Holocaust Introduction

genocide

deliberate killing of large number of people from particular nation or ethnic group with aim of destroying that nation/group

holocaust

religious animal sacrifice completely consumed by fire

Shoah

genocide of European Jews during WWII; Nazis and collaborators systematically murdered 6 million Jews across Nazi-occupied Europe

Final Solution

state-sponsored Nazi policy of exterminating European Jews

How did Jews define themselves?

religion, customs/traditions/beliefs, matrilineal

How did Nazis define Jews?

biologically based on religion of grandparents

Who came up with original idea of extermination?

Friedrich Reinhart

Who introduced Final Solution?

Heinrich Himmler

Who administered Final Solution?

Adolf Eichmann

expropriation

confiscation of wealth; seizure of all assets

What did Nazis use to assess crimes of prisoners?

system of colors and stars

concentration

ghettos and camps; corralling all “enemies of state” in one place until apparatus for their annihilation is complete

deportation

mainly by train; sorting table

Einsatzgruppen

special action unit/group

What were the death camps?

Chelmno, Treblinka, Sobibór, Majdanek, Belzec, Auschwitz

How many living members in Chelmno at liberation?

7

How many living members at Auschwitz-Berkinau at liberation?

800

How many living members in Treblinka at liberation?

100

How many living members at Sobibor at liberation?

58

How many living members at Belzec at liberation?

50

How many living members at Majdanek at liberation?

300

What does the upside down triangle represent?

political crimes of prisoners

What does the right side up triangle mean?

Jewish identity

Nuremberg Laws

difference between how jews define themselves at the time and how nazis define them; 5 laws that define who is a citizen by defining who is not

5 Nuremberg Laws

jews cant marry, have kids or adopt, giving children up for adoption, claiming german citizenship through marriage