Holocausts of World War II How did the Japanese & Germans persecute civilians?
Rape of Nanking: Forgotten Holocaust of WW II 1931: Japan invades Manchuria, 1937: Japan invades rest of China Japanese sack Peking (Beijing), Shanghai, capital city of Nanking Japanese soldiers kill civilians & POWs, rape women and force other women into prostitution (comfort women) – 300K in 6 weeks American response: Impose economic sanctions on Japan, but League of Nations had already done this Discuss: Why did the US have a weak response to Japanese aggression?
Holocaust in Europe Nuremberg Laws (1935) Defined race & citizenship in Nazi Germany 2. Kristallnacht (1938) Businesses, homes are smashed & burned by SS, thousands of Jews are arrested by Gestapo 3. Relocation to ghettos (1940) Send Jews into walled off parts of cities, mostly in Poland
US Response to Nazi Aggression FDR: “feel sorry for Jews, but can’t do much for them” 740 Jews with US immigration papers board the St. Louis, headed to Miami, US doesn’t allow them into country St. Louis passengers must return to Europe, 50% killed in Holocaust
Final Solution Nazis develop plan of genocide called “the Final Solution” SS killing squads shot people & bury the bodies in mass graves, but eventually Nazis turn to poison gas 1942: People are shipped to death camps, mostly in Poland, camps had gas chambers that could kill up to 6K a day