World War 2 (Anti-Semitism & Holocaust)

World War 2 flashcards about anti-semitism and the Holocaust

Mein Kampf

* “My Struggle”
* Hitler’s manifesto
* Bible of Nazism (National Socialism)
* Contains story of how Hitler became antisemitic, outline of his political ideology, future plans for Germany.
* *“The masses are stupid so the message must be simple”*

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Josef Goebbels

Hitler’s master strategist who helped sell his message

What did Hitler use propaganda for?

* Spread ideologies
* Make things seem better than they were (i.e. **the ghettos**)

Propaganda method’s used by Hitler

* Made himself a “mystery”
* He didn’t allow photos of himself to be taken. If people wanted to know what he looked like, they would have to attend his meetings
* Radio Broadcasting
* Josef Goebbels commissioned the **“Volksempfänger”** (peoples radio). The radio was distributed to German citizens and programmed with Nazi messages which targeted capitalists, jews, etc…
* These radios were an essential part of how the Nazi’s gained power
* Other methods: art, music, theatre, films, books, educational materials (math questions), the press

How did Hitler use **propaganda** against the **physically and mentally disabled?**

* German cinemas showed ableist films
* **Das Erbe (**1935)**:** Presented Nazi view of Darwin’s survival of the fittest. The message of these film, **anyone that was disabled was “unworthy of life.”**
* Filmed in hospitals and asylums
* In math problems, it was implied that the physically and mentally disabled “cost more”

How did Hitler use **propaganda** during the **Polish Invasion**

* Convinced German’s that there was “no other option”
* Lied that Poland was organizing/tolerating the ethnic cleansing of ethnic Germans
* Performed staged attacks

Gestapo:

The Secret State Police

SS (Shuctzstaffel):

SA (Sturmabteilung):

Lebensraum (living space):

Wehrmacht

German Army

Einstazgruppen:

Nazi Death Squad; mobile killing units

Volk:

All-inclusive concept of nation, people & race, implying the superiority of German culture & race

HJ (Hitler Jugend):

* “Hitler Youth”
* Youth organization of Nazi Party
* Mandatory program even if you didn’t agree with Hitlers beliefs.

How did Hitler control the youth?

* “Father figure”
* Allowed no opposition or disagreement
* “Hitler Youth”
* Gathered children into rallies
* Used books & other forms of media to spread messages (propaganda)
* Kept money away from Children
* Children with too much money would “become problematic”

What was the purpose of the Hitler Youth?

Brain wash children so that they would accept Nazi ideologies without question

Disillusionment of Hitler Youth

*Support of Nazi ideologies wasn’t as widespread in youth as desired.*

* Some had moral & political reasons
* Some got bored due to lack of freedom and mindless drills

Hans Scholl (example of HJ disillusionment ):

Founder of the White Rose Resistance Movement

* **White Rose:** non-violent, intellectual, resistance group run by students at University of Munich
* Decried Nazi crimes & political system by distributing leaflets and using graffiti

Aktion T4 (Euthanasia Program)

Mass murder of institutionalized people with disabilities.

* ‘Mercy killing’ of the the severely disabled


* Patients were killed instead of cared for
* 156 were put in gas chambers

Catholic Bishop and Euthanasia program

Catholic Bishop revealed existence of Euthanasia program in a worldwide sermon

* Hitler called off gas programs in response but killing via lethal injections & starvation continued

What did Hitler think of the Catholic Church?

* All Christian denominations are nonsensical/”Jewish inventions”
* The bible = a pack of lies

What was Hitler’s agreement with the Pope? (1933)

All catholics had a right to manage their own affairs as long as they kept out of politics

* This was later violated by Hitler

Hitler’s plan for the Church

* Dismiss all catholic teachers from schools
* Replace crucifixes with Swastikas
* Censor catholic press
* Censor youth organizations (boy scouts?)
* Arrest priest and nuns

Was Hitler successful at dismantling the Church?

He was “successful.”

* He later realized the Churches could boost he morale of citizens and postponed his attack (planned to launch it post-war).

Education in Nazi Germany

*Hitler changed…*

* What students learned
* Sports, history, racial science became the most important subjects
* Where students learned from
* Racist textbooks that promoted lebensraum
* Who taught the students
* Removed all Jewish teachers and teachers with undesirable political beliefs from learning environments (1933)

Anti-semitism

Hostility/prejudice against Jewish people. Deep rooted prejudice in the European psyche for many years

* Made it easy to blame Jews for “Germany’s

Examples of anti-semitism

* Boycotting Jewish businesses
* Book burning = bonfire for “un-german” books that did not coincide with Nazi ideology
* Jews forbidden to marry Aryans or engage in extra-marital relations with them

Kristallnacht (1938)

* “The night of broken glass”
* Nazi’s destroyed Jewish properties (synagogues, shops, etc.) and arrested Jews
* Held Jewish community responsible for the damage & imposed a collective fine

Consequences of **Kristallnacht**:

* Close to 100 Jews murdered


* Some 30,000 Jewish men were rounded up & sent to German concentration camps

Significance of **Kristallnacht**:

* Turning points toward more violent & repressive treatment of Jew’s by Nazi’s
* Some say it led to Holocaust

Final Solution

* Called for the systematic, complete, and mass annihilation/extermination of Jews & other groups
* Decided @ **Wannsee Conference**, when senior Nazi’s set out plan to commit mass murder

What was the “Final Solution”

* **Zyklon B** would become the agent of extermination, bullets were needed for war
* Jews were to be placed in **ghettos** (transit camps)
* Final destination: **concentration/extermination camps**, where they would either work or be sent off to disguised gas chambers

Why was the “Final Solution” proposed?

Beginning of WW2 brought millions of Jews under the Nazis’s control

* Nazi’s decided to increase persecution of Jewish people

Nazi definition of Jewish person

A jewish person had to have at least one jewish parent

* If only one of their grandparents had been Jewish, they could be classified as being German

How were Jews identified in the 40’s?

* Had passports stamped with the letter “J”
* Had to wear yellow Star of David on their jacket/coat

Holocaust (Original meaning)

“Holos” = completely

“Kaustos” = burnt

* Originally meant as religious sacrifice that involved totally burning something/someone(?) by fire

Holocaust (WW2)

The annihilation/**genocide** of Jews and other groups of people of Europe under the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

Genocide

Systematic extermination of an ethnic group/a nationality

How the Holocaust happened

* The power of words
* Isolation
* Stripping of rights
* Nuremberg Laws
* Segregation
* Ghettos
* Concentration camps
* Extermination
* The Bystander vs. The Collaborator
* Anti-semitism

Nuremberg Laws (1935)

* Anti-semitic laws against Jews
* Deprived Jews from German citizenships

How did the Nuremberg Laws affect the Jews?

* Made it difficult for them to access basic rights (education, healthcare, employment, freedom)

Ghettos:

Jews were forced to live in designated areas called “ghettos”

* Jewish population sent to Ghettos, where they were murdered through forced labour, starvation, & disease
* Filthy, poor sanitation, overcrowded (disease spread easily)
* Designed so that people would be willing to leave

What would happen to Jews in ghettos if they smuggled food or resisted?

They would be publicly shot by the SS

How many calories were Jews fed per day in the Warsaw ghetto?

1000

When they were actually being sent to concentration camps, where did the Jews think they were going?

“Resettlement areas” in the East

Liquidation of the Ghettos (1942-1943):

Ghettos were emptied out

* Those unable to move/attempting to escape were killed in their homes & on the streets

Concentration Camps

Construction camps designed for continue systematic oppression

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How were Jews transported to concentration camps?

Cattle cars

“Selection”

Separation of able-bodied jews from jewish women, jewish children and jews that were old and/or sick.

“Special Treatment:”

Gas chambers and crematoriums

Methods of extermination

**Extermination camps:** concentration camp that specialized in the mass murder

**Einsatzgruppen**: mobile killing units

**Euthanasia Program:** nazi policy to elimination “life unworthy of life” and promote Aryan “racial purity”

Gas chambers

Small cement rooms that would be used to kill Jews/other targeted groups with **Zyklon B**

How long did it take for Zyklon B to kill people?

3 - 15 minutes

How many people were gassed per day in Auschwitz?

13,000

Crematoriums

Furnaces used for the final disposition of dead bodies

* Prisoners had to move bodies to crematoriums

Sonderkommando

Specially selected Jews that had to remove gold dental fillings and hair of gassed people. They were also FORCED to feed bodies into the crematorium

Groups that Nazis and collaborators targeted

* Slavic people
* Roma & sinti
* Black people & mixed race people
* Mentally & physically disabled
* LGBTQ+ individuals
* Political prisoners
* Resistors
* Priests, pastors, nuns
* Jehovas witnesses

*persecuted in different ways for different reasons*

Liberation of Auschwitz (January 1945) ????

When the Soviet Union liberated Auschwitz, the Nazis evacuate the camp and forced prisoners on death marches

* Leaving Auschwitz was not the end of the prisoners’ ordeal
* Prisoners that survived got dispersed over all of the remaining camps

Death Marches

Forcible movement of thousands of prisoners, from Nazi concentration camps near the advancing war fronts to camps inside Germany.

* Called Death marches because many prisoners died during them
* They were unfit to talk long distances due to the conditions they had faced inside the concentration camps .

Aftermath of the Holocaust

* 11 people exterminated
* 6 million jews
* 5 million others
* 63% of Jewish population of Europe killed
* 91% of Jewish population of Poland killed
* Millions of people were displaced & lost their homes

Displacement camps

After the Holocaust, millions were displaced and were sent to displacement camps to find remaining relatives

Nuremberg Trials (1945-1949)

Trials for war crimes of Nazi officials

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

International document created by United Nations that was made in response to the acts committed during the Second World War.

* Recognizes inalienable rights of all

Israel

In 1948, The United Nations organized the creation of Jewish homeland, where all Jews could move.

Righteous Among Nations

Honorific used by state of Israel

* Descries non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by Nazis (i.e. Oskar Schindler).

SS St Louis (1939)

Luxury cruise liner that Jews boarded to flee Germany, in hopes of reaching Cuba and immigrating to the US

What happened? (SS St Louis)

* Cuba was pressured by the Jewish citizens and cancelled landing permits of Jews
* Resulted in the SS St Louis getting stick in harbour with people trying to /succeeding @ committing suicide
* With nowhere else to go, the ship sailed towards Canada
* Canada refused ship claiming that there were “too many Jews” and the line “had to be drawn somewhere.”
* The Jews were sent back to Germany and the Nazi’s turned the event into propaganda
* “Jews are universally disliked & distrusted”
* 245 Jews were killed
* Belgium, Netherlands, UK, & France ended up accepting passengers