Alexander Watson Religion, Peace and Conflict 25 March 2014 Lecture 5 The Holocaust

INTRODUCTION The Holocaust: murder of 6 million European Jews between 1941-5 Nazi Anti-Semitism The Holocaust and Modernity Conclusion Corpses of prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, photographed by the Allies on 24 April 1945 Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

Anti-Semitism and Nazi Germany (1) 30 Jan. 1933 – Hitler appointed Chancellor 1 April 1933 – Anti-Jewish Boycott 7 April 1933 – Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service 15 Sept. 1935 – The Nuremburg Laws 14 Nov. 1935 – Reich Citizenship Law Supplementary Decree Anti-Jewish commercial boycott, 1933. The sign reads: ‘Germans! Defend Yourselves! Do not buy from Jews!’ Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

Anti-Semitism and Nazi Germany (2) 9-10 Nov., 1938 – ‘The Night of Broken Glass’ (Reichskristallnacht) - nearly every synagogue in Germany burned down - 7,000 businesses destroyed - 26,000 Jews sent to concentration camps - 91 murdered ‘Reichskristallnacht (‘The Night of Broken Glass), 9-10 Nov. 1938 Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

Adolf Hitler’s January 1939 Prophecy ‘In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. ... Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevising of the earth, and thus a victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!’ Speech in the German Reichstag, 30 January 1939 Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

Nazi Germany’s Conquests Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

The Holocaust & Modernity “Without modern civilization and its most central essential achievements, there would be no Holocaust.” Zygmunt Bauman Product of post-Enlightenment rational thought? Product of modern state bureaucratic organisation and control over populations? Role of modern technology?

The Holocaust – A Chronology Sept. 1939 – World War II begins 30 Oct. 1939 – Jews in annexed Polish territories to be deported to Generalgouvernment. Also, ghettoisation. Summer 1940 – Madagascar Plan 22 June 1941 – Attack on Soviet Union Likely that between Oct. and Dec. 1941, Hitler orders (verbally) extermination of Europe’s Jews 15 July 1941 – Generalplan Ost presented to Himmler Summer 1941 – First Soviet Jews, then women & children killed Sept. 1941 – German & French Jews to be deported to east 20 Jan. 1942 – Wannsee Conference Holocaust killings peak in 2nd ½ of 1942. Complete apart from Hungarian Jewry by end of 1943 Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

The Einsatzgruppen Einsatzgruppen tasked in the autumn of 1939 with murdering the Polish intelligentsia 6 June 1941 – Commissar Order – instant execution of all Soviet political representatives Initially, c. 3,000 men. By end of 1941 had 33,000 2.2 million Jews murdered. Shot, gassed or beaten to death Einsatzgruppe at work Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

Extermination Camps March 1933 – Concentration camp opens at Dachau 6 major extermination centres Chełmno (Dec. 1941) - van Bełżec (Dec. 1941) Sobibór (April 1942) Treblinka (July 1942) Majdanek Auschwitz (1942- for extermination; it was also a labour camp) Prisoners, guards and new arrivals at Auschwitz. The famous entrance tower is in the background. Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

Extermination & Concentration Camps Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15

Himmler examines a model eastern farming settlement GENERALPLAN OST, 1941 Himmler examines a model eastern farming settlement Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 16

CONCLUSION The extreme anti-Semitism of the Nazi regime The ‘Modern’ Aspects of the Holocaust - ‘Rational’ Planning - State Bureaucracy - Modern Technology The irrational nature of modern racial Anti-Semitism Alexander Watson, Minorities in East-Central Europe, c. 1870 – 1950. Lecture 15