1. Standards and Objectives
SSHS-S1C8-01-d
Strand 1: American History
Concept 8: Great Depression and World War II
PO 2. Describe the impact of American involvement in World War II:
Students will analyze how the Holocaust came to be by inspecting major events leading up to the Final Solution

2. The Persecution of the Jews
The Holocaust
The Persecution of the Jews

3. The Nuremberg Laws 1935 German citizenship was taken away from Jews
Jews weren’t allowed to marry any non-Jews
Not allowed to hold office or vote
Jew with German sounding last names had to adopt “jewish” names
Jewish passports were marked with a red ‘J’
Banned from practicing medicine or law or operating businesses

4. The Tipping Point
Herschel Grynszpan, a young Jewish refugee in Paris shot and killed a German diplomat
He was angry because his family and 14,000 other Polish Jews had been deported
He was also upset about the way Jews were being treated
Not good for all of the Jews in Germany -led to Kristallnacht

5. Kristallnacht “Night of Broken Glass”
Hitler ordered minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, to use the assassination as an excuse to attack the jews so that it would look like a spontaneous reaction to the assassination
90 Jews were killed and 7,500 businesses were destroyed as well as hundreds of synagogues

6. Lawlessness Continued
Police were not allowed to interfere as the Nazi storm troopers wrecked havoc
After Kristallnacht the Gestapo arrested 30,000 Jewish men who were then sent to Concentration Camps
The state confiscated insurance payments owed to Jewish owners of ruined businesses

7. Jewish Refugees Try to Flee
Between 1933 and 1939 about 250,000 Jews escaped including Albert Einstein
Hundreds of thousands of Jews tried to get visas to the U.S. but the majority were denied
Jews were not allowed to take their money out of Germany so American saw them as “likely to become a public charge” so they were denied
Most Americans didn’t want to raise immigration quotas because of high unemployment and anti- semitic attitudes
Only 150,000 immigrants were allowed in annually and only so many from each country

8. The St. Louis Affair
May 27, 1939, the SS St. Louis carrying 950 Jewish immigrants tried to gain access to the U.S. by first docking in cuba
Their certificates were improperly issued by Cuba’s director of immigration giving them permission to land but they were denied
The ship circled off the coast of Florida trying to get permission to dock in the U.S. they were again denied
They had to sail back to Europe where many of the passengers ended up dying in Concentration Camps

9. The Final Solution
January 20, 1942, Nazi Leaders met at the Wannsee Conference to figure out the “final solution to the Jewish question”
Discussed shooting them and putting them in mass graves, or loading them into trucks and then pipe in the exhaust to kill them. these methods were deemed to slow though
Decided to use Concentration Camps and Extermination camps

10. Non-Jews who were also sent to the camps
Although Jewish people were the main targets of the Nazis, others were also sent to the camps
Anyone seen as “inferior” including: the disabled, homosexuals, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, Polish, and communists and socialists
The elderly, infirm, and children were sent to extermination camps since they couldn’t work at concentration camps

11. Concentration Camps 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust
Died from malnutrition, overwork, and in gas chambers
When people died, their bodies were stripped and stacked ready to be burned in huge crematoriums

12. The Great Dictator 1940
Movie written, produced, directed, scored, and starring Charlie Chaplin
Premise: Charlie Chaplin’s character was a Jewish barber who lived in a ghetto but had a striking resemblance to “Hynkel.” Through a case of mistaken identity, he ends up in front of the army to give a speech

13. Think about it
What do you think was the reason Chaplin delivered this speech dressed as Hitler?
What similarities can you find between immigration policies during WWII and policies today?