jews left – However, as Germany began to expand, it swallowed up

ever more Jews

• Forced emigration? – But other countries weren’t letting Jews in

• Great Depression• Anti-Semitism

– Madagascar plan • Was probably always impractical, but when war started became

impossible

• Quarantine and then Execution

Ghettoes• Temporary solution (as opposed to the ‘final

solution’) • Germans set up over 1000 ghettoes in occupied

Poland and the Soviet Union – Many ghettoes had walls around them and Jews were

often only permitted out when they were sent on a work detail to work for the Nazis

– Jews were forced to wear badges of identification at all times

– The ghettoes were usually in the least desirable part of town (hence the American use of the term ‘ghetto’), were very crowded, and were thus rife with disease

Ghettoes (cont.)

• Largest was in Warsaw in Poland 400,000 Jews • Jewish police officers policed the ghetto and helped

the Germans (for example, when it came time to convince Jews to board trains for relocation)

• When plans for mass extermination and the final solution were finished (late 1941 to early 1942), Nazis began to destroy the ghettoes – The inhabitants of smaller ghettoes were often dealt with

by firing squads – The inhabitants of larger ghettoes were often sent by

train to concentration camps

Children Eating on the Streets of the

Warsaw Ghetto

A sign, in both German and Latvian, warning that people attempting to cross the fence or to contact inhabitants of the Riga ghetto will

be shot. Riga, Latvia, 1941-1943.

Jews move into the Kovno ghetto. Lithuania, ca. 1941-1942.

The Camps• The first concentration camps were built to house political

prisoners • The first camps built specifically for extermination were built in

mid 1942 (not long after the Wannsee Conference)– It has been estimated that about 3 million Jews were killed in the camps– Another 3 million were killed in their ghettoes – This number of 6 million represents 2/3rd of the Jews of Europe – Other victims of the holocaust included

• Politically- “Social Democrats, Communists, liberals, Freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses, clergy who opposed the Nazis, members of national opposition movements, non-Germans in general after Germany began to occupy Europe, and any others whose behavior -- real or perceived -- could be interpreted as politically motivated opposition.”

• Darwinistically- “Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), so-called asocials, repeat criminal offenders, and homosexuals

The Camps (cont.)

• Prisoners who were not immediately killed were often used for labor (especially for the German War Effort) and for medical experiments (lab rats) – The number of Jews who were used as laborers increased after

the failure of the Germans to destroy Russia in 1941 (meant there would be a long war of production)

• Prisoners entering the camp were often chosen as ‘work-worthy’ or ‘non-work worthy’ and would live or die accordingly– These decisions were usually made by doctors who performed a

visual exam in less than a minute – Old, young, and sick were killed

Jews from the Lodz ghetto are loaded onto freight trains for deportation to the Chelmno extermination camp. Lodz, Poland, between

1942 and 1944.

View of the Gurs camp as photographed from a water tower.

The Killing

• Five Camps in Particular were used for killing – Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Birkenau (a

part of the Auschwitz concentration camp) – All were built in Poland – Birkenau, at its height, was killing 6,000 Jews a day

• Killing techniques became increasingly efficient as carbon monoxide was replaced with Zyklon B (Prussic Acid)

Human remains found in the Dachau concentration camp crematorium after

liberation. Germany, April 1945.

A pile of corpses at the Russian Camp (Hospital Camp) section of the Mauthausen concentration

camp after liberation. Mauthausen, Austria, May 5-15, 1945.

Hansen Name _____________WWII Period _______

Lecture Guide- The Holocaust Part #2

Evolution of the Final Solution• Attempts to force Jews to move out

– _____________________________– _______of Germany’s Jews left – However, as Germany began to expand, it swallowed up

__________________________________• Forced emigration?

– But other countries ________________________________• _______________________________• Anti-Semitism

– __________________plan • Was probably always impractical, but when war

___________________________________________• Quarantine and then Execution Ghettoes • Temporary solution (as opposed to the _____________________) • Germans set up over 1000 ghettoes in occupied _____________

and the ________________________________– Many ghettoes _______________________________ and

Jews were often only permitted out when they were sent on a work detail to work for the Nazis

– Jews were forced to wear __________________ at all times – The ghettoes were usually in the least desirable

_______________ (hence the American use of the term ‘ghetto’), were very crowded, and were thus rife with disease

• Largest was in Warsaw in Poland _______________ Jews • Jewish police officers policed the ghetto and helped the Germans

(for example, when it came time to convince Jews to ____________ _____________________________________________________)

• When plans for mass extermination and the final solution were finished (_______________________________ ), Nazis began to destroy the ghettoes

– The inhabitants of smaller ghettoes were often dealt with by _______________________________________

– The inhabitants of larger ghettoes were often sent ________ ________________________________________________

The Camps • The first concentration camps were built to house ______________ • The first camps built specifically _________________ were built in

____________ (not long after the __________________________)

– It has been estimated that about ___ million Jews were killed in the camps

– Another ____ million were killed in their ghettoes – This number of 6 million represents ________ of the Jews

of Europe – Other victims of the holocaust included

• Politically- “Social Democrats, ______________, liberals, Freemasons,_________________, clergy who opposed the Nazis, members of national opposition movements, non-Germans in general after Germany began to occupy Europe, and any others whose behavior -- real or perceived -- could be interpreted as politically motivated opposition.”

• Darwinistically- “Roma and Sinti (_________), so-called asocials, _______________________ , and homosexuals

• Prisoners who were not immediately killed were often used for __________ (especially for the German War Effort) and for _____________________ (lab rats)

– The number of Jews who were used as laborers increased after the failure of the Germans to destroy _________________________ - (meant there would be a _____________________________________________)

• Prisoners entering the camp were often chosen as ‘__________’ or ‘non-work worthy’ and would live or die accordingly

– These decisions were usually made by _____________ who performed a visual exam in ____________________

– Old, young, and sick were killed The Killing• Five Camps in Particular were used for killing

– Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Birkenau (a part of the Auschwitz concentration camp)

– All were _______________________________– Birkenau, at its height, was killing _________Jews a day

• Killing techniques became increasingly efficient as __________ ___________ was replaced with ____________ (Prussic Acid)