World War II and the Holocaust

Holocaust

• “The state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945.

– United States Holocaust Museum

The Road to War

• Germany’s defeat in WWI brought about the formation of a new government: The Weimar Republic • Treaty of Versailles-ended WWI – Germany had to acknowledge responsibility for the war – Forced to make reparations to all of the countries they “damaged” in the war – Total bill was equivalent to nearly $70 billion – German army was dramatically limited in size

The Road to War

• Many Germans protested not only the loss of the war, but the restrictions and reparations placed on them • Extremists blamed Jews for Germany’s defeat and blamed the German Foreign Minister, a Jewish man, for reaching a settlement • Ultimately, many aspects of the treaty were violated or ignored, with little enforcement from the rest of Europe

The Road to War

• Despite the flouting of the treaty, Germany’s post-war economy collapsed • The German mark’s value plummeted, causing hyperinflation • Nearly 6 million Germans were unemployed

Rise of the Nazi Party

• Weakened economy and ineffective Weimar Republic led to rise of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker’s Party • Hitler voted chancellor – Promised to restore law & order – Promised to revive economy – Restore German greatness & save country from Communism

Totalitarianism

• The total control of a country and its culture by the government • Subjugates individual rights • Demonstrates policy of aggression • Domination by paranoia and fear

Anti-Semitism

• Prior to 1933, Jews were living in every country in Europe (approx. 9 million total) • Poland and the Soviet Union had the largest Jewish populations • The long history of Anti-Semitism and persecution of Jews dates back over 2,000 years • Germans used propaganda to promote their anti-semitic ideas.

This included children’s books used in schools

The Nuremberg Laws

• During the first few years of Nazi rule, laws were passed restricting the rights of Jews • Nuremberg Laws of 1935 – Stripped Jews of German citizenship – Prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of “German or related blood.” – Jews were deprived of most political rights and were excluded from economic and educational spheres – Forced to carry identity cards with red “J” stamp, to allow for easy identification by police

Persecution

• The Nazi plan for dealing with the “Jewish problem” evolved in three steps: – 1. Expulsion-Get them out of Germany – 2. Containment-Put them together in one place namely, the ghettos – 3. “Final Solution”-Annihilation Other groups targeted included Gypsies, Homosexual men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Physically and mentally handicapped Germans (Euthanasia Program), Poles, and Political dissidents

Kristallnacht

• “Night of the Broken Glass” • November 9-10, 1938 • Germans attacked synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses • 91 murdered, 30,000 deported and sent to concentration camps • By 1939, half of Germany’s 500,000 Jews had emigrated to escape Nazi persecution

Invasion and War

• 1939-Germany invaded Poland, beginning World War II – Pop. 3 million Polish Jews • 1941-Germany invaded Russia – Pop. 5 million Russian Jews

Einsatzgruppen

• Specially trained SS units-essentially “mobile killing squads” • Sent by Heinrich Himmler into German occupied territory to shoot Jews, Gypsies, and Russian political dissidents • Estimated to have killed 1.3 million Jews between 1941 and 1945 • Victims were taken to deserted areas where they were forced to dig their own graves and shot

Final Solution

• January 1942-Himmler called conference to discuss tactics against Jews and other “threats to the race” • Existing methods were deemed inefficient bullets were needed for war effort • Jews would be rounded up and moved to ghettos, or used as cheap labor • Other Jews sent to “resettlement areas” where they would go through “selection” – Young and fit– “destruction through work” – Women, children, old, and sick– “special treatment”

Final Solution

• Ghettos were established across occupied Europe, usually in areas with a large Jewish population • Life was very difficult-lack of food, overcrowding, limited heating and sanitation • Conditions designed so many would die and others would be willing to leave in the hope of better conditions • How were people determined to be Jewish?

– If one parent was Jewish – If three or four grandparents were Jewish (if only one, they could be classified as German)

Concentration Camps

• Three types of camps: transit, labor, extermination • First camp (Dachau) opened in 1933 for political dissidents and prisoners • There were six death camps, all located in Poland: Auschwitz-Birkenau (also a labor camp), Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor, Majdanek, and Belzec – Treblinka had a staff of 80 guards, 20-30 SS – 850,000 killed in 14 months

Great Deception

• Deception – Jews told they were going to “resettlement areas” in the East – Told to bring tools, pots and pans, etc.

– New arrivals at death camps given postcards to send to friends • Starvation – Jews in Warsaw ghetto fed only 1000 calories a day • Terror – SS publicly shot people for smuggling food/supplies or engaging in any act of resistance

Gas Chambers

• Designed for efficient mass execution • Those “selected” would be given soap and sent to gas chambers sometimes disguised as showers • Nazis would force large groups of prisoners into small cement rooms and drop canisters of Zyklon B or carbon monoxide through holes in the roof • Nazis would try to pack as many as 2000 into a gas chamber like the one pictured

Gas Chambers

• Jews selected as sonderkommando were ordered to remove gold fillings and hair of victims and feed bodies into crematorium.

• About 25,000 pairs of shoes-one day’s collection at the peak of gassing

Resistance Movements

• Despite extremely high risk, some individuals and groups attempted to resist Nazism and Nazi policies – The “White Rose” movement – The Warsaw Ghetto uprising – Sobibor escape – Sonderkommando blowing up Crematorium IV at Birkenau – Jewish partisans who escaped to fight in the forests • Still, less than 1% of non-Jewish European population helped in rescue operation • Denmark and Bulgaria demonstrated most successful national resistance movements against attempts to deport their Jewish citizens

Liberation

• July 23, 1944—Soviet soldiers liberated first camp prisoners at Majdanek • British, Canadian, American, and French troops also liberated camp prisoners • Troops were shocked at what they saw – Prisoners emaciated to the point of being skeletal – Many camps had dead bodies stacked in huge piles – Many prisoners died even after liberation

Aftermath

• The Nazis killed at least 6 million Jews – 2-3 million Soviet P.O.W.’s – About 1.9 million non-Jewish Poles – 220,000-500,000 Roma Gypsies – 200,000 physically/mentally handicapped • Camp prisoners became “displaced persons” – Many stayed in camps in Germany run by the Allies – Jewish DPs pushed for the founding of a Jewish state in British-controlled Palestine – Jewish refugees allowed to enter U.S. without normal immigration restrictions

Nuremberg Trials

• Brought to justice some responsible for the atrocities of the war • 22 Nazi war criminals tried by the Allies in the International Military Tribunal • 12 prominent Nazis were sentenced to death – Most claimed they were only following orders; this was judged to be an insufficient defense – Unfortunately, many perpetrators have never been tried or punished

Maus

Art Spiegelman

• Celebrated cartoonist • Work published in numerous journals and other media (

The New York Times, The Village Voice

) • Drawings have been exhibited in museums around the world • He lives in NYC with wife and daughter • He has won numerous awards for his work, including the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for

Maus

Maus

•

Maus: A Survivor’s Tale

is a graphic memoir • It recounts Spiegelman’s father’s struggle to survive the Holocaust as a Polish Jew • It draws largely on his father’s recollections of events he personally experienced • It also follows the author’s troubled relationship with his father and the way the effects of war continue to reverberate through generations of a family