1. The Holocaust and the Defeat of Germany
World War II
The Holocaust
and the Defeat
of Germany

2. The Holocaust
= Nazi systematic slaughter of “impure undesirables” including Jews
1933 – 9 million Jews in Europe
Jewish bankers – blamed for European Depression
The Final Solution to the Jewish Question = Annihilate the Jews

3. Steps of the Final Solution
1. Anti-Jewish legislation – removed Jews from Germany society
2. Establish Concentration Camps
3. Establishment of Ghettos in Poland
4. Mobile killing squads – SS and SD
5. Six Extermination Camps

4. Military Executions
Special death squads follow behind the front – killing Jews, gypsies, and communists in the area
Einsatzgruppen – mobile killing units
Used shootings and mobile gas units
Killed over 1 million Jewish men, women and children

5. Ghettos
Jews were forced to live in walled off parts of cities in misery
Densely populated areas
Warsaw – 400,000 ppl in 1.3 sq. mi
Wear identifying arm patch
Often work in forced labor
Jews received little food or supplies (253 calories/day)

7. Concentration Camps & Genocide

8. Genocide = The deliberate annihilation of an entire people
1941 Germans began constructing concentration camps to perform “the final solution”
Move Jews from Ghettos to labor camps and killing centers throughout Europe

9. The Death Camps
Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek, and Auschwitz-Birkenau
Jewish men, women, & children were transported to the camps in sealed railroad cars
Many immediately killed in gas chambers
Bodies cremated in ovens

11. The Death Camps Others faced forced labor in the camps
Josef Mengele – infamous doctor at Aushwitz – chose who lived
“Angel of Death” – collected eyes
Human experiments performed
Freezing, drug testing, sterilization, disease studies

12. The Death Camps
Death Marches – at end of war to avoid allied liberation of Jews
Around 6 million Jews died in the camps – 2/3 of pop.
6 million Poles, mentally disabled people, and political & religious prisoners also died

13. How Could The Holocaust Happen?
Nazi’s took advantage of the long history of anti-Semitism in Europe
Nazi’s flooded Europe with anti-Semitic propaganda stirring up hatred
This hatred caused non-Jews to assist the Nazi’s or look the other way

14. The Defeat of Germany

15. The Yalta Conference 15

16. Yalta The Crimean Peninsula in the Ukraine The Big 3 –
Stalin – Soviet Union
FDR – US
Churchill – Great Britain
Purpose - To plan for postwar peace following the defeat of Hitler 16

17. Agreements Reached
1. Stalin pledged to declare war on Japan three months after the surrender of Germany
2. All agreed to divide Germany & Berlin following the war
3. Outlined plans for a new international peace organization 17

18. Roosevelt Wins 4th Term The war convinced FDR to run for his 4th term
Won easily with Harry Truman as his running mate 18

19. The Allies Reach Berlin19

20. The Race To Berlin March 1945
The Allies crossed the Rhine River into the heart of Germany
The Soviets occupied most of Eastern Europe
Gen. Eisenhower allows Russians to take Berlin
Hitler orders Berlin defended to last man – fighting street to street 20

21. Berlin Falls 21

22. April 30, 1945
Hitler commits suicide in his bunker under Berlin
May 8, 1945
V-E Day (Victory in Europe) 22