The Holocaust “The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire."... During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups ...: Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others) ... Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals.” – U.S. Holocaust Museum

Origins of the Holocaust Hitler blames Jews for Germany's defeat in World War One in Mein Kampf: “If, at the beginning of the War and during the War, twelve or fifteen thousand of these Hebraic corrupters of the nation had been subjected to poison gas such as had to be endured in the field by hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers of all classes and professions, then the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain.”

Mein Kampf “the personification of the Devil, as the symbol of all evil, assumes the living appearance of the Jew.” “the great masses of a people … will more easily fall victims to a great lie than to a small one, since they themselves perhaps also lie sometimes in little things, but would certainly still be too much ashamed of too great lies.” “Like a giant spider, the Jewish international world stock exchange capital creeps over the peoples of this earth, gradually sucking their marrow and blood. Thousands and thousands of its paid agents are untiringly active in the press and in political parties, and they confuse public opinion until brother no longer recognizes brother.” “The N.S.G.W.P. [National Socialist German Workers Party] must not become a bailiff of public opinion, but its ruler. It must not be the masses' slave, but their master!”

Mein Kampf and The “Leadership Principle” “There must be no majority decisions, but only responsible persons, and the word 'council' must be restored to its original meaning. Surely every man will have advisers by his side, but the decision will be made by one man.” “Fuhrerprinzip” means the “Leadership Principle,” and Hitler became “Fuhrer,” leader, just as in Italy Mussolini became “Il Duce,” which means “the boss.”

Nazis in Power 1933: Jews prohibited from government service 1933: Dachau opens, the first concentration camp (not an extermination camp) 1935: Nuremberg Laws enacted, where Jews are declared no longer German citizens (the legally become their own nationality, but really become a people without a country) November 9–10, 1938: Krystallnacht (“night of the broken glass”), where a massive “pogrom” against Jewish businesses was carried out by Nazi Stormtroopers (SA)

Holocaust timeline 1939: Euthanasia (“good death”) program of murdering mental patients begins 1941 January 20, 1942: Wannsee Conference takes place, decides (in coded words) to kill all Jews in Europe as quickly as possible: “Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solution the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East. Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as the seed of a new Jewish revival." -Heydrich

Holocaust timeline 1941: Massive killings of Jews in extermination camps begins in earnest (before that, most were just slowly worked to death in concentration camps) Summer 1941: Einsatzgruppen (task forces) under Heydrich unleashed mass murder on Jews in former Soviet occupied areas of Europe, using various means Baba Yar: 33,771 Jews murdered in Kiev, Ukraine on September 29–30, 1941 1942: Height of the murder in the holocaust

Extermination Camps Auschwitz–Birkenau: 1.1 Million (estimated) Treblinka: about 700,000–800,000. Bełżec: about 434,500 Sobibór: about 167,000–250,000 (closed in 1943 after prisoners burned it to the ground) Chełmno: about 152,000 Majdanek: 78,000

Holocaust Murder toll "Both inside and outside the huts was a carpet of dead bodies, human excreta, rags and filth." – British official report on the liberation of Bergen-Belsen 11 Million total 6 million Jews (includes all of Jewish ancestry) 2 million Poles/slavs Homosexuals Handicapped Jehovah's Witnesses Political opponents Masons

Key people in the holocaust Reinhard Heydrich: Head of the SS, assassinated in 1942 Adolf Eichmann: Head of SS, Gestapo (takes over after Heydrich's death), captured in 1961 tried and executed in Israel SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler: Captured by allies (commits suicide with cyanide capsule) Josef Mengele: “Angel of Death” at Auschwitz Waffen SS: Force of Special Detachment, carried out holocaust