A Glimpse at the History of The Holocaust
Jan 17, 2018
A Glimpse at the History of The Holocaust
“Silence and indifference to the suffering of others, or to the infringement of civil rights in any society, can – however unintentionally – serve to perpetuate the problems.”
Germany was no longer a great superpowerGermany had to adhere to the Versailles
Treaty:Drastically reduce army Disarm Pay restitution fees
The German people were not accepting of rules.
German nationalism began to thrive.
The Aftershock of WWI
Nazi Party National Socialist German
Workers Party A right-wing political
party, formed in 1919 of mostly unemployed German veterans of WWI
Revived the hope of the public
Ideology:Calls for the rejection
of the Versailles TreatyForeigners and foreign
influence are to be rejected
Jews are included in the foreigner rejection
Jews and foreigners blamed for the problems in Germany.
1933: Nazi party assumed power in Germany and Hitler was appointed Chancellor
How gained power: an atmosphere of fear, distrust, and suspicion led people to betray one another and the Nazi Party to gain acquiescence of social institutions Civil service Educational system Churches Judiciary Industry &Business
Specific event in the 20th century: the state sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933-1945. Jews were the primary victims- six million were murdered; gypsies, the handicapped, and Poles were targeted for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents, also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi tyranny.
Holocaust:
Hitler served in the German army during WWI.
He was a struggling artist for much of his life.
His ability to engage a crowd during speeches propelled him to the forefront of the party.
Hitler speaking
The Rise of Hitler
Jews were blamed for Germany’s defeat in WWI, economic issues, and the spread of communism
Nazis believed Germans were racially superior, all others were a biological threat to the Aryan raceJewsRoma (Gypsies)Handicapped Slavic (Poles, Russians, and others)Behavioral and Political: Communists,
Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Homosexuals, Freemasons
Why the Killing
1933-1939The Germans moved to extend their power in
central Europe, annexing Austria and destroying Czechoslavkia.
Hitler convinced the cabinet to suspend individual freedoms; 3/23/33: Enabling Act gave Hitler dictator powers
Jews were forced to quit civil service jobs, university& judicial/court positions; boycott of Jewish businesses
Nuremberg Laws: Jews declared second-class citizens
1937-39: end of economic freedom 1938: physical attack on Synagogues, stores,
and homes
Phase One
KristallnachtThe night of broken glass
Propaganda - information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.
Hitler and the Nazis used brilliantlyFilms, posters, radio
Focused on problems in Germany caused by the Jews.
Nazi Propaganda
"Hitler is building. Help him. Buy German goods."
Membership in the Hitler Youth had become mandatory in 1936.
"The Jew: The inciter of war, the prolonger of war."
The movie, The Eternal Jew, was put out to display Jews as rat-like, old, and money grubbing.
Hitler appointed Joseph Goebbels as minister of propaganda.
Created films to bolster Nazi accord.
Goebbels's deeply rooted contempt for humanity, his urge to sow confusion, hatred and intoxication, his lust for power and his mastery of the techniques of mass persuasion were given full vent in the election campaigns of 1932, when he played a crucial role in bringing Hitler to the centre of the political stage.
He was rewarded on 13 March 1933 with the position of Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which gave him total control of the communications media - i.e. radio, press, publishing, cinema and the other arts.
Joseph Goebbels
Invasion of Poland and Soviet UnionKidnapping of “Aryan-looking” childrenKilling of institutionalized by gas chambers,
and later lethal injection, pills, and forced starvation
Creation of more killing sites, concentration camps, and slave labor camps
Phase Two 1939-1945
Entrance to Auschwitz
Poland contained massive Jewish population: 3.3 million.Less than 1% of Germany’s population was
Jewish (600,000)Germany invaded Poland on September 1,
1939.Jews face incredible horrors.
Invasion of Poland
Nazis force Jews to move into cramped, wretched neighborhoods called ghettoes.
Families would share the same living space, which would be comfortable for two people.
Jewish Ghettoes
Ghettoes provided slave labor for Nazi war machine
Some ghettoes paid a menial wage (less than 25 cents a day).
Some labor served no other purpose than dehumanization
Ghettoes cut off from regular supplies issued to neighboring populations
Smugglers play big role in ghettoes
Judenrat - Jewish council in charge of carrying out Nazi policy inside the ghetto
Little children able to sneak around guards to get outside the ghetto walls
113,000 Poles evacuated to make space for 400,000 Jews
Conditions remained relatively normal at first, but quickly turned for the worse
Poor sanitary conditions cause typhoid outbreakBy April 1941, the mortality rate was 60,000
people per month.From 1942-1944 Germans wanted to rid of ghettos by sending residents to extermination camps
Warsaw Ghetto
Nazis could not get rid of Jews fast enoughTheir plan to deport them to Africa was not
realisticGermany invaded the Soviet Union in June
1941German war with Soviets = perfect time to
exterminate all Jews foundMobile killing units were set up, shooting all
Jews and Gypsies in fields/ravines in the conquered cities
Then established six extermination centers in Poland with gas chambers and crematoriums People were brought there from German-
occupied western Europe and ghettos in eastern Europe
The “Final Solution”
The separation.
Right or Left.
Crematorium
Elie Wiesel at age 15, before entering the concentration camp
Male barracks. Elie Wiesel
Work Make You Free
ResistanceThere was resistance
from within the camps, and some organized by othersDanish resistance,
rescued nearly the entire Jewish community of Denmark
Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat
U.S. government did not pursue a policy of rescueFocus on warClaimed “unaware”
of extremity of issue until war
1944: War Refugee Board, Fort Ontario: port for refugees from territories liberated by the Allies
Nazis destroyed more than 7,000 Jewish-owned shops and businesses in Berlin.
The Jews were held responsible for paying for the damage.
description
Sobibor Death Camp
Death Marches Allied forces approached German soil in late
1944SS (Security Police) evacuated outlying
camps and attempted to cover up evidence of genocide
Prisoners deported to camps inside GermanyLong journeys on foot: death marches
All camps became extermination sitesMay 1945, Nazi Germany collapsed
Things to Look for While Reading…
Themes / Symbols / Motifs:Alienation Death Environment Faith (loss of)FireInhumanity LiesMissed OpportunitiesNon-Human Imagery
Literary Devices:ForeshadowingImageryIronyMetaphors PersonificationSimiles Symbolism
NightParental Bonds Segregation SilenceTraditionWeather
Nonfiction: typesAn autobiography is a sketch of the
author’s entire life, often from birth up until the time of the writing.
A memoir focuses on one aspect of the writer’s life. Memoirs usually cover a relatively short span of time, and their main purpose is to draw the reader’s attention to a specific theme or circumstance.
Nonfiction: other typesA biography is the story of a life from
another person’s perspective.An essay is a short nonfiction work that
addresses a specific subject.A speech is a talk or an address presented to
an audience.
Night by Elie WieselAutobiographical, memoirFocus on observation - describes an event
that the writer witnessed firsthand. Elie Wiesel - Bearing Witness - invites us to
listen, and to remember. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
BackgroundPrewar European population: 9.5 millionMost Jews lived in eastern Europe, primarily
in the Soviet Union and Poland.The Nazi party came to power in Germany in
1933.The Germans moved to extend their power in
central Europe, annexing Austria and destroying Czechoslavkia.
Background (2)Germany invaded Poland in 1939, beginning
World War II.Over the next two years, German forces
conquered most of Europe.The Germans established ghettos in occupied
eastern territories, isolating and persecuting the Jewish population.
Background (3)Nazi anti-Jewish policy expanded with the
invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.Mobile killing units murdered Jews, Roma
(also called Gypsies), Soviet political commissars and others.
The Germans and their collaborators deported Jews to extermination camps in occupied Poland.
Background (4)At the largest extermination camp,
Auschwitz-Birkenau, transports arrived almost daily from across Europe.
By war’s end, almost six million Jews and millions of others had perished in the Holocaust.
Postwar European Jewish Population, ca. 1950: 3.5 million
Terms to KnowHolocaustGenocideGhettoPrejudiceDiscriminationKapoLosGestapo
RaceEthnicityAnti-SemitismEuphemismFascismDeath campConcentration camp
HolocaustHolocaust means “complete destruction by
fire.” The term is now associated with the murder
of more than six million Jewish people during World War II.
GenocideGenocide is a word that combines the Greek
word “genos” (meaning race, people, or nation) and the ending “cide” (meaning to kill).
Genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.
GhettoThe confinement of Jews in a set-apart area of
the city.
PrejudicePrejudice comes from the word “prejudge”
(pre-judge, or judge beforehand).A prejudice is a preconceived opinion or
feeling formed without knowledge, thought or reason.
Prejudices are often based on stereotypes.
KapoCamp prisoner forced to oversee other
prisoners.
losGerman for “Go on!”
Anti-SemitismHostility toward or discrimination against
Jewish people.
EuphemismA mild or vague term that is substituted for
one that is harsh or offensive.“To pass away” is a euphemism for “to die.”
FascismA system of government with centralized
authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship and usually a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
Concentration campCamps that were primarily used for slave
laborHolding camps orTransit camps
Adolf Hitler
“The Fuhrer,” dictator of Germany (Chancellor – 1933,
President – 1934), a demagogue and tyrant who obtains power by appealing
to the emotions and prejudices of the masses.
Third ReichThe Third Republic of Germany which began
with Hitler’s rule in 1933 and ended with
his defeat in 1945.
SS
“Schutz-Staffel” (literally defense echelon), established in 1929 as Hitler’s blackshirted bodyguards. They became the
elite guards of the Nazis trained in brutality and put in
charge of concentration camps.
Gestapo•The secret police organized in 1933 to uncover and undermine political
opposition.•German acronym for the German
Secret State Police•Part of the SS
•Notorious for terrorism against enemies of the state.
Tesienstadther
The “model” concentration camp used to deceive the visiting International Red Cross. Many artists were imprisoned here and later
killed.
The Final Solution
The plan devised in 1941 to speed up the system of
killing the Jews and “undesirables.” The previous method of
shooting and burying the dead was too “costly and
inefficient.” This final method used an efficient system of gas chambers
and crematories to kill the Jews. Six of these death
camps were built and often were kept working round
the clock, killing thousands per day.
Selection
Term used when the SS forced prisoners to line up for inspection and decided which prisoners would live and which would be killed.