Holocaust 1933-1945

1. Holocaust1933-1945

2. Phase I: 1933-1939 • 1933 - Hitler came to power and he had a plan • Hitler wanted to create the perfect “Aryan” race: blond hair, blue eyes, and of pure German blood. Nazis felt they were racially superior and they had to remove the inferior races. • They saw Jews, Gypsies, and the handicapped as a serious biological threat to the purity of the “German (Aryan) Race” or what they called the “master race”. • Jews numbered around 500,000 in Germany which was less than 1% of the total population in 1933. • Jews were the principal targets of Nazi hatred. • Nazi propaganda unfairly blamed Jews for Germany’s economic depression and the country’s defeat in WWI.

3. Nuremberg Laws - 1935 • These laws stripped the Jews of their citizenship even though they retained limited rights. • Anti-Jewish regulations segregated Jews further and made daily life very difficult for them. • Jews could not: -- attend public school -- go to theaters -- go to vacation resorts -- reside, or even walk, in certain sections of German cities • Jewish businesses were also boycotted

4. University of Vienna Nazis stand on the steps of a University of Vienna building “protecting” the school from Jews. Jews were eventually banned from positions of influence. Both Jewish professors and Jewish students were removed from universities in Nazi-occupied countries.

5. “Kristallnacht” • November 9 and 10, 1938 - “night of broken glass” • Nazi-led attack on the Jews throughout Germany and Austria in revenge for the murder of a German diplomat by a Jewish refugee in Paris. • The Nazis destroyed Jewish synagogues, businesses and Jewish homes. • They arrested Jewish men and many were killed. • First organized “pogrom” (riot) against the Jews • Red Flag to the world that was missed.

6. Boycott Jewish businesses were boycotted in order to drive them out of business. It only lasted a day and was largely ignored by German citizens. It did, however, lead to a limitation on the financial and cultural freedoms of the Jewish population.

7. Kristallnacht The night of broken glass, named for the mass of broken glass due to the smashing of store front windows. This attack on all things Jewish took place throughout Germany and Austria.

8. Sterilization • Taking away the ability to reproduce. • Nazis used this technique to improve the “Aryan” race; they wanted to purify the race. • 1933-1945 - Hitler wanted to reduce the number of “inferiors” through involuntary sterilization programs. • Those with genetic disorders were judged inferior and subjected to the procedure. • 400,000 Germans were sterilized.

9. Groups Targeted by the Nazis • The following groups were targeted by the Nazis because they did not fit the perfect Aryan standard or simply did not follow along: Jews Gypsies political opponents traitors homosexuals Jehovah’s Witnesses Communists “undesirables” or “enemies of the state” • Between 1933 and 1939, about half the German Jewish population and more than two-thirds of Austrian Jews fled Nazi persecution emigrating to Palestine, the U.S., Latin America, China, and Western Europe (they would later be recaptured). Albert Einstein and Anne Frank were two Jews that fled.

10. Star of David This Star of David badge was required to be worn by Jews in Germany.

11. Phase II: 1939-1945 • September 1, 1939 - Germany invaded Poland and WWII began • Nazis began to destroy the Polish Army and eventually Polish culture; they viewed Poles as “subhuman”. • German soldiers carried out massacres against Polish leaders. • To create new living space for the “superior Germanic race”, large segments of the Polish population were resettled and German families moved in. This is known as Lebensraum, or “living space”. • Nazis “kidnapped” as many as 200,000 Polish children who had “Aryan” features; they were then given to German families to learn Nazi ways. • Because they did not have German blood they were sent to camps and eventually killed by starvation, lethal injection, and disease.

12. Heinrich Himmler Himmler wanted to create a “Nazi utopia” in the Polish and Russian countryside. This meant that with the new Lebensraum, Nazis could move in and create a strictly Nazi society.

13. Euthanasia - 1939 • Hitler ordered the involuntary killing or death of those deemed “incurable” – they were mostly the mentally and physically handicapped. • Majority of those killed were children; parents were told they died of natural causes.

14. “Einsatzgruppen” • Mobile killing units; 4 units dispatched into the Soviet Union following behind the army. • 1941 - Germany invaded the Soviet Union; Jews, political leaders, communists, and many Gypsies were killed in mass executions (the overwhelming majority were Jews). • Victims were shot by Nazi soldiers and even local police forces and buried in mass graves. • Babi Yar - September 29 and 30, 1941 33,000 people were murdered in two days time. Most victims were Jews.

15. Hitler did not like this technique • Thought it was too slow • Many members of the SS complained of how difficult it was on them to continue the pace of killing in such a way. They had to look their victims in the eye.

16. Einsatzgruppen This photo was taken at a mass killing. Notice the Jewish man kneeling before the mass grave while a member of Einsatzgruppe D has a pistol aimed at his head. All 28,000 Jews in Vinnitsa, Ukraine were murdered in this way.

17. Ghettos • These were sectioned off parts of cities to keep Jews away from other citizens. • Walls were built to keep them “hidden”; they were forced to live in crowded, abandoned homes - many families living together with no heat and plumbing. • Their food intake was restricted; anyone caught smuggling food into the ghetto ran the risk of being shot on the spot. • Starvation and disease was a serious problem that claimed many lives (tens of thousands). • Warsaw and Lodz in Poland were the largest of the ghettos.

18. Jews tried to keep their culture alive while living under such harsh conditions. • Ghettos provided a forced labor pool for the Germans, and many forced laborers died from exhaustion or maltreatment.

19. Warsaw Ghetto This is a photo taken of a child dying of starvation on the Warsaw Ghetto streets. This was a common occurrence.

20. Warsaw Round up Jews in ghettos across Europe were rounded up and sent by train to one of six death camps located in Nazi-occupied Poland after 1942.

21. Final Solution • January 20, 1942 • Wannsee Conference – outside Berlin where 15 Nazis met; Hitler did not attend. • Committee came up with the “final solution to the Jewish problem”. • It became state policy to kill all Jews in Europe

22. Deportations • Between 1942 and 1944, the Germans moved to eliminate the ghettos in occupied Poland and elsewhere, deporting occupants to “extermination camps” Trains • Jews and other potential victims were transported to the killing centers on trains in cattle cars – trips could last for days.

23. Deportations This is a map of the path of major deportation routes in Nazi-occupied territories. The victims were rounded up from ghettos and work camps across Europe and sent by train to one of six death camps, signified by a white square.

24. Trains Jews were put onto cattle cars. One hundred people would be put into a car designed to carry much fewer. Many did not survive the trip.

25. Killing Centers • Death camps were set up with capabilities to kill thousands of Jews by gassing them. • Six of these camps were created either from the ground up or out of camps that already existed. They are: Belzec Chelmno Sobibor Majdanek Treblinka Auschwitz • These sites were chosen due to the proximity to rail lines. They were all located in Nazi-occupied Poland.

26. Auschwitz-Birkenau This is the infamous entrance to the largest of the six death camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau. The largest number of European Jews was killed at this camp during its operation.

27. Auschwitz • To many Jews, Auschwitz was synonymous with death. • This camp served as a concentration camp and slave labor camp; it eventually became the killing center where the largest numbers of European Jews and Gypsies were killed. • More than 1.25 million were killed at Auschwitz – 9 out of 10 were Jews • Auschwitz has three main camps. It measured 4,695 acres in size, which is approximately 12 square miles.

28. The Process: Death Camps • The methods of murder were the same in all the killing centers, which were operated by the SS. • The victims arrived in railroad cattle cars, mostly from Polish ghettos and camps, but also from almost every other eastern and western European country. • “selection” – on arrival, men were separated from women and children. • Healthy men were used as workers while most of the women, children, and elderly were sent to the gas chambers. • Prisoners were forced to undress and hand over all valuables.

29. Selection This is a group of Jews from the country of Hungary. They are going through selection. Men were separated from women and children. If you were not selected for work you would be sent to your death in the gas chamber.

30. Dr. Joseph Mengele Mengele was responsible for the terrible experiments conducted on prisoners at Auschwitz. He was particularly interested in twins, or zwilinge. He wanted to be able to create the Aryan race as quickly as possible.

31. Work Force Prisoners would be spared the chamber if they were needed for work. The jobs they did kept the camp in operation. Notice all of their heads are shaved. They did this to cut down on lice and to take away their identity.

32. They were driven naked into the gas chambers, which were disguised as shower rooms, and either carbon monoxide or Zyklon B was used to asphyxiate (suffocate) them. • The minority selected for forced labor were, after initial quarantine, vulnerable to malnutrition, exposure, disease, medical experiments, and brutality – many died as a result. • After the gassing, the bodies were removed and sent to the crematoriums or ovens; the bodies were burned to hide the evidence and cut down on disease. • The Nazi motto: “dispose of the body, use the byproduct”

33. Nazis used as much as possible off of the victims’ bodies: hair prostheses (artificial limbs) gold teeth eye glasses • Bodies were also burned in mass graves and Jews were forced to fill these pits with fellow prisoners’ bodies.

34. Nuremberg Trials • The Allies expressed outrage at the horrors of the Holocaust and vowed to punish those responsible. • Took place in Nuremberg, Germany • 21 leading Nazis on trial for “war crimes” or “crimes against humanity” • 11 received the death sentence • 500,000 lesser Nazis received jail time and fines • Individuals are ultimately responsible for their own actions, even in times of war. • 6 million Jews and 12 million overall were killed by the Nazis.

35. The Defendants Here are some of the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials. Hermann Goring and Rudolf Hess are seen first row, far left. Goring eventually killed himself before the Allies could put him to death. Many of them still defended Hitler and their actions.

36. Bearing Witness Gen. Eisenhower and other U.S. military witness the reality of what the Nazis had done. This is one of many examples of how the Nazis tried to get rid of the bodies. They were stacked and burned.

37. Liberation Scenes like this were playing out across Europe as the Allies discovered camp after camp. Now the real tragedy begins. These liberated prisoners are learning that the world no longer wants them and their families are most likely gone.