THE HOLOCAUST
What is Genocide?
• Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in
whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national
group.
• According to the United Nations "any of the following
acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part,
a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or
mental harm to members of the group; deliberately
inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
imposing measures intended to prevent births within the
group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to
another group."
8 Stages of Genocide
• Classification
• Symbolization
• Dehumanization
• Organization
• Polarization
• Identification
• Extermination
• Denial
Other examples of genocide
Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1450-1860 Black War, Australia, 1800’s
The Circassian Genocide, Russia, 1800’s Native American ―Trail of Tears‖, U.S., 1830-
1860
Herero and Namaqua Genocide, Namibia, 1904- Armenian Genocide, Turkey, 1915-1923
1907
Stalin’s regime of terror, USSR, 1924-1953 ―The Rape of Nanking‖, Manchuria, and
(including Ukraine) Xiangyang, Japan, 1937-1945
Serbian Genocide, Croatia, 1941-1945 Partition of India and Pakistan, India, 1947
Mae Zedong rule, China, 1949-1975 East Timor, Indonesia, 1965 and 1975-1993
Kurdish minority, Iraq, 1965-1975 and 1987- Guatemalan Civil War, Guatemala 1968-1996
1992
Burundi Genocide, Burundi, 1972 Muslim Moro people, Philippines, 1972-1976
Khmer Rouge, Cambodia, 1975-1979 Civil War, Angola, 1975-1995 and 1998-2002
Civil War, El Salvador, 1980-1990 Ikhwan citizens (Sunni), Syria, 1982
Bosnian Genocide, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 1992- Burma/Myanmar, 1970’s-current
1995
Bangladesh, 1971 Rwandan Genocide, Rwanda, 1994
Darfur Conflict, Sudan, 2003-present
What is The Holocaust
• The destruction of some 6 million Jews by the
Nazis and their followers in Europe between the
years 1933-1945. Other individuals and groups
were persecuted and suffered grievously during
this period, but only the Jews were marked for
complete and utter extinction. The term
"Holocaust" - literally meaning "a completely
burned sacrifice" - tends to suggest a sacrificial
connotation to what occurred.
Holocaust Vocabulary
1. Allies - The nations fighting Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan during
World War II; primarily the United States, Great Britain, and the
Soviet Union.
2. Aryan Race - "Aryan" was originally applied to people who spoke
any Indo-European language. The Nazis, however, primarily applied
the term to people of Northern European racial background. Their aim
was to avoid what they considered the "worst of the German race" and
to preserve the purity of European blood.
3. Auschwitz - Concentration and extermination camp in upper Silesia,
Poland, 37 miles west of Krakow. Established in 1940 as a
concentration camp, it became an extermination camp in early 1942.
Eventually, it consisted of three sections: Auschwitz I, the main camp;
Auschwitz II (Birkenau), an extermination camp; Auschwitz III
(Monowitz), the I.G. Farben labor camp, also known as Buna. In
addition, Auschwitz had numerous sub-camps.
Holocaust Vocabulary Cont’d
4. Axis - the Axis powers originally included Nazi Germany, Italy, and
Japan who signed a pact in Berlin on September 27, 1940. They
were later joined by Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Slovakia.
5. commandant - a commanding officer of a military organization
6. concentration camps - Immediately upon their assumption of
power on January 30, 1933, the Nazis established concentration
camps for the imprisonment of all "enemies" of their regime: actual
and potential political opponents (e.g. communists, socialists,
monarchists), Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals, and other
"asocials." Beginning in 1938, Jews were targeted for internment
solely because they were Jews. Before then, only Jews who fit one
of the earlier categories were interned in camps. The first three
concentration camps established were Dachau (near Munich),
Buchenwald (near Weimar) and Sachsenhausen (near Berlin).
Holocaust Vocabulary Cont’d
7. Final Solution - The cover name for the plan to destroy the Jews of Europe - the
"Final Solution of the Jewish Question." Beginning in December 1941, Jews were
rounded up and sent to extermination camps in the East. The program was
deceptively disguised as "resettlement in the East."
8. ghetto - The Nazis revived the medieval ghetto in creating their compulsory "Jewish
Quarter" (Wohnbezirk). The ghetto was a section of a city where all Jews from the
surrounding areas were forced to reside. Surrounded by barbed wire or walls, the
ghettos were often sealed so that people were prevented from leaving or entering.
Established mostly in Eastern Europe (e.g. Lodz, Warsaw, Vilna, Riga, Minsk), the
ghettos were characterized by overcrowding, starvation and forced labor. All were
eventually destroyed as the Jews were deported to death camps.
Holocaust Vocabulary Cont’d
• 9. Mein Kampf (My Struggle) - This autobiographical book (My Struggle) by Hitler
was written while he was imprisoned in the Landsberg fortress after the "Beer-Hall
Putsch" in 1923. In this book, Hitler propounds his ideas, beliefs, and plans for the
future of Germany. Everything, including his foreign policy, is permeated by his
"racial ideology." The Germans, belonging to the "superior" Aryan race, have a right to
"living space" (Lebensraum) in the East, which is inhabited by the "inferior" Slavs.
Throughout, he accuses Jews of being the source of all evil.
• 10. Nuremberg Laws - Two anti-Jewish statutes enacted September 1935 during the
Nazi party's national convention in Nuremberg, taking away the Jews' civil rights. The
first, the Reich Citizenship Law, deprived German Jews of their citizenship and all
pertinent, related rights. The second, the Law for the Protection of German Blood and
Honor, outlawed marriages of Jews and non-Jews, forbade Jews from employing
German females of childbearing age, and prohibited Jews from displaying the German
flag. Many additional regulations were attached to the two main statutes, which
provided the basis for removing Jews from all spheres of German political, social, and
economic life. The Nuremberg Laws carefully established definitions of Jewishness
based on bloodlines. Thus, many Germans of mixed ancestry, called "Mischlinge,"
faced antisemitic discrimination if they had a Jewish grandparent.
Holocaust Vocabulary Cont’d
11. Resistance - the "underground" organizations
working to help the Jews against Hitler/Nazi army
12. SS - Abbreviation usually written with two lightning
symbols for Schutzstaffel (Defense Protective Units).
Originally organized as Hitler's personal bodyguard,
the SS was transformed into a giant organization by
Heinrich Himmler. Although various SS units fought
on the battlefield, the organization is best known for
carrying out the destruction of European Jewry.
HOLOCAUST STATISTICS
10,000,000
9,000,000
8,000,000
7,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000 JEWISH
2,000,000 POPULATION
1,000,000
0
KILLED
SURVIVORS
BEFORE
In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over 9 million. By 1945, close to 2
out of every 3 European Jews had been killed as part of the “Final Solution.”
Pre-War
• Jews were living in every country in Europe
before the Nazis came into power in 1933
• Approximately 9 million Jews
• 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
Antisemitism
• Jews have faced prejudice and discrimination
for over 2,000 years.
• Political leaders who used antisemitism as a
tool relied on the ideas of racial science to
portray Jews as a race instead of a religion.
• Nazi teachers began to apply the ―principles‖
of racial science by measuring skull size and
nose length and recording students’ eye color
and hair to determine whether students
belonged the the ―Aryan race.‖
Antisemitism
• FYI: Today, most scholars regard race as a
meaningless scientific concept; human
beings, regardless of their so-called race,
are more genetically alike than different.
Genetic differences within ―races‖ are
greater than those between the races.
Weimar Republic
• After Germany lost World War I, a new
government formed and became the
Weimar Republic.
• Many Germans were upset not only that
they had lost the war but also that they had
to repay (make reparations) to all of the
countries that they had ―damaged‖ in the
war.
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 settlement with the Allies.
Weimar Republic
• The German mark became worth less than the paper it
was printed on—hyperinflation occurred.
• Nearly 6 million Germans were unemployed.
A ten million mark
Reichsbanknote [paper
currency] that was issued
by the German national
bank during the height of
the inflation in 1923.
Totalitarian State
• Totalitarianism is the total control of a country in the
government’s hands
• It subjugates individual rights.
• It demonstrates a policy of aggression.
Totalitarian State
• In a totalitarian state, paranoia and fear dominate.
• The government maintains total control over the
culture.
• The government is capable of indiscriminate
killing.
• During this time in Germany, the Nazis passed
laws which restricted the rights of Jews: including
the Nuremberg Laws.
1934
• Jews are not allowed
to have national health
insurance
• the SS (Schutzstaffel)
is formed
• Hitler becomes Der
Fuherer and receives a
90% approval rating
from the people
Totalitarian State
The Nuremberg Laws
stripped Jews of their
German citizenship.
They were prohibited
from marrying or
having sexual relations
with persons of
―German or related
blood.‖
Totalitarian State
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.
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
Persecution
Nazis targeted other • Gypsies (Sinti and
individuals and groups Roma)
in addition to the • Homosexual men
Jews: • Jehovah’s Witness
• Handicapped Germans
• Poles
• Political dissidents
U.S. and World Response
• Some American congressmen proposed the
Wagner-Rogers Bill, which offered to let
20,000 endangered Jewish refugee children
into the country, but the bill was not
supported in the Senate.
• Antisemitic attitudes played a role in the
failure to help refugees.
U.S. and World Response
The SS St. Louis, carrying refugees with Cuban visas, were
denied admittance both in Cuba and in Florida. After being
turned back to Europe, most of the passengers perished in the
Holocaust.
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
occupied Europe, especially in areas where
there was already a large Jewish population.
Final Solution
• Many ghettos were closed by barbed wire or walls and
were guarded by SS or local police
• Life in the ghettos was hard: food was rationed; several
families often shared a small space; disease spread rapidly;
heating, ventilation, and sanitation were limited.
• Many children were orphaned in the ghettos.
Final Solution
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
Final Solution
• On January 20, 1942, 15 high-ranking Nazi
officials met at the Wannsee Conference to
learn about how the Jewish Question would
be solved.
• The Final Solution was outlined by
Reinhard Heydrich who detailed the plan to
establish death camps with gas chambers.
Final Solution
• Death camps were the means the Nazis used to
achieve the ―final solution.‖
• 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.‖
Final Solution
• 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.
Final Solution
There were many concentration and labor
camps where many people died from
exposure, lack of food, extreme working
conditions, torture, and executions.
Resistance
• Despite the high risk, some individuals
attempted to resist Nazism.
• The ―White Rose‖ movement protested
Nazism, though not Jewish policy, in
Germany.
Resistance
• The White Rose movement was founded in June
1942 by Hans Scholl, 24-year-old medical student,
his 22-year-old sister Sophie, and 24-year-old
Christoph Probst.
• The White Rose stood for purity and innocence in
the face of evil.
• In February 1943, Hans and Sophie were caught
distributing leaflets and were arrested.
• They were executed with Christoph 4 days later.
Resistance
Other famous acts of resistance include:
the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Uprising)
Sobibor escape (Escape from Sobibor)
Sonderkommando blowing up Crematorium
IV at Birkenau (The Grey Zone)
Jewish partisans who escaped to fight in
the forests.
Rescue
• In Denmark 7,220 of
the 8,000 Jews were
saved by ferrying
them to neutral
Sweden.
• The Danes proved that
widespread support for
Jews could save lives.
Rescue
Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg
worked in Hungary
to protect thousands
of Jews by
distributing
protective Swedish
(a neutral country)
passports.
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.
THE SS AT AUSCHWITZ
ORDERED TO TAKE ALL POSSESSIONS FROM
JEWS
TEETH WITH GOLD
PILES OF GLASSES
MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS
• Sterilization of men and women
• endurance of pain to high and low
temperatures and pressure
• experiments on twins to increase number of
multiple births to Aryan women
• injections of phenol to kill patients
• Dr. Mengele attempted to sew children
together to make Siamese twins
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.
Aftermath • The Nuremberg Trials
brought some of those
responsible for the
• atrocities of the war to
justice.
• There were 22 Nazi
criminals tried by the
Allies in the International
Military Tribunal.
• Twelve subsequent trials
followed as well as
national trials throughout
formerly occupied Europe.
Aftermath
• The International Military Tribunal took
place in Nuremberg, Germany in 1945 and
1946.
• 12 prominent Nazis were sentenced to
death.
• Most claimed that they were only following
orders, which was judged to be an invalid
defense.
Aftermath
Why study the
Holocaust?
Former prisoners of the "little camp" in Buchenwald stare out from
the wooden bunks in which they slept three to a "bed." Elie Wiesel is
pictured in the second row of bunks, seventh from the left, next to the
vertical beam.
Camp Totals
1,600,000
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
killed in camp
400,000
200,000
0
Auschwitz
Belzec
Chelmo
Treblinka
Majdanek
Sobibor
STATISTICS BY COUNTRY
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
BEFORE
1,500,000 AFTER
1,000,000
500,000
0
POLAND USSR HUNGARY GERMANY
Jewish population before, Jewish population after
Holocaust