Do Now: Imagine you are the manager of a company. You just find out you have to cut 150 good workers.Which is easier to meet with each in person or just put pink slips in their mailboxes? Explain.

The Final Solution 6.2 E-13 Analyze how prejudice and discrimination may lead to genocide as well as other acts of hatred and violence for the purposes of subjugation and exploitation. Teaching Point: Today we will gain an understanding of why the Nazi’s implemented the Final Solution

Prelude to the Final Solution In 1939, Germany invaded Poland which had a much larger population of 3 million Jews. In 1941, Germany invaded Russia which had a population of 5 million Jews. 3

Einsatzgruppen – Mobile killing units First they would force Jews to handover their possessions and take off their clothing. Then the German soldiers would go up behind the Jews and shoot them in the back of the head and thrown into the ditches. The ditches had often been dug by the Jews themselves.

Jews being forced to dig their own graves.

Sites of Einsatzgruppen Massacres

Problems with the mobile killing units Required a large number of executioners. Required precious ammunition. The men suffered from psychological after effects. It was difficult to conceal the killings from the public.

Wannsee Memorial

Attendees of the Wannsee Conference

The Final Solution S.S. General Reinhard Heydrich convened of 15 senior Nazi officials to discuss a Final Solution to their Jewish problem? All of the officials were aware of the fact that Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) were already slaughtering Jews. Final Solution – The Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people.

Final Solution Continued Not one of the 15 Nazi officials there voiced any objection to the plan. Heydrich indicated that 11,000,000 Jews in Europe would fall under the final solution.

Wannsee Conference How was the Final Solution going to be organized? Women, children, the old & the sick were to be sent for ‘special treatment.’ The young and fit would go through a process called ‘destruction through work.’ Shooting was too inefficient as the bullets were needed for the war effort How was the Final Solution going to be organized? On arrival the Jews would go through a process called ‘selection.’ Jews were to be rounded up and put into transit camps called Ghettoes The remaining Jews were to be shipped to ‘resettlement areas’ in the East. The Jews living in these Ghettos were to be used as a cheap source of labor. Conditions in the Ghettos were designed to be so bad that many die. 12

Where were the Death Camps built? The work of the Einsatzgruppen Why do you think that they located them here? Remember that the black dots represent the work of the Einsatzgruppen 13

Work Brings Freedom

Extermination Camps The Extermination camps solves the Nazis problems Jews are deported to these camps from all over Europe Within hours of arriving they are dead The method of killing is gassing. The soldiers have little contact with their victims.

Women and small children waiting in a small wooded area.

Label from a can of Zkylon B Pellets

Tactics: What happened to new arrivals? All new arrivals went through a process known as ‘selection.’ At Auschwitz the trains pulled into a mock up of a normal station. Mothers, children, the old & sick were sent straight to the ‘showers’ which were really the gas chambers. The Jews were helped off the cattle trucks by Jews who were specially selected to help the Nazis Deception & Selection The able bodied were sent to work camp were they were killed through a process known as ‘destruction through work.’ At Auschwitz the new arrivals were calmed down by a Jewish orchestra playing classical music. At some death camps the Nazis would play records of classical music to help calm down the new arrivals. 19

‘Destruction Through Work’ Map of Auschwitz New Arrivals ‘Showers’ ‘Destruction Through Work’ 20

The SS would try and pack up to 2000 people into this gas chamber The Gas Chambers The Nazis would force large groups of prisoners into small cement rooms and drop canisters of Zyklon B, or prussic acid, in its crystal form through small holes in the roof. These gas chambers were sometimes disguised as showers or bathing houses. The SS would try and pack up to 2000 people into this gas chamber 21

The Ovens at Dachau 22

Destruction Through Work 23

Was the Final Solution successful? The Nazis aimed to kill 11 million Jews at the Wannsee Conference in 1941 Today there are only 2000 Jews living in Poland. The Nazis managed to kill over 6 million Jews. Men like Schindler helped Jews escape the Final Solution. Not all Jews went quietly into the gas cambers. In 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto, like many others revolted against the Nazis when the Jews realised what was really happening. 24