Holocaust Background

Preparation for reading Night by Elie Wiesel.

Essential Questions

1. When was World War II?2. Who was fighting?3. Where did all this take place?4. Who were the Nazis?5. Who was Adolf Hitler? 6. How did Hitler come to power?7. Who were the SS?8. What was the Holocaust?9. What is a Concentration Camp?10. How many people were affected?

General Background

When was World War II?

Who was fighting? Where is Germany

located?

World War II 1939-1945

Allied Powers Great Britain France Soviet Union China USA

Axis Powers Germany Italy Japan

Who were the Nazis?

Nazi is an abbreviation for the National Socialist Party of Germany.

Nazi’s began to get powerful as a political party in the 1930’s.

Led by Adolf Hitler.

Who was Adolf Hitler?

An Austrian born man who became the leader of Germany from 1933-1945.

He committed suicide after the Allied forces invaded Germany in 1945.

How did Hitler come to power?

He used national pride and people’s prejudice against the Jews to manipulate Germans into electing him during a very rough time in the country’s history.

Who were the SS?

SS stands for “Schutzstaffeln” which means “protection squad.”

A government body created in 1925 to protect the Nazi Party and Hitler.

After Nazis seized absolute power, the SS became the most powerful organization in the government.

Controlled the concentration and death camp system.

What was the Holocaust?

The systematic mass slaughter of European Jews and others in Nazi concentration camps in WWII.

Another word for this is genocide: the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

What is a Concentration Camp?

A place, similar to a prison, where millions of Jews were kept by the Nazis during WWII.

In these camps, Jews were often forced to work long hours, used for medical experiments, or killed.

Location of Concentration Camps

Why do you think some are shown in larger type and others in smaller type?

Are all the camps in Germany?

How many people were affected?

How many soldiers were killed in WWII? How many Jews were killed overall?

WWII Death Totals (approximates)

Total estimated human loss of life = 72 million. Civilian total = 47 million, including 20 million

deaths due to war related famine and disease. Military total = 25 million, including 5 million

deaths of prisoners of war in captivity. The Allies lost = 61 million people. The Axis lost = 11 million. Total number of US soldiers killed = 500,000. Total number of Jews killed = 6 million.

10 Historical Core Concepts

1. Pre-WWII

2. Anti-Semitism

3. Weimar Republic

4. Totalitarian State

5. Persecution

6. U.S. and World Response

7. The Final Solution

8. Resistance

9. Rescue

10. Aftermath

1. Pre-WWII

Jews were living in every country in Europe before the Nazis came into power in 1933.

Approximately 9 million Jews in Europe. Poland and the Soviet Union had the largest

populations. Jews could be found in all walks of life: farmers,

factory workers, business people, doctors, teachers, and craftsmen.

2. What is anti-Semitism?

Anti-Semistism is hostility, prejudice, or discrimination against Jewish people or the Jewish religion.

When did Anti-Semitism begin?

It traces back at least as far as 70 A.D. Romans disliked the Jews because they

would not worship the Roman gods. Christians didn’t like Jews either and saw

Judaism as a rival form of the same religion.

Why the Jews?

Jews have faced prejudice and discrimination for over 2,000 years.

Jews were scapegoats for many problems.

Hitler blamed them for everything that was going wrong in Germany.

Why did people believe him?

Accusations against Jews

Stole Christian children Poisoned wells Caused the black plague Engaged in a world wide conspiracy to

destroy Christianity

There is no evidence that the Jews actually did any of this.

Restrictions on Jews in the Middle Ages

Not allowed to own land or farm. Most professions off limits. Not allowed to practice law or medicine. Not allowed to join guilds or hold public office. Barred from manufacturing activities. Prohibited from living in certain parts of town;

Ghettos in all major cities. Since Christians were prohibited from usury

(lending money) Jews took over banking functions.

Between 16th and 18th Centuries

Changes in attitudes for the better. Europe’s economy improved for everyone,

including the Jews. Jews gained full citizenship rights in

western Europe

Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism

As Jews became more successful, old anti-Semitic hatreds resurfaced.

Use of modern “science” for racial theories—helped to legitimize anti-Semitism.

Measured skull size and nose length and recorded eye and hair color to determine whether people belonged the “Aryan race.”

These ideas spread throughout Germany and all of Europe, even in the USA.

Extermination of the Jews

The idea came about before WWI. Not taken seriously by most people. Calls for the genocide or for the removal of

the Jews to a distant land (Madagascar!)

WWI

1914-1919 Germany loses. Had to repay (make reparations) to all of the

countries that they had “damaged” in the war.

Nearly 6 million Germans were unemployed. German economy suffers and enters a

depression.

3. Weimar Republic

After Germany lost World War I, a new government formed and became known as the Weimar Republic.

Weimar Republic

The total bill that the Germans had to “pay” was equivalent to nearly $70 billion.

The German army was limited in size. Extremists blamed Jews for Germany’s

defeat in WWI and blamed the German Foreign Minister (a Jew) for his role in reaching a costly settlement with the Allies.

Weimar Republic

The German mark became worth less than the paper it was printed on—hyperinflation occurred.

A loaf of bread could cost 1 million marks.

A ten million mark that was issued by the German national bank during the height of the inflation in 1923.

Bad Economic Times Good for the Nazis

WWI reparations 1929 US stock market crash Economic depression in Germany In 1930 the Nazis gain ground in elections With bad economic times came good

times for the Nazis. Why?

Nazi Propaganda Postersbefore Hitler came into Power

What is propaganda?

A form of communication to large groups of people for the purpose of manipulating their thoughts.

Joseph Goebbels giving a speech

Goebbels was the Minister of Propaganda.

He made sure that the German people only got one side of Nazi ideology.

“Work and Bread”

What is this poster saying?

What was the situation in Germany like at this time?

“Our last hope: Hitler”

Why do you think it would claim that Hitler is “our last hope”?

This is the kind of message he used to gain power.

“We have had enough! Elect Hitler”

What do you think the man represents?

Why would the idea of breaking free of enslavement speak to the German people at that time?

“The year is over. The struggle continues.”

Who do you think is represented by each of these characters?

“The worm”

“Where something is rotten, the Jew is the cause.”

The worm is named “Jewish scandals”

The apple is named “the German economy”

Hitler came to power in 1933

He quickly consolidated power, although: He had no powerful connections. He never even graduated from high school.

People in powerful positions both in Germany and internationally underestimated him.

How did he do it?

4. Totalitarian State

Totalitarianism is the total control of a country in the government’s hands.

This is the kind of government Hitler set up.

In a Totalitarian State:

Paranoia and fear dominate. Individual have no rights. The government maintains total control over the

culture and media. The government is capable of severe

aggression, torture, and killing. During this time in Germany, the Nazis passed

laws which restricted the rights of Jews, including the Nuremberg Laws.

Nuremberg Laws 1935

The Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship. They were prohibited from marrying with persons of “German or related blood.”

Nuremberg Laws

Jews, like all other German citizens, were required to carry identity cards, but their cards were stamped with a red “J.” This allowed police to easily identify them.

5. Persecution

The Nazi plan for dealing with the “Jewish

Question” evolved in three steps:

1. Expulsion: Get them out of Germany

2. Containment: Put them all together in one place – namely ghettos.

3. “Final Solution”: annihilation (mass killing) – started in the fall of 1941

Persecution

Nazis targeted other individuals and groups in addition to the Jews:

Gypsies Homosexual men Jehovah’s Witness Handicapped Germans Polish people Political dissidents

Nazi ideal of beauty

Very important because it prepared the way for the Holocaust.

The death camps became the instruments to “beautify” the world.

The authorization of government, science, and medical authority made things appear legitimate.

Lead up to the Holocaust

An idea came about that for the German people to be healthy and beautiful, they had to be pure (i.e. no racial mixing).

People who were not German, not pure, and hence “not beautiful,” were associated with degenerate, sick and evil.

Killing became a form of “cleansing” for the German people.

First “cleansing” was euthanasia.

In the 1930’s they began to kill the mentally and physically handicapped.

This was hidden from the public, and the deception made easier by the confusion caused by the WWII (begins in 1939).

First Concentration Camp

Dachau concentration camp set up on March 20th, 1933.

First inmates included communists, socialists, homosexuals and Jews.

Ultimate “cleansing”—Holocaust

WWII began when Germany invaded Poland in 1939.

Now the Nazis had 3 million Jews in Poland to deal with.

They applied what they had learned from their “euthanasia” program to the “problem” in Poland.

Unforeseen Danger for the Jews

Jews, especially those living outside of Germany, did not see the danger coming.

They thought the Nazis were a passing phase to deal with and to survive.

After the war began, it was difficult for anyone to emigrate (move to another country).

Jews were ordered to wear the Star of David in November 1939 so they

could be easily identified.

The Holocaust spread all over Europe

As the Nazis occupy different countries, the persecution and deportation of Jews and other “undesirable” groups spreads.

Nazi Propaganda Posters after Hitler comes into Power

“One people, one empire, one leader”

This copies an old poster for another German politician of the past—Otto von Bismarck.

“Germany is free!”

What irony can we find in this message today?

The youth serves the Fuhrer

The poster encourages all ten year olds to join the Hitler youth.

Why is that important to the Nazis?

6. U.S. and World Response

Many Jewish people tried to leave Germany and Austria.

32 countries met to discuss what to do about the Jewish refugees.

Although sympathetic, most countries made excuses for not accepting more refugees.

7. Final Solution

The Nazis aimed to control the Jewish population by forcing them to live in areas that were designated for Jews only, called ghettos.

Ghettos were established across all of German occupied Europe, especially in areas where there was already a large Jewish population.

Ghettos Many ghettos were closed by barbed wire or walls and were

guarded by SS or local police. Jews sometimes had to use bridges to go over Aryan streets

that ran through the ghetto.

Life in the Ghettos

Food was rationed. Several families often shared a small

space. Disease spread rapidly. Heating, ventilation, and sanitation were

limited. Many children were orphaned.

Killing Squads

Einsatzgruppen were mobile killing squads made up of Nazi (SS) units and police. They killed Jews in mass shooting actions throughout eastern Poland and the western Soviet Union.

Concentration Camps

There were many concentration and labor camps where many people died from exposure, lack of food, extreme working conditions, torture, and executions.

Death Camps

In 1942, high-ranking Nazi officials met and devised a plan to establish death camps with gas chambers.

There were six death camps: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor, Majdanek, and Belzec.

Each used gas chambers to murder the Jews. At Auschwitz prisoners were told the gas chambers were “showers.”

Gas Chambers

Most of the gas chambers used carbon monoxide from diesel engines.

In Auschwitz and Majdanek “Zyklon B” pellets, which were a highly poisonous insecticide, supplied the gas.

After the gassings, prisoners removed hair, gold teeth and fillings from the Jews before the bodies were burned in the crematoria or buried in mass graves.

Nazi Propaganda goes mainstream

More propaganda

Begins to appear in all sorts of places. Its purpose was to project powerful

images of internal and external foes. This helped to maintain the illusion of

national unity. Helped to keep the people committed to

the war effort.

“Devil’s plan”

What do you think is represented in this poster?

“The Jew: War instigator and war lengthener”

How can you tell what this poster is trying to convey?

Propaganda for Children

This is a children’s book called The Poison Mushroom.

What does this picture imply?

8. Resistance Despite the high risk, some individuals

attempted to resist Nazism. The “White Rose” movement protested Nazism,

though not Jewish policy, in Germany.

9. Rescue

Less than 1% of non-Jewish Europeans helped any Jew in some form of rescue.

Countries like Denmark and Bulgaria had some national resistance movements against the Nazi’s attempt to deport their Jews.

The U.S. War Refugee Board worked to rescue Jews from Nazi-occupied territories.

10. Aftermath

Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate camp prisoners on July 23, 1944, at Maidanek in Poland.

British, Canadian, American, and French troops also liberated camp prisoners.

Troops were shocked at what they saw.

Aftermath

Most prisoners were emaciated to the point of being skeletal.

Many camps had dead bodies lying in piles “like cordwood.”

Many prisoners died even after liberation.

Aftermath

Many of the camp prisoners had nowhere to go, so they became “displaced persons” (DPs).

These survivors stayed in DP camps in Germany, which were organized and run by the Allies.

Initially, the conditions were often very poor in the DP camps.

Aftermath

Jewish displaced persons, eager to leave Europe, pushed for the founding of a Jewish state in British-controlled Palestine.

U.S. President Harry Truman issued an executive order allowing Jewish refugees to enter the United States without normal immigration restrictions.

Nuremberg Trials 1945-1946

An International Military Tribunal called the Nuremberg Trials brought some of those responsible for the atrocities of the war to justice.

Nuremberg Trials

There were 22 Nazi criminals tried by the Allies in the International Military Tribunal.

12 subsequent trials followed as well as national trials throughout formerly occupied Europe.

12 prominent Nazis were sentenced to death. Most claimed that they were only following

orders, which was judged to be an invalid defense.

Why did the Germans accept the Nazis ideas?

Because…

It was a time of crisis. The party propaganda gave them easy answers

to the problems and turmoil they saw around them.

People needed someone to blame. Eventually this propaganda made it easier for

the Nazis to implement the Holocaust. “We had the moral right to annihilate the people

who wanted to annihilate us.”

Lessons for us

We are influenced by what we see in the media This is why advertising works and billions of dollars

are spent on it. We need to critically examine message we

receive (from government, companies, and individuals) before accepting them as “the truth.”

Avoid getting caught up in a “bandwagon effect” and just going along with the crowd.

Former prisoners of Buchenwald stare out from the wooden bunks in which they slept three to a "bed." Elie Wiesel’s picture is circled.

Elie WieselAuthor of Night

Why study the Holocaust?

Could another Holocaust happen?

History Repeats Itself

Slavery & KKK American Indians & Reservation System Japanese American Internment Camps “Separate but equal” treatment for blacks Kosovo (Yugoslavia) Darfur, Sudan U.S. immigration problems Terrorism and wars in the Middle East

Elie Wiesel says…

Never forget, speak out. To give in to the silence is to give in to

cynicism and to allow the very forces that caused the Holocaust the opportunity to gain the upper hand once again.

Photo CreditsSlide 4-5: #22718

Date: 1930 - 1939 Locale: Sighet, [Transylvania; Baia-Mare] Romania Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Mitchell Eisen Copyright: USHMM – used with permission

Slide 13: #97471 Date: Sep 15, 1923 Locale: Berlin, [Berlin] Germany; Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Margaret Chelnick Copyright: USHMM – used with permission

Slide 16:NARA, College Park, Md.

Slide 17: #25784Date: Apr 3, 1939 Locale: Stettin, [Pomerania] Germany; Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Walter Jacobsberg Copyright: USHMM – used with permission

Slide 18:#40000Date: 1938 Locale: Germany Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Lawerence E. Gichner Copyright: USHMM – used with permission

Slide 21:#86838Date: Nov 10, 1938 Locale: Berlin, [Berlin] GermanyCredit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 24:#11291Date: Jun 3, 1939 Locale: Havana, Cuba Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 26: #30082Date: 1941 Locale: Lodz, [Lodz] Poland Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Zydowski Instytut Historyczny Instytut Naukowo-Badawczy Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 28: #19124Date: Dec 15, 1941 Locale: Liepaja, [Kurzeme] Latvia; Photographer: Carl Strott Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen (Bundesarchiv- A Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 32:#45460Date: After Apr 27, 1945 Locale: Sachsenhausen, [Brandenburg] Germany Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Gedenkstatte und Museum Sachsenhausen Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 33: #26559Date: Apr 19, 1943 - May 16, 1943 Locale: Warsaw, Poland; Varshava; Warschau Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 37: #62191Date: 1943 Locale: Sweden Credit: USHMM, courtesy of Frihedsmuseet Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 39: Copyright USHMM – used with permission

Slide 41: #74607Date: Apr 16, 1945 Locale: Buchenwald, [Thuringia] Germany Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 44: #61330Date: Nov 20, 1945 - Oct 1, 1946 Locale: Nuremberg, [Bavaria] Germany Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College Park Copyright: Public Domain

Slide 46: #74607Date: Apr 16, 1945 Locale: Buchenwald, [Thuringia] Germany Credit: USHMM, courtesy of NARA, College ParkCopyright: Public Domain