A Brief History of the Holocaust

1. A Brief History of the Holocaust 1941 Germany attacks Soviet Union Jews throughout Western Europe are forced into ghettos Death Squads are formed to kill Jews (shooting and hand grenades) throughout Eastern Europe. By December 1941, 300,000 people were killed by these squads alone.

2. A Brief History of the Holocaust 1942 Nazis discuss the “Final Solution” – their plan to exterminate all the Jews in Europe. Jews are forbidden to subscribe to newspapers, keep pets, own bicycles, buy meat or eggs, use public transport, or attend school

3. Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps

4. A Brief History of the Holocaust • 1943 • By February, about 80% of Jews who died in the Holocaust had been murdered. Mostly by gas chambers in Extermination Camps, otherwise by starvation or literally worked to death.

5. A Brief History of the Holocaust 1944 Hitler takes over Hungary and begins sending 12,000 Jews each day to Poland, where they are murdered.

6. A Brief History of the Holocaust 1945 Hitler is defeated and commits suicide. Death camps are emptied Many survivors are left without family or homes.

7. Facts about the Holocaust It is estimated that over 6 million Jews were killed between 1933 and 1945. 7 out of 10 Jews in Europe were killed. Millions of others were killed for other reasons: Catholics, Communists, homosexuals, the disabled, Romany Gypsies, Serbians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, They also killed politicians, Trade Unionists, Teachers or anyone who spoke out against Hitler.

8. Facts about the Holocaust Concentration camps were places that Jews were taken to work. Extermination camps were places they were taken to be killed. Some camps did both, sending those who could not work (children and the elderly) to be killed while others worked.

9. Facts about the Holocaust • Auschwitz – Birkenau Camp • Arrival at the camp, prisoners directed to the right went to work, those to the left went to the gas chambers.

10. The Book Thief • The Book Thief is set in Munich, which is in the south of Germany. • Near Munich is the Dachau Concentration Camp • The first labour camp opened by the Nazis. • The camp held over 200,000 prisoners. • 25,613 people are believed to have died in Dachau due to disease, malnutrition and suicide (+ another 10,000 in subcamps) • The prisoners were also used for medical experiments. • Dachau was liberated on 29 April, 1945 by the US Army, who also found piles of corpses.

11. Dachau

12. Dachau Death March Prisoners were marched through the surrounding towns on “death marches” from Dachau, just days before liberation.

13. Liberation of Dachau, April 29, 1945 1600 people were found crammed into each of 20 barracks – originally designed to hold 250 people.

14. Other Information • The SS – Shutzstaffel, meaning “protection squad”, was a major Nazi organisation that was created as Hitler’s personal guard and then grew to carry out Hitler’s racist ideology. They were primarily responsible for ruling Germany by fear and the extermination of the Jews by capturing, enslaving and murdering them on mass.

15. Other Information • Hitler Youth – a military youth organisation that recruited young people to train them in Nazi ideals and military practices. • By 1940, it had 8,000,000 members • By 1943, the Nazi Party were recruiting the Hitler youth as manpower as they began to struggle during the war. • 12 year olds were being recruited by 1945.

16. Other Information • Mein Kampf (My Struggle) • Book by Adolf Hitler written in 1925 while he was in prison. • It contained his political ideology as well as some elements of autobiography. • He claimed the German (Aryan) race was superior to all others and should take over the world. • The extremely racist book, focused on the inferiority and evil of Jews. • The book became the Nazi bible, 10 million copies sold by the end of the war.