Objectives

Content: Label the major events of the Holocaust on a timeline.

Learning: List the causes of the Holocaust and explain what ended it.

Holocaust

In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany.

Nuremberg Laws were passed barring Jews from holding many jobs. The Nazis encouraged boycotts of Jewish owned shops and businesses.

Nazi boycott signs: “Germans defend yourself against Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy only at German shops.”

Concentration camps opened to concentrate those against the government

The Nazis began burning books written by Jews.

Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass” in 1938, marked the actual beginning of the Holocaust. 1000 synagogues were set on fire.

The Great Synagogue on Tlomackie Street.

Before . ..

and after the Night of Broken Glass.

Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 marked the beginning of World War II.

A train carrying German troops to Poland says “We are going to Poland to thrash the Jews.”

German soldiers enjoyed the public humiliation of Polish Jews.

German soldiers in Poland teach two Jewish men how to give the Nazi salute correctly.

Jews were segregated from the rest of society.

The sign says, “Jews are forbidden to walk on this side of the street.”

Jews were forced to wear arm badges, or badges with the Star of David.

Jewish stores also had to be marked with the Star of David.

Jews could only ride in certain areas of the streetcar.

Hitler ordered all Jews to be removed to ghettoes (Warsaw Ghetto). They could bring only what they could carry.

The ghettoes were closed off from the rest of the city.

A ghetto ration card entitles the holder to 300 calories a day.

Jews had to chop furniture to use as fuel in the ghetto.

A typical room in a ghetto.

Concentration and Work Camps - Intent to exterminate Jews and others by labor and service to German war effort

1941- 1942 The Einsatzgruppen were mobile killing squads. They killed approximately 1,500,000 Jews.

In 1942, the Nazis opened concentration camps to carry out the “Final Solution.”

Concentration Camps

At Auschwitz-Birkenau, one million Jews and one million non-Jews were killed.

A warehouse full of shoes and clothing confiscated from concentration camp prisoners.

A crate full of rings confiscated from prisoners.

The inside of a barracks at a concentration camp.

A prisoner forced to stand for hours as punishment.

Crematoria ovens in a concentration camp.

Containers of Zyklon B (poison gas pellets).

The last words of inmates at a death camp are carved into these walls.

By late 1943, the Germans began dismantling the death camps to cover up their crimes. In 1945, they sent prisoners walking to central Germany.

As Allied troops entered the Nazi-occupied areas, concentration camp survivors were rescued and liberated.

Young and old survivors cheered the approaching Allied troops.

Slave laborers at one concentration camp survived in spite of the overcrowding, lack of food, hard labor and psychological torture.

After the war, Allied forces forced German civilians to witness the atrocities that had occurred in their own backyards.

In 1945 -1946 the Germans were tried at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. This brought 22 Nazi officials to court.

Holocaust

What Caused It?

Anti-Semitism –

discrimination against Jews

and Aryan superiority

What Was It?

Systematic attempt to rid Europe of all undesirables, including: Jews,

Gypsies, homosexuals, physically and mentally handicapped

Tactics used by the Nazis

Boycott of Jewish stores Threats

Segregation

Imprisonment and killing of Jews and others in concentration camps and death camps

How Did It End?

Jews and others in the concentration camps were liberated by the Allied Forces.

Germans were held responsible for actions at Nuremberg Trials after the war.