What do you know

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What do you know about the Holocaust?
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PART ONE
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The actual word Holocaust means sacrifice made
by fire. But we use this word to describe a
horrible event that occurred during world war II.
During the years of 1933-1945 a massive display
of hatred and prejudice took place in the most
extreme way possible.
We learn about the Holocaust in class for various
important reasons. You will learn why as we
progress through each lesson. My request is that
you NEVER make fun of any topic that we discuss.
I also request at this time that any and all
racial, ethnic, and cultural jokes stop. This is
a very real and very serious topic that we need
to explore.
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Many things lead to this event in history. It
all began in Germany. The German country had
just come out of world war I. Because they had
lost they had the problem of having to pay for
all of the damages the war had caused. This was
a tremendous debt upon their country.
The German people were furious after all the war
had hurt their country too. This had forced
their people into poverty. Because they had to
pay other countries for their war they could not
spend money to rebuild and help their own people.

When Germany finally started to get back on their
feet the Great Depression hit. This was a time
when the stock market crashed. Every country all
over the world felt this pain. People panicked.
Everyone wanted their money out of the banks.
Banks demanded that anyone with a loan pay their
debt immediately. Germany was in a world of
trouble.
People everywhere were out of work. The
unemployment rate had reached nearly 50! People
were going hungry. Hope was hard to find.
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In 1932 Germany had an election. People were
angry at the state of their once proud country.
They wanted a change and FAST! The people needed
help!
Several people were running for president at the
time. One of those people happened to be Adolf
Hitler. He promised the people many wonderful
things. He spoke of uniting his country and
bringing out peace. He promised food on every
table and available jobs for many people.
Hitler had a theory. He blamed the Jews for
Germanys problems. Were the Jews really to
blame? No! Not at all. In fact, they had nothing
to do with the War or anything that had happened
to Germany at the time. But the people of
Germany were afraid of anyone different from
them. Because of the Jewish religion they live a
very different lifestyle. They do not eat
certain foods, they fast, they have rituals for
worship and daily life. This was different than
the average German lifestyle. Because they
didnt live that way the Germans were unsure and
afraid of the Jews.
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The election results were in and Hindenburg got
re-elected. He was nervous that his people were
unhappy with his leadership however. He decided
to appoint Hitler as Chancellor of Germany to
help him lead the country.
This was a grave mistake. Once Hitler was in the
government he took over. He declared a state of
emergency and took away the rights of the
people. His followers were known as the Nazis.
He made it legal to read the peoples mail,
listen in on phone conversations, and enter
anyones home to search the house. The government
did not need warrants to do such things.
Hitler had been a war hero. He was a popular
politician and well liked up to this point. He
had dreams of being an architect or an artist.
No one predicted that he would change the world
forever.
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Anyone who opposed the Nazi movement or Hitlers
beliefs was called an Enemy of the State and
was arrested and sent to prison or a
concentration camp.
About a year later the president died and Hitler
decided that he was the one true leader. He took
absolute control and turned their country into a
dictatorship.
The Nazis had an idea that some people and races
were better than others. They wanted to create
was a master race known as the Aryan people.
These people were said to have the most pure
bloodline of all people. They had blonde hair,
blue eyes, and light skin. They were tall and
strong. Many racial studies were conducted on
Germans to find the best people to breed the
super race.
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If a person did not fit the mold of this superior
race they were mistreated. Hitler felt that
certain people were inferior to others. People
who were Jews, Gypsies, Homosexual, Mentally or
Physically handicapped, or various other groups,
were considered unequal and less human than the
proud Germans.
Laws were created forbidding these people to get
married, have children, or get jobs. At first
people were told not to shop at their stores.
Eventually they were put out of business
altogether.
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Jewish people were treated exceptionally bad by
the Nazis. They were not allowed to show
affection to each other, not allowed to sit on
park benches, own pets, and eventually not
allowed in certain parts of the city.
A certain part of the city was set up for these
groups of people known as the slums and ghettos.
These were walled in areas of the city with only
one entrance and/or exit. Many people tried to
escape Germany but other countries were having
hard times too. Many countries were not taking
refugees, they could barely feed the people they
had.
Above Jews were forced to mark shop windows that
they owned. Below No Jews allowed beyond this
point.
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For many Germans the Nazi group had a lot of
appeal. They wore fancy uniforms. They were
given parades and lots of respect. Everyone
listened to what they had to say and did exactly
as they wanted. If anyone resisted them they
were dealt with extremely harsh.
Those Germans who agreed to go along with the
Nazi party were rewarded. They were given extra
food. For a country on the verge of starving
this was a big deal. Those who supported the
Nazi party were offered jobs and a stable income.
By taking jobs away from the non-aryan people new
job positions were opened.
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A campaign was launched to gain the support of
the German people. The Nazis owned all of the
media outlets TV, Radio, and Newspapers.
They played songs on the radio and printed
messages to convince people that Hitler was great
and would rebuild the once amazing Germany. They
convinced people that these groups of people were
sub-human and the real problem with society.
Even young children were recruited to join a
group called Hitlers Youth where they were
trained to become future Nazis.
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PART TWO
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Now that you know a bit about the events leading
up to the Holocaust it is time to learn about
some of the things that happened during this
time.
In November of 1938 things took a change for the
worse. The Nazi government began to use violence
against the Jewish people, instead of just
passing laws and saying bad things.
For two days all over the country, they destroyed
Jewish homes and businesses. They burnt down
their places of worship. They stole items from
their homes. People were beaten. Around 30,000
people were arrested and many were never seen
again. Every Jewish person was in danger. This
was known as the Night of Broken Glass.
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Around this time Hitler decided that he not only
wanted to limit these people with laws but to
completely control them. Since they were
creating a master race of people they also wanted
more space for people to live. Hitler decided
that his dreams shouldnt be for just Germany, he
wanted to control all of Europe and eventually
the world.
Poland is a country that is east of Germany. If
Hitler could control Poland it would give the
Nazis more living space. Therefore, Hitler
invaded Poland in 1939 and World War II began.
The Nazis succeeded in taking over Poland in a
matter of a few days. With such a victory soon
Germany invaded other countries. By 1941, they
had taken over Poland, France, Belgium,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway.
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The more countries the Nazis controlled the more
inferior groups they had under their control.
The Nazis began to make these groups wear
symbols on the outside of their clothing to
identify themselves. This made them easy to spot
and find. Depending on what group you belonged to
would determine what type of badge you were
required to wear.
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As the ghettos began to fill up Hitler came up
with a plan. He used his talents as an architect
to create prisons known as concentration camps.
There were various concentration camps spread
over the countries that Hitler had conquered.
Prisoners were forced into boxcars on trains.
They were locked in the dark, cramped with many
other people. Sometimes it took days for them to
travel to the concentration camp. Once there
they were forced through a selection process.
A Dr. would examine the passengers and decide
which ones were fit to work and which ones should
be put to death.
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For those that made it through the selection
process, they were forced to perform hard labor.
They dug holes, sewed clothes, and often did
pointless hard tasks. They were fed watered down
soup and bread made from saw dust. The Nazi's
knew that if they barely fed the prisoners and
worked them hard they would soon die.
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After a hard days work and little if any food
they were forced into barracks. Depending on the
camp they were at their sleeping conditions were
different. Some slept on hay on the floor. Many
slept in shelves, packed in layers of people to
keep warm. They were locked in at night without
a bathroom.
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In 1942 the Nazi party decided that they were
wasting time. They decided they wanted to get
rid of these minority groups altogether. For the
past nine years they had killed countless people,
but this plan took everything to a new level.
They developed what is known as the Final
Solution. This meant that the Nazi party had
decided to kill ALL of the Jewish people in
Europe as well as many other the other groups.
Killing this many people would take planning.
Concentration camps were converted into killing
centers or death camps. Most of the death camps
were located in Poland. There were six death
camps and hundreds of labor concentration camps.
One of the most horrible camps was called
Auschwitz. The Nazis hid the true purpose of
these camps from people.
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The Nazis would dehumanize the prisoners. They
took everything they had. They even took their
names. Prisoners were given a number. They were
no longer called by a name. Every day they were
called out by number and had to respond by that
number. In order to make the prisoners remember
this number it was tattooed on their forearm.
Once in the camps the prisoners were stripped of
everything. Even their heads were shaved. They
took their clothing, jewelry, glasses, and
anything they could take from the prisoners. The
Nazis turned the prisoners into a business. They
sold their shoes, clothes, jewelry, glasses,
teeth, and even their hair to various different
companies.
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Once the death camps were in full force they
began killing people by the hundreds. Every day
prisoners were unsure of their fate. They would
be lead in groups into community showers.
Sometimes trickles of water would come pouring
out of the shower heads to bathe the prisoners,
other times poisonous gas would shoot out and
kill all who were in the showers.
Other gas chambers held no secrets. Prisoners
knew they were being led away to their deaths.
There were no shower heads, only concrete walls.
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At the top of the gas chamber a can of Zyklon-B
gas was dropped into the room. The room was then
sealed from above. The opened cans contained
pellets that emit a poisonous gas.
In these gas chambers a heavy metal door would be
sealed. Only a tiny peep whole let in light. A
soldier (SS man) would watch till he was sure
every person was dead.
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Once everyone was dead a soldier or a fellow
prisoner was forced to drag the bodies out and
dispose of them. This was done in one of two
ways. The bodies were either burned in
crematories or buried in massive graves.
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Part Three
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We have learned about the horrible conditions
that existed in the concentration camps. Many of
the prisoners felt like they would go insane.
Many felt like they just couldnt take the slave
labor and uncertainty of when they might die.
The camps were surrounded by very tall fences.
Most of these fences were electric barb wire.
Guard stations were posted through out the camp.
These were tall towers that contained a sharp
shooter in case anything got out of control.
Guards shot anyone who tried to escape. Each
day, everyone in the camps were counted. If
anyone was missing, the rest of the prisoners
were forced to stand in lines for hours. A few
people did escape. When they were not present at
roll call, other people were killed for it. This
stopped many people from killing themselves or
escaping.
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Around 1944 the Nazis began to lose the war.
The Nazi group fought two wars, one against the
Jews, and the other-WWII. The Nazis did not
care if they won WWII they only wanted to defeat
the Jews. At this point they tried to kill
people even faster. They had death camps up and
running. But as the Allies began to close in
on them they forced their prisoners to walk to
other camps in Germany.
These were known as the death marches. The
winter was cold and snowy. Many people were too
weak to walk so far and died on the side of the
road. If you couldnt keep up you were shot. If
you sprang your ankle or go sick on the way, you
were killed.
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In 1945 the allies won the war in Europe.
Camps that were still in operation were
liberated. Their prisoners were now free. The
soldiers who found the camps were shocked. Dead
an dying people were everywhere. Many soldiers
took photographs so that people would believe
them later.
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At some camps, the local townspeople were forced
to visit so they would know what happened in
their community. Sometimes the soldiers forced
the townspeople to help them bury the dead
bodies. The soldiers wanted to make sure that no
one would ever deny knowing about the murders.
You might wonder What happened to the people who
participated in these killings? As the allies
approached the Nazis and those that helped them
tried to destroy evidence of their crimes. When
time ran out, they ran or hid. Some even put on
prisoner uniforms and pretended to be prisoners,
but they looked too healthy.
Some were caught by the troops. Some committed
suicide. Some were tortured by the prisoners for
revenge, but many went back to their normal
lives and denied what they did during the war.
Some escaped to other countries. They began new
lives, with new names and a made up story about
their past.
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After WWII many people were unsure of how many
people died. No one knows the exact number of
people who were imprisoned in the camps.
However, the Nazis kept records about the trains
and people that arrived at the camps. They wrote
down how many people were on the train and how
many people were murdered each day. Many of
these lists were burned and/or destroyed as the
allies invaded. Some still exist today.

• It is difficult to estimate the number of people
  who died during the holocaust. Think about the
  ways that people died
• -in the ghettos they were starved or shot.
• On trains going to concentration camps.
• In the gas chambers and death camps.
• From too much work and too little food.
• On death marches.

When we worry about how many million people died,
we sometimes forget that every single person who
died had someone who loved her or him. Think
about how much it hurts when a family member
dies. How would you feel if all of your family
died? All of your friends? This is often
impossible to imagine.
Estimate of lives lost.
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People who lived through the Holocaust could not
just return to their lives. They had lost
everything- their family, their friends, their
homes, their furniture, their money, and
everything that had meant anything to them. Some
children were so young they did not even remember
their own names. Some people had to live in
Displaced persons camps. These places helped
people find any living family members who might
have survived and a temporary place to live.
Several, including Adolf Hitler, killed
themselves at the end of the war before the
trials began. Twenty-one men were tried in the
first set of trials. Most of them, when asked,
said they were just following orders. Of this
group, 14 were sentenced to death by hanging.
Later 185 more people were tried. Of the
thousands of people involved in killing millions,
very few were ever charged.
Life after the war was different for the Nazis
and the people that helped them. Many fled the
country and came to the United States and Canada.
A few Nazi leaders were tried for the crimes in
what was known as the Nuremberg Trials. They
were charged with crimes against humanity.
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During the holocaust many risked their lives to
save people. They saw a horrible injustice
happening. They may not have been in danger
themselves, but they decided to take a stand.
Many hid Jews and other groups in their homes.
Many smuggled people to secret places with fake
identities. These people did not have to help,
but they did. They were truly heroes.
It is important to listen to stories of survivors
and learn more about the Holocaust. Why is it
important to know about this event in history?
The Holocaust was not inevitable. People chose
to act or not act in ways that allowed this to
happen. Many believe that an event like this
could happen again unless we learn from this
tragedy. We need to treat each other with
respect. Even if you do not like someone, or do
not understand someones lifestyle, it does not
mean you have a right to hate them or kill them.
We should not hate others just because they live
a different life. By remembering this lesson we
can help protect our future.