WORLD WAR II 1939 - 1945

1. WORLD WAR II1939 - 1945 THE HOLOCAUST

2. WHAT IS GENOCIDE? “Genocide” is a Greek word that means “group-killing” The intent of genocide is to deliberately destroy an entire racial, ethnic, or religious group of people The perpetrators inflict serious bodily harm, prevent new births, or create conditions that will result in death There have been numerous genocides throughout history

3. THE CENTURY OF HATRED There have been more genocides in the 20th Century than in all other centuries combined Genocides in the past were carried out to maintain empires, obtain wealth, and terrorize enemies During the 20th Century, nations lose money carrying out genocides, but choose to do so out of hatred

4. REASONS TO COMMIT GENOCIDE One group blaming another for social or economic problems A group being seen as a threat during times of war Extreme racism or patriotism Anti-immigration policies or xenophobia (fear of foreigners) Religious extremism

5. WHAT WAS THE HOLOCAUST? “Holocaust” means “burnt offering” The Holocaust refers to the systematic murder in Europe of the Jewish people and other groups deemed “inferior” before and during World War II The extermination was carried out by the German Nazis at the order of Adolf Hitler

6. THREE STEPS OF THE HOLOCAUST #1. IDENTIFICATION: marking all Jews in German society #2. CONCENTRATION: taking away Jews’ freedom, removing Jews from society and placing them together Killing the Jews was the Nazis’ main priority, more so than fighting the war #3. EXTERMINATION: mass murder of the Jews in the death camps

7. NAZI RACIAL THINKING According to German nationalists, pure-blooded Germans were part of a superior master race called “Aryans” Those not of pure German blood were considered “inferiors” Some races were considered to be subhumans The Jews were at the top of the Nazis’ list as “subhumans”

8. ROOTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM Anti-Semitism is hatred for Jewish people Europe’s mainly Christian population were anti-Jewish for the Jews’ perceived role in Jesus Christ’s death During the days of the Roman Empire, the Romans forcibly removed the rebellious Jews from of their homeland (modern day Israel) and spread them throughout the world

9. ROOTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM Scattered all over Europe and North Africa, Jews were usually seen as unwelcome strangers To survive, some Jews became skilled in finance and business When times were tough economically, people would view the Jews with jealousy Jealousy, dislike of foreigners, and the link to Christ’s death made for much anti-Semitism in Europe

10. ANTI-SEMITISM IN GERMANY When Germany lost World War I, German soldiers (like Adolf Hitler) could not accept defeat and looked for someone to blame The already-disliked Jews made a perfect scapegoat for the Germans, who said the war was lost because German Jews “stabbed soldiers in the back” by not supporting the war effort

11. GERMANY’S VICIOUS ANTI-SEMITISM In this German children’s book, a pious mother teaches her little son, “The Jew is the most poisonous mushroom in existence.” The children’s book “Der Giftpilz” (The Poisonous Mushroom)

12. “DER PUDELMOPSDACKELPINSCHER”OR “THE MONGREL” Hitler predicted genetic disaster if Jews were allowed to marry “pure-blooded” Aryans. The title of this children’s book describes the genetically absurd poodle-pug-daschsund-pinscher mutt that adorns the cover. This collection of 11 fable-like short stories about lazy, parasitic creatures such as hyenas, serpents, locusts, leeches, tapeworms and others link each creature to the “parasitic” Jews, who must be destroyed.

13. HITLER IN POWER When Hitler became leader of Germany in 1933, he began to persecute German Jews, taking away their freedoms and rights The Nuremberg Laws were passed, which limited the work Jewish lawyers, doctors, and teachers could do in Europe Marriage between Germans and Jews was forbidden

14. Those Germans identified as Jewish by law had to have a letter “J” stamped on their IDs and had to wear the yellow Star of David on their jackets at all times

15. The Nazis described all Jews, Slavs, Turks, Mongols, Gypsies, Africans, homosexuals, prostitutes, beggars, the physically or mentally disabled, or those with certain political or religious views (such as Communists and Jehovah’s Witnesses) as “Untermenschen” (biologically inferior subhumans) RACIAL PURITY Germans were instructed to have nothing to do with “inferior” races Race charts like this educated Germans on who was “pure” and who was “der untermensch” (inferior subhumans)

16. NAZI VIEWPOINT OF THEIR VICTIMS This book contrasts carefully selected pictures of depraved “inferiors” with “beautiful Aryans”. The book warned that inferiors would overrun Europe, giving the Nazis justification for genocide

17. NAZI EUTHANASIA PROGRAM Hitler started a program to euthanize (ending life to stop pain) people with disabilities and deformities The Nazis’ goal was to eliminate “useless eaters”: those who were a drain on German resources This Nazi policy’s purpose was to remove those “unworthy of life”

18. "60,000 marks is what this person with genetic defects costs the community during his lifetime. Fellow German, that's your money, too…"

19. KRISTALLNACHT Taking away Jews’ rights was not enough: the Nazis wanted the Jews removed The Nazis organized violent attacks on Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues to make Jews want to leave Germany The most infamous incident was in November 1938: the “Night of the Broken Glass” (Kristallnacht). This was a major step towards the genocide that would eventually happen

20. NEW TERRITORIES BRING NEW JEWISH VICTIMS When World War II began, Germany conquered countries that were populated by Jews(like Poland) Hitler was determined to also rid these new territories of Jews

21. JEWISH REFUGEES Some Jews in Germany and these new territories tried to leave and live elsewhere; Hitler was in favor of this emigration However, not ALL Jews could or would leave, so Hitler planned another way to deal with them

22. THE NAZIS’ NEW PLAN: ISOLATION GERMAN SOLDIERS ROUND UP JEWS INTO THE WARSAW GHETTO

23. ISOLATION IN THE GHETTOS Hitler ordered all Jews in his territories to be moved to certain cities, then herded into segregated areas These segregated areas of the cities were overcrowded and filthy; they were called ghettos

24. STARVATION IN THE GHETTOS The Nazis sealed off the ghettos with barbed wire and concrete walls The idea was for the trapped Jews to die of starvation and disease in these ghettos

25. CHILDREN DYING OF STARVATION IN THE WARSAW GHETTO

26. SCENES FROM THE GHETTOS

27. ANOTHER NEW PLAN: MOBILE DEATH SQUADS Hitler grew impatient waiting for the Jews to starve to death; he wanted them to die faster The SS (Hitler’s personal guards) sent special units called “Einsatzgruppen” into German-occupied territory The victims of Einsatzgruppen (death squads) were taken into deserted areas, shot, and buried in mass graves These death squads rounded up and killed at least one million Jews

28. HEINRICH HIMMLERCommander of the SS and Executor of the Holocaust

29. EINSATZGRUPPEN DEATH SQUADS A UKRAINIAN JEW IN KIEV TRIES TO SHIELD HER DAUGHTER AS ONE OF THE SS PREPARES TO SHOOT THEM TO DEATH

30. EINSATZGRUPPEN DEATH SQUADS A UKRAINIAN JEW ABOUT TO BE EXECUTED HIS CORPSE WILL JOIN OTHER MURDERED JEWS IN A MASS GRAVE

31. EINSATZGRUPPEN DEATH SQUADS

32. EINSATZGRUPPEN DEATH SQUADS One of the SS executioners takes aim at a wounded survivor during a massacre of Russian-Jewish women

33. EINSATZGRUPPEN DEATH SQUADS THE SS EXPERIMENTED WITH ALTERNATIVES TO SHOOTING PRISONERS. ONE WAS “GAS VANS”, WHICH HAD A SEALED CABINS. JEWS WOULD BE PACKED INTO THE VANS AND KILLED BY CARBON MONOXIDE FUMES PUMPED INTO THE CABINS.

34. THE WANNSEE CONFERENCE Hitler grew impatient again, thinking that the death squads were too inefficient at eliminating the Jews In 1941, a meeting of top Nazis was held in the town of Wannsee, led by SS chief Heinrich Himmler, to decide what to do

35. At the Wannsee Conference, the Nazis decided on a “Final Solution” to their “Jewish problem” A high-ranking Nazi, Reinhart Heydrich, proposed that Jews should be worked to death, a method known as “destruction through work” Those Jews not strong enough for work would be immediately executed in death camps

36. After theConference, several concentration camps (which already had enslaved prisoners) were converted into death camps Death camps were different in that the main purpose was to exterminate people and dispose of their remains Prisoners dying certainly occurred in the concentration camps, but the death camps were DESIGNED to kill on an industrialized scale

37. Why do you think the camps were primarily built here? WHERE WERE THE DEATH CAMPS LOCATED? The work of the Einsatzgruppen

38. WHAT TACTICS DID THE NAZIS USE TO GET THE JEWS TO LEAVE THE GHETTOS AND GO TO DEATH CAMPS? New arrivals at the death camps were given postcards to send to their friends DECEPTION STARVATION The Jews were told that they were going to “resettlement areas” in the East The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were only fed 1000 calories a day TACTICS In some Ghettos, the Jews had to purchase their own train tickets A human being needs 2400 calories a day to maintain their weight TERROR They were told to bring the tools of their trade and pots and pans The SS publicly shot people for smuggling food or for any act of resistance Hungry people are easier to control

39. SS TACTICS: DEHUMANIZATION • The SS guards who murdered the Jews were indoctrinated with Anti-Semitic propaganda; they were trained to think of Jews as less than human • The Jews were transported in cattle cars in terrible conditions (no food, no water, no room to lay down, standing in their own waste; especially sadistic SS men would spray the walls and floor of the cars with chemicals to irritate and burn skin) • Naked, dirty, and half starved people were made to look like animals, which helped to reinforce the Nazi propaganda • The SS used to train the death camp guards by encouraging them to set fire to a pit full of live victims: usually children

40. ENTRANCE TO AUSCHWITZ The worst of these death camps was Auschwitz

41. The front gate of Auschwitz, as well as other death camps, had the words “Arbeit Macht Frei” above it. This translates to “Work Sets You Free”. In reality, any prisoner entering these gates would not be set free; they would be murdered outright or worked to death

42. AUSCHWITZ ORCHESTRA

44. When trains arrived at the camps, the prisoners would be split into two lines Guards and camp doctors selected which line each prisoner went to… RIGHT Life as a slave being slowly worked and starved to death LEFT Immediate death in a gas chamber OR

45. Daily life in a concentration camp was miserable at best • The Jews knew they were there to die a horrible death • There was the daily drudgery of twelve hours of hard labor, disgusting food, and sleepless nights made hideous by screams and the sounds of crematoriums “LIFE” IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP

46. “LIFE” IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP • Rats, lice, and other vermin infested the camps and afflicted the prisoners • The SS and prison guards were scum of the earth: murderers, rapists, and sadists, had run of the camps • These guards would take sick pleasure in torturing, beating, humiliating, and killing their victims (no adult, child, or baby was safe)

47. The SS men and the guards (both men and women) that ran the death camps spared no one, not even the youngest children

48. The ovens conveniently located near the gas chambers THE GAS CHAMBERSAN EXTERIOR VIEW

49. THE GAS CHAMBERSAN INTERIOR VIEW • The Nazis would force large groups of prisoners into small cement rooms and drop canisters of lethal Zyklon B in its crystal form through small holes in the roof • These gas chambers were sometimes disguised as showers or bathing houses The SS would try to pack up to 2000 people into this gas chamber