1. World War II and the Holocaust

2. Holocaust
“The state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945.
United States Holocaust Museum

3. The Road to War
Germany’s defeat in WWI brought about the formation of a new government: The Weimar Republic
Treaty of Versailles-ended WWI
Germany had to acknowledge responsibility for the war
Forced to make reparations to all of the countries they “damaged” in the war
Total bill was equivalent to nearly $70 billion
German army was dramatically limited in size

4. The Road to War
Many Germans protested not only the loss of the war, but the restrictions and reparations placed on them
Extremists blamed Jews for Germany’s defeat and blamed the German Foreign Minister, a Jewish man, for reaching a settlement
Ultimately, many aspects of the treaty were violated or ignored, with little enforcement from the rest of Europe

5. The Road to War
Despite the flouting of the treaty, Germany’s post-war economy collapsed
The German mark’s value plummeted, causing hyperinflation
Nearly 6 million Germans were unemployed

6. Rise of the Nazi Party
Weakened economy and ineffective Weimar Republic led to rise of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker’s Party
Hitler voted chancellor
Promised to restore law & order
Promised to revive economy
Restore German greatness &
save country from Communism

7. Totalitarianism The total control of a country and
its culture by the government
Subjugates individual rights
Demonstrates policy of aggression
Domination by paranoia and fear

8. Anti-Semitism
Prior to 1933, Jews were living in every country in Europe (approx. 9 million total)
Poland and the Soviet Union had the largest Jewish populations
The long history of Anti-Semitism
and persecution of Jews dates
back over 2,000 years
Germans used propaganda
to promote their anti-semitic ideas.
This included children’s books
used in schools

9. The Nuremberg Laws
During the first few years of Nazi rule, laws were passed restricting the rights of Jews
Nuremberg Laws of 1935
Stripped Jews of German citizenship
Prohibited them from marrying or
having sexual relations with persons
of “German or related blood.”
Jews were deprived of most political
rights and were excluded from
economic and educational spheres
Forced to carry identity cards with red “J” stamp, to allow for easy identification by police

10. Persecution
The Nazi plan for dealing with the “Jewish problem” evolved in three steps:
1. Expulsion-Get them out of Germany
2. Containment-Put them together in one place-namely, the ghettos
3. “Final Solution”-Annihilation
Other groups targeted included Gypsies, Homosexual men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Physically and mentally handicapped Germans (Euthanasia Program), Poles, and Political dissidents

11. Kristallnacht “Night of the Broken Glass” November 9-10, 1938
Germans attacked synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses
91 murdered, 30,000 deported and sent to concentration camps
By 1939, half of Germany’s 500,000 Jews had emigrated to escape Nazi persecution

12. Invasion and War 1939-Germany invaded Poland, beginning World War II
Pop. 3 million Polish Jews
1941-Germany invaded Russia
Pop. 5 million Russian Jews

13. Einsatzgruppen
Specially trained SS units-essentially “mobile killing squads”
Sent by Heinrich Himmler into German occupied territory to shoot Jews, Gypsies, and Russian political dissidents
Estimated to have killed 1.3 million Jews between 1941 and 1945
Victims were taken to deserted areas where they were forced to dig their own graves and shot

14. Final Solution
January 1942-Himmler called conference to discuss tactics against Jews and other “threats to the race”
Existing methods were deemed inefficient-bullets were needed for war effort
Jews would be rounded up and moved to ghettos, or used as cheap labor
Other Jews sent to “resettlement areas” where they would go through “selection”
Young and fit– “destruction through work”
Women, children, old, and sick– “special treatment”

15. Final Solution
Ghettos were established across occupied Europe, usually in areas with a large Jewish population
Life was very difficult-lack of food, overcrowding, limited heating and sanitation
Conditions designed so many would die and others would be willing to leave in the hope of better conditions
How were people determined to be Jewish?
If one parent was Jewish
If three or four grandparents were Jewish (if only one, they could be classified as German)

16. Concentration Camps
Three types of camps: transit, labor, extermination
First camp (Dachau) opened in 1933 for political dissidents and prisoners
There were six death camps, all located in Poland: Auschwitz-Birkenau (also a labor camp), Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor, Majdanek, and Belzec
Treblinka had a staff of 80 guards, SS
850,000 killed in 14 months

17. Great Deception Deception Starvation Terror
Jews told they were going to “resettlement areas” in the East
Told to bring tools, pots and pans, etc.
New arrivals at death camps given postcards to send to friends
Starvation
Jews in Warsaw ghetto fed only 1000 calories a day
Terror
SS publicly shot people for smuggling food/supplies or engaging in any act of resistance

18. Gas Chambers Designed for efficient mass execution
Those “selected” would be given soap and sent to gas chambers sometimes disguised as showers
Nazis would force large groups of prisoners into small cement rooms and drop canisters of Zyklon B or carbon monoxide through holes in the roof
Nazis would try to pack as many as 2000 into a gas chamber like the one pictured

19. Gas Chambers
Jews selected as sonderkommando were ordered to remove gold fillings and hair of victims and feed bodies into crematorium.
About 25,000 pairs of shoes-one day’s collection at the peak of gassing

20. Resistance Movements
Despite extremely high risk, some individuals and groups attempted to resist Nazism and Nazi policies
The “White Rose” movement
The Warsaw Ghetto uprising
Sobibor escape
Sonderkommando blowing up Crematorium IV at Birkenau
Jewish partisans who escaped to fight in the forests
Still, less than 1% of non-Jewish European population helped in rescue operation
Denmark and Bulgaria demonstrated most successful national resistance movements against attempts to deport their Jewish citizens

21. Liberation
July 23, 1944—Soviet soldiers liberated first camp prisoners at Majdanek
British, Canadian, American, and French troops also liberated camp prisoners
Troops were shocked at what they saw
Prisoners emaciated to the point of being skeletal
Many camps had dead bodies stacked in huge piles
Many prisoners died even after liberation

22. Aftermath The Nazis killed at least 6 million Jews
2-3 million Soviet P.O.W.’s
About 1.9 million non-Jewish Poles
220, ,000 Roma Gypsies
200,000 physically/mentally handicapped
Camp prisoners became “displaced persons”
Many stayed in camps in Germany run by the Allies
Jewish DPs pushed for the founding of a Jewish state in British-controlled Palestine
Jewish refugees allowed to enter U.S. without normal immigration restrictions

23. Nuremberg Trials
Brought to justice some responsible for the atrocities of the war
22 Nazi war criminals tried by the Allies in the International Military Tribunal
12 prominent Nazis were sentenced to death
Most claimed they were only following orders; this was judged to be an insufficient defense
Unfortunately, many perpetrators have never been tried or punished

24. Maus

25. Art Spiegelman Celebrated cartoonist
Work published in numerous journals and other media (The New York Times, The Village Voice)
Drawings have been exhibited in museums around the world
He lives in NYC with wife and daughter
He has won numerous awards for his work, including the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Maus

26. Maus Maus: A Survivor’s Tale is a graphic memoir
It recounts Spiegelman’s father’s struggle to survive the Holocaust as a Polish Jew
It draws largely on his father’s recollections of events he personally experienced
It also follows the author’s troubled relationship with his father and the way the effects of war continue to reverberate through generations of a family