Important Holocaust Terms

Important Holocaust Terms An introduction to a unit on the Holocaust and the novel, Night. Mrs. Duke 10th grade English Fall 2003 Added to by: Crystal Barbour

Holocaust • The state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945 • Jews were the primary victims—6 million were murdered • Gypsies, the handicapped, and Poles were also 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.

Star of David • Every Jew was required to wear the yellow Jewish badge in the Ghetto A yellow star inscribed with the word, “Jude” became the symbol of Nazi persecution.

Nazi • National Socialists German Workers Party • Founded in 1919 • Hitler became the leader in 1921, and when Hitler came to power in 1933, all other political parties besides the Nazi party were banned. • Led by Adolph Hitler, they practiced hatred of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and others

Nazi • The famous Nazi salute • Adolf Hitler salutes his followers at a Nazi Party rally soon after his appointment as Chancellor. (February 1933).

Nazi Rallies

Swastika An old religious ornament adopted by the Nazis as their party symbol Hitler’s personal standard

Ghetto Special areas in cities where the Jews and other minorities were forced to live before they were transported to concentration camps Often separated from the city by a stone wall

Ghetto View of the gate at the Krakow ghetto. (Circa 1940)

Ghetto • A synagogue has been converted into a temporary shelter to house Jewish families forced to move into the ghetto in Krakow-Podgorze. (1940 - 1941)

Gestapo • Also known as “secret police.” • Groups instrumental in carrying out Nazi policy • More visible in the ghettos than in the concentration camps German police or soldiers check the identification papers of a Jew in the streets of Krakow. (1940)

Gestapo – Geheime Staatspolizei A German policeman checks the identification papers of a Jew in the streets of the Krakow Ghetto. (1940)

Kapos • Prisoners who cooperated with the SS in the disciplining their fellow prisoners were called Kapos. • In this picture, a Kapo (middle, foreground) oversees forced laborers in Blechhammer

Schutzstaffel (SS) • A special force notorious for its brutal concentration camp guards. SS and police officials speaking among themselves during a roll call of the prisoners. (1938 - 1940)

Concentration camps • Reservations where Jews and minorities were forced to work and where many were executed as part of Hitler’s “Final Solution” • Some served as extermination camps, others as holding camps.

Concentration Camps • In April 1943, Hitler noted, in regard to the Jews in Poland: "If the Jews there don't want to work they will be shot. If they cannot work, they must rot. They should be treated like tubercular bacillus which could attack healthy bodies. That is not cruel - if one keeps in mind that even innocent natural beings like hares and deer must be killed so that no damage occurs."

Auschwitz • Nazi death camp built in southern Poland • Heinrich Himmler ordered its creation on April 27, 1940. • Composed of three large camps which housed five crematoria and forty-five subcamps • An estimated 1.1 million people were killed at this death camp.

Auschwitz View of the entrance to the main camp of Auschwitz (Auschwitz I). The gate bears the motto "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes one free).

Auschwitz Polish children imprisoned in Auschwitz look out from behind the barbed wire fence. (July 1944)

Auschwitz Corpses of Auschwitz prisoners in block 11 of the main camp (Auschwitz I), as discovered by Soviet war crimes investigators.

Auschwitz • Sacks of human hair packed for dispatch to Germany. The women had their hair cut prior to gassing. In Auschwitz warehouses 7,000 kilos of human hair was found at liberation. (January 1945) Photograph taken immediately after the departure of the Germans from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Buchenwald • Another death camp located in southern Germany • Survivors suffering from malnutrition and a variety of other diseases in a section of the hospital barracks • The inmates in the upper bunks were unable to go to the latrine, making the sanitation in this section intolerable. (April 16, 1945)

Buchenwald Prisoners standing during a roll call. Each wears a striped hat and uniform bearing colored, triangular badges and identification numbers. (1938 - 1941)

Hasidism • A Jewish religious movement started in eastern Europe in the eighteenth century. • Hasidism is composed of many groups, usually headed by a charismatic leader. • A Hasid often devotes his life to the study of the Jewish scriptures, the Talmud, or the cabbala.

Talmud • An ancient compilation of Jewish oral law accompanied by a vast literature of rabbinic commentary. • Dictates the lifestyle and behavior of the Jewish people

Cabala (Kabbalah) • esoteric system of interpretation of the Scriptures based upon a tradition claimed to have been handed down orally from Abraham. • based on the belief that every word, letter, number, and even accent contains mysteries interpretable by those who know the secret.

Jewish Holidays • Rosh Hashana: New Year’s • Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement • These feats encourage reassessment of one’s life and deeds, and Jewish tradition teaches that on these days God decides who will live and die during the coming year.

Rosh Hashana • Means “First of the Year”, is the Jewish New Years • A time to begin introspection and plan for the upcoming year • Sounding of the Shofar in the synagogue • Apples dipped in honey • No work allowed http://www.jewfaq.org/sound/shofar.mid

Yom Kippur • Means “Day of Atonement” • Most important holiday • Day set aside to atone sins made against God, not man • Is a “Complete Sabbath” • Observances • No work • Fasting • Synagogue

For more information… • On Judaism visit www.jewfaq.org • On the Holocaust visit www.ushmm.org

Important Holocaust Terms