THE THREE STAGES OF NAZI PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS HOLOCAUST THE THREE STAGES OF NAZI PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS

Background Anti-Semitism (words or actions that are anti-Jewish) goes back thousands of years to the times of the Israelites During the Middle Ages, Jews in Europe were restricted to certain sections of cities called ghettoes Anti-Semitism was not limited to Nazi Germany during the 20th century

Stage I: Anti-Semitic measures and laws The Nazi government used anti-Semitic propaganda such as posters and even children’s books

Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels organized: book burnings by Jewish writers boycotting Jewish stores banning Jews from many professions

The Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1936 which denied Jews any rights to German citizenship Mixed marriages between Jews and “Aryans” also became illegal at this point

Kristalnacht In 1937, the Nazi storm troopers destroyed many Jewish shops and synagogues (Night of the Broken Glass)

Stage II: Deportations/Confinement Nazis deported Jews to Nazi occupied countries in Eastern Europe (mostly in Poland)

Jewish families were forced to live in ghettoes such as the Warsaw Ghetto (above right) Jews were forced to wear the yellow star (Star of David)

Some executions were ordered Ex:Babi Yar Massacre near Kiev where 30 000 Jews were killed in two days and buried in a ravine (1941)

Stage III: The Final Solution The decision to proceed with the elimination of all European Jews was made at the Wansee Conference in 1942 SS officer Adolf Eichmann (right) was put in charge of this task

The euthanasia program was originally established to dispose of the physically and mentally disabled Executions began in experimental gas vans which used a cyanide gas called Zyklon B

Many concentration camps were converted to death camps such as Auschwitz (right), Treblinka, Belzec and others; most of these were in Poland

European Jews were deported by train The trains would arrive at Auschwitz, where the selection process would begin (lower right) The fit would be put to work and the others would be sent for special treatment

The gas chambers (upper right) were disguised as showers After the gas was poured in, they suffocated to death within 30 minutes The dead bodies were transported to the crematoriums to be burned Some camps were killing factories that could gas thousands of people per day

Towards the end of the war in 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated the death camps and found a small number of survivors such as Simon Wiesenthal (right)

Following the war, dozens of Nazi officials were prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Nuremberg Trials Images: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum