BYSTANDERS DURING THE HOLOCAUST SWBAT: explain how everyday people and even national governments could be seen as bystanders during the Holocaust. Homework: SS St. Louis Reading and questions. Do Now: Agree or disagree. If a student is being bullied, and you see it happen and do nothing about it, you are equally as responsible for bullying as the kid doing the bullying.

ON THE CONTINUUM  If a student is being bullied, and you see it happen and do nothing about it, you are equally as responsible for bullying as the kid doing the bullying.

OPENING QUESTIONS  What does it mean to be a bystander?  What kind of people do you think were bystanders?  Why do people chose to be bystanders as opposed to taking a more proactive role in helping those around them?

BYSTANDERS DURING THE HOLOCAUST  The vast majority of people in Germany and occupied Europe were aware, at least to some extent, of how the Nazi regime was treating the Jews.  Nevertheless, they took no active position on the matter. They did not openly persecute the Jews but they did not actively help them either.  Bystanders encompassed all sorts of people.  Included ordinary people like you and me to people with influence, authority, and power.  These people may not have worked in concentration camps or been members of the SS, but were still complicit in helping the Nazis achieve their goal of exterminating the Jews.  How did ordinary people help?  Acted as informants.  Participated in rallies and parades  Did nothing.

THE WORLD WAS AWARE  People around the world were also aware of the Nazi's antisemitic policies and actions from the very beginning.  This photograph of the book burning in Germany during March 1933 appeared in News Week on 27 March 1933.

NATIONS TRY TO HELP  The Evian Conference was convened at the initiative of Franklin Roosevelt in July, 1938 to respond to the increasing numbers of Jewish refugees fleeing murderous persecution in Europe by the Nazis.  For eight days representatives from 32 countries and 39 private organizations and some 24 voluntary organizations met and formally discussed the issue among themselves.  Dispossessed and displaced Jews of Austria and Germany were hopeful that the conference would lead to acceptance of more refugees and safe haven.  One Jewish man stated:  "The United States had always been viewed in Europe as champion of freedom and under her powerful influence and following her example, certainly many countries would provide the chance to get out of the German trap. The rescue, a new life seemed in reach.“

HITLER’S COMPLIANCE  Hitler responded to the news of the conference by saying essentially that if the other nations would agree to take the Jews, he would help them leave.  He stated:  “I can only hope and expect that the other world, which has such deep sympathy for these criminals [Jews], will at least be generous enough to convert this sympathy into practical aid. We, on our part, are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries, for all I care, even on luxury ships”.

THE RESULTS  The conference ultimately proved to be a failure.  Both the United States and Britain refused to accept more refugees, and most of the countries at the conference followed suit.  GB would ultimately allow some to enter months later.  Why do you think this might be?  The result?  being that the Jews had no escape they were ultimately subject to what became known as Hitler's "Final Solution ".

Escaping the Nazis

KINDERTRANSPORT  The UK government agreed to allow an unspecified number of Jewish children between the ages of 2-17 to enter the country on the condition that they should not be a burden on the state.  On 2 December 1938 the first 200 children assembled in Berlin to begin their journey.  Over the following nine months 10,000 unaccompanied, mainly Jewish, children travelled to safety in the UK. This rescue mission was the ‘kindertransport’.  The children had been allowed to pack a small suitcase containing clothes and their cherished possessions.  Arriving in England the children had arrived in a strange new world.  Most couldn't speak the language and had no idea who was going to care for them.  Younger children lived with volunteer foster parents. The older children tended to be housed in hostels.  Most of these children would never see their parents again.

BYSTANDER ACTIVITY  Before you begin reading, answer the questions on the checklist in the left-hand column.  In groups, you will read the poem provided.  As a group, you will answer the discussion questions and be ready to discuss them as a class.

WHY?  This was sometimes due to anti-Semitic sentiments but primarily because they felt that it was an assault not on them but on an other', even if this other' was a neighbor, partner or acquaintance.  The Nazi policy of terror, which instituted the social isolation, arrest and - in the final stages - execution of anyone who helped the Jews, was another reason for inaction.  Furthermore, the benefits that many people received through the dispossession and murder of the Jews also contributed to the prevailing bystander.