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The Holocaust. Outcome: The Final Solution. The Final Solution. Setting the Stage Adolf Hitler made several promises to the German people as his power grew: Will return Germany to its former glory Will give people jobs Will get rid of the “ Jewish Problem”
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The Holocaust Outcome: The Final Solution
The Final Solution • Setting the Stage • Adolf Hitler made several promises to the German people as his power grew: • Will return Germany to its former glory • Will give people jobs • Will get rid of the “Jewish Problem” • In the late 1930’s to early 1940’s, the Nazis had rounded up and killed over 1 million Jews, but “The Final Solution,” the plan to exterminate all Jews from Europe, was not decided upon until 1942
The Final Solution • Stages of Genocide • Nazi Propaganda against the Jews • Propaganda is information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc. • Joseph Goebbels was head of Nazi propaganda; close associate of Hitler • The Nazis blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems during the Depression • Jews were made to look like deviants and even rapists • Anti-Semitism was not only common, but it was growing; Hitler was loved
The Final Solution • The Nuremberg Laws • Laws were passed in Germany called the Nuremberg Laws, which allowed for legal discrimination & terrorism against Jews. Examples: • Jews were stripped of German citizenship (could no longer vote) • Marriage between Jews & Germans was forbidden • Jews were excluded from public office, practicing law, medicine, teaching • Jews had curfews, had to wear yellow Star of David for public ID
The Final Solution • Kristallnacht • The Night of Broken Glass- Anti-Semitic riots in Germany and Austria. • 30,000 Jews rounded up and taken to concentration camps • Homes, businesses, and synagogues destroyed
The Final Solution • Separation into Ghettos • The Nazis wanted to create more “lebensraum” or living space • Jews were rounded up and sent to walled off sections of cities called ghettos • Multiple families occupied small, cramped, dirty apartments • Jews were allowed to leave the ghettos for work but had strict curfews • The Nazis took most of the property left by the Jews for their own profit
The Final Solution • Concentration Camps • Thousands of Jews were transported to work camps around Poland, Austria, and Germany to work as slave labor for the Nazis • Railroad boxcars were filled with people with no food or water as transport • Thousands starved, worked to death, or were killed in these camps • Plaszow camp in Poland is the main camp in the film Schindler’s List
The Final Solution • Death Camps (The Final Solution) • Once the Final Solution was decided upon, many camps became extermination camps aimed solely at killing Jews • Heinrich Himmler & Adolf Eichmann were the chief engineers and overseers of the Final Solution • At first bodies were buried in shallow graves; the stench could be smelled for miles -->neighboring Germans were either ignorant or ignored the atrocity • The Nazis forced Jews to transport dead bodies, exhume bodies, and even kill
The Final Solution • Gas chambers became main mode of death • Thousands could be killed in mere minutes • Zyklon B gas pellets were dropped in • Bodies were moved to crematoriums were bodies were quickly burned • Often times, Sonderkommandos were used; Jews forced to put dead Jews into crematoriums
The Final Solution • Auschwitz was the worst of the death camps • Located in Poland • 1,100,000 killed at Auschwitz; 200,000 children killed • Joseph Megele did medical experiments on Jews and children
The Final Solution • Mauthausen in Austria (John Sagan story) • Others targeted in the Final Solution: • Gypsies • Communists • Political Prisoners (John Sagan) • Homosexuals • Jehovah’s Witnesses • Soviet Prisoners of War
The Final Solution • Result: The Nazis were organized, systematic, and merciless. Most of the death camps were in Poland and over 11 million people were killed of which 6 million were Jews. Most of the world had no idea and those who did know, were powerless to stop Hitler and the Nazis.
The Holocaust Outcome: Healing
Healing • Setting the Stage • The Holocaust mostly ended with the German surrender in May 1945 • 6 million Jews had been murdered and survivors had to start over • Hitler committed suicide before Germany surrendered leaving countless others to take the blame and punishment for his orders
Healing • Liberation of the Camps • The Soviet Union liberated many of the camps as they pushed in from the East • When Allied troops found the camps, they had no idea what they were dealing with • Many remaining Nazi camp Commandants, or camp leaders, fled
Healing • Role of the German citizens: Were they aware of the full situation? • Truth is: some knew, others did not • It was difficult and dangerous to question Hitler & the Nazis • Anti-Semitism was strong and many turned a blind eye • Some like Oskar Schindler risked their lives to help Jews find refuge
Healing • What was next for the Jews? • Wives, husbands, sons, daughters were gone; finding survivors was not easy • Just because the Holocaust was officially over didn’t mean Anti-Semitism was • Property rights of stolen goods and homes were not honored • Very few got wealth or property back; many were quite wealthy before relocation • Many Jews fled Europe
Healing • Creation of Israel • Israel is at the SE tip of the Mediterranean Sea; was the promised land of the Ancient Hebrews • Israel declared itself a nation in 1948; source of major conflict to this day • 42% of the World’s Jewish population live in Israel today
Healing • Nuremberg Trials • Many camp leaders and Nazis were put on trial for crimes against humanity • Rudolph Hoss, Commandant of Auschwitz, was hanged after a 3 week trial • Adolf Eichmann escaped to South America and later snatched by Israeli troops 15 years later and sentenced to death after a 4 month trial • Heinrich Himmler committed suicide with a potassium cyanide capsule shortly after arrest and before he would stand trial at Nuremberg • Joseph Mengele escaped to Argentina; died years later under name Wolfgang Gerhard • Of over 7000 SS guards who worked at Auschwitz and survived, fewer than 800 were ever put on trial and 90% of those involved were never prosecuted
Healing • Deniers of the Holocaust • Proof that Anti-Semitism still exists, some deny the Holocaust ever happened • Holocaust deniers are often those upset about Israel’s independence and occupation of Palestinian lands • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former leader of Iran, is a denier of the Holocaust and is allegedly pursuing nuclear weapons for Iran (2013 left and Hassan Rouhani is the current leader.
Healing • Lessons for Today • The power of a dictator is one our country is strongly opposed to • Democracy prevents such things; hopefully (Japanese internment camps??) • Genocide did not die with the Holocaust • Rwanda and Darfur in Africa have seen hundreds of thousands slaughtered at the hands of corrupt governments and rival tribes • Studying the Holocaust teaches us the power of unity and the atrocities that can be brought on by hatred and Xenophobia • The Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. is great place to see real artifacts, stories, and to honor those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis
Healing • Conclusion: The Holocaust is not ancient history. These events are still possible in our world and if we take the time to understand how these events can unfold, then we have the power and knowledge to stop them from happening.
