Chapter 16 - Section 3

							The Holocaust
Objectives:
1.  Explain the reasons behind the Nazis’ persecution of the
    Jews and the problems facing Jewish refugees.
2.  Describe the Nazis’s “final solution” to the Jewish problem
    and the horrors of the Holocaust.
3.  Identify and describe the profound and lasting effects of the
    Holocaust on survivors.
The Persecution Begins
   Holocaust – Systematic murder of 11 million people across Europe
   Jews Targeted
       Long history of anti-Semitism in many European countries
           Hitler blamed Jews for Germany’s economic problems and defeat in World War I
           Nuremburg Laws – Stripped Jews of their German citizenship, jobs, and
            property
   Kristallnacht “Night of Broken Glass”
       November 9-10, 1938
           Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across
            Germany
   A Flood of Jewish Refugees
       Jews fleeing Germany had difficulty finding nations that would accept them
           Depression worsened the problem
                Fear that refugees would take jobs and threaten economic recovery
   The Plight of the St. Louis
       Ocean liner carrying German Jews to America
           Denied entry into the US
                More than half of the passengers were later killed in the Holocaust
Hitler’s “Final Solution”
   The Final Solution
       Hitler’s plan to rid Europe of its Jews by policy of genocide
            Genocide – The deliberate and systematic killing of an entire population
   The Condemned
       Hitler believed that Aryans were a superior people and that the strength and purity of
        this “master race” must be preserved
            Nazis targeted more than just Jews
                  Political Opponents
                  Gypsies
                  Homosexuals
                  Mentally Ill
                  Physically Disabled
       Hitler began implementing his Final Solution in Poland
            Schutzstaffel (SS) – Hitler’s highly trained security squadron
                  Heinrich Himmler – Chief of the SS
   Forced Relocation
       Jews were also ordered into dismal, overcrowded ghettos, segregated Jewish areas in
        certain Polish cities
            Jews were forced to work in factories that supported German industry
Hitler’s Final Solution
   Concentration Camps
       Prisoners were crowded together in wooden barracks
           Starvation
   The Final Stage
       At a meeting in Germany in 1942, Hitler’s top officials decided
        to begin using poison gas to exterminate Jews
   Mass Exterminations
       Each camp had several gas chambers
           Could kill as many as 12,000 people a day
       Auschwitz – The largest of the Nazi death camps
           Weak separated from the strong
               Showers
               Crematoriums
               Josef Mengele
                     Medical Experiments