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America's Response to the Holocaust: Examining the American Reaction and Response

This lesson focuses on America's response to the Holocaust. Students will explore the American reaction and response to the systematic persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime through various activities and discussions.

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America's Response to the Holocaust: Examining the American Reaction and Response

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  1. Bellwork  • Turn in your homework to your class drawer • Grab the notes from the back • Answer the following question on the back of your notes: • What do you already know about the Holocaust? 

  2. The Holocaust American Response

  3. Today's Standard  • US. 70 – Examine the American reaction and response to the Holocaust 

  4. Today's Objective  • Students will be able to explain America's response to the Holocaust in their own words

  5. German Point of View  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elpoijlSa-Y • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hsngjBbH68

  6. The Truth • “The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators” (www.ushmm.org)  • Antisemitism – hostility to, prejudice, or discrimination against Jewish people • Nazi mindset: Germans = superior, and  Jews = inferior • Hitler’s Final Solution (extermination of all Jews) and Aryan Race (pure German Race) • http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/the-camps/types-of-camps/#.WJDVV2QrJ1M

  7. Jews Targeted  • Jews were not the only targets of the Holocaust (Gypsies, Polish people, Slavic people, Jehovah's Witnesses...) but they were the central target of the Nazis • Jews = scapegoat – someone Germany could blame all of their problems on • 1935 – Nuremberg Laws – stripped Jews of their German citizenship, jobs, and property • Jews also had to wear a bright yellow Star of David  This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.

  8. Kristallnacht  • November 9-10, 1938 = Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) • Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish businesses, homes, synagogues in Germany and Austria • Approximately 100 Jews were killed and hundreds injured • About 30,000 Jews were arrested and hundreds of synagogues were burned • Nazis later blamed the Jews for this destruction 

  9. Jewish Refugees • Nazis tried to speed Jewish emigration but encountered difficulty – Jews fleeing Germany had trouble finding nations that would accept them • France had 400,000 refugees, the British wouldn't admit more than 80,000, 30,000 were allowed in Palestine • The United States accepted 100,000 refugees – many Americans wanted the door closed to America – they were scared they would take jobs (Great Depression) and threaten economic recovery • Also – Anti-Semitism and fear of "enemy-agents"

  10. The Plight of the St. Louis • German Ocean Liner – passed Miami in 1939 – 740 of the 943 passengers had US immigration papers, but the Coast Guard refused to allow any passengers to disembark in America • The ship was forced to return to Europe • More than half of those passengers were later victims of the Holocaust 

  11. Forced Relocation • If the Nazis found people "unfit" to be a part of their "master race", they were killed by Nazi death squads as part of Hitler's "Final Solution"  • Jews were also forced to move into overcrowded ghettos – the Nazis sealed them off with barbed wire and stone walls • People living in ghettos were forced to work in factories  • Resistance movements were formed in some ghettos

  12. Concentration Camps  • Jews in communities not reached by the killing squads were forced to leave their homes to board train cars or trucks headed to concentration camps (labor camps) - families were often separated in this process • Original purpose of concentration camps = imprison political opponents and protesters, but they were later turned over to the SS and expanded • Prisoners lived in overcrowded wooden barracks, had meager meals, were forced to work and were killed if they couldn't 

  13. Arrival to Concentration Camps

  14. Final Stage • 1942 – the overworking, starvation, beating, and killing that took place at the concentration camps did not fulfill the Nazi agenda fast enough – so the Nazis built six death camps in Poland • Auschwitz = the largest of the death camps – prisoners were sorted to see who was fit to work – those who were not deemed fit to work were sent to gas chambers (the guards told the Jewish people that they were showers) 

  15. Bellwork  • Get out your notes from Friday (or grab some from the back if you weren't here) • Answer the following question on the back of your notes: • What is a Scapegoat? Why did the Germans choose the Jewish People as a scapegoat?

  16. America's Response

  17. August 1942 Incident • Dr. Gerhart Riegner (representative of World Jewish Congress in Geneva) learned what was going on from a German Source • He asked US representative to tell Rabbi Wise (American activist against Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews)  • Didn’t pass it along  • Wise found out anyway 

  18. Continued 

  19. Bermuda Conference  • US & GB • Meet to try to help the Jewish people in Nazi Germany  • April 1943 • They couldn’t decide on a plan...nothing came about 

  20. Executive order 9417 - War Refugees Board • Report prepared by Treasury officials - about US not taking action in regards to Nazi treatment of Jews • Presented to Roosevelt by Sec of the Treasury; he also requested that he establish a rescue agency • January 22, 1944 - Executive Order 9417 = War Refugee Board (WRB) - help those affected by Nazis and Axis Powers

  21. American Public  • US public were not fully aware of the extent of destruction caused by the Holocaust until the concentration camps were liberated • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHcJtU9dr6I • (Band of Brothers - liberation of concentration camps)

  22. Nuremberg Trials  • 1945-1946 • Nuremberg, Germany • Thousands of German officials  • Convicted of “crimes against humanity” • Some officials were executed (12)

  23. Exit Ticket  • Write a summary of what you learned today on the bottom of your notes

  24. A Day in Auschwitz  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IezXBcNdJY

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