Bradley Veile Holocaust Museum Fellow Alfred Lerner Fellow veile.brad@lakesidesch

1. Overview of the Holocaust Bradley Veile Holocaust Museum Fellow Alfred Lerner Fellow veile.brad@lakesidesch.org

2. Holocaust Refers to a specific genocidal event in the 20th century history Defined: the state-sponsored systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945 - USHMM

3. Rejected Austrian artist WW I veteran Treaty of Versailles Beer Hall Putchz Leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi) Multi-party system National Elections Nazi party wins plurality of 33% Hindenburg names Hitler chancellor Constitutional freedoms suspended Hitler’ Rise Germany

4. Targeted Groups • Jews • Soviet Prisoners • Sinti and Roma • Handicapped • Jehovah Witnesses • Communists and enemies of the state • Homosexuals and a-socials

5. But won’t there be a negative outcry from world leaders? “Who, after all, speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?” – Adolf Hitler

6. 1933 One day boycott of Jewish shop 1935 Nuremberg Laws Jews lost citizenship Jew/Aryan marriage outlawed 1938 Jews carry ID cards Jewish street names replaced Passports marked with “J” Jews barred from streets on Nazi holidays 1939 Curfew for Jews Jews turn in radios Polish Jews required to wear Star of David All Jews must have a Jewish first name – Sarah or Israel added if necessary SelectedNaziLegislation - 1930s

7. 1940 German Jews into “protective custody’ Income tax to support Nazi party 1941 German Jews wear Star of David Police permission needed to leave residence Friendly relations with Jews prohibited 1942 Turn in all wool and fur clothing Apartments marked as Jewish Not use public transportation Not buy meat, eggs, milk Not have birds, dogs, cats, etc. Blind & deaf not wear identifying armbands in traffic 1943 Jewish criminals sent to extermination camps Selected Nazi Legislation – 1940s

8. Attache von Rathe shot and killed by Grynszpan, a Jew Demonstrations end with Jewish shops destroyed and looted 267 Synagogues burned or desecrated 91 people killed others beaten, 30,000 arrested 1 billion RM fine on Jews Jews pay own repairs FDR recall US Ambassador to Germany KristallnachtNovember 1938

9. Nazi Propaganda The Poisonous Mushroom "The result! A loss of racial pride."

10. Eugenics • Selective breeding – basis for Master Race • Sterilize unfit parents and potential parents • Euthanize “life unworthy of life” • Operation T-4 • Disabled killed • Starve, injections, gassings Cemetery at Hadamar

11. Refugee Issue So who will take in the Jews?

12. Kinder TransportsDecember 1938 – September 1939 • 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children enter Great Britain • Children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia • Most never see parents again • Many were converted to Christianity Children in the Netherlands shortly before evacuation to London

13. Voyage of the St. LouisMay 1939 • Departed Hamburg for Havana - May 15, 1939 • 937 passengers almost all Jewish • 29 allowed into Cuba • Ship forced to leave Cuba • Passengers eventually divided between: England Netherlands France Belgium • Most killed by Nazis Passengers attempt to communicate with friends and relatives in Cuba

14. EvianJuly 1939 • Meeting called by FDR • Resort on Lake Geneva • 32 Countries attend • Discuss Jewish Refugees • No country was willing to accept refugees • Costa Rica and Dominican Republic would accept a small number for a large sum of money postcard of Evian-les-Bains “Green Light Go” – New York Times

15. Nazi Goal: Expansion for “Lebensraum” – Living Space • Rhineland • Austrian Anschluss • Sudetenland • Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact • Invasion of Poland – WW II begins

16. Wannsee Conference January 20, 1942 • Villa in a affluent suburb of Berlin • Meeting lasts less than 90 minutes • 15 officials – 8 have PHD’s • Euphemisms • “Special treatment” • “Bath house” • “Arbeit Macht Frei” • “Final solution” Villa at Wannsee

17. Resettlement to the East • Crowded cattle cars • One suitcase of belongings • People gathered: • volunteers • forced • “actions” • transit centers • ghettos • Destination: • ghettos • camps Train car used in transport - Yad Vashem

18. Ghettos • Ghettos established by decree on Sept. 21, 1939 • Goals • Isolation • Forced labor • Access murder/deportation • Conditions • Life directed by Judenrat • Overcrowded • Unsanitary/disease infested • Starvation rations Warsaw Ghetto Wall Street in Warsaw Ghetto

19. Types of Camps • Concentration • Forced-labor • Transit • Extermination or “Death Camps”

20. Dachauestablished March 22, 1933 Barracks with “beautification project “ – line of trees on the right

21. Mauthausenestablished August 8, 1938 “Stairs of Death” Carrying stones up the “Stairs of Death

22. WesterborkGerman control July 21 , 1942 Train depot inside the camp Camp blueprint

23. Auschwitz-Birkenauestablished May 20, 1940 Zyklon B Label – used for gassings Aerial view of Birkenau

24. Perpetrators • Nazi SS – Schutzstaffel • Death Head’s Unit • Heinrich Himmler • Adolf Eichmann • Joseph Mengele • Einsatzgruppen • Special action group • 3000 troops in 4 units • Goal: make German controlled areas “judenrein” • Heinrich Himmler

25. Einsaztgruppen Execution of a group of Soviet civilians Execution of a Ukrainian Jew

26. Collaborators • Indigenous police forces in France and Netherlands • Hungarian troops/fascists • Slovakian Hlinka Guard • Ustasa – Croatian Nationalists • Anti-Soviet elements in: • Ukraine • Estonia • Latvia • Lithuania Ustasa militia execute prisoners near Jasenovac camp

27. Bystanders • Person who is present, without being involved, at an incident where another life or dignity is in danger • Did people living near camps know what was happening? • What actions could have been taken to stop the Holocaust? • What risks were involved in taking a stand against the Nazis? Two German women file past corpses at newly liberated Buchenwald

28. Victims • “Not all victims were Jews but, all Jews were victims” –Wiesel • 6,000,000 Jews • 3,000,000 Soviet POWs • 3,000,000 Catholic Poles • 700,000 Serbs • 250,000 Sinti & Roma • 70,000 Handicapped • 12,000 Homosexual • 2,500 Jehovah Winesses Each number is anINDIVIDUAL with goals, dreams, and families Mania Halef, age 2 killed at Babi Yar

29. Resistance Opposition to Hitler and Nazi ideology took many different paths which shared a common destination.

30. Partisans • Underground • Oppose Nazis • Many were anti-Semitic • Selective membership • Bielski Brigade • Open Jewish membership • Included all ages and genders • White Rose • Students at University of Munich • Various Political Factions Kalinin Jewish partisan unit (Bielski group)

31. Spiritual • Prayer Groups • Torah Studies • Religious Services • Kosher Tradition • Observance of Holidays • Religious Literature • Maintain the will to live clandestine school in the Kovno ghetto

32. Cultural • Art • Music • Concerts • Cabarets • Operas • Plays • Literature • Schools/Libraries • Language • Yiddish • Hebrew prisoners' orchestra in Buchenwald

33. Hiding • Bunkers • Concerns • Health • Age • Supplies • Secrecy • Assistance • Denouncing • Generosity of Others hiding place for Dutch Jews

34. Passing • Physical appearance • Cultural norms • Language • New residency • Name • Family history • Societal expectations Vladka Meed in Warsaw

35. Righteous Among the Nations Gentiles who risked their own lives to save Jews; honored at Yad Vashem • Raoul Wallenberg • Oskar Schindler • Corrie Ten Boom • Miep Gies • Varian Fry (only American) Raoul Wallenberg Oskar Schindler with Ludmila Pfefferberg-Page

36. Hiding/Destroying Evidence • Distribution of confiscated belongings • Transport stockpiled belongings and valuables • Dismantle camps • Physical destruction of Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoriums Destroyed Crematorium in Birkenau

37. Death Marches • Forced marches to interior of the German Reich • killed for impeding progress • Death toll: 250,000 - 375,000 Starvation Wounded Sick Exposure • Those considered unable to survive the march left behind • Otto Frank in Auschwitz death march from Dachau to Wolfratshausen

38. Now the world knows Russia Majdanek July 23, 1944 Auschwitz January 27, 1945 British Bergen-Belsen April 15, 1945 America Dachau April 29, 1945 Germany Hitler suicide April 30, 1945 America Mauthausen May 5, 1945 VE Day WW II Ends May 8, 1945

39. After the War

40. Displaced persons Those who did not want to be repatriated placed in DP Camps • German Army barracks • POW camps • Concentration Camps • Bergen-Belsen • Dachau • 1957 Last DP Camp closed - located in Belgium vocational training in displaced persons camp

41. Bringing perpetrators to justice Nuremberg defendants Eichmann receives death sentence in Jerusalem Amon Goeth Plaszow camp • International military tribunal Crimes against humanity & peace War crimes Conspiracy 161 convictions • Trials within individual countries

42. Anti-Semitism Common tie between hate groups White supremacist organizations Political ideologies tied to Nazi Philosophy Hate Crimes Establishment of Israel UN acknowledgement of genocidal issues Importance of civil rights and individual freedoms Human Rights Organizations Holocaust Centers and Museums Some Holocaust Legacies

43. Share the lessons so“Never Again”TRULY means“Never Again”