Part 1: Understanding the

Holocaust

Holocaust

n. destruction by fire;

n. the attempted destruction of the Jews by the Nazis during World War II.

Our story begins with the end of World War I...

Our story begins with the end of World War I...

Germany, who was on the losing side, lay in ruins and in poverty.

Two political parties began to emerge...

Communists

Nazis

•Everything owned by govt.

•Germany would be a satellite of Russia.

•Govt. would provide food and jobs for everyone.

BUT

•Germans could remain independent

•Germany could become a world power.

•The war debt would not be paid.

•Loans money to Germany.

•Both communism and Nazism fade for the time being.

•Helps rebuild the country.

However,

in October of 1929,

something happens...

The stock market crashes!

The Great Depression1929-1935

•America’s Depression leads to a European Depression.

Results of the Great Depression:

•America can no longer provide aid to Germany.

•America’s trade with other countries is affected.

•Germany is once again poor and vulnerable to political parties.

Once again the Nazis began to gain power under the leadership of a man by the name of...Adolf Hitler

Hitler...•was born to Klara and Alois Hitler in Austria in 1889 .

•Studied to be an artist

but failed.

•wrote Mein Kampf while in prison serving time for a failed attempt at overtaking the government.

In the pages of Mein Kampf, Hitler tells of his dream of creating the perfect race:•Aryan: blond hair & blue eyes•No imperfections--get rid of:

JewsblacksJehovah’s Witnessesgypsieshandicappedchronically illanti-Nazis

Anti-Semitism(hatred of the Jewish race)

•Was not new to the world

•Was promoted by Hitler and Nazis

•Used Jews as scapegoats for the problems in the world

•Stereotyped Jews

1939

Hitler becomes dictator of Germany and begins to put his plan for a master race into action….

Step One:Discrimination--the act of treating a group of people differently

•All Jews had to register.•Star of David sewn to clothes•No bicycles or telephones

•Boycotting Jewish businesses

•Restrictions on shopping and entertainment

•Taking over Jewish businesses

Step Two:Persecution--the act of doing harm to a group of people

•Public humiliation

•Anti-Jewish riots--Pogroms

•Moved to ghettos

•Shootings

Step Three:Concentration camps--work camps where prisoners were detained and often killed

Step 4:Genocide: the killing off of a race of people

•Gas chambers•Cyanide gas•Too many bodies •Crematory ovens

1939World War II begins

World War II

Allies Axis•United States•Great Britain•France

•Soviet Union

•Germany

•Japan

•Italy

1939-1945

Netherlands invaded by Hitler

1940

United States enters WWII

December 7, 1941Japan

bombs Pearl Harbor