The Other 6 Million

Key Terms Jehovah’s Witnesses Sinti Roma “Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases” Eugenics

Lecture Outline I. The Other Six Million A. Jehovah’s Witnesses B. Sinti and Roma C. Homosexuals D. Handicapped E. Poles

Jehovah’s Witnesses Jehovah’s Witnesses was founded in the United States in the 1870s and they sent missionaries to Germany seeking converts in the 1890s. By the early 1930s, only 20,000 Germans were Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jehovah’s Witnesses (con.) Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to swear allegiance to any worldly government. In April 1933, four months after Hitler became chancellor, Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned in Bavaria and by the summer in most of Germany.

Jehovah’s Witnesses (con.) In 1936 a special unit of the Gestapo began compiling a registry of all persons believed to be Jehovah’s Witnesses. By 1939, an estimated 6,000 Witnesses were detained in prisons or camps.

Jehovah’s Witnesses (con.) In the Nazi years about 10,000 Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps. An estimated 2,500 to 5,000 Witnesses died in camps or prisons.

Sinti and Roma In 1939, 30,000-50,000 “Gypsies” lived in Germany and Austria. Gypsies are believed to have arrived in Europe from Northern India in the 1400s. They were called Gypsies because Europeans thought they came from Egypt.

Sinti and Roma (con.) Under the July 1933 “Law for Prevention of offspring with Hereditary Defects,” physicians sterilized against their will an unknown number of Gypsies. Under the “Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminal” of November 1933, the police arrested many Gypsies along with others the Nazis viewed as “asocial.”

Sinti and Roma (con.) During the war Gypsies were sent to ghettos in Poland and then to death camps. Many children died as a result of cruel medical experiments performed by Dr. Josef Mengele and other SS physicians.

Sinti and Roma (con.) Approximately 225, ,000 Sinti and Roma were killed. After the war discrimination against Sinti and Roma in Europe continued.

Homosexuals In 1934, a special Gestapo division on homosexuals was set up. An estimated 1.2 million men were homosexuals in Germany in 1928.

Homosexuals (con.) Between 1933 and 1945 an estimated 100,000 men were arrested as homosexuals and of these some 50,000 officially defined homosexuals were sentenced. Most of these spent time in regular prisons, and an estimated 5,000-15,000 were incarcerated in concentration camps.

Homosexuals (con.) Some homosexuals were also victims of cruel medical experiments. After the war, homosexual concentration camp prisoners were not acknowledged as victims of Nazi persecution, and reparations were refused.

The Handicapped The “Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases,” proclaimed July 14, 1933, forced the sterilization of all persons who suffered from diseases considered hereditary.

The Handicapped (con.) Nazi Germany was not the first or only country to sterilized people considered “abnormal.” Before Hitler, the United States led the world in forced sterilizations.

The Handicapped (con.) Advocated of sterilization policies in both Germany and the United States were influenced by eugenics. Eugenics is the study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding.

The Handicapped (con.) The forced sterilizations began in January 1934, and altogether an estimated 300, ,000 people were sterilized under the law.

The Handicapped (con.) In October 1939, Hitler initiated a decree which empowered physicians to kill patients considered incurable. Between 200,000 and 250,000 mentally and physically handicapped people were murdered from

Poles It is believed that between 1.8 and 1.9 million Polish civilians were victims of German occupation policies and the war.

AP p Causes and effects of US prosperity Yalta Conference “containment doctrine” Truman doctrine Marshall Plan

AP p National Security Act NATO General Douglas MacArthur Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) NSC-68 Korean War