Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

1. Children in the Holocaust • 1.7 million European Jews under 16 in 1939 • Only 11% survived the Holocaust • 1 ½ million children died • Thereseinstadt ghetto: 15,000 Jewish children passed through • Only 100 survived • Child smugglers of Warsaw ghetto • Could squeeze through cracks in the walls • Child couriers of Minsk who led a total of 10,000 out to partisans in the forests • Some children fought in the war Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

2. Some children in Auschwitz lied about their age and survived, such as Elie Wiesel • Many went to the gas if they were not tall enough to touch the bar set out by the SS • Many children were unborn, aborted by Jewish doctors in the camps because birth would have condemned both child and mother • Twins in Auschwitz collected by Josef Mengele for experiments on increasing the Aryan birthrate Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

3. Polish children (the little boy on the far right was Jewish) deemed “Germanizable”, who were released from Auschwitz to be sent to the Reich Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

4. Children, some of them twins, at the liberation of Auschwitz I Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

5. Hidden children– Anne Frank the most famous • Decision to go into hiding • Often meant separation of family • Some children were saved in this way • Hiding in private homes • If discovered in the East, all involved would die • Punishments were less severe in West Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

6. Cases in which children were exploited • Hiding in institutions • Monasteries, nunneries, orphanages, etc. • Often placed there by rescue networks Jewish children who had been hidden in convents Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

7. Rescue networks • Zegota in Poland saved between 4,000 and 6,000 Jews • Organization led by Catholic laity • Organization to Help Children, France • Similar organizations in other countries Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

8. Hiding in plain sight • Aryan features • Cute, endearing to adults • Could be out, go to school, etc. • Some had to remain invisible Sisters Eva and LianeMünzer in hiding Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

9. Hiding on the run • Obtain false papers • Went from house to house • Transferred by network workers This photograph shows two hidden Jewish children, Beatrix Westheimer and her cousin Henri Hurwitz, with Catholic priest AdelinVaes, on the occasion of Beatrix's First Communion. Ottignies, Belgium, May 1943 Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

10. Hide in forests • Sometimes family camps maintained by the underground • Even some kids hidden in slave-labor camps May 1944: Members of the Bielski Family Camp in the Naliboki Forest Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

11. Reasons for survival • Luck • Adaptability • Looks (Aryan) • Resourcefulness • Assistance from righteous Christians Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

12. Problems and difficulties of hidden children – • Constant fear of discovery • Boy hiding in seminary refused to take showers with other boys for fear they’d see he was circumcised • Only the Father Superior knew he was Jewish • To be constantly vigilant, alert • Could never relax or be comfortable Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

13. Difficulties of confinement • Could never go out or even go to a window • Some children were isolated or alone • They had to develop mental and psychological toughness in order to survive • Forced maturity • Had to “grow up” much too soon • Lost innocence Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

14. Dissimilation • Forced to pretend; be what you weren’t • Identity confusion • Coping with a variety of situations • Incomprehension of what was happening • Survival skills • Keep hope alive Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

15. Nuremberg Trials – Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

16. Oct. ’44: US and Great Britain established UN War Crimes Tribunal in London • Nov., ‘44: with USSR, Big Three issued Moscow Declaration • London Agreement (Aug. ’45): established International Military Tribunal to try Nazi war criminals • 3 major principles to accomplish: • Express moral outrage of the world • Resort to rule of law and punish • Set a precedent of deterrence for future criminals Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

17. Revenge killings after war – • 15,000 Fascists in Italy • That many or more collaborators in France • Churchill urged that war criminals be lined up and shot against a wall... • US major proponent • of IMT Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

18. Accused of 4 crimes: • Crimes against the peace • Planning of or carrying out plots of aggression in violation of international treaties • War crimes (can only be committed during war...) • Violations of customs of war • Murder or ill-treatment of civilians, POW’s • Use of slave labor • Random, wreckless destruction of cities Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

19. Crimes against humanity (before, during, or after the war) • Murder, enslavement, deportation • Persecution on racial or religious lines • Conspiracy • Any cooperator in carrying out the above plans (as long as they were carried out) • 21 major Nazis on trial • Martin Ohrmann, Hitler’s “shadow”, was accused but never tried Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

20. Justice Robert Jackson • US Supreme Court Justice who took leave to become Chief Prosecutor Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

21. Criticisms of the trials – • Trial by the victors • Voiced by conservative Ohio Senator Robert Taft • Trial couldn’t in any way be impartial • Allied war crimes, particularly USSR • US and Great Britain had barred immigration • Terror bombings in Europe • US atomic bombs • “Who did not have dirty hands? -- a matter of degree... Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

22. Ex post facto argument • Crimes were defined after the war! • War crimes are offenses in the laws of many nations • Following orders • Particular problem in a totalitarian state • This defense was countered with the fact that their highest allegiance is to their conscience and higher moral law • No one was executed for failing to carry out orders to kill Jews Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

23. Refusal to entertain ignorance or step-by-step approach • von Ribbentrop: “we didn’t know; we were just following bureaucratic orders” • Like living with a murderer and staying out of the cellar where the bodies are Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was captured while attempting to parachute into England to negotiate his own peace treaty Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

24. Trials were meant to show the world the Nazis’ crimes • 21 were tried • 18 convicted • Of those, 11 were sentenced to death • 3 to life imprisonment • 4 to long prison terms • 3 were acquitted (including von Papen, who helped bring Hitler to power) • Also tried were several Nazi organizations • Gestapo, SS, SD (intelligence arm of SS), and High Leadership of Nazi Party were all termed criminal organizations Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

25. Implications of Nuremberg: • Cut down on revenge killings • Need for international tribunal and laws • Obedience to superior orders is no excuse • Amassed a treasure trove of Nazi war crimes • Dampened Nazi revival through showing their crimes • Contributed to the growth of a democratic Germany Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

26. 1948: Genocide Convention on the rules of war • 1948: Human Rights Declaration • 1968: abolition of statute of limitations for war crimes • 1949, 1979: Geneva Convention on the rules of war • “Without justice, there can be no real peace.” Rafael Lemkin, attorney who coined the modern use of the term “genocide” Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

27. Other trials – • Sept 17-Nov 17, 1945: Bergen-Belsen trials • British tried 45 camp officials • Oct 8-15, 1945: Euthanasia (T-4 Program)trial • US sentenced all defendants to death • Thousands of Nazis escaped through the “Odessa Network” • Established by party officials and industrialists • Most went to South America (Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia) • Jobs were set up for them so they could live a peaceful life Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

28. The trial of Adolf Eichmann – • Head of Section 4b4 of Gestapo • In charge of round-up and deportation of Jews • Regularized arrests, seizures of property, movements of thousands • Used Thereseinstadt as a dummied-up “model camp”, showcased to the Red Cross • Only killed 1 Jew, a boy who had picked fruit from a tree in front of Eichmann’s home in Budapest... Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

29. Spring ’44: arranged deportation of 430,000 Hungarian Jews • Fall ’44: arranged death march out of Hungary • Intercepted Raoul Wallenberg, a man who had saved thousands... • After the war, went to Argentina • Aided by ultra-conservative elements in Vatican • Kidnapped by Israeli Secret Security agents and taken to Israel in May, 1960 Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

30. Portrait of Adolf Eichmann (left) in his SS Death’s Head Uniform, and (above) while in the captivity of the Israeli Secret Service Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

31. April, 1961: trial before District Court in Jerusalem • 1st time Holocaust was systematically laid-out in front of a judicial body • Witnesses from all phases carefully chosen to testify • Huge international media coverage • Increased Holocaust awareness • Young Israelis were forced to revise their ideas of “like sheep to the slaughter” • Nazi deceit, collective responsibility exposed Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

32. Exposed the motivations of the perpetrators • Eichmann exposed as a “desk murderer”, immersed in paperwork, following orders • Charged with crimes against Jews, humanity; war crimes; membership in illegal organizations (SS, SD, Gestapo) • Dec 16, 1961: sentenced to death • Appealed and lost • May 31/June 1, 1962: hanged, cremated • Ashes were scattered in Mediterranean Sea beyond Israeli waters Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

33. Survivors – • Exhibit resiliency, strength, courage • Flexibility, assertiveness, tenacity, street smarts, moral courage • Live with tremendous loss • Relatives, culture, livelihood, children, childhood, etc. • In many cases, could retain some elements of humanity, but live with the memories of the inhumane Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

34. Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

35. Many cannot, or will not, talk about it... • Those who can have the sense that someone is trying to listen, trying to empathize • But can never understand... • “Why’d you survive?” • “I was lucky...” • This is invariably at least part of the answer... Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World

36. Live with guilt about their survival • Why me, and not my (brother, sister, mother, etc.)? • Perpetrators don’t live with this guilt • Often tell of “choiceless choices” • Convinced of the educational value of what they have to impart Unit 10: Perpetrators and Victims in the Post-War World