Transcript THE HOLOCAUST - West Orange Public Schools

The Holocaust
Genocide
• Genos= “race” & caedes=“killing”
• Genocide=race killing
• As defined by the UN:
– Mass killing of people with the intent to
completely eliminate a group from
society
– Groups can be targeted based on race,
ethnicity, religion, social class or
political beliefs
Holocaust (hol·o·caust): n
1. Great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life,
especially by fire
2. Greek word that means burnt whole or consumed by fire
Holocaust --“Death by Fire”
– WWII 1933-1945, perpetrated
(committed) by Hitler and the
Nazis against “undesirable or
inferior” groups in Europe,
including:
– Jews
– Communists
– Homosexuals
– Jehovah’s Witnesses
– Gypsies (Roma)
– Slavs (Eastern Europeans)
– Mentally and physically handicapped
– Political dissidents
Holocaust Victims…
– 6 million Jews
• 1.5 million children under 12
– “Other Undesirables”
• 5 million
11 MILLION KILLED
Adolf Hitler
courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives
Photo credit: USHMM Photo Archives
Photo credit: National Archives,
courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives
Rise of the Nazi Party
Hitler’s
Promises
Better
life
courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives
Germany
great
nation
Racial
Hitler Youth Parade
Hitler Youth march through Nuremberg, Germany past Nazi officials.
purity
1936 Olympics
courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives
German citizens salute Adolf Hitler at
the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
European Anti-Semitism
• Anti-Semitism- hatred
of Jews
• Historically, Jews had
been a persecuted
group, often made
scapegoats for social
or economic problems
in Europe
“The Wandering Jew” film poster
In the Beginning…
The Nuremberg Laws
Nuremberg Laws
• 1933-1935 Laws which sought to identify and
alienate Jews from the German population
• Jews were forbidden from:
– Movie theaters, restaurants and other public
places
– Attending school with non-Jews
– Marrying/dating non-Jews
– Working with, teaching or treating non-Jews
• Jews had to:
– Register with government
– Wear a yellow Star of David visible on their
sleeves
Defined a citizen as someone
who “is a subject of the state
who is of German or related
blood, who proves by his
conduct that he is willing and
fit faithfully to serve the
German people and the Reich.”
Jews and other “undesirables”
were not considered Germans
Poster From the Nazi AntiSemitic film, The Eternal Jew
Nazi beliefs focused on the idea of "a pure race“ sharing a
common culture & territory.
– Races compete for territory and power, and only the
fittest survive.
– "Aryans“ - elite, blond
hair, blue eye ideal, "master
race“ destined to rule
– To fulfill “historic destiny,”
Nazis believed they must
first pure themselves of
"inferior blood."
– Only "pure" races that do not mix with "inferior" groups
are capable of creating lasting civilizations.
• Only people with four German grandparents (four
white circles in a row) were of “German blood.”
• In the middle stood people of “mixed blood” of the
“first or second degree.”
• According to the Nazis, a Jew is someone who
descends from three or four Jewish grandparents.
(black circles in top row
• German Nazis justified their racial prejudices
through Eugenics (now considered a fake science)
• Eugenics – Science of improving hereditary
(genetic) qualities by studying and ranking based
on observable physical features and “blood lines”
Nazis created their own Eugenics systems to justify
forced sterilization and euthanasia programs.
“We do not stand alone”; Nazi poster from 1936
with flags of other countries with, or
considering introducing, sterilization laws of the
“unhealthy.”
Nazi euthanasia propaganda “This
person suffering from hereditary
defects costs the community
60,000 Reichmark during his
lifetime. Fellow German, that is
your money, too.”
Racial Hierarchy According to Hitler:
• Germans
Aryan – desirable
• Scandinavians
or close to desirable
• Anglo-Saxons
• Southern Europeans
(Fr, It, Gr, Sp)
Should be slaves
• Slavs
Believed to be sub-human
• Jews
Should be eliminated
• Non-whites
• Important to remember that the Holocaust did
not happen overnight, but in stages
• Step by step, undesirables were denied rights,
citizenship and “dehumanized”
“Germans! Defend yourselves.
Don’t shop at Jewish stores!
• Dehumanization – Process of making a group of
people seem less human, and therefore
undeserving of the same rights as other people
• Process often leads to dangerous discrimination
practices and genocide
How can a person be dehumanized?
–
–
–
–
Words and images
Having legal rights taken away
Having political power/speech denied
Denied equal opportunities
Cover of a German anti-semitic
children's book, ”Der Giftpilz”
(The Poisonous Mushroom),
published in Nuremberg, 1935.
Illustration in an anti-semitic
children's book - the sign reads
"Jews are not wanted here"
“You have no right to live among
us as Jews.”
“You have no right to
live among us.”
“You have no right to live !”
Photo credit: Leopold Page Photographic Collection
What role will you play?
“In Germany they first came for the
Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I
wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the
Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a
Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and
I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade
unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I
didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then
they came for me – and by that time no one was
left to speak up.”
-Reverend Martin Niemoeller,
Protestant minister, Germany, and
concentration camp survivor
Boycott
Germans were encouraged by the
government to refuse to purchase
anything sold in Jewish owned
businesses. German Jews working in
government jobs or teaching positions
were fired.
Nuremberg Laws
The German government forced all Jews
to wear the Jewish star as a form of
identification. Furthermore, Jews were
unable to go into certain restaurants,
theaters, etc.
Kristallnacht
“Night Of Broken Glass”
Photo credits: Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives
Germans destroyed Jewish businesses,
homes, and temples in an act of terror.
Jews in many of the
Eastern European
cities were rounded
up and forced to live
in a segregated
section of the cities.
Conditions in these
parts of the cities
were horrible causing
many to die.
Family being forced into Ghettos
Ghetto Star
Deportation
Jews from all over Europe in the
nations that had been invaded
by Nazi Germany were rounded
up and transported mainly to
Eastern Europe.
Concentration Camps
Millions of Jews from all over
Europe were transported to
camps mainly located in
Eastern Europe. Some of
them were kept alive to be
slaves in labor camps. Others
were executed.
People being “resettled” to Concentration Camps
Prisoners arriving at the camps…
Entrance to Auschwitz
“Work Will set you free”
Final Solution
The German government
makes the decision that the
only way to solve the “Jewish”
problem is to exterminate the
entire Jewish population in
Europe.
Crowded Conditions
Photo credit: German National Archives
Even the very young…
eyeglasses
Shoes
Resistance
Righteous Among the Nations
» Oskar Schindler
» Raoul Wallenberg
» Varian Fry
Fry
Wallenberg
Schindler
Resistance Fighters
Group portrait of a
resistance unit
Liberation
Survivors of the Holocaust
faced the difficult task of trying
to get their lives back. Many of
them did not want to stay in
Europe anymore and decided
to move to the United States or
Israel.
Liberated Russian children cheer / Dachau
Anger
Scapegoat
Prejudice
Racism
Stereotypes
Ignorance
Bigotry
Hatred
Blame
Intimidation