The Holocaust

1. The Holocaust

2. The Beginning • The Nazi rise to power ended democracy in Germany and brought Adolf Hitler into power as the head of the Third Reich, • A Fire in the German Parliament lead to the suspension of the constitution and rights and created a state of emergency which gave Hitler absolute power. • Hitler believed the Aryan race was Superior and it is biologically destined to cover all of Europe with the “Pure”

3. Anti-Semitism • Almost from the Beginning the Nazi party preached a hatred of people they felt were “Racially Inferior” • Particularly the Jewish People of Europe • Blamed them for all the ills of Germany, especially the loss in WWI • Hitler would use all his power to push the systematic elimination of “the Inferiors”.

4. Early Persecution • Urged Germans to Boycott Jewish Owned Businesses • Jews couldn’t get jobs in government, law, medicine, or the stock market • Hitler increased his persecution by creating laws and decrees against them • Over 400 by 1939 • The Nuremberg Laws • Banned Marriage between Jews and Non Jews • Segregated Jews at every level of Society

5. Not Enough • All the laws were just the beginning as Hitler worked towards what he called “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question” • Used everything and everyone to turn the people against the Jewish People • Newspapers • Attacks • The many secret agencies • Practiced “Aryanization” • The process of dismissing the Jewish workers and managers and transferring businesses to non-Jewish Germans.

6. Kristallnacht • Acts of Violence were common in the third Reich • Most serious attack occurred on Nov 9 1938 • Night of the Broken Glass” • After a Jewish Refugee killed a German diplomat in Paris, Nazi officials ordered attacks on Jews in Germany and surrounding land • Secret Police and military members destroyed of 1500 synagogues and 7,500 businesses and killed over 200 Jews • Injured over 600.

7. Refugee Troubles • Between 1933 and 1937 about 129,000 Jews fled Germany and Austria • Including Albert Einstein • More would have left but they often had no where they could go. • Many neighboring countries were not willing to help the refugees • The United states, suffering from the great depression, had barred its doors to many immigrants, particularly Jews

8. The St Louis • In 1939 the Ocean Liner set sail from Germany to Cuba with more than 900 Jewish Refugees on board • Only 22 were allowed to stay in Cuba • US officials refused to accept any of the Refugees • The Ship returned to Germany • Almost 600 of the Refugees on board later died in Nazi Concentration Camps.

9. The Final Solution Begins • Hitler opened the first concentration camp in 1933 • A camp to confine members of a specific group of people. • Starts with the rounding up of any perceived political opponents to the Nazi Party, particularly Jews. • Some of the first included Dachau, Buchenwald, and Ravensbruck for women.

10. Concentration Camps • Not initially for killing, but designed to make the prisoners useful members of the society • Anyone could be imprisoned, but anyone who was considered Inferior was the target • Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, Homosexuals, beggars, Drunks, objectors, disabled, or mentally ill. • Marked with symbol to show why imprisoned • Political prisoners – red triangle • Homosexuals – Pink • Jews – Yellow • And Jehovah Witness - Purple

11. Order inside • Guards operated without consequence of actions. • Could torture or kill without fear of punishment from superiors • would often make prisoners do inhumane actions as punishment • Clean up the dead and mutilated bodies • Clean the latrine pits • Medical Experiments • At Dachau and other camps, Dr’s performed experiments on patients that often lead to painful deaths • Oxygen deprivation • Hypothermia • Effects of High Altitude

12. Death • Starvation and Disease was one of the larger natural threats in the camps • Daily people died of lack of food and diseases • Medical experiments are linked to death of thousands, who died in extreme pain • Over 5,000 mentally or physically disabled Children killed in the camps in medical experiments.

13. Workers • As Germany entered the war years, the number of concentration camps increased • Uses the labor to increase war production • Many camps built near production facilities • Murder was more arbitrary than planned • As war increased the move towards the “final solution” lead to the creation of Death Camps

14. Genocide • The Willful annihilation of a Racial, political, or cultural group. • Decided at the Wannsee Conference in January 1945 • ReinhardHeydrich outlined a plan to exterminate 11,000,000 Jews. • Minutes of meeting didn’t say kill but everyone knew the plan. • Death camps were created to systematically exterminate prisoners.

15. Death Camps • Many systems created at many camps • VernichtungDurchArbeitor Annihilation through Work. • Camp where prisoners were literally worked to death. • Gas Chambers • Built at Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen, Auschwitz I and more. • Murder on Arrival • Many got off the trains only to be lead directly into a gas chamber • Particularly women and Children, strong men were often spared to perform hard labor.

16. Johann Kremer, an SS doctor who oversaw the gassings, testified: the "Shouting and screaming of the victims could be heard through the opening and it was clear that they fought for their lives."[33] If the gas chamber had been crowded, which they typically were, the corpses were found half-squatting, their skin discolored pink with red and green spots, with some found foaming at their mouths, or bleeding from their ears.[32]

17. Auschwitz • The Largest death camp • 4 Gas chambers used carbon monoxide to suffocate prisoners • Shower like facilities sprayed many with the insecticide Zyklon B • Some 6,000 Jews were gassed each day • Total over a million Jews were killed there, as were thousands of POWs • Crematoriums would burn the bodies to hide evidence of the killings • Burned only after the bodies were mutilated or robbed • Wedding rings were gathered as was hair to be used in mattresses • Human fat was used in soap

18. Other Killing Centers • Some camps didn’t have Gassing Chambers • In these camps Nazi Guards shot thousands of prisoners • Burned the bodies or buried them in ditches. • Journals from soldiers reported the findings of mass graves where a row of bodies would be stacked 4 or 5 deep.

19. Death tolls • By 1945 about 6 million European Jews had been Murdered • 5 million others also were killed • 2 million of those were non Jewish Poles • Many more had died from other conditions or later died from the conditions imposed on them. • Life as a survivor was extremely difficult and painful for millions • Many had constant nightmares, or suffered grief or guilt of being the last members of their families • Others went on to build new lives in the US, Israel, or other countries.

20. Liberation • Many didn’t fully understand what was going on in the camps until reports came back as soldiers started to liberate the camps • The soldiers were shocked when they saw the bodies, the warehouses of hair, the ashes, the mutilated corpses, etc. • Many had seen some of the most horrifying sites as a soldier, but nothing prepared them for the sites in the camps.

21. Major Richard Winters • “The memory of the Starved, dazed men, who dropped their eyes and heads when we looked at them through the chain link fence, in the same manner that a beaten, mistreated dog would cringe, leaves feelings that cannot be described and will never be forgotten. The impact of seeing those people behind that fence left me saying, only to myself, ‘now I know why I’m here.”

22. Post war Aide • The reports of the liberation movements lead to an outpouring of support • America opened up for refugees and helped many establish temporary or permanent homes in the States. • The Holocaust also created the demand for an independent Jewish homeland • In 1948 when the Jewish community in Palestine proclaimed the State of Israel, president Truman immediately recognized the new nation and became an ally of Israel.

23. But Could it Have been Prevented? • Could the nations of the Democratic west have intervened earlier? • Early Response was Weak • Opened the immigration policy • Underestimated Hitler's plans. • US took actions when war started • In 1942 the allies issued a statement acknowledging that Jews were being killed in Poland • In 1944 FDR created the War Refugee Board to help rescue Eastern European Jews with the help of the Red Cross • Didn’t save many, • The soviets who were closest, didn’t help much • US and Britain were too focused on fighting than helping • Couldn’t divert bombers to hit railway lines because they were needed elsewhere.