The Holocaust The “Final Solution”

The Definition of Holocaust Holocaust is a Greek word for “burned sacrifice”. Jews have been persecuted throughout history for their religious beliefs and practices. This was Hitler’s “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”.

How was this allowed to happen? “In order for a house to burn down, three things are required. The timber must be dry and combustible, there needs to be a spark that ignites it, and external conditions must be favorable- not too damp, perhaps some wind.” - Doris L. Bergen

Preconditions “The spark”: Hitler’s Nazi regime “External conditions”: World War II “Dry timber”: People had to be willing to accept the identification of other members of their society as enemies. Nazis did not invent anti-semitism (hatred against Jews), nor were they the first to attack Roma (Gypsies).

Who was persecuted? Primarily Jews. 6 million were murdered. Roma (Gypsies) Physically and mentally disabled. Afro-Europeans Soviet POWs Slavic people Ethnic Poles Jehovah’s Witnesses Homosexuals

The Process Nuremburg Laws- prohibited Jews from having certain jobs, going to school, marrying non-Jews, and forced them to wear the yellow Star of David. Jewish businesses were boycotted.

Nuremburg Laws

Humiliation of Jews

Life in the Ghettos Jews all over Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, and Italy were forced to relocate to ghettos. Life in the ghetto meant constant harassment, crowded housing, hunger, and loss of civil rights.

Jewish Ghettos

From the Ghettos to the Camps Jews and other “undesirables” were then forced to leave the ghettos and be taken by train to concentration camps.

Arrival at the camps

Sorting, work assignments, and shaving

Life in the camps Starvation, slave work, humiliation, disease, unsanitary conditions.

“Work will set you free”- From the entrance to Auschwitz Death in the camps- bodies were buried in mass graves or burned in mass piles (“Shoah piles”) or in ovens. Victims were gassed, shot, burned, or worked/starved to death.

Death in the camps

Shoah Pile

Nazi Medical Experiments Prisoners were often used as subjects in “medical experiments” These involved freezing, burning, high altitude, isolation, sterilization, traumatic injuries, and unnecessary operations. Dr. Josef Mengele- SS physician in charge of the experiments.

Medical experiments

Children as subjects

Liberation of the camps Allied soldiers did not know what they would find at the camps. For many of them, the trauma was unbearable. Allied soldiers retaliated against villagers who lived nearby, and did not stop it. As punishment, Nazis and other citizens were forced to dispose of the bodies themselves.

How did the world react? Shock, anger, disgust, and shame. Much of the world had disregarded these camps as “rumors” too savage to be true. Peace treaties after the war noted that the world must never let this happen again. (Though, it has.)

Denial of the Holocaust

How many died? 6 million Jews and 6 million “other” A total of approximately 12 million Compare to… Population of Los Angeles: 9,948,081 Population of San Francisco: 751,682 Population of NYC: 8,085,742 Population of Concord: 124,977