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Jennifer Starcher
SSE 5115.0001
Artifact Bag Assignment
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The Holocaust
(Artifact Bag Lesson)
Items for Artifact Bag
Star of David Badge
A yellow Star of David badge bearing the German word Jude (Jew). In September 1941, the Nazi
regime, at Goebbels's urgent request, ordered Germany's Jews over the age of 6 to sew on their
clothing a yellow Star of David with the word Jude (Jew) in bold, Hebrew-like letters. The
following year, the measure was introduced in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and
other lands under German control.
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Deportation of Jews
During World War II, the Nazi regime, in attempt to rearrange the ethnic composition of
Eastern Europe, used rail transport as one method to forcibly remove members of certain
ethnic groups, mostly Jews, from their homes and transport them to concentration camps
where they were to either be killed or selected for forced labor. The trains used were both
passenger and freight and were extremely overcrowded. German authorities usually did not
provide the deportees with food or water, even if they had to wait for days until they had
reached their destination. Passengers had to endure extreme temperatures and, aside from a
bucket, there were no bathroom facilities. Due to these horrible conditions, many died before
reaching their destination. Accompanying the trains were armed police guards who were given
orders to shoot anyone who tried to escape.
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Shoes
After arriving at the concentration camps and before being sent to the gas chambers, Nazi
Secret Service (SS or Schultzstaffel) confiscated all belongings. The first taken was money and
other valuables, then clothing and shoes. This mass pile yielded mountains of clothing and
Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek camps together generated almost 300,000 pairs of shoes.
These shoes were then given to German settlers in Poland and among inmates of other camps.
This picture shows shoes collected from prisoners from Majdanek.
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Anne Frank
Anne Frank was one of over the one million Jewish children who died in the Holocaust. When
she was 13, Anne and her family were forced to go into hiding to avoid being separated and
sent to the concentration camps. Her family, along with another Jewish family of four, hid in a
secret attic apartment behind the office of the family-owned business. Throughout her two
years in hiding, before being discovered by the Gestapo (German Secret State Police) and sent
to the concentration camps, Anne kept a diary of her experiences, hopes, and fears. Her diary
was found by Miep Gies, one of the people who helped hide the Frank family, after the family
had been arrested and was published after the end of the war. Anne’s diary has been translated
into many languages, is used in schools throughout the world, and serves as a commemoration
to all of the children who died in the Holocaust.
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Passports
On August 17, 1938, Jews were required to add the name “Israel” if they were male, or “Sara” if
they were female to their names. Also on October 5, 1938, all Jews had a large, red, letter “J,”
for Jude (“Jew”), imprinted on their passports. Both measures were some of the ways to ensure
Jewish segregation.
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Books
In May 1933, Nazi storm troopers and Nazi-affiliated college students burned mounds of books
containing “un-German ideas.” This act was symbolic in demonstrating that the new Nazi
regime would not tolerate literary, artistic, scientific, or political ideas that were different than
their own Anti-Semitic, and nationalist ideas. This action was just another attempt to promote
Aryan culture and the suppression of other forms in effort to purify Germany. Such authors
included on this “blacklist” are Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud,
Jack London, Thomas Mann, Upton Sinclair, H.G. Wells, and many more.
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Pure Aryan Family
Nazi propaganda such as this was used to promote the desired, “pure Aryan family.” In order to
preserve one’s German or Aryan race was to not marry members of other inferior races such as
Jews, Slavs, Roma, and Africans. If intermarriage took place, the pure, German blood would be
diluted, thus weakening the race in struggling against other races for survival. Those of pure,
German bloodlines, were to procreate and help to ensure expansion and survival of the race.
This picture was on the cover of the 1938 calendar published by Neues Volk, the magazine of
the Nazi Party’s Race Political Office.
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Hitler
Throughout the years of 1933-1945, modern techniques of propaganda, depicting strong
images and simple messages, were used in order to help propel Adolf Hitler in political
popularity, as well as, portray him as a military leader, a father figure, and ultimately a
messianic leader brought to redeem Germany. While in power, Hitler and his cabinet created a
dictatorship and as the Fuehrer (leader), Hitler’s personal power was unlimited and believed to
control the destiny of the German nation. Under Nazi regime, Germans were expected to pay
public allegiance to their leader (Hitler) such as giving the Nazi salute and greeting others with
the so-called German greeting, “Heil Hitler;”any noncompliance to the Nazi regime, criticism to
their political leaders, or any of their “laws” were grounds for imprisonment. Under Hitler’s
leadership, the Germans were brainwashed to believe that they were the superior race and
those of the other inferior, “bastard” races were responsible for poisoning the culture and
harmful to the “national health,” thus were second-class status and “subjects” of the state.
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Displaced Persons
After the liberation of concentration camps, more than 250,000 Jewish displaced persons lived
in urban centers and camps in Germany, Italy, and Austria during the years of 1945-1952. These
Holocaust survivors, both Jewish and non-Jewish, began searching for family members who had
survived the concentration camps with the help the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration (UNRRA). Lists of survivors and their whereabouts were broadcasted on public
radio and printed in newspapers. In an attempt to help locate her surviving relatives, this young
girl was photographed holding a plaque with her name written on it, which was then printed in
newspapers in attempt to locate surviving relatives.
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Prisoner Markings
While in the concentration camps, prisoners were required to wear a uniform, such as depicted
in the illustration, were given an identification number, and depending on their group or racial
affiliation, were to wear a specific color patch. The color system was as follows: Yellow: Jew;
Brown: Gypsy; Violet: Jehovah's Witness; Pink: Homosexual; Green: Habitual criminal; Red:
Political prisoner; Black: Asocial; Blue: Emigrant. Some patches also included letters which,
most of the time, signified nationality, such as, "F" for franzosisch (French), "P" for polnisch
(Polish), "T" for tschechisch (Czech), etc. The symbol with the red and white target set those
who tried to escape apart from the others.
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References
Bytwerk, R. (2001). German Propaganda Archive: Nazi Posters: 1933-1945. Retrieved
February 3, 2009 from http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters2.htm.
Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. (2009). Retrieved February 3, 2009 from
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/toc.html.
Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project: "Forget You Not". (n.d.) I Survived the 20th
Century Holocaust. Retrieved February 3, 2009 from http://isurvived.org/TOC-I.html.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2009). Retrieved February 3, 2009 from
http://www.ushmm.org/.