THE HOLOCAUST

1. THE HOLOCAUST By: Natalie Schael & Jonathan Patino

2. What are different aspects of the Holocaust? • Who was targeted? • What were ghettos? • What were killing centers? • What did America find during the period of liberation and what did they do?

3. Background The Holocaust was the systematic murder of around six million Jews by the Nazis rulers. In January 1933 Nazis came to power believing that Germans were the “Aryan race” or were “racially superior” and that the Jews , who were "inferior," were a threat to this “Aryan race” therefore needed to be destroyed. During the period of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of believing them to be “inferior”: Roma(Gypsies), the disabled, Poles and Russians (Slavic people), Communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and homosexuals. The Holocaust ended in May 1945.

4. Victims of the Holocaust Jews The main group to be targeted. Were said to be criminals, traitors and conspirators. Publicly humiliated as well as businesses were boycotted. Total massacre was said to be the “final solution.” It was hard for them to migrate because they knew not of the customs of other lands and restriction on immigration (The U.S. only allowed in 20,000 people because of economic hardships, plus you had to have a sponsor and proof your sponsor had enough money). Jews were forced to wear the yellow star of David to identify them. Overall, nearly six million Jews were murdered.

5. Jehovah’s Witnesses These people were an annoyance to the Nazis because they would go door to door preaching their religion, refused to serve in the military and wouldn’t do anything that would be considered putting something before God. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses took their situation with a strong spirit; they sang hymns and provided support for one another as time wore on.

6. Gypsies Otherwise known as Roma they were looked at the same as Jews but also monstrous and dangerous. Were once referenced as the “Gypsy plague.” Were stereotyped as homeless thieves who tried to make a living off of fortune-telling, dancing and left. Disabled One of the easiest groups to target because they are weak. Hitler dealt with them by introducing a new law in May 1933 legalizing eugenic sterilization on a basis of mental/physical health. Anyone with a disease (such as schizophrenia), was alcoholic or “feebleminded” was put in the process to be sterilized.

7. Ghettos During the Holocaust ghettos were city districts in which the Germans concentrated the Jewish population and forced them to live in miserable conditions. Ghettos isolated Jews by separating them from the non-Jewish population.. The Germans established at least 1,000 ghettos in Poland and the Soviet Union. The first Ghetto was in Poland in Piotrków Trybunalski in October 1939. Some existed for a few days, months or years. Ghetto residents were either shot into mass graves or deported them to killing centers were they were to be murdered. Overall there were three types of ghettos: open, closed and destruction. The largest ghetto (Poland) was the Warsaw ghetto. Here over 400,000 Jews were pushed into an area of around one square mile. Other major ghettos were established in the cities of Krakow, Lodz, Bialvstok and others.

8. Killing Centers Were used to torture, enslave, confine, and condemn death to all the minority groups (Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gypsies, etc.). Within the killing centers there was a special unit called the Sonderkommando; this unit handled the van killings. In this process, certain appointed people would cram as many people as possible into the back of the van, sealing them in. As the van drove around pipes brought in the exhaust from the van; inhaling slowly killed the members in the back. Anyone still alive was shot. Also within these centers was a man named Dr. Mengele. Dr. Mengele was a scientist and S.S. doctor who had special projects concerning experimenting with dwarfs, twins and others. He also decided who lived and died upon arriving; he was the “Angel of Death.”

9. The largest killing center was a concentration camp known as Auschwitz. Auschwitz was a death and work camp. Those who were deemed healthy and strong (men/boys) were able to work in factories and other places needed. But those who were weak, fragile or sick (women/elderly/children) were sent to gassing chambers to be killed, for they had no use. If this was the case they would tell the people they were going to get a shower; they soon found out wasn’t a good shower. However, the secrecy of all these killing centers was not great. The centers were too big and too many were involved for no one to notice something terrible was happening. Furthermore, inside the camp, the S.S. and other authorities had great luxuries and some lived with their family here , preferring this place to their real home.

10. Liberation When American forces came into Germany they found the most devastating situations: mass graves, half-dead people, concentration camps, abandoned camps, boxcars full of corpses and much more. After the war, many people had nothing and no one. As this was such a problem, displaced persons (DP) camps were established for victims of the Holocaust. Through these DP camps, 150,000 or more Jews came, establishing a community spirit. At the same time, allied leaders in regard to Nazism, “denazified” everything, justified the top perpetrators and made a division between the “Nazis” and “Germans.”