Introduction to The Holocaust

1. Introduction to The Holocaust Steps to Genocide 1933 to 1945 Adapted from teacherweb.com

2. holocaust (noun): Greek word meaning “sacrifice by fire” “holo” = whole “caust” = burnt The Holocaust (proper noun): The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators during WWII. (2/3 of Jewish population – 9 million total in Europe) Including other groups - 11-17 million killed

3. 20 stadiums = 1 million people

4. genocide (noun): The crime of destroying a group of people because of their ethnic, national, racial, or religious identity Greek and Latin roots “geno” = birth/race “cide” = killing Nazi Target Groups: Ethnicities: Jews & Gypsies (Roma), Nationalities: Slavs (Poles & Russians), Germans of African decent “Degenerates”: homosexuals & disabled (Germans too) Political rivals: Communists , Socialists, & Soviet POWs Religions: Jehovah Witnesses & Jews Asocials: Anybody else who opposed the Nazis

5. How did all of this happen? Genocide was NOT the first step! First Reason: Germany lost WWI – felt stabbed in back from own military and lack of popular support, especially in Jewish community. Second Reason: The Nazi rise to power and seizure of Germany. Third Reason: Hitler’s Agenda: Race and Space Race: eliminate all undesirable and inferior individuals – create the “perfect” race. Space: a quest for Lebensraum (living space). Hitler was afraid Germany was losing land, expand territory for more resources and future German dominance.

6. How did all of this happen? Hitler’s ultimate goal: If only we could eliminate Jews, then we can create a new society and radically remake Europe, eventually the world. Hitler’s view of the Jews: Jews were like parasites. They had no real home and they are destructive in nature, so they could never live in harmony with Germans. If we can’t separate them, then we must kill them slowly. Civil death – boycott of goods, state employment, academia Social death – forced migration, ghettos Economic death – pay for clean-up costs, possessions Final Solution – concentration camps and death

7. They came for the Communists, • and I didn't object • - For I wasn't a Communist; • They came for the Socialists, • and I didn't object • - For I wasn't a Socialist; • They came for the labour leaders, • and I didn't object • - For I wasn't a labour leader; • They came for the Jews, • and I didn't object • - For I wasn't a Jew; • Then they came for me • And there was no one left • to object. Martin Niemoller, (1892-1984 ) • German Protestant Pastor, & Nazi Political Prisoner from 1937 to 1945

10. Concentration camp prisoners wearing triangles and inmate numbers.

11. Why Have Camps? • Essential to Nazi’s systematic oppression and eventual mass murder of enemies of Nazi Germany • Slave labor moved them towards their ultimate goal- “annihilation by work” • What was taken from Jews was used to provide goods for the German People

12. Three Steps on the Road to Genocide: • You cannot live among us as Jews. • You cannot live among us. • You cannot live. Burning of Jewish books, including the Torah, 1934

13. Escalation of Hate Institutionalized, government sponsored racism Genocide Discrimination Prejudice Stereotyping

14. You cannot live among us as Jews. Eugenics: Based loosely on early 20th century understanding of the science of genetics, eugenicists believed that people should be bred as farmers breed animals: deliberately weeding out “inferior” traits through genetic selection. The Nazis believed that they could create a “a master race”.

15. You cannot live among us as Jews. Aryan race: The Nazis believed that people of Northern European ancestry – especially those with blue eyes and blonde hair – were superior to all other people, including people of African, Asian, and Middle-Eastern ancestry. In 1933, there were few people of African or Asian ancestry living in Germany. There were, however, 500,000 Jews who seemed to threaten “racial purity”.

16. The Power of Words… “The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one.” “How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.” The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” “ I believe today I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am doing the Lord’s work.” What do all these quotations have in common?

17. All were said by Adolf Hitler…

18. How did they know who was Jewish? • November 1935 German churches begin to collaborate with Nazis by supplying records indicating who is Christian • State of the art data processing was used to take a census in all German territory. Early on the Nazis included questions on religious heritage • The machine allowed Nazi officials to tabulate huge amounts of data very quickly German Hollenith Machine – a subsidiary of IBM

19. You cannot live among us as Jews. In 1934, Nazi scientists developed this kit, which contained 29 samples of human hair. The samples were used by geneticists, anthropologists, and doctors to determine ancestry. Hair color also became a means to prove the supposed superiority of Aryans and the inferiority of Jews, Gypsies, and those of “mixed breeds”.

20. You cannot live among us as Jews. On April 1, 1933, Hitler declared a one-day boycott of Jewish shops Many German citizens voluntarily participated

21. You cannot live among us as Jews. May 1933, Jewish books were burned in public bonfires

22. You cannot live among us as Jews. • “The Nuremberg Laws” turned prejudice & discrimination into systemic racism. • For example: • 1935: Jewish Newspapers could no longer be sold • 1936: Jews lost the right to vote • 1938: Jews had to surrender drivers’ licences & car registrations Below: Aerial view of Nuremberg, Germany, prewar period

23. You cannot live among us as Jews. • The Nuremberg Laws also classified “degrees “ of Jewish blood • One use for this classification was to permit or to deny couples the right to marry (and thus to reproduce) • One proposed “solution” to the Jewish problem was sterilization

24. You cannot live among us as Jews. • By 1938, all Jews were required to carry identification cards • Jewish passports & papers were marked with a “J”

25. You cannot live among us as Jews. Kristallnacht means “Night of Broken Glass”

26. Why didn’t people just leave? • The Immigration Act – the US, Palestine, and other countries limited or closed its doors to Jewish immigrants. • The Great Depression – US was having its own economic troubles. • Many didn’t want to leave family members. • Hard to obtain visas and documentation needed to leave.

27. You cannot live among us. Many Jews attempted to leave Germany. But many nations, including Great Britain, Canada & the United States limited Jewish immigration Left: In 1939, 850 Jewish refugees attempt to enter British-controlled Palestine illegally.

28. You cannot live among us. Ghetto: Evacuating the Jews from Germany, the Nazis created compulsory “Jewish Quarters” in most Polish cities and towns. The ghetto was a section of a city where all Jews from the surrounding areas were forced to reside, surrounded by barbed wire or walls Left: Jewish labourers are forced to build a wall around the Warsaw ghetto

29. Nazi ghettoswere a preliminary step in the annihilation of the Jews. Ghettos became transition areas, used as collection points for deportation to concentration & death camps

30. You cannot live among us. By spring of 1941, conditions inside Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto were hellish: Food was scarce, clothing consisted many of old rags, and medical supplies were virtually non-existent. Child mortality rates skyrocketed Left: Orphan sleeping in Warsaw ghetto, 1941

31. You cannot live among us. In 1941, German Jews were taken into “protective custody” and deported to concentration camps, build in eastern Germany & Poland. Left: Jews being deported from German city of Baden-Baden

32. You cannot live among us. In response to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Nazis destroyed the ghetto and moved the residents farther east “to safety”.

33. You cannot live among us. Jews carried their few remaining possessions to train stations. They were then transported in freight and cattle cars. Not only were there no chairs, but the trains also lacked sanitation, food, water, and air.

34. Concentration Camps • Camps were built on railroad lines for efficient transportation • On arrival, all are given numbers- some have this tattooed on their wrist

35. Major Nazi Camps, Europe 1944

36. Step 3: You Cannot Live Law for the Protection of Hereditary Health • Idea was to improve the quality of the German race • Nazi policy to eliminate those “unworthy of life” (mentally or physically challenged) to promote Aryan “racial integrity” • Policy halted in 1941 due to outcry within Germany Einsatzgruppen • (mobile killing units) had began killing operations aimed at entire Jewish communities in the 1930s. • Thought to have killed as many as 1 million people in six months • Vigorous participation of local police helped facilitate the killing

37. You cannot live Final Solution: The code name for the plan to destroy the Jews of Europe. In December, 1941, Jews were rounded up -- under the excuse of a “resettlement” program -- and sent to death camps in the East.

38. You cannot live. Taking place at the beautiful Wannsee estate, the 1942 conference was attended by fifteen men, eight of whom had advanced university degrees ranging from law to philosophy and theology. Nearly all knew about the deportations and killings already in progress. Ten days after the meeting, on January 30, 1942, Hitler proclaimed that “the results of this war will be the total annihilation of the Jews.”

39. You cannot live. The SS were put in charge of the day-to-day operations of the death camps.

40. You cannot live. Many SS guards claimed after the war that they had just “been following orders.” Rudolf Hoess, Commander at Auschwitz said, “We were all so trained to obey orders without even thinking....” Left: SS guards at Sobibor Death Camp, 1942

41. You cannot live The sign over the entrance to Auschwitz said “Work makes one free.” However, Auschwitz was NOT a labour camp. It was actually the largest of the death camps.

42. You cannot live

43. You cannot live This pile of clothes belonged to prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp Most of it would be resold to German civilians.

44. You cannot live • The Germans deported the Dutch Jews east starting in mid-1942 • Most believed they were going to labour camps • Few believed the death camps even existed.

45. Once selected, you began the process of extermination Your luggage would be left for collection later

46. First you removed your valuables

47. Then you removed your shoes and clothes

48. Eyeglasses Confiscated property from prisoners was kept in storerooms nicknamed “Kanada”. The sheer amount of loot stored there was associated with the riches of Canada

49. Then they removed your hair

50. Finally • Prisoners were sent to gas chambers disguised as showers • Zyklon B gas used to gas people in 3 – 15 minutes • Up to 8000 people were gassed per day at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest death camp with 4 operating gas chambers • Gold fillings from victims teeth were melted down to make gold bars • Prisoners moved dead bodies to massive crematoriums