WORLD WAR II GENOCIDES

TERMINOLOGY  GENOCIDE Mass extermination of an entire race or group of people Ex. Gypsies and homosexuals by the NAZIs  HOLOCAUST Mass extermination of the European Jewish population by the NAZIs before and during WWII holocaust: to eliminate by fire

NAZI MENTALITY  1920: Two German intellectuals published, The Release of the Destruction of Life Devoid of Human Value Advocated killing of “worthless human beings” Believed that heredity was a factor in physical and mental weakness; led to sterilization in 1933  Hitler and NAZIs used this mentality to feed their beliefs of racial superiority

THE BEGINNING…  1935: Hitler implemented the Nuremburg Laws segregating Jews as well as other groups seen as potentially dangerous to the “pure German race”  November 10, 1938: KRISTALLNACHT “Night of Broken Glass” NAZIs began the terrorization of the German Jewish population Beginning the systematic extermination

NUREMBERG LAWS  The Laws for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor (September 15, 1935)  Entirely convinced that the purity of German blood is essential to the further existence of the German people, and inspired by the uncompromising determination to safeguard the future of the German nation, the Reichstag has unanimously resolved upon the following law, which is promulgated herewith:  Section 1 Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad.  Section 2 Extramarital sexual intercourse between Jews and subjects of the state of Germany or related blood is forbidden  Section 3 Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens of German or kindred blood as domestic workers under the age of 45.  Section 4 Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colors. On the other hand they are permitted to display the Jewish colors. The exercise of this right is protected by the State.

KRISTALLNACHT

GHETTO  Enclosed area of a city; waiting place for Jews before moved to camps

CONCENTRATION CAMP  PRISON CAMPS; SLAVE LABOR CAMPS HOUSING COMMUNISTS, GYPSIES, HOMOSEXUALS, MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED, JEWS  Infamous camps were: Auschwitz Mauthausen Buckenwald

Mauthausen when liberated

DACHAU

“The Final Solution”  the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people  Implemented in stages before and during the war  In its entirety, the "Final Solution" consisted of gassings, shootings, random acts of terror, disease, and starvation that accounted for the deaths of about 6 million Jews -- two-thirds of European Jewry.

Extermination Camps  AKA “Death Camps”  Nazi camps, equipped with gassing facilities, for mass murder of Jews  Located in Poland at Auschwitz- Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek- Lublin, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Up to 2,700,000 Jews were murdered at these six camps

Auschwitz  Located in Poland; both extermination and labor camp; over 2 million Jews died there “Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they're only animals" Theodor Adorno

Entrance Gates to Auschwitz reads: “Work will set you free”

Gassing Chamber Crematorium Oven

Auschwitz warehouse overflowing with confiscated prisoner clothing

Auschwitz warehouse of prisoner’s confiscated eye-glasses

Auschwitz warehouse of prisoner’s confiscated shoes

Country Initial Jewish Population Estimated % Killed Estimated Killed Number of Survivors POLAND3,300,00091%3,000,000300,000 USSR3,020,00036%1,100,0001,920,000 HUNGARY800,00074%596,000204,000 GERMANY566,00036%200,000366,000 FRANCE350,00022%77,320272,680 ROMANIA342,00084%287,00055,000 AUSTRIA185,00035%65,000120,000 LITHUANIA168,00085%143,00025,000 NETHERLANDS140,00071%100,00040,000 BOHEMIA MORAVIA 118,31060%71,15047,160 LATVIA95,00084%80,00015,000 SLOVAKIA88,95080%71,00017,950 YUGOSLAVIA78,00081%63,30014,700 GREECE77,38087%67,00010,380 BELGIUM65,70045%28,90036,800 ITALY44,50017%7,68036,820 BULGARIA50,0000%50,000 DENMARK7,800.8%607,740 ESTONIA4,50044%2,0002,500 LUXEMBOURG3,50055%1,9501,550 FINLAND2,000.03%71,993 NORWAY1,70045% TOTAL9,508,34063%5,962,1293,546,211