World History 2010

Make a list of everything you know about the Holocaust. How would you define it in your own words?

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Holocaust is “…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 “sacrificed by fire.””

Targets of Nazis – Jews, Roma (Gypsies), disabled, some Slavic peoples, Soviet P.O.W.s, Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and homosexuals 1933 – Jewish population in Europe –9.5 million

1945 – Germans and their collaborators killed almost 2 out of 3 European Jews

&ModuleId= &MediaId=3372

Euthanasia – “good death…refers to the inducement of a painless death for a chronically or terminally ill individual who would otherwise suffer.” Nazi Euthanasia Program – clandestine murder program targeting mentally and physically disabled patients living in institutions in Germany and its territories Nazis’ 1 st program of mass murder Began 2 yrs before the Holocaust Eugenics measure aimed at restoring racial “integrity” of Germans

Wanted eliminate what eugenicists called “life unworthy of life” Believed these individuals represented a genetic and financial burden on the state Practice for widespread institution of the Holocaust

Spring and summer 1939 – organization of secret killing operation targeting disabled children Aug. ‘39 – issued decree mandating all physicians, nurses & midwives to report newborns and children under 3 with signs of severe disability (physical or mental) Oct. ‘39 – encouraged parents of children with disabilities to admit their children to special clinics Children were murdered here by starvation or lethal overdoses of medication

At first, only infants and toddlers, but eventually included youth up to 17 yrs old At least 5,000 dead as result of this program

Used child program as model to extend to adults Hitler signed authorization to protect all participating physicians, backdated it 6 gassing installations in Germany and Austria Sent out questionnaires – looked liked they were gathering statistical data Identified based on the following: schizophrenia, epilepsy, dementia, encephalitis, those not of German or “related” blood, criminally insane, those who had been committed for more than 5 yrs Doctors in teams of 3

T4 workers removed patients and transported them to gassing facilities Patients gassed immediately Cremated and dumped into common grave where ashes where put into urns to be sent to families

Death certificate sent Records falsified Became open secret, protests Program “halted,” until 2 nd phase Far East – SS – shooting squads, used hospitals for German soldiers and military barracks 200,000 lives claimed

November 9-10, 1938 “Night of Crystal” or “Night of Broken Glass” Violent Anti-Jewish pogrom throughout Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia Pogrom – organized persecution of an ethnic group Carried out by Storm Troopers and Hitler Youth Shards of shattered glass littered the streets from synagogues, homes and Jewish-owned businesses Violence in response to the assassination of Ernst vom Rath, German embassy official Kristallnacht al stationed in Paris Killed by 17 yr old Polish Jew

Not a spontaneous outburst, but planned by German officials Orders were as follows: Harm no non-Jewish German No foreigners were to be subjected to violence Remove all synagogue archives before vandalizing and move it to the Security Service Arrest as many Jews as jails could hold – young, healthy men

267 synagogues destroyed Burned throughout the night – watched by firefighters who were ordered not to intervene 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses destroyed and looted Cemeteries desecrated Forced ppl into streets – public humiliation 91 ppl killed 30,000 males arrested and transferred to camps Blamed and fined the Jews Denied and confiscated all insurance claims

In the following weeks laws and decrees passed Denied property and means of livelihood Transferred Jewish owned properties to “Aryan” ownership Made ineligible for employment in private sector Expelled Jewish children from all public schools No right to hold driver’s license or own car Restricted access to public transportation No longer allowed at theaters, movies or concert halls

Term originated from Jewish quarter in Venice During WWII ghettos were city districts, often enclosed in which Jewish people were concentrated and forced to live in miserable conditions Purposeful isolation of Jewish community At least 1,000 ghettos in Poland and USSR – Poland – 1 st ghetto, 1939 After “Final Solution” was passed most Jews were either shot, or deported to killing centers, or camps

3 types – closed, open and destruction Largest ghetto – Warsaw, Poland – 400,000 crowded into 1.3 square miles Residents had to wear identifying badges or armbands Many forced to perform forced labor Daily life administered by Jewish councils Ghetto police force – authority Enforced orders Deported people to killing centers Killed Jewish police officials they perceived as failed to carry out orders

= &MediaId=671 = &MediaId=671 Ghetto police force – authority Enforced orders Deported people to killing centers Killed Jewish police officials they perceived as failed to carry out orders

Millions subjected Camps first established winter 1933 Labor often pointless, humiliating, no proper equipment, clothing, nourishment or rest “annihilation through work”