Chapter 28.3

1. Chapter 28.3 The Holocaust

2. Nazi Anti-Semitism • Nazi Anti-Semitism • At the time of Hitler’s rise to power there were about 9 million Jews in Europe most of them living outside of Europe • There was no factual basis for Hitler’s claim that the Jews were to blame for Europe downfall or Germans as the master race • Many Germans used the Jews as scapegoats because it was easy to finally blame someone for the humiliation and economic downfall they had after WWI • Anti-Semitism had a long history in Europe but in Germany it changed from hostility against a religion to hatred against a race • Nazi Germany changed Jews legal status and deported many of them from the countries, thousands of other left on their own • Emigration was not an option for everyone • Many were too poor to travel • Many countries (US included) would not allow poor immigrants who would compete for jobs • Many countries (US included) had a strict limit of how many Germans they would allow in • Because of this 250,000 Jews still lived in Germany at the start of the war

3. The “Final Solution” • The Killing Begins • During the war many countries were under German rule which meant many Jews became under their rule • Because of this they came up with the Final Solution: the deliberate mass execution of Jews • Some Jews were forced into ghettos which were fenced in parts of the city were they could not leave • Warsaw was the most famous which housed 400,000 people • Concentration camps which were meant to hold the people that he called enemies of the state • They were forced to work as slave labor • Many were used as medical experiments • All endured starvation and brutal treatment

4. The “Final Solution” • The Killing Begins (continued) • Hitler’s forces carried out large scale execution of Jews • During the invasion of the Soviet Union the Nazis est. a mobile killing units to destroy Jews in the USSR • They would carry out mass execution of Jews • In a 2 day period 35,000 Jews were executed in BabiYar • The Nazis wanted to be able to kill mass amounts of Jews and leave no evidence so they created special concentration camps • They had gas chambers that killed thousands of Jews at one time • Furnaces to dispose of the bodies

5. The “Final Solution” • Victims • Jews were not the only victims of the concentration camps and mass executions. By the end of the was 5 million of the people were killed in the concentration camps • Poles • Slavs • Homosexuals • Disabled individuals • Gypsies • Jews suffered the greatest… 6 million died from the Nazi. This was 2 of every three Jews in Europe at the time. • Today we were refer to this as the holocaust

6. The World Reacts • The World Reacts • By the outbreak of the war Hitler’s brutality was shielded from the outside world • By 1942 The US and GB heard reports of the horrors happening in Germany, many did not believe them • Once they were confirmed the 2 countries met to try and find a possible response but they never took action • Finally in 1944 The US established the War Refugee Board to help rescue European Jews…however, millions had already died • 200,000 Jews were rescued • The Allied leaders would not bomb the roadways to the death camps • They didn’t want to harm their war efforts • Many were also anti-semitic

7. The World Reacts • The World Reacts • As Allied forces started pushing back the Germans they found abandon death camps • 1944 Soviets found the first abandon death camp in Poland • Germans tried to cover up their crimes • Soviets liberated the concentration camp Auschwitz and found 7,000 starving survivors and hundred of thousands of clothes indicating more use to be there • US and Great British troops found concentration camps and were horrified at the at what they found • This allowed the world the see what the world would have looked liked if ruled by Adolf Hitler