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The Holocaust. The Literature. Anti-Semitism : A Brief History. •Definition: prejudice against Jews Social, economic, and political discrimination •In the early Roman empire it was only very rarely that a Jew was granted Roman citizenship. Anti-Semitism : A Brief History.
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The Holocaust The Literature
Anti-Semitism: A Brief History • •Definition: prejudice against Jews • Social, economic, and political discrimination • •In the early Roman empire it was only very rarely that a Jew was granted Roman citizenship
Anti-Semitism: A Brief History • •Early Christians blamed all Jews for the crucifiction of Christ • •Jews were labled as “Christ Killers” • •Label persisted for centuries • •Officially repudiated by Vatican II Council in 1964
Pogroms • •Prejudice against Jews persisted throughout Europe • •Local communities often persecuted Jews
The Inquisition • •15th Century Spain put Jews on trial • •Jews were • forced to convert to Christianity • expelled • killed
Ghetto Laws--1800’s • •Jews were forced to live in walled off sections of cities • •Jews were required to wear badges identifying them as Jews • •Jews could not own property or hold public office
Early 1900’s • •The Rise of Nationalism • Unity created by demonizing a common enemy • •PsuedoScience • Supposedly “Scientific” theories proving Jews and other minorities were inferior to whites • Stephen Jay Gould’s reanalysis of skull volume data
A Long History…Hitler did not invent the wheel! • •Hitler based his popular support on these centuries of prejudice • •His genius was to guide and intensify this prejudice
6 million Jews were killed in less than ten years during Hitler’s reign... …more than in all of the centuries of anti-semitism that preceded it! A Stunning Fact:
Nazi Anti-Semitism • Jewish/Non-Jewish marriage forbidden • Jewish Property Seized • Concentration Camps
Kristallnacht, 1938 --things take an uglier turn • •Jewish conspiracy blamed for assassination of minor German official • •7500 Jewish businesses destroyed • •237 Synagogues were burned • •26,000 Jews were arrested, many beaten, 91 died • •Jews were fined $400 million for damage done to their own property
The Final Solution… • Auschwitz and the Death Camps... • Factories designed to kill the largest number of people possible as cheaply as possible and as fast as possible
Methods of Extermination: • Cyanide Gas • Carbon Monoxide Gas • Machine Guns • Flamethrowers • Lethal Injections • Medical “Experiments”
The Literature of the Holocaust The stories of the survivors… Lest We Forget!