Night

1. Night Mrs. Joanna Pruitt “They fought alone, they suffered alone, they lived alone, but they did not die alone, for something in all of us died with them.” -Wiesel

2. “After America, There is No Place to Go” By: Kitty Werthmann What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books. I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of thevote. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.

3. In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates. Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.

4. The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna, Linz, and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted. We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group-- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria.

5. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler. We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed. After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

6. Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage. Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children: Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools.

7. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, UberAlles," and had physical education. Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail.

8. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had. My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it.

9. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.

10. Equal Rights Hits Home: In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men. Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps.

11. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.

12. Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare: When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

13. Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls: Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna. After Hitler, health carewas socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries. As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income.

14. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing. We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business.

15. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control. We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

16. . "Mercy Killing" Redefined: In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness. As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled.

17. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia. The Final Steps: Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.

18. No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up. Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria ... Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.

19. After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria. Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price.

20. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eyewitness account. It's true...those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity. America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away!” After America , There is No Place to Go"  

21. Opera’s Interview With Elie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEbLJv3uSPY

22. Elie Wiesel is the author of Night, his famous memoir of his terrifying and tragic experiences during the Holocaust. He was 15 years old when he and his family were deported to Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi death camp and symbol of genocide and terror. His mother and younger sister died there, while his two older sisters survived. Wiesel and his father were later transported to Buchenwald, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945.

23. Auschwitz Population of 15,000 Jewish people at the time. Only a handful live in the town today. Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in the town of Sighet, now part of Romania. During World War II, he, with his family and other Jews from the area, were deported to the German concentration and extermination camps, where his parents and little sister perished. Wiesel and his two older sisters survived. Liberated from Buchenwald in 1945 by advancing Allied troops, he was taken to Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne and worked as a journalist.

24. Terms To Know HOLOCAUST refers to the killing of the Jewish people. GENOCIDE is the killing of other peoples and cultures. These two words are NOT interchangeable-the Holocaust only refers to the killing of the Jews during the 1930’s-1945.

25. Adolf Hitler

26. As a Boy Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889. His father was a 52 year old Austrian customs official Alois Hitler and his third wife, a young peasant girl, KlaraPoelzl, both from the backwoods of lower Austria. The young Hitler was a resentful, unhappy child. He was moody, lazy, of unstable temperament. However, Hitler did extremely well at primary school and it appeared he had a bright academic future in front of him. He was also popular with other pupils and was much admired for his leadership qualities. He was also a deeply religious child and for a while considered the possibility of becoming a monk.

27. Hitler was deeply hostile towards his strict, authoritarian father and strongly attached to his indulgent, hard-working mother. During Secondary school, Hitler’s popularity with the other students began to falter, due to his authoritarian attitude. He began acting out in school, and his grades began to drop. He started taking a deep interest in art, which infuriated his father more. When Hitler was thirteen his father died.

28. At the age of fifteen he did so badly in his examinations that he was told he would have to repeat that whole grade again. Hitler hated the idea and managed to persuade his mother to allow him to leave school without a graduating. When he was eighteen Hitler received an inheritance from his father's will. With the money he moved to Vienna where he planned to become an art student. Hitler thought very highly of his artistic abilities, but was shattered when Vienna Art School turned down in application. He also applied to the Vienna School of Architecture but was not admitted because he did not have a high school diploma. Hitler was humiliated by these two rejections and could not bring himself to tell his mother what had happened. Instead he continued to live in Vienna pretending he was an art student. He found himself in trouble many times and wound up in-and out of jail without his mother’s knowledge.

29. In 1907, Hitler’s mother Klara died from Cancer. At the time the only doctor she could afford to go to was a Jewish doctor. Her death affected him far more deeply than the death of his father. He carried her photograph wherever he went and, it is claimed, had it in his hand when he died in 1945.

30. Adolf…The Soldier In 1909 Hitler should have registered for military service. He was unwilling to serve for Austria which he despised, so he dodged the draft. It took four years for the authorities to catch up with him. When he had his medical exam for the Austro-Hungary Army in 1914 he was rejected as being too weak. This caused him to hate Austria, even more. The outbreak of World War I provided Hitler with the opportunity for a fresh start. By being rejected by Austria, it gave him the chance to become involved in proving that Germany was superior to other European countries. Hitler volunteered for the German Army. Hitler liked being in the army. For the first time he was part of a group that was fighting for a common goal. Hitler also liked the excitement of fighting in a war. Although fairly cautious in his actions, he did not mind risking his life and impressed his commanding officers for volunteering for dangerous missions.

31. During the Battle of the Somme in October of 1916, he was wounded in the thigh by a shell that had exploded in the dispatch runners' dugout.Hitler spent almost two months in the Red Cross hospital. Returning to his regiment on March 5th, 1917.On October 15, 1918, he was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack and was hospitalized. While there, Hitler learned of Germany's defeat, and became very depressed and upset. At this time, he decided to build a German Army that could not be taken down.

32. Adolf…The Politician After World War I, Hitler returned to Munich.Having no formal education and career prospects, he tried to remain in the army for as long as possible. After World War I, life was hard in Germany. There was a billion dollar fine for the war (because the Treaty of Versailles indicated that Germany was to blame for the war, so they were fined) and the World told Germany that they could not have an army until they paid that debt.

33. Due to being a decorated soldier, in July 1919, he was appointed intelligence agent of an reconnaissance commando of the Reich Defense, to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate the DAP (National Socialist German Workers Party). • Hitler broke into the DAP party and loved what he saw, so he joined the party! • The Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party believed in the Aryan Race. • ARYAN RACE: refers to a line of decent • The “PERFECT RACE” are people who are round faced, have blonde hair and blue eyes. • They are considered the “Master Race”. • National Socialist (NAZI)

34. In 1921, Hitler became the chairman of the Weimer Republic (Germany’s main Government.) With him he brought the ideas of the DAP. He wanted to bring in a group of men to enforce Hitler’s philosophy of being a bully and trying to take over small neighboring countries. • He called these men “storm troopers”. • He felt he had enough power to invade the small country of Bavaria. • He wanted to start a revolution (rebellion). He wanted to Bavaria to join forces with Germany, so they could build up their army without the world’s approval and their fine paid off.

35. Bavaria

36. Germany fights in Bavaria for two days and LOSES. The revolution is crushed! Knowing that Hitler was behind this, he was arrested and tried for treason and was sentenced to prison for two years. During this time, Hitler wrote a book called Mein Kampf (My Struggle) detailing how he would get rid of the Jews, for they are the reason for the world’s problems.

37. After Hitler’s stint in prison, he was advised to lay low, for he was not allowed to give any public speeches . In 1930 Hitler and the NSDAP became a HUGE force in the German Government. They took up 101 seats. In 1932, Hitler ran against Paul von Hindenburg for the presidency. Hitler came in second in both rounds of the election. Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to appoint Hitler as chancellor in order to promote political balance. Hitler did not like the idea of working with another, for he wanted full control of the government. So because he didn’t have full power, he decided to burn the government building on fire-then blame it on the communists. This is the beginning of Hitler's Reign of Terror-he wanted to suspend all civil rights. On July 14, 1933, Hitler's Nazi Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany

38. In 1934, the President of Germany “mysteriously” dies. Hitler becomes the President. The day before Hindenburg’s death in August 1934, the cabinet had enacted a law abolishing the office of president and combining its powers with those of the chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as head of government, and was formally named as leader and chancellor. As head of state, Hitler became supreme commander of the armed forces. He began to mobilize for war. Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, and Hitler announced a massive expansion of Germany’s armed forces.

39. Hitler made great promises to the people of Germany! During this time, Germany was still in a great recession due to World War I. Hitler promised the people of Germany, who were jobless and starving, that he would be sure to put food on their tables and to make sure they are taken care of. Once Hitler becomes President, he makes everyone call him Fuhrer (leader). His storm troopers become “state police”. If you were caught talking ill of the government you were arrested for treason.

40. Adolf….The Dictator When Adolf became President, he was noted for saying that he was going to rule for 1,000 years. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?? REICH: means an empire rules for a 1,000 years. There are three Reich’s in history: 1st: Charlemagne (768-814) 2nd: Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888-1918) 3rd: Adolf Hitler 1933-1945

41. Adolf’s first plan of action as President was called the ENABLING ACTS: This gave Hitler the power to change laws without anyone’s approval. It also banned the forming of new parties. He conducted a vicious propaganda campaign against its political opponents - the weak Weimar government and the Jews whom the Nazis blamed for Germany's problems. The Nazi regime also included social reform measures. Hitler promoted anti-smoking campaigns across the country. These campaigns stemmed from Hitler’s self-imposed dietary restrictions, which included abstinence from alcohol and meat. At dinners,

42. Hitler sometimes told graphic stories about the slaughter of animals in an effort to shame his fellow diners. He encouraged all Germans to keep their bodies pure of any intoxicating or unclean substance. A main Nazi concept was the notion of racial hygiene. New laws banned marriage between non-Jewish and Jewish Germans, and deprived "non-Aryans" of the benefits of German citizenship. Hitler's early “selective breeding” policies targeted children with physical and developmental disabilities, and later authorized a euthanasia program for disabled adults.

43. Swastika The swastika originally meant “good luck”. It dates back to 3500 BC when someone saw a comet and thought they say what looked like the swastika. Voters in Nepaul put a swastika next to the person they wanted to elect. Farmers in Tibet put a swastika on their doors, so no evil will enter their homes. Navajo Indians drew swastikas in sand while performing a curing rite (healing). Rudyard Kipling put a swastika on the original copy of his books. Was the original symbol of the Boy Scouts. A Swastika is found on an American Bridge in Arizona

44. Holocaust…The Beginning A major tool of the Nazis' propaganda assault was the weekly Nazi newspaper The Attacker. At the bottom of the front page of each issue, in bold letters, the paper proclaimed, "The Jews are our misfortune!" The Attacker also regularly featured cartoons of Jews in which they were caricatured as hooked-nosed and ape­like. The influence of the newspaper was far-reaching: by 1938 about a half million copies were distributed weekly. Security Service of the SS functioned as the Nazis' intelligence service, uncovering enemies and keeping them under surveillance. With this police infrastructure in place, opponents of the Nazis were terrorized, beaten, or sent to one of the concentration camps the Germans built to incarcerate them. Dachau, just outside of Munich, was the first such camp built for political prisoners.

45. By the end of 1934, Hitler was in absolute control of Germany, and his campaign against the Jews in full swing. The Nazis claimed the Jews corrupted pure German culture with their "foreign" and "mongrel" influence. They portrayed the Jews as evil and cowardly, and Germans as hardworking, courageous, and honest. The Jews, the Nazis claimed, who were heavily represented in finance, commerce, the press, literature, theater, and the arts, had weakened Germany's economy and culture. The massive government-supported propaganda machine created a racial anti-Semitism, which was different from the long­standing anti-Semitic tradition of the Christian churches.

46. Jews and “the weak” are isolated from society The Nazis then combined their racial theories with the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin to justify their treatment of the Jews. The Germans, as the strongest and fittest, were destined to rule, while the weak and racially adulterated Jews were doomed to extinction. Hitler began to restrict the Jews with legislation and terror, which entailed burning books written by Jews, removing Jews from their professions and public schools, confiscating their businesses and property and excluding them from public events. The most infamous of the anti-Jewish legislation were the Nuremburg Laws, enacted on September 15,1935. These laws stated: anyone who suffers from an inheritable disease must be sterilized (castrated). Ex. Blindness, deafness, alcoholism

47. Citizens of the Reich (German Empire) could only be of German blood. • If you had a descendant that was Jewish than you, yourself are Jewish

48. Many Jews attempted to flee Germany, and thousands succeeded by immigrating to such countries as Belgium, Czechoslovakia, England, France and Holland. It was much more difficult to get out of Europe. Even if they obtained the necessary documents, they often had to wait months or years before leaving. Many families out of desperation sent their children first.

49. The Jews are confined to Ghettos Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, beginning World War II. Soon after, in 1940, the Nazis began establishing ghettos for the Jews of Poland. More than 10 percent of the Polish population was Jewish, numbering about three million. Jews were forcibly deported from their homes to live in crowded ghettos, isolated from the rest of society. This concentration of the Jewish population later aided the Nazis in their deportation of the Jews to the death camps. The ghettos lacked the necessary food, water, space, and sanitary facilities required by so many people living within their constricted boundaries. Many died of deprivation and starvation. Jews were forced to wear the yellow Star of David on their clothing, so everyone would know they were a Jew.