Prejudice, Intolerance and Violence Germany’s Plan of Superiority

Anti-Semitism This term came to mean hostilities towards the Jewish race With rise of Nationalism, German use of this term became the “Official Policy of Nation” Started the move toward removing all Jews from society The less significant, culturally impoverished races exist to serve the master race

Holocaust Greek origin meaning: “sacrifice by fire” Germans believed: They were “racially superior” Deemed Jews “inferior and unworthy of life” Other groups targeted were Gypsies, Handicapped, Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Homosexuals

Systematic Persecution of Jews Started with nonviolent measures, such as removal from civil service Enforced economic impediments Discrimination against the Jewish religion Nuremburg Laws – Stripping of all rights within Germany

Mass Violence Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) Destroyed 200 Synagogues 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed Over 800 Jews killed Laid groundwork for Roundup & Elimination Deportation to Ghettos/Forced Labor Camps

Operation Reinhard Codename for plan to finally destroy the Jews Also known as the “Final Solution” Began in October 1941 with movement of Jews from Ghettos to work/death camps

Main Entrance to Auschwitz

Drawing of Auschwitz Compound

Auschwitz-Birkenau ThenNow ARBEIT MACHT FREI (Work brings Freedom)

Items Confiscated from the Prisoners Sacks of Human Hair Shoes and Clothing

Entrance to gas chamber. Fences overlap surrounding Auschwitz

Remains found in Crematorium

Auschwitz Camp Survivors Examination by Soviet Physician after Liberation

Astonishing Numbers In 1933, the Jewish Population of Europe stood at over nine million By 1945, close to two out of every three European Jews had been killed as part of the “Final Solution”