“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.”

The Holocaust: a great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire; any mass slaughter or

reckless destruction of life

“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.” - a survivor

1933-1945Historical Context of The HolocaustHistorical Context of The Holocaust

Judaism•Dates back nearly 4,000 years

•Shares many ideas with Christianity and Islam – all originated in the Middle East.

•Sacred texts of all 3 overlap. For example, the Hebrew Bible is what Christians call the Old Testament. Many of the Bible stories also appear in the Islamic sacred text, the

Qur’an.

1933-1945

Who was Hitler?

As a young man he had a crush on a Jewish girl, and her father forbid the relationship because he did not think Hitler was good enough for his daughter.

Part of his antisemitism in this case is psychological, news of the war's end and Germany's loss came to Hitler when he was half blind in Pasewalk hospital, which would have increased the blow.  Ludendorff's stab in the back theory (the belief that the Jews were responsible for the end of the war) had a big impact on Hitler (what soldier wouldn't be influenced by his top commander?) The Jewish involvement in the communist uprisings and the later hated Weimar Republic would have cemented this in Hitler's mind.

And for a guy who was pretty much a homeless failure before the war, a hero during it, and probably would return to the homeless failure afterwards unless he did something, Hitler would have been looking for someone to blame.

Germany was in an economic depression (enormous debt following WWI – had been forced to borrow to pay reparations to the victorious European powers, as demanded by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919) and existing prejudices and blame were already held by some people aimed toward Jews, some of whom held wealth through banking, owning property, etc. for the depression. So Hitler was able to use those as a convenient political vehicle to get support from Germans for his political power. The Jewish people of Germany were a political scapegoat for Germany's problems.

As a uprisings and the later hated Weimar Republic would have cemented this in Hitler's mind.

And for a guy who was pretty much a homeless failure before the war, a hero during it, and probably would return to the homeless failure afterwards unless he did something, Hitler would have been looking for someone to blame.

Germany was in an economic depression (enormous debt following WWI – had been forced to borrow to pay reparations to the victorious European powers, as demanded by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919) and existing prejudices and blame were already held by some people aimed toward Jews, some of whom held wealth through banking, owning property, etc. for the depression. So Hitler was able to use those as a convenient political vehicle to get support from Germans for his political power. The Jewish people of Germany were a political scapegoat for Germany's problems.

And for a guy who was pretty much a homeless failure before the war, a hero during it, and probably would return to the homeless failure afterwards unless he did something, Hitler would have been looking for someone to blame.

Germany was in an economic depression (enormous debt following WWI – had been forced to borrow to pay reparations to the victorious European powers, as demanded by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Existing prejudices and blame were already held by some people aimed toward Jews, some of whom held wealth through banking and ownership of property.

The Role of Propaganda

Salarino: Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his

flesh? What’s that good for?

Shylock: To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

Why did the Nazis Come to Power in Germany?

Nazis Come to Power in Germany?

• Hitler’s charisma and leadership seduced the masses• Germany was resentful about the Treaty of

Versailles(signed at end of WW1, in 1919, and ended state of war between Allied Powers and Germany) and its perceived attempt at emasculating the German people.

• Nazism was the logical outgrowth of a history of authoritarianism and militarism in Germany. Nazis represented the anti-democratic values in German history

• 2000 year old tradition of anti-semitism• Germany’s declining economy, inflation and depression• Revolt against the Englightenment Movement of the 19th

Century – individualism, mass rule, mankind can change its own nature.

NazisNazis Advocated:•Community•Unity•The Fuhrer•Order/discipline – opposed to Democracy•Aryan race•Physical labor•War•Patriotism/Nationalism•Social Darwinism•Force/violence•Eugenics - Improving genetic composition of a group of people

Nazis opposed:•Democracy•Individual freedom•Jews•Internationalism•Birth control•Integration of races

Spreading Nazism

•Complete control of the mass media•Frequent fanatical speeches spreading

Nazism and Antisemitism•Standard symbols, like swastika, Nazi

flag, uniforms, armbands•Nazi slogans on banners/posters•Organization of the Hitler Youth

•Well organized spy system to identify enemies of the Party

1933-1945Karl Lueger (1844-1907)

Mayor of Vienna

Karl Lueger (1844-1907)

Mayor of Vienna

“If Dr. Karl Lueger had lived in Germany, he would have been ranked among the great minds of our people.”

-Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf

1933-1945Also known as the Munich Putsch - a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November

and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Hitler, Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund (a league of patriotic fighting societies) unsuccessfully tried to

seize power in Munich, Bavaria, and Germany in Nov. 9, 1923

Also known as the Munich Putsch - a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November

and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Hitler, Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund (a league of patriotic fighting societies) unsuccessfully tried to

seize power in Munich, Bavaria, and Germany in Nov. 9, 1923

Beer Hall Putsch

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF

• “Mein Kampf” means “My Struggle;” Hitler wrote it while in prison in the 1920’s

• Still banned in most European countries• Given to every newly married German couple

from the late 1930’s onward

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFHitler’s MEIN KAMPF

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF

• “The relation of the Jews to prostitution and, even more, to the white-slave traffic, could be studied in Vienna…When thus for the first time I recognized the Jew as the cold-hearted, shameless, and calculating director of this revolting vice traffic in the scum of the big city, a cold shudder ran down my back.” (p. 59)

• “Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.” (p. 65)

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFHitler’s MEIN KAMPF

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF

“On this first and greatest lie, that the Jews are not a race, but a religion, more and more lies are based in necessary consequence.” (p. 307)

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFHitler’s MEIN KAMPF

Elections

• Hindenburg 49.6 percentHitler 30.1 percentHindenburg 49.6 percentHitler 30.1 percentThaelmann 13.2 percentDuesterberg 6.8 percen

1933-19451933

Hitler becomes Chancellor

1933Hitler becomes

Chancellor

1933-1945

1933-19451933-1945

1933-1945May 10, 1934

Book BurningsMay 10, 1934

Book Burnings

1933-1945

Night of the Long KnivesJune 30-July 2, 1934

3 nights of political murders

Night of the Long KnivesJune 30-July 2, 1934

3 nights of political murders

"If anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of justice, then all I can say is this: In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the German people."

"It was no secret that this time the revolution would have to be bloody; when we spoke of it we called it 'The Night of the Long Knives.' Everyone must know for all future time that if he raises his hand to strike the State, then certain death is his lot."

1933-1945March 1933Dachau (Da kau)

Concentration Camp

March 1933Dachau (Da kau)

Concentration Camp

1933-1945Sept. 10, 1935

Nuremberg LawsSept. 10, 1935

Nuremberg Laws

The as "German Way to Define Who was a Jew4 German granparents – Kindred BloodDescended from 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents – JewishDescended from 1 or 2 Jewish grandparents – Mixed bloodMixed blood who were Christians – retained their German citizenship

Banned sexual intercourse between a German and JewBanned involvement in German civic lifeProhibited marriage between a German and JewDeprived Jews of German citizenshipBoycott of Jewish businessesBarred from employment, from use of state hospitals, parks, libraries, beaches, schools (past age of 14)War Memorials were to have Jewish names expungedPassports were stamped with a “J,” as Jews could leave Germany, but not return.Jews who didn’t have a Jewish first name had to adopt a Jewish middle name: Sara for women/Israel for men

between people defined as "Jews" and non-Jewish Germans and prevented "Jews" from participating in German civic life.

1933-1945July 1938Evian Conference

Jews met with Britain and U.S. to discuss the situation in Germany, only to leave disheartened as neither country was

willing to take in Jews.

July 1938Evian Conference

Jews met with Britain and U.S. to discuss the situation in Germany, only to leave disheartened as neither country was

willing to take in Jews.

1933-1945October 1938Deportations

Begin

October 1938Deportations

Begin

1933-1945November 7, 1938Assassination of Ernst Vom Rath

Triggered Kristallnacht

November 7, 1938Assassination of Ernst Vom Rath

Triggered Kristallnacht

'Being a Jew is not a crime. I am not a dog. I have a right to live and the Jewish people have a right to exist on this earth. Wherever I have been I have been chased like an animal.'9

--Herchel Grynszpan

1933-1945November 9, 1938

KristallnachtNovember 9, 1938

Kristallnacht

1933-1945

May 1939S.S. St. Louis

May 1939S.S. St. Louis

1933-1945

Sept. 1, 1939WWII BeginsSept. 1, 1939WWII Begins

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF

• “The sole goal of this schooling is to teach them simple arithmetic, nothing above the number 500; writing one’s name; and the doctrine that it is divine law to obey the Germans…I do not think that reading is desirable.”

• --May 1940

Heinrich Himmler on Polish EducationHeinrich Himmler on Polish Education

1933-1945

1940Euthanasia Program

1940Euthanasia Program

Adolf Hitler's authorization for the Euthanasia Program (Operation T4), signed in October 1939 but dated September 1, 1939.__________National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.

This photo originates from a film produced by the Reich Propaganda Ministry. It shows two doctors in a ward in an unidentified asylum. The existence of the patients in the ward is described as "life only as a burden." Such propaganda images were intended to develop public sympathy for the Euthanasia Program.__________United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Slide taken from a Nazi propaganda filmstrip, promoting "euthanasia," prepared for the Hitler Youth. The caption says: "Mentally ill Negro (English) 16 years in an institution costing 35,000 RM [Reichsmarks]." __________United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF

“The construction of a lunatic asylum costs 6 million marks. How many houses at 15,000 marks each could have been built for that amount?”

German Education: Math ProblemsGerman Education: Math Problems

Buses used to transport patients to Hadamar euthanasia center. The windows were painted to prevent people from seeing those inside. Germany, between May and September 1941.__________Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden

1933-1945Summer 1941Killing Squads

“Einsatzgruppen”

Summer 1941Killing Squads

“Einsatzgruppen”

PPogroms: Organized massacre of helpless people

1933-1945

December 7, 1941Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941Pearl Harbor

1933-1945January 20, 1942Wannsee

ConferenceFinal Solution to the Jewish

question

January 20, 1942Wannsee

ConferenceFinal Solution to the Jewish

question

Reinhard Heydrich, chief of SD (Security) Service

1933-1945Summer 1942

Deportations to camps begin

Summer 1942Deportations to

camps begin

1933-1945

1942-1945Camp Life… and Death

1942-1945Camp Life… and Death

1933-1945

April-October 1943 Rebellion

April-October 1943 Rebellion

Treblinka under attack Train tracks leading into Sobibor

Warsaw ghetto uprising

White Rose Movement: Most famous youth resistance movementStudents from Munich University secretly passed out anti-Nazi leaflets – were eventually caught and beheaded.

1933-1945

Death MarchesDeath Marches

1933-1945

1945: Liberation1945: Liberation

1933-1945October 18, 1945-October 1, 1946

Nuremberg Trials

October 18, 1945-October 1, 1946

Nuremberg Trials

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF

Guilty: 12- sentenced to death; 3- life imprisonment; four- 10-20 years in prison

Innocent: 3 were acquitted

Nuremberg Trial ConvictionsNuremberg Trial Convictions

1933-1945November 13-

December 14, 1945Dachau Trials

November 13-December 14, 1945

Dachau Trials

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF

Guilty: 40 Nazi war criminals found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging

Innocent: none

Dachau Trial ConvictionsDachau Trial Convictions

1933-1945

Israel: A New StateIsrael: A New State

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF

5, 900, 000

Number of Jews Murdered:Number of Jews Murdered:

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFNumber of Gypsies Murdered:Number of Gypsies Murdered:

220, 000

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFNumber of Handicapped Murdered:Number of Handicapped Murdered:

200,000

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFNumber of Polish People Murdered:Number of Polish People Murdered:

1,900,000

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFNumber of Soviet Prisoners of War Murdered:Number of Soviet Prisoners of War Murdered:

3, 300, 000

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFNumber of Homosexuals Murdered:Number of Homosexuals Murdered:

15,000 (estimate only)

Hitler’s MEIN KAMPFNumber of Jehovah’s Witnesses Murdered:Number of Jehovah’s Witnesses Murdered:

1,800

1933-1945“Only guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the

things your eyes saw, and lest these things depart your heart all the days of your life, and you shall make them known to your children, and to your

children’s children.”Deuteronomy 4:9

“Only guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw, and lest these things depart your heart all the days of

your life, and you shall make them known to your children, and to your children’s children.”

Deuteronomy 4:9

eElie Weisel’s Night

•Setting: Sighet – Northwestern Romania (located in Southeastern Europe)

Home to 15,000 JewsHasidic Jews (a branch of Orthodox Judaism)

LLife in Sighet•Poor people whose lives focused on family, religion, and learning•Young Weisel spent evenings and weekends studying sacred texts, such as the Torah and Talmud•At age 12, Weisel began to explore Cabbala or Jewish mysticism – an approach to Bible study that analyzes hidden meanings in the text.