Holocaust revision

Holocaust

What is the term used to label the persecution and extermination of European Jews by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945?

The Shoah, also known as the Holocaust.

What does the Hebrew term Shoah mean?

Calamity or destruction.

Which organization strictly limits the Holocaust definition to Jewish victims?

Yad Vashem.

Name some major factors historians cite as enabling the Holocaust.

Rise of nationalism, the Great Depression, the aftermath of World War I, the failure of democracy in Germany, and insufficient global willingness to admit Jewish refugees.

Who was Adolf Hitler and what were his roles from 1933 to 1945?

Born 1889 in Austria; moved to Germany in 1913; Chancellor of Germany (1933–1945) and Führer (1934–1945).

What core principles formed Nazi ideology regarding race and the targeting of Jews?

A racial hierarchy based on 'blood purity' and 'Social Darwinism' with Jews at the bottom as enemies of the State.

What was Kristallnacht and when did it occur?

A state-sponsored pogrom on November 9–10, 1938, burning and looting Jewish property and arresting about 30,000 men.

What was the Wannsee Conference and its purpose?

January 20, 1942 meeting of Nazi officials to coordinate the Final Solution to exterminate European Jews.

What is Auschwitz and why is it significant in the Holocaust?

Auschwitz was a network of camps (Auschwitz I, II Birkenau, III) where about 960,000 Jews died (1940–45); gassing began January 1942; a symbol of the genocide.

When was Auschwitz liberated and by whom?

Liberated January 27, 1945, by the Soviet Red Army.

How many Jews and non-Jewish victims were killed in the Holocaust according to the notes?

Six million Jews and five million non-Jews.

Name some non-Jewish victim groups persecuted by the Nazis.

Poles; Sinti and Roma; Jehovah’s Witnesses; homosexuals (men); people with mental and physical disabilities; political opponents and Soviet POWs.

What was the Nazi euthanasia program?

A program to kill people with mental and physical disabilities.

What was the pre-war Jewish population of Germany and its share of the total population?

About 505,000 Jews out of 67,000,000 total (roughly 0.75%).

What is Holocaust denial?

The claim that the Holocaust did not occur or that there is no evidence; often used by Nazis and is a form of antisemitism.

What does Deborah Lipstadt say about the Holocaust in The Eichmann Trial?

The Holocaust is the best-documented genocide in history; testimony from survivors was not necessary to prove the events in court.

What overarching question do historians ask about the Holocaust (why it happened)?

What structural and social conditions allowed it to occur (e.g., nationalism, antisemitism, economic crisis, political failure).

Which camp complex has become the ultimate symbol of the Holocaust?

Auschwitz (I, II, III).

What was the role of the Einsatzgruppen?

SS death squads that moved east toward the Russian front, carrying out mass murder in occupied territories.

Was the Holocaust confined to Germany alone?

No. It extended across occupied Europe through ghettos, mass shootings, and death camps in many countries.