Outcome: Background to the Murder The Holocaust Outcome: Background to the Murder

Constructive Response Question Other than the Holocaust, what other hardships have Jewish people experienced in their existence?

Background to the Murder Setting the Stage Holocaust: a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life often through fire Genocide: the deliberate & systematic destruction of a racial/political/cultural group In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, the Nazis led by Adolf Hitler attempted to wipe out the Jewish population of Europe ---> in the end they killed over 6 million Jews

Background to the Murder A Rocky Past: The Hebrew People The Ancient Hebrew people were led by Abraham --> became the father of the Hebrew people

Background to the Murder A Rocky Past: The Hebrew People Eventually the Hebrews migrated to Egypt --> better land --> were enslaved for hundreds of years until Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt through the Exodus The Hebrews later became known as Jews and follow Judaism as a religion

Background to the Murder A Rocky Past: The Hebrew People Jews have been targets of persecution by the Romans, Crusaders during the 11th and 12th centuries, and many others. Anti-Semitism is hatred or prejudice against Jews

Background to the Murder Rise of Adolf Hitler & Nazism Germany had been hit hard by the Depression Hitler came to power by promising to return Germany to glory He also promised to get rid of the Jews Fact: In times of need, people will follow those who will lead; Hitler delivered on his promises and this made him very popular

Background to the Murder Why did Hitler hate the Jewish people? Unclear; there are many theories but no clear answer Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat to strengthen his own power

Background to the Murder The Treaty of Versailles Hitler was outraged by the end of WWI; felt Germany could still fight The Allied Powers punished Germany for WWI The Treaty of Versailles fueled Hitler’s motivation to create a new German empire called The Third Reich; started World War II (Sept ’39)

The Final Solution Setting the Stage Adolf Hitler made several promises to the German people as his power grew: Will return Germany to its former glory Will give people jobs Will get rid of the “Jewish Problem” In the late 1930’s to early 1940’s, the Nazis had rounded up and killed over 1 million Jews, but “The Final Solution,” the plan to exterminate all Jews from Europe, was not decided upon until 1942

Background to the Murder Anti-Semitism Hitler was not the only person in Europe that disliked the Jews Anti-Semitism existed within a lot of people in and around Germany Hitler began passing laws stripping Jews of their citizenship; Germans believed in him and these laws Propaganda was also used to help dehumanize Jews In the early days of the Holocaust, Jews were removed from their homes and businesses and most German people were not upset Most Nazis who rounded up or killed Jews did so out of orders, but many did so because they didn’t see the Jews as humans anymore

Background to the Murder Result: The Nazis systematically made Jews the enemy and began removing them to create more “lebensraum” or living space. The Final Solution or decision to exterminate/kill millions of Jews would not be made for several more years, but through Nazi propaganda and law, life was very dangerous for Jews in Europe by the end of the 1930’s.

1936 Berlin Olympics Hitler wanted to display the German superiority in athletics Hitler believed in racial superiority and the theory of Eugenics. Eugenics is a belief that a certain race of people are superior to all other by having desirable traits US Runner Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals to show how Germany wasn’t so great. Detroit born Joe Louis defeats German to win Gold medal in Boxing

1936 Olympics

Transportation Jews and other “unclean” citizens were subject to systematic deportation Boxcar 100+ people in one car Doors were bolted shut No place to sit down Often people were forced to pay for their transportation No food or water given.

Ghetto Jews are transported from homes to an area within a city that all Jews were forced to live. Food rations and living conditions were very poor. Major Ghettos Warsaw Lodz Kovno

1941 Nazis invade the Soviet Union- Operation Barbarossa Jewish population of 3 million Hitler issues infamous “Commissar Order” to kill all communists and anyone you encounter SS Einsatzgruppen follow advance of German Army, their job was to kill Jews where they lived “Liquidate all Communist officials you encounter!

Joseph Goebbels- Hitler’s Propaganda minister, responsible for spreading anti-Semitic ideas

Nazi Propaganda

Nazi Propaganda

The Final Solution Kristallnacht The Night of Broken Glass- Anti-Semitic riots in Germany and Austria. 30,000 Jews rounded up and taken to concentration camps Homes, businesses, and synagogues destroyed Jews were rounded up and sent to walled off sections of cities called ghettos

The Final Solution Concentration Camps Thousands of Jews were transported to work camps around Poland, Austria, and Germany to work as slave labor for the Nazis Railroad boxcars were filled with people with no food or water as transport Thousands starved, worked to death, or were killed in these camps Death Camps (The Final Solution) Once the Final Solution was decided upon, many camps became extermination camps aimed solely at killing Jews Heinrich Himmler was the chief engineers and overseers of the Final Solution At first bodies were buried in shallow graves; the stench could be smelled for miles --> neighboring Germans were either ignorant or ignored the atrocity The Nazis forced Jews to transport dead bodies, exhume bodies, and even kill

FINAL SOLUTION The Final Solution was the solution to kill all of the Jews in the world “Now judgement has begun and it will reach its conclusion only when the knowledge of the Jews has been erased from the earth!” Nazi Newspaper there were 3 phases of the Nazi plan to wipe out the Jewish population of Europe

Phase 1 = Shooting Jews were rounded up and told they were to be relocated They were taken to the woods and were shot one by one their bodies were buried in mass graves

Phase 2 = Gas Vans Again, Jews were rounded up and told they were to be relocated in vans The vans were equipped so that the van’s exhaust was piped back into the van 700,000 Jews killed in Vans

Problems with Phases 1,2 The Nazis encountered several problems with the executions and gas vans First, they were both taking to much time Second, resources such as gas and munitions were becoming scarce Third, soldiers involved were beginning to have psychological problems with what they were doing.

Phase 3 = The Camps Nazi leaders decided to drastically speed up the Final Solution there were two different types of camps: CONCENTRATION CAMPS- work camps EXTERMINATION CAMPS- death camps Jews from all over occupied Europe were to be brought here. First camp (Dachau) was opened in 1933, right after Nazis came to power

The Final Solution Thousands could be killed in mere minutes Zyklon B gas pellets were dropped in Bodies were moved to crematoriums were bodies were quickly burned Often times, Sonderkommandos were used; Jews forced to put dead Jews into crematoriums

The Final Solution Auschwitz was the worst of the death camps Located in Poland 1,100,000 killed at Auschwitz; 200,000 children killed Joseph Megele- “the angel of death” did medical experiments on Jews and children He would try to sew twins together, change eye color, and tested extreme cold and heat on human body

ORDERED TO TAKE ALL POSSESSIONS FROM JEWS THE SS AT AUSCHWITZ ORDERED TO TAKE ALL POSSESSIONS FROM JEWS TEETH WITH GOLD PILES OF GLASSES

ZYKLON-B GAS USED TO KILL VERMIN. IT WAS INEXPENSIVE COMPARED TO GAS. DROPPED FROM CEILINGS

MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS EXTRACTED HUMAN ORGANS EXPERIMENTS ON CHILDREN IN AUSCHWITZ

The Final Solution Other Camps were Mauthausen, Dachau, Birkenau Others targeted in the Final Solution: Gypsies Communists Political Prisoners Homosexuals Jehovah’s Witnesses Soviet Prisoners of War

The Final Solution Result: The Nazis were organized, systematic, and merciless. Most of the death camps were in Poland and over 11 million people were killed of which 6 million were Jews. Most of the world had no idea and those who did know, were powerless to stop Hitler and the Nazis.

Band of Brothers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHcJtU9dr6I