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The Holocaust. An Introduction holocaust (noun): Greek word meaning “sacrifice by fire”. The Nazi Reign - The Third Reich. Reich is a German word meaning reign or empire .
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The Holocaust An Introduction holocaust (noun): Greek word meaning “sacrifice by fire”
The Nazi Reign - The Third Reich • Reich is a German word meaning reign or empire. • The Nazis referred to their rule in Germany from 1933 to 1945 as Das Dritte Reich or in English The Third Reich. • They considered themselves the third group to reign over German. • Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Third Reich.
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) • He was a war veteran who fought in WWI. • He became the leader of the Nazi Party in 1921. • He later became the absolute dictator of Germany. • He was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933. • He became the President or Führer of Germany in 1934.
First They Came In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak up. - Pastor Martin Niemöller Date: 1959 or 1960
Hitler Youth Movement • A youth organization that formed in the 1920s for boys aged 10-18. • Membership became compulsory in 1936. • One aim was to instill the boys motivation as soldiers, to fight faithfully for the Third Reich. • Many of the members were drafted into the military during WWII. Some as young as 12.
The League of German Girls • Formed in the 1920s for girls age 10-18. It was the only organized youth group for girls in Germany. • Enrolment grew when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. • Membership became compulsory in 1939 for all girls age 10-18.
Pre-War • Poland and the Soviet Union had the largest Jewish populations • Jews very assimilated: farmers, factory workers, business people, doctors, teachers, and craftsmen • Extremists blamed Jews for Germany’s defeat in WWI • Blamed the German Foreign Minister (a Jew) for his role in reaching a settlement with the Allies. Jewish community of Sighet, Romania in front of a wooden synagogue.
Anti-Semitism • For 2,000 years Jews have suffered discrimination and been used as scapegoats. • people blamed Jews for the “Black Death” during Middle Ages • Hitler idolized Austrian mayor (Karl Lueger) who used anti-Semitism in his political campaign. • Political leaders used anti-Semitism as a tool - portray Jews as a race instead of a religion.
The Poisonous Mushroom A mother and her young boy are gathering mushrooms in the German forest. The boy finds some poisonous ones. The mother explains that there are good mushrooms and poisonous ones, and, as they go home, says: “Look, Franz, human beings in this world are like the mushrooms in the forest. There are good mushrooms and there are good people. There are poisonous, bad mushrooms and there are bad people. And we have to be on our guard against bad people just as we have to be on guard against poisonous mushrooms. Do you understand that?” “Yes, mother,” Franz replies. “I understand that in dealing with bad people trouble may arise, just as when one eats a poisonous mushroom. One may even die!” “And do you know, too, who these bad men are, these poisonous mushrooms of mankind?” the mother continued. Franz slaps his chest in pride: “Of course I know, mother! They are the Jews! Our teacher has often told us about them.” “However they disguise themselves, or however friendly they try to be, affirming a thousand times their good intentions to us, one must not believe them. Jews they are and Jews they remain. For our Volk they are poison.” “Like the poisonous mushroom!” says Franz. “Yes, my child! Just as a single poisonous mushrooms can kill a whole family, so a solitary Jew can destroy a whole village, a whole city, even an entire Volk.” Franz has understood.
The Poisonous Mushroom, II “Tell me, mother, do all Gentiles know that the Jew is as dangerous as a poisonous mushroom?” Mother shakes her head. “Unfortunately not, my child. There are millions of Gentiles who do not yet know the Jews. So we have to enlighten people and warn them against the Jews. Our young people, too, must be warned. Our boys and girls must learn to know the Jew. They must learn that the Jew is the most dangerous poison-mushroom in existence. Just as poisonous mushrooms spring up everywhere, so the Jew is found in every country in the world. Just as poisonous mushrooms often lead to the most dreadful calamity, so the Jew is the cause of misery and distress, illness and death.” The author then concludes this story by pointing the moral: German youth must learn to recognise the Jewish poison-mushroom. They must learn what a danger the Jew is for the German Volk and for the whole world. They must learn that the Jewish problem involves the destiny of us all. “The following tales tell the truth about the Jewish poison-mushroom. They show the many shapes the Jew assumes. They show the depravity and baseness of the Jewish race. They show the Jew for what he really is: The Devil in human form.
The Holocaust (proper noun):The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Nazi target groups: Ethnicities: Jews & Gypsies (Roma), Nationalities: Slavs (Poles & Russians) “Degenerates”: homosexuals, the mentally & physically disabled Political rivals: communists & socialists Religions: Jehovah Witnesses & Jews Asocials: Anybody else who opposed the Nazis
Three Steps on the Road to Genocide: Burning of Jewish books, including the Torah, 1934 You cannot live among us as Jews. You cannot live among us. You cannot live.
The Ban on Jewish Business • The signs read "Germans, defend yourselves against the Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy only at German shops!" and "Germans, defend yourselves, buy only at German shops!"
You cannot live among us as Jews. On April 1, 1933, Hitler declared a one-day boycott of Jewish shops Many German citizens voluntarily participated
You cannot live among us as Jews. May 1933, Jewish books were burned in public bonfires
You cannot live among us as Jews. Eugenics: Based loosely on early 20th century understanding of the science of genetics, eugenicists believed that people should be bred as farmers breed animals: deliberately weeding out “inferior” traits through genetic selection. The Nazis believed that they could create a “a master race”.
You cannot live among us as Jews. Aryan race: The Nazis believed that people of Northern European ancestry – especially those with blue eyes and blonde hair – were superior to all other people, including people of African, Asian, and Middle-Eastern ancestry. In 1933, there were few people of African or Asian ancestry living in Germany. There were, however, 500,000 Jews who seemed to threaten “racial purity”.
The Power of Words… “The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one” “How fortunate for leaders that men do not think” The victor will never be asked if he told the truth” “ I believe today I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am doing the Lord’s work”
You cannot live among us as Jews. Above: “Juden Rause” (“Jews Get Out”), Nazi children’s board game A group at exit 2 are “off to Palestine”
Kristallnacht • “Night of the Broken Glass” November 9-10,1938 • Anti-Jewish rampage in Germany: Arson, arrests and beatings • Nazis attacked synagogues, homes and businesses
Identification Cards • This is the cover of a kennkarteor identification card issued during WWII. • The “J” printed on the front in black identified a Jew.
Identification Cards • The “J” was also stamped inside in red or purple ink. • Fingerprints and a photograph showing the left ear were required of all Jews . • All women were required to add the Jewish middle name “Sara” and the men “Israel”. • This woman’s name is Erna “Sara” Fromm
You cannot live among us as Jews. • “The Nuremberg Laws” turned prejudice & discrimination into systemic racism. • For example: • 1935: Jewish Newspapers could no longer be sold • 1936: Jews lost the right to vote • 1938: Jews had to surrender drivers’ licences & car registrations Below: Aerial view of Nuremberg, Germany, prewar period
You cannot live among us as Jews. • The Nuremberg Laws also classified “degrees “ of Jewish blood • One use for this classification was to permit or to deny couples the right to marry (and thus to reproduce) • One proposed “solution” to the Jewish problem was sterilization
You cannot live among us as Jews. • By 1938, all Jews were required to carry identification cards • Jewish passports & papers were marked with a “J”
You cannot live among us. Many Jews attempted to leave Germany. But many nations, including Great Britain, Canada & the United States limited Jewish immigration Left: In 1939, 850 Jewish refugees attempt to enter British-controlled Palestine illegally.
You cannot live among us. British officials arrested the 850 European Jewish immigrants and interned them in a detention center near Haifa, Palestine.
List of Jewish Ghettos BialaPodlaska Bialystok Bochnia Brody Czestochowa Grodno Izbica Jozefow Kielce Krakow Krasnystaw Kovno Kutno Lodz* Lubartow Lublin Lvov Miedzyrzec Minsk Piaski Prague Przemysl Radom Riga Rzeszow Siedlce Tarnow Tluszcz Vilnius Warsaw Zamosc Zwolen
Courtyard in Lodz Ghetto. Residents here await the final deportation in 1943
Why Have Camps? • Essential to Nazi’s systematic oppression and eventual mass murder of enemies of Nazi Germany • Slave labor moved them towards their ultimate goal- “annihilation by work” • What was taken from Jews was used to provide goods for the German People
