The Holocaust

Introduction to Night by Elie Wiesel

WWII

• When WW I ended, Germany was in desperate economic, social, and political trouble.

• People were homeless, jobless, and ultimately hopeless • The country had been decimated by war and was slow to recover their infrastructure.

• Desperate, the aging President of the country sought a replacement for himself. He was looking for someone strong and charismatic to lead the country into recovery and prosperity.

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Hitler comes to power

• On January 20, 1933, Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor – the most powerful position in Germany.

• He was chosen because he was a powerful member of the National Socialist German Worker’s (Nazi) Party.

• Once in power, he quickly ended German democracy and invoked a state of emergency, essentially declaring Hitler the German dictator.

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The beginning of the Holocaust 1933-1939

• The emergency clauses suspended constitutional rights including freedom of press, speech, and assembly.

• Special security forces, the Gestapo, the SA, and the SS arrested leaders of the opposing political parties 4

Racial policies

• Also in 1933, the Nazi’s instituted their racial policies. They believed they were racially superior (Aryan).

• They felt that Jews, Gypsies, ethnic minorities, the handicapped, homosexuals, and all other minorities, were a serious biological threat to the purity of the Aryan or “master race” 5

Why were Jews targets?

• Jews were persecuted for both ethnic and religious intolerance.

• More so, in the aftermath of WWI, many Jewish citizens were able to recover more quickly than others. • They were shrewd business owners with strong community ties and rebuilt quickly with pre-war savings.

• They rebuilt financial and banking institutions.

• The German population (specifically the Nazis) resented the apparent success of the Jewish communities.

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Power of propaganda

• How powerful is propaganda? • Are we all susceptible to propaganda?

• Hitler used propaganda to propel his campaign. • Let’s take a look…

• Jews were removed from government jobs, teaching positions, positions as lawyers, and any other “public positions”.

• In April 1933, A boycott of Jewish businesses began and by 1937, it was illegal for a Jew to own a business.

• Jews could not own any property by 1939 8

The cartoon shows a Jew politely asking for room on the bench, after which he shoves the previous inhabitant off. The poem notes that Jews behave the same way in other situations. 9

Most cartoons, like this one, depicted the German’s as a powerful race with the Jews cowering in fear at the German might.

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Nazi Propaganda

• •

Cover:

"When you see this symbol...“

Page 2:

"Remember what the Jews have done to our people." The page reviews World War I, for which the Jews are held responsible, then states: "Now for the first time, World Jewry openly says what it wants: 'Germany must die!'“ •

Page 3:

"And you can read the Jew's solution in the booklet

The War Aim of World Plutocracy.

German " A review of Kaufman's proposal follows. "The

Wehrmacht

will ensure that World Jewry's terrible plan, as proclaimed by the Jew Kaufman, will never become reality.

•

Page 4

: "You must ensure through your behavior that Jewry never again has even the slightest influence on our people." 11

Newspapers, like the Der Sturmer, accuse Jews of being Satan and plotting to murder German Christians and steal their blood in Jewish rituals 12

Kristallnacht

• In November 1938, the Nazi’s organized a riot and attack against German and Austrian Jews. • The “Night of the Broken Glass” included the physical destruction of synagogues (churches), stores, vandalization of homes, the arrest of Jewish men and the murder of many innocent Jews.

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Nazi Targets

• Even though Jews were the primary target for Hitler and the Nazi regime, they persecuted other groups as well.

• In order to “justify” their abuse of “racially inferior” groups, the Nazi scientists instituted eugenics and other biological experiments and programs.

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Eugenics laws from 1933-1935

• 320,000-350,000 individuals who were considered “inferior” were forced into involuntary “sterilization programs” through surgery or radiation. • Included in these treatments were Jews, Gypsies, blacks, German-Africans, mentally and physically handicapped.

• Even 500 children were sterilized in the program.

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Other’s persecuted

• Hitler also attacked those he considered “undesirables” or “enemies of the state”. These people were arrested and deported or placed in concentration camps.

• This included Jews, homosexuals, Catholics, Jehovah Witnesses, social, and political opponents.

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WAR

1939-1945 The war begins!

• On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. • The Polish were considered inferior or “subhuman” so the Germans began their quest to eradicate (eliminate, destroy) or enslave the Polish people. • The first step was to eliminate university professors, artists, writers, politicians, and religious leaders.

• Large populations of the Polish were resettled into camps or pushed into other countries.

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• Their justification was that they needed to make more “living space” for the growing “superior” German race.

• Many Nazi families moved into the newly empty Polish homes and took over all of the “abandoned” possessions.

• As many as 50,000 “Aryan looking” children were kidnapped from Polish families and adopted by Nazi families.

• Later, these children were rejected for their lack of “pure blood.” • They were placed in special children camps were they died of starvation, lethal injection, and disease.

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A young Jewish boy A dislocated Jewish family

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From chaos to insanity

• As the war progressed, the brutality increased. Initially, the “undesirables” were forced into relocation or labor camps.

• As the fighting began, Hitler and the Nazi regime began “euthanasia” programs.

• Prisoners of war, those classified as “undesirable”, children, and other victims were immediately killed in secret camps and hospitals.

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From insanity to nihilism

• Over 400 ghettos were established and entire communities were evacuated. • Nearly 3 million Jews were forced into these isolated areas.

Within sealed ghettos, Jews died in tens of thousands to starvation, overcrowding, disease, exposure to cold, exhaustion and maltreatment.

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Eventually, the Germans became so ruthless towards their enemies, their killings became “common activity”.

Mobile killing squads were dispatched and murdered thousands in mass shootings. 33,000 people were murdered in two days during one bloody murder spree.

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The Final Solution:

• In a secret memo between Hitler and his commanders, he demanded that all Jews, other undesirables, and all Nazi resistors be eradicated (killed) quickly and completely. • Between 1942-1944, the Germans began eliminating the established ghettos and forced the Jews and other “undesirables” into “extermination camps” • Six “killing sites” were established: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Chelmno, Majdanek, and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

• One million people died in Auschwitz alone.

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Statistics of the Holocaust 91% of the Jewish population in Poland was killed.

That equals 3,000,000 people.

1,100,000 Jews were killed in the USSR.

The average survival rate for a Jewish person was 1%. Ultimately only 1 Jew survived for every 100 people.

No European country was unaffected from the Nazi hatred.

Nearly 6 MILLION Jews were killed during the Holocaust simply because they were Jewish.

25 This map shows the number of deaths in each country.

Total casualties of war:

• The most recent estimates of the casualties from WWII, including Jews, “undesirables”, military, and civilians for both the Allies and the Axis total 72 Million people.

• That is twice as many people that live in the entire state of California.

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