The Holocaust

1
The Holocaust

• Part I
• From Anti-Semitism to the Final Solution

2
Anti-Semitism

• Who are the Jews?
• An Ancient Nomadic people who first called
  themselves the Israelites. Travel from
  Mesopotamia to Egypt and settle in Canaan. Live
  in Palestine (Canaan) until they are forced out
  by the Romans in 70 AD, beginning the Diaspora.
• For the next 2000 years they settle into
  countries where they believe that they will be
  accepted and through some historic events, were
  often forced to flee for another country. From
  Spain to Poland to Ancient Babylon to Germany.

3
Hitlers Rise to Power

• The Treaty of Versailles (which ended World War
  I) imposed harsh penalties on a defeated Germany.
  Adolf Hitler, a WWI veteran, blamed Germanys
  defeat on Marxists, Jews, and others.
• Hitler organized the National Socialist German
  Workers Party or the Nazis.
• Hitler laid out his set of beliefs for the future
  of Germany in his autobiography Mein Kampf. He
  believed that Germans belonged to a superior
  master race of Aryans whose greatest enemy were
  the Jews.

4
Hitlers Rise to Power

• On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was named
  Chancellor of the German government. Once in
  power, Hitler moved to end German democracy. By
  March, 1933, Hitler was given full status as
  dictator of Germany.
• Extremes must be fought by extremes. Against
  the infection of Marxism, against the Jewish
  pestilence, we must hold aloft a flaming ideal.
  And if others speak of the World and Humanity, we
  must say the Fatherland-and only the Fatherland.

5
The Nuremberg Laws

• Hitler set to drive out all Jews from Germany.
• The Nuremberg Laws (1935) placed severe
  restrictions on Jews lives.
• The Laws defined who was Jewish by a persons
  parents/grandparents.
• Jews were forced to wear patches on their clothes
  which identified them as Jews.
• Could not marry non-Jews

6
The Nuremberg Laws

• The Nuremberg Laws (1935) Jews could not
  (continued)
• Attend or teach at German schools or universities
• Hold Government jobs
• Practice Law or Medicine
• Publish Books
• Attend Theaters, Cinemas, Vacation Resorts.
• By 1937, the Nazis began to seize Jewish
  businesses.
• Many prominent German Jews, including Albert
  Einstein, fled at this time.

7
Kristallnacht

• Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass took
  place on November 7, 1938.
• Nazi led mobs attacked Jewish communities
  throughout Germany. They smashed windows, looted
  shops, and burned synagogues. Many Jews were
  dragged from their homes and beaten in the
  streets.

8
The Third Reich

• In his attempts to create a larger German empire
  or Third Reich, Hitler invaded and conquered most
  of Europe. With each new country Germany
  occupied, its population of Jews increased.
• When Hitler and the Nazis invaded Poland on
  September 1, 1939, World War II officially began.
• By 1941, Germany occupied most of the European
  continent and then turned towards Russia.

9
The Ghettos

• After conquering Poland, the Nazis closed off
  small areas of major cities (Warsaw, Lodz) and
  sealed in large Jewish populations to those small
  areas.
• A Jewish teacher from Warsaw said Ghetto life
  does not flow rather it is stagnant and frozen.
  Around us are walls! We have no space, we
  have no freedom of movement and action.

10
The Ghettos

• In the Warsaw ghetto, 30 of the citys
  population was forced to live in 2.4 of the
  citys area. Thats approximately 7.2 people per
  room. Most people lived on 253 calories of food
  per day, the average American consumes 2000
  calories per day.
• Hundreds of thousands of Jews in the ghettos died
  of starvation, disease, and malnutrition.

11
The Final Solution

• As Hitler and the Nazis empire grew and their war
  efforts increased, they were faced with a dilemma
  over The Jewish Question.