1. May we never let it happen again…
A LESSON IN TOLERANCE
May we never let it happen again…
The Junior League of El Paso, 2004
SLIDE 1 – OPENING (title page)
JLEP
HOLOCAUST DOCENT PRESENTATION
MIDDLE SCHOOL

2. Introduction The Junior League of El Paso, Inc.
Holocaust Museum and Study Center
SLIDE 2 – INTRODUCTION (JLEP logo, artist rendition of museum)
Introduction
Who you are (docent)
Junior League
Volunteer group of women, 70th year in El Paso
Holocaust Museum and Study Center
2001 fire – not caused by malice or hate but was electrical.
Bringing the museum to the students
New Museum will be built at the corner of Yandell and Santa Fe. One block north of the Insights Museum.

3. Holocaust (hol·o·caust): n -
1. Great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life, especially by fire
2. Greek word that means burnt whole or consumed by fire
SLIDE 4 – HOLOCAUST (FIRE)
Holocaust – 11 million people were killed
Term comes from a Greek word that means burnt whole or consumed by fire
The term Holocaust refers to the specific period in history dating from 1933 – 1945 and not to any other mass murder or genocide.

4. Holocaust Victims… 11 MILLION KILLED 6 million Jews
1.5 million children under 12
“Other Undesirables”
5 million
11 MILLION KILLED
SLIDE 5 – HOLOCAUST VICTIMS

5. 11 million 5 Million Undesirables Killed
SLIDE 6 – STATE OF TEXAS, 11 MILLION (Total loss)
Explain why using the State of Texas: Colored part – killed / gray part – not applicable
11 million total were killed – each color patch represents 1 million in population.
SLIDE 6 Insert – STATE OF TEXAS, GYPSIES – 5 MILLION UNDESIRABLES
5 million non-Jews declared “undesirable” by the Nazis.
The undesirables were Poles, Slavs, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, as well as, handicapped people and political dissidents.

6. 6 Million Jews Killed SLIDE 7 – STATE OF TEXAS, 6 MILLION JEWS
Between 1939 and 1945, nearly six million Jews died in the Holocaust.
Judaism is a religion not a race. Race is determined by the color of your skin and other physical characteristics. Religion has nothing to do with race. What do Jews look like? What are our differences?
Religion has nothing to do with what you look like, it has to do with what you believe.
There are Hispanic Jews, Black Jews, blonde haired blue eyed Jews, Judaism is a religion, not a race.
6 Million Jews Killed

7. 1.5 million children under the age of 12 were killed
SLIDE 8 – EL PASO AND JUAREZ: 1.5 MILLION CHILDREN
Among the Jews, 1.5 million children under the age of 12 (age of middle school students) were killed. They weren’t good for slave labor so they were murdered. Also, with their deaths, they would never marry and produce more Jewish people.
Perspective – entire population of El Paso and Juarez adds up to 1.5 million.
Click to 8A – The wipe out slide.
SLIDE 8 Insert – Picture of children being loaded on a train.
Photo credit: Meczenstwo Walka, Zaglada Aydów w Polsce Poland
The current TOTAL population of El Paso and Juarez is 1.5 million people

8. Conditions in Germany at the end of WWI
Germany was a defeated nation
Peace Treaty requirements
Stock Market Crash
Nazis and Germans are not the same
Nazi Party
German citizens
SLIDE 9 – CONDITIONS IN GERMANY AT END OF WW1 AND MAP OF GERMANY/EUROPE
Germany was a defeated nation – the peace treaty (Treaty of Versailles) required Germany to pay large sums of money to each country they fought. The result was a large debt. The government/economy of Germany had to be rebuilt. It was a difficult period in German history because the people had no jobs and poverty was very common. When people are desperate, they look for 2 things: (1) strong leadership that promises improvement of their situation, and (2) a scapegoat on which to blame their situation.
A scapegoat is someone who bears the blame for others – even though it is not their fault.
Then, the Stock Market crashed in The world as a whole was hit by the serious depression.
In Germany in 1929, 1 million people were out of work; 1930, two million people were out of work, and by 1933, six million people were out of work.

9. Adolf Hitler SLIDE 10 – PICTURES OF HITLER AND SOUND
courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives
SLIDE 10 – PICTURES OF HITLER AND SOUND
  (must click for sound)
Adolf Hitler, who had wanted to be a painter but was turned down by the Vienna Academy of the Arts, liked to talk to people, and, in 1919, he organized the National Socialistic German Workers Party, Nazi for short.
The words “Nazis” and “German” do not mean the same thing – A German is someone who is a native of the country of Germany – like a U.S. citizen. A Nazi is a member of a political party – like a Democrat or Republican.
Hitler used fear to control the German people. Hitler created a secret police force (S.S.) known for its brutal tactics and having absolute power over people. The S.S. would give rewards to informers for aiding the regime or those who betrayed their fellow Germans.
Hitler was a dynamic speaker – he could speak for 2-3 hours before thousands of people.
Propaganda – spreading ideas and information to deliberately further one’s cause – can include lies.
Photo credit: USHMM Photo Archives
Photo credit: National Archives, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives

10. Rise of the Nazi Party Hitler’s Promises Better life
Germany great nation
Racial purity
courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives
SLIDE 11 – RISE OF NAZI PARTY
Hitler talked about 3 things.
Economy – promised people they would all have jobs, they would then have money, and life would be much better.
Germany would once again become a prosperous nation and take its place among the nations of the world.
Racial purity – he believed that the Aryan people were superior people.
An Aryan, according to Hitler, was a native-born German; who was white, blond, blue-eyed, handsome and very intelligent. Interestingly enough, Hitler was physically the opposite –dark hair and dark eyes.
Hitler thought the Aryan people were the people who were going to rule Germany and eventually the world.
Hitler would then talk about those people he considered to be inferior people, and the Jews were at the top of the list.
Jews made up less than 1% of the total population of Germany, yet Hitler blamed the Jews for everything bad that happened to Germany (World War I, and the bad economy.) The Jews became Hitler’s scapegoats.
Anti-Semiticism – hatred of anything or anyone Jewish.
Hitler Youth Parade
Hitler Youth march through Nuremberg, Germany past Nazi officials.

11. In the Beginning… The Nuremberg Laws
SLIDE 12 – NUREMBERG LAWS - The rise of the Nazi party and tools of power
               
In 1933, the President of the German Republic appointed Hitler the position of Chancellor of Germany. The President was old and ill and he realized that his political party was losing power and the Nazi party was getting stronger.
Within weeks, Germany changed from being a republic to being a dictatorship. Hitler opened the first concentration camp – Dachau. The first prisoners were people to oppose his new vision of government: Jehovah’s Witnesses, political criminals, and handicapped people.
A republic is a form of government in which the citizens entitled to vote holds supreme power. A dictatorship is a form of government in which one person, who is historically brutal and oppressive, holds absolute power.
Germany soon passed the laws that took away the rights of the Jewish people and the reign of terror began. Harsh, discriminatory laws (the Nuremberg Laws) were intended to make Jews want to leave Germany. Those discriminatory laws can be summarized in one sentence, “You have no right to live among us as Jews.” Through time that sentence became “You have no right to live among us.” Ultimately, the law became, “You have no right to live.”

12. “You have no right to live among us as Jews.”
SLIDE 13 – “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO LIVE AMONG US AS JEWS.”
Having to wear yellow stars on clothing.

13. “You have no right to live among us.”
SLIDE 14 – “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO LIVE AMONG US.”
Living in ghettos.

14. “You have no right to live !”
SLIDE 15 – “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO LIVE.”
Sent to concentration camps and/or death camps.
Photo credit: Leopold Page Photographic Collection

15. German citizens salute Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
SLIDE 16 – PICTURES OF 1936 OLYMPICS
3 short years after Hitler became Germany’s dictator – he has strong allegiance of the German People.
Olympics were held in Berlin and Hitler made sure that his champion athletes were examples of his “Aryan” nation. An African-American named Jesse Owens defeated Hitler’s prized athletes in the Track and Field events, winning 4 gold medals including the 400 meter relay.
Interestingly enough, the only reason why Jesse Owens ran in the relay was because American officials pulled all of our Jewish-American athletes as to not offend the Nazi party.
courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives

16. Kristallnacht “Night Of Broken Glass”
SLIDE 17 – KRISTALLNACHT - Sound of breaking glass automatically plays.
“Night of Crystal” or “Night of Broken Glass” – a government organized riot.
A form of terrorism.
Kristallnacht was the name given to the first major attack on the Jewish population of Germany and Austria on November 9-10, The proclaimed objective of the Nazi regime was to rid Europe of its Jewish population. In November 1938, following the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a young Jewish student trying desperately to help his parents obtain visas to return to their homeland, all synagogues in Germany were set on fire, windows of Jewish shops were smashed, and thousands of Jews were arrested. The “Night of Broken Glass” (Kristallnacht) was a signal to Jews in Germany and Austria to leave as soon as possible. Several hundred thousand people were able to find refuge in other countries, but a similar number, including many who were old or poor, stayed to face an uncertain fate.
November 8, 1938, at an annual celebration at a beer hall, Hitler was overheard telling Goebbels, Hitler’s Chief of Propaganda, that the “SA should have a fling”
The event was described as a “spontaneous” outrage of German anger against the Jewish population because of the murder of the German diplomat. It also served as “proof” that the Jews were depicted honestly in the Nazi propaganda campaign. Nazi offices all over Germany were given specific details as to what to do during this progrom: burn synagogues, smash windows of Jewish businesses, ransack Jewish businesses and homes, and arrest all Jewish males, taking them to concentration camps. Over one hundred Jews were killed that night; others were subjected to torture. An estimated 20,000 children were left homeless and fatherless by the destruction of Kristallnacht and imprisonment of Jewish men.
Photo credits: Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives

17. BADGES OF HATE! SLIDE 18 – BADGES OF HATE Badges – labeling system
Badges – labeling system
The German government had a mandated labeling system that identified members of so-called undesirable groups.
Wearing symbols or badges stripped away the humanity of the people who wore them.
Example of present day possibilities: Imagine if you were segregated out because you were left handed, or if you received a poor grade in school.

18. SLIDE 19 – ACTUAL BADGES

19. SLIDE 20 – STAR OF DAVID
Badges helped Nazis keep track of Jews and others not only in prison camps but also in communities across Nazi-controlled territory.
The badges people wore were mandated and had nothing to do with any personal choices they had made.

20. Family being forced into Ghettos
SLIDE 21 – FAMILY BEING FORCED INTO GHETTOS
The Nazi policy quickly changed and instead of forcing Jews to emigrate, the policy became one of annihilation. Def. To reduce to nothing, to destroy.
The Nazis began to roundup Jews throughout Europe. The victims were first put in ghettos and told that when labor camps were built, they would be resettled in special work areas.
Ghettos were located in Eastern Europe, and they were located in the poorest section of the city. Ghettos were enclosed either with a brick wall or barbed wire fence.
Entire neighborhoods set up to be similar to prisons/jails with armed guards at all gates.
Family being forced into Ghettos

21. Ghetto Star SLIDE 22 - GHETTO STAR
SLIDE 22 Insert – Click to get - BOY AND GIRL WITH BOWL
The conditions were crowded - Usually 4-5 families shared one apartment. The water and supplies were bad, there was little food, and disease was rampant.
In the winter the families had to burn whatever they could in order to have heat.
Thousands of people died daily of either: disease, malnutrition, starvation and suicide.
Ghetto Star

22. People being “resettled” to Concentration Camps
SLIDE 23 - PEOPLE BEING RESETTLED TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Whenever the Nazi officials in charge decided, a certain number of ghetto residents were ordered to report to rail stations for resettlement/relocation somewhere else.
Thinking that life could only be better away from the disease-ridden ghettos, victims willingly accepted resettlement.
In order to avoid panic in the ghettos, the Nazis allowed families to travel together to the death camps. This is one of many examples of mind games played by the Nazis for cooperation .
People being “resettled” to Concentration Camps

23. SLIDE 24 - SUITCASES
Another example of mind games - Each person was allowed to take one suitcase of his or her personal items.
However, the suitcase was promptly taken away at the concentration camp.

24. SLIDE 25 - PEOPLE LOADING ON TO TRAINS
Trains used to transport the Jews to the camps.
Boxcars built to hold 8 horses or 40 people were used to transport no fewer than 100 people, often as many as 200 people, were jammed into a boxcar
Crowded conditions – You could not sit down; no food, no water, no lights and no bathrooms. The people who were crushed to death were left on board with the living until the boxcar reached the camp.
The only fresh air came from a small vent at one end of the boxcar or a small window at the other end.
The train rides could last days.
Thousands died - because the people coming from the ghettos were already malnourished or diseased and could not survive the transport.

25. Prisoners arriving at the camps…
SLIDE 26 - PRISONERS ARRIVING AT CAMP
Train whistle sound automatically plays.
Trains were greeted by a Nazi commander, who held the power of life or death.
Commanders would instruct the soldiers how to separate people as they were taken off the train.
Suitcases taken away and valuables confiscated.
Prisoners arriving at the camps…

26. “Work will set you free”
Entrance to Auschwitz
“Work will set you free”
SLIDE 27 - CAMP ENTRANCE: "ARBEIT MACHT FREI“ – “Work Will Set You Free” 
Above the gated-entry into the camp was a slogan - "Arbeit Macht Frei" which means "Work will set you free." While the Nazis did use some prisoners as slave laborers, killing was the major goal of this camp. Another mind game example.
Once they were separated by sex, the victims waited in long lines to be checked by a doctor. He decided who would go to the gas chambers.
Old people, sick people, women with children under 14, and all pregnant women were told to remove their clothing and then they were led to the shower rooms which were actually the gassing chambers. Guards threw canisters into the "showers" which exploded. At the end of 15 minutes, if the guard saw no one standing, doors were opened, bodies removed and an exhaust fan cleaned the bad air before the next group of people were brought in.
Before the bodies were taken to the crematorium, a person's head was shaved and all dental work was removed. Then the bodies were placed in the ovens to burn.

27. SLIDE 28 - MAP OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND KILLING CENTERS
The slide will automatically place swastikas on the concentration camps and skull/crossbones on the killing centers (also referred to as death camps and extermination camps).
There were two kinds of concentration camps: "extermination" and "labor" camps. There were ultimately seven extermination and 10,000 labor camps. This map only shows the major camps The extermination camps were designed for the sole purpose of killing people, mainly Jews.
The extermination camps (i.e., Auschwitz, Treblinka, etc.) were all located in Poland. None were located in Germany.
The Nazis needed a fast method for the mass killings of the Jews. These were the only camps with the gassing chambers. However, many of the camps such as the labor camps had crematoriums. Prisoners in a labor or work camp (Dachau, Buchenwald, etc.) were worked to death or used in medical experiments.

28. SLIDE 30 - OLDER MAN WITH TATTOO
This is a photo of a survivor, showing the tattoo with which he received while at Auschwitz.

29. SLIDE 31 - PILE OF BODIES AND VICTIM OF EXPERIMENT
Scores of Nazi doctors and medical researchers were given permission to carry out medical experiments on people in the camp where specially equipped laboratories were built.
Dr. Josef Mengele, "Angel of Death," was in charge of the staff, which performed the medical experiments in the name of “scientific research”. The experiments were a form of torture because none were done using anesthesia.
Children as well as adults were used in experiments.
People were injected with terrible diseases; organs were removed, and some experiments were done for specific reasons. For example, men were placed in cold water to see how long they could live before they succumbed to hypothermia. This experiment provided the Nazis with a time limit on how long their pilots could survive in water if they were shot down over the Baltic or North Sea.
Every experiment was documented.
Photo credit: German National Archives
Part of a stockpile of Zyklon-B poison gas pellets found at Majdanek death camp.

30. Even the very young… SLIDE 32 - YOUNG BABY WITH TATTOO
Notice that this baby has a tattoo.
Because most children were immediately killed, it is likely this baby was part of a study that used twins for experiments preformed by Nazi doctors.
Even the very young…

31. eyeglasses SLIDE 33 - PILE OF EYEGLASSES
When the prisoners were stripped of their clothing, nothing was wasted.
This is a pile of eyeglasses - Note the mass amount – thousands were killed daily.

32.  SLIDE 34 - PILE OF SHOES, PEOPLE SORTING
Note the mass amount.
Shoes

33. 2,999 People died on September 11th
SLIDE 35 - PICTURE OF TWIN TOWERS ON SEPTEMBER 11TH 2001
Remember Sept. 11th ? It is known as the greatest act of terrorism ever perpetuated against the U.S.
About 3,000 people died on Sept. 11th – 1 day.
In Auschwitz alone, as many as 10,000 people died every day. That is more than 3 times the number of people who died on Sept. 11th. (repeat this for impact)
Auschwitz was just one of 7 death camps, it ran 24 hours, 7 days a week. It housed 4 gas chambers and 4 crematoriums.

34. Righteous Among the Nations
Resistance
Righteous Among the Nations
Oskar Schindler
Raoul Wallenberg
Varian Fry
SLIDE 36 - SCHINDLER, WALLENBERG, AND FRY
There were many good people, mostly in Europe, who risked their own lives to help and save their friends and neighbors, the Jews. These people have earned the title, "Righteous Among the Nations".
Oskar Schindler - he was not a righteous person in the beginning because he wanted to make money off the war. By hiring Jews to work in his factories, he became a Righteous Person. He saved about 900 people. The movie "Schindler's List" is his story.
Raoul Wallenberg - a Swedish diplomat stationed in Budapest, Hungry. He issued Swedish visas to as many Jews as he could in and around Budapest. Soldiers could not touch any person holding one of these Swedish visas. Wallenberg was arrested and sent to prison in Siberia where he was later murdered. He saved over 10,000 people.
Varian Fry - an American journalist who helped anti-Nazi refugees escape from France. He established a legal French relief organization, The American Relief Center, and worked behind its cover using illegal means - black market funds, forged documents, secret mountain passages, and sea routes - to help endangered refugees from France. His efforts resulted in the rescue of some 2000 persons, including such distinguished artists and intellectuals as Marc Chagall (Russian artist). Fry is the only American named as a "Righteous Among the Nations."
Fry
Wallenberg
Schindler

35. Resistance Fighters Group portrait of a resistance unit
SLIDE 37 - RESISTANCE FIGHTERS
Victims did not willingly go to their deaths. Resistance was difficult.
Examples of resistance - to smuggle a loaf of bread, to teach their culture and religion in secret, to rescue a Torah Scroll (holy writings), to forge documents, to smuggle people across borders; to rise up in ghettos, etc.
SLIDE 37A – Click to wipe out 2 of the group.
We know through research that 2 of these 4 people were killed in their efforts.

36. Liberated Russian children cheer / Dachau
SLIDE 38 - LIBERATED CHILDREN
The children behind the wire fence are cheering the arrival of the American soldiers as they know they are about to be set free.
Liberated Russian children cheer / Dachau

37. Have Any Genocides Occurred Since the Holocaust?
Holocaust refers specifically to the Jewish/Undesirables Genocide we have presented today
Genocide - mass murder of a group of people
Kurdish genocide in Turkey and Iraq
Rwandan genocide in Africa
1991 – Bosnian genocide in Europe
May we never let it happen again…
SLIDE 48 – GENOCIDE
Definition - Mass murder of a group of people.
This presentation focuses on the Jewish genocide, named the Holocaust.
Left click to make the last 3 bullets appear.
There is and will only ever be one Holocaust, however, there have been other genocides, even some in recent times such as the Kurds in Northern Iraq, the Muslims and Serbs in Bosnia and the Rwandan genocide in Africa.
Death tolls in these genocides are not clearly documented – reports widely vary. Some reports claim the death toll in Rwanda to be as high as a half a million dead.

38. SLIDE 49– WALL IN PRAGUE
This is a photo taken of the Czech Republic Jewish Ghetto – Memorial wall. There are 77,297 names of Jewish Czech citizens killed in the Terezin Concentration Camp.
Click the speaker to begin Joan Baez song which will play as you click through the next 8 slides (to the end of the presentation).
The following slides are representations of The Holocaust drawn by children.

39. SLIDE 56 – RAILROAD TRACKS

40. Auschwitz - Birkenau SLIDE 57 – AUSCHWITZ
It took 50 years for grass to grow again at Auschwitz.
Treblinka was located in a forest. For 4 decades after the Holocaust, no animal life existed here. It was a site so permeated by death that no animals would come and make their homes there, not even birds.
PRACTICE TOLERANCE AND HAVE THE HOLOCAUST SERVE AS A LESSON NEVER TO BE REPEATED.
Auschwitz - Birkenau