1. The Holocaust
Chapter 11 Section 4

2. Lecture Focus Questions
#1: How did the Holocaust develop and what were its results?
#2: One historian has said that the Holocaust began on “the day that the Jews started to be treated differently.” Explain what this statement means and what evidence supports it.

3. Roots of the Holocaust
Holocaust: the Nazi attempt to kill all Jews and other “undesirables” under their control
Nazis considered Aryans (white gentiles, especially those of Germanic, Nordic, and Anglo-Saxon blood) superiors to all others
Hitler blamed Jews for Germany’s problems
Urged boycott of Jewish businesses and barred Jews from civil service jobs, journalism, banking, and medicine
Nuremberg Laws: denied German citizenship to Jews, banned marriage between Jews and non-Jews, segregated Jews at all levels of society

4. Kristallnacht 1938: Jewish refugee killed German diplomat in Paris
Kristallnacht: “Night of Broken Glass” during which Nazi officials ordered attacks on Jews in Germany
200+ synagogues destroyed
7,500+ Jewish businesses destroyed
200 Jews killed
600 injured
Thousands arrested

5. Jewish Refugees
Between about 129,000 Jews fled Germany and Nazi-controlled Austria
Refugees included brilliant minds like Albert Einstein
Not generally welcomed into other countries
Great Depression made jobs scarce
Many countries, including the U.S., closed their doors to Jews
St. Louis: 1936 ocean liner carrying 937 Jews sailed from Germany to Cuba
21 given permission to stay in Cuba
U.S. officials refused to accept any refugees
Ship returned to Germany
600 Jews from that ship later died in camps

6. “Final Solution”
Genocide: willful annihilation of a racial, political, or cultural group
Concentration Camps: camps in which specially designated groups were confined
Imprisoned labor leaders, socialists, communists, and anyone who spoke out against the Third Reich and Hitler
Imprisoned other “undesirables” (Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, drunkards, mentally ill, and conscientious objectors)

7. Badges of Hate

8. Torture and Death Forced to live on 1800 calories/day
Horrible medical experiments performed
Oxygen deprivation, hypothermia
Bodies mutilated without anesthesia
Thousands died in agonizing pain including 5,000 mentally or physically disabled children
Walled ghettos and camps established in Poland and Eastern Europe
Wannsee Conference 1942: Nazi leaders decided to move toward the “Final Solution”
Death camps: camps in which prisoners were systematically exterminated
Auschwitz: largest, located in Poland

9. Allies and the Holocaust
Early response was weak → Hitler underestimated, fear of job competition
War Refugee Board: established by FDR, worked with Red Cross to save thousands of Eastern European Jews (tiny fraction!)
USSR closest ally to death camps, but Stalin showed little concern
Liberation of camps made Americans realize the enormity of the evil perpetrated by the Nazis
Evil is more than an abstract idea, it’s real!
Outpouring of American sympathy
Increased demand for an independent Jewish homeland
1948: Truman recognized Israel as an independent nation

10. Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials: Nazi war criminals tried for crimes against humanity
Many claimed they were “just following orders”
Everyone is responsible for their own actions!
Many Nazis fled and were tracked down by governments or other organizations
Simon Wiesenthal Center (Museum of Tolerance) found Adolf Eichmann (leading architect of the “Final Solution”) in Argentina and brought him to justice
John Demjanjuk, Nazi guard in Poland, found hiding in Ohio deported to Germany for trial in 2009

11. Lecture Focus Questions
#1: How did the Holocaust develop and what were its results?
#2: One historian has said that the Holocaust began on “the day that the Jews started to be treated differently.” Explain what this statement means and what evidence supports it.