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The Holocaust. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it…”. What was The Holocaust?.
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“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it…”
What was The Holocaust? • The Holocaust refers to a specific event in 20th century history where six million Jews were killed by the Nazi regime and their collaborators as a central act of state during World War II.
How it started • Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party came to power • 1933 – 9 million Jews lived in 21 European countries that would become occupied by Germany during WWII • By 1945 2 out of 3 Jews would be dead
Who was Adolf Hitler? • Served in German army during WWI in the front lines (decorated for bravery) • Became involved in politics and tried to seize power by force (crushed by police 1923) • Served time for high treason and then rose to power legitimately • Hatred of Jews • Worked to rid Germany of Versailles Treaty • Started WWII invaded Poland
Other figures in Nazi Regime • Henrich Himmler – SS leader/Chief of German police – responsible for implementing the Final Solution • Josef Mengele – ruthless/cruel doctor that conducted medical experiments on Jews • Julius Streicher – Earliest/loyal supporter of Hitler, propaganda publisher “The Stormer”
Under the Nazis… • 12, 000, 000 people, half of them Jews were murdered by the Germans because of hatred and the belief they were inferior • These people were killed by: shooting, starvation, disease, gas, torture, and medical experiments
Who was targeted? • Jews • People with mental/physical disabilities • Gypsies • Political/religious (Catholics/Jehovah Witnesses) dissidents, Socialists, Trade Unionists, Homosexuals, Communists
The Holocaust had two main phases • Phase I 1933-1939 • Saw Jews, Gypsies, People with handicaps as serious threat to purity of German “master race” • Hatemongering propaganda – blaming Jews for Germany’s economic depression and defeat in WWI
New Laws enacted against Jews • Forced to quit civil service jobs, boycott Jewish businesses • Stripped of citizenship (Nuremburg Laws) • Segregated – no public school, cinemas, vacation resorts, or even walking in certain German cities • Took over Jewish businesses • Band intermarriages
Kristallnacht 1938“The night of broken glass” • Organized riot of physical destruction of Jewish synagogues, arrest of Jews, destroying of Jewish homes and murders
First Organized Round up… • Began after Kristallnacht of German/Austrian Jews • 30, 000 Jewish men were sent to Dachau and other concentration camps with several 100 Jewish women sent to prison
Phase I – Possibility of fleeing dims • During phase I approx. 1, 500, 000 Jews rounded up and shot • Emphasis changing to extermination camps (murdered in gas chambers), concentration camps (where prisoners worked to death as slave labour) • Jews attempting to flee to other areas (Palestine, Latin America, other European countries) • Others hindered by lack of money, unable to obtain visas/sponsors, or unwilling to uproot selves
Phase II 1939 - 1945 • September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland – the beginning of WWII • Hitler orders mass executions – creation of mobile killing sites – Most famous: Babi Yar where 33, 000 people killed, mostly Jews • Creation of Ghettos – confined spaces for Jews, & labour camps in addition to concentration camps “Night and Fog Decree”
Executions • Jewish men dig own graves before being executed as SS and German labour service look on • Last Jew on edge of grave before execution
Star of David • September 1, 1941 – Jews ordered to wear the yellow star • 6 point star created from two interlocking triangles – each point represents trust in God, his rule over the universe and all six directions (N, S, E, W, & up/down) • All Jews over 10 years of age had to wear the star – it served as a marker, isolation, failing to wear the star meant certain death
The Final Solution • 1942-1944 – Elimination of ghettos as residents deported to concentration/extermination camps • January 1942 – Decision to implement The Final Solution – a formal German state policy to exterminate the Jews • Final Solution was carried out by the SS and the Gestapo
Killing Sites • 1. Belzec • 2. Sobibor • 3. Treblinka • 4. Chelmo • 5. Majdanek • 6. Auschwitz - Birkenau • Sites chosen because close to rail line and rural
Statistics – Killing Sites • Belzec – 600, 000 gassed (May 1942) • Sobibor – 200, 000 (May ’42-Oct.’43) • Treblinka – 750, 000 (July ’42-Nov. ’43) • Auschwitz-Bikenau – mass murder daily routine – 1.25 million killed (9/10 Jews)
“The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved by indifference.” • Main camp gate to Auschwitz • Motto: “Arbeit Macht Frei” meaning “Work Makes us Free” • The Barrack City
Murder Methods • Arrived by rail from across Europe • Men & women separated • Forced to undress and pass over valuables • Sent to gas chambers disguised as shower rooms • Small minority selected for labour (exposed to malnutrition, hard labour, disease, & medical experiments)
Boys imprisoned in Auschwitz look out beyond barbed wire • Approx. 40, 000 Polish children kidnapped and imprisoned for slave labour
Gas Chambers(Last gas chamber used in Auschwitz – October30, 1944) • Zyklon B pellets (Hydrocyanic acid) – vaporizes when exposed to air, intended as insecticide/disinfectant • Found could kill humans through experimentation • Disguised shower rooms as gas chambers (air tight) pellets dropped through air shaft • Bitter almond smell, deprived body of oxygen • Left blue residue still inside intact gas chambers
Stash of gold wedding rings taken from victims at Buchenwald
Clothing from children gassed at AuschwitzBy February ’43 800 boxcars of confiscated goods left Auschwitz
Crematorium ovens in Buchenwald concentration camp • Soldiers view pile of cremated remains outside crematorium in Buchenwald
Starvation and disease due to deplorable conditions in the camps
Famous Photo – Tsvi NussbaumFamous Diary – Anne Frank • Captures essence of the horrors of the Holocaust • Warsaw 1943, a little Jewish boy raises his arms in surrender with lowered eyes as a Nazi soldier trains his machine gun on him • What happened to him? • Anne Frank – hid from Germans, betrayed and died in concentration camp – father published her diary
Resistance • Pockets of resistance existed • White Rose – group of university students opposed to Nazis, leaflets on views, leaders executed • Oskar Schindler – set up business employing Jews, prevented their departure to camps, protection through bribery of Nazis
The end of the war in view… • 1944 War turning in favour of Allies • Germans attempt to cover actions • “Death Marches” bringing Jews into camps within Germany to prevent liberation • 1945 Nazi Germany collapsed
What happened to the Jews after the Holocaust? • Hundreds of thousands homeless seeking a new life • Many wished to return to Palestine (only 10, 000 allowed) • Sought remnants of families/fate of family and friends • Many started new lives in Britain, U.S., France, Israel, etc.
Canada and The Holocaust • Canada’s record of accepting Jewish refugees one of the poorest • 1939 – 1945 – only 5, 000 Jewish immigrants allowed into Canada, compared to the U.S. – 200, 000 or Britain – 195, 000 • Requests previously often denied
Famous QuoteMartin Niemoller 1892 - 1984 • “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I did not speak out; they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out; Then they came for the Jews, but I was not Jewish, so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
