the Holocaust

systematic

• methodical, intentional, deliberate; follows a fixed plan

• how the Holocaust was executed → all planned out by Nazis + Hitler

state sponsored

• actions organized by the govt.

• Holocaust was state-sponsored → planned + funded by the Nazi government

  • use propaganda, policies/laws, resources, authority

persecution

the act of targeting and attacking certain groups for different reasons (ethnicity, sexuality, race, etc.)

Nazi regime

• Hitler’s political party

• the period of time in Germany where Nazis were in power → Third Reich

• 1933 (Hitler → Chancellor) - 1945 (Germany surrenders in WWII)

collaborators

nations/groups who collaborated w/ the Nazis to carry out the Holocaust

• did this due to fear, political gain, and/or shared views (nationalism, anti-Semitism)

race

• people of a certain ethnic group who share physical traits + cultures

• Hitler wanted to create a “master race”

rabbi

leader/teacher of a Jewish community

ghetto (WWII)

• confined + isolated areas where targeted groups were forced to live

  • held/controlled them there before they were sent to camps

• segregated, crowded, dirty, violent, guarded

• male inhabitants were subject to forced labor, women stayed in the house

swastika

symbol of the Nazi Party

• inspired from Hinduism → Hitler altered it to promote the idea that he was also creating “peace”

anti-semitism

hostility and hatred towards Jews

• had existed in Germany for centuries, but Hitler decided to capitalize on it to execute the Holocaust

• started in 1400s → Bubonic Plague (Jews were less affected b/c they had better hygiene due to religious practices → seen as a threat)

concentration camps

camps where targeted groups were gathered and controlled in one place

• terrible, cruel conditions

• other types of camps were also created (forced labor, transit, extermination, POW)

genocide

mass extermination of a specific group of people with the intent to destroy/eliminate them

Kristallnacht

“The Night of Broken Glass” → Nov. 9-10, 1938

• violent anti-Jewish attacks instigated by the Nazis and the SA; SA led civilians to attack

  • Jewish properties, businesses, homes, etc. were destroyed

  • Nazis ensured police/firemen would not help the Jews → green light for anti-semitic citizens to finally persecute Jews

• occurred throughout Germany, annexed Russia, and the Sudetenland

• first direct/open, state-sponsored act of violent anti-semitism → legitimized anti-semitic violence

• 90 Jews dead, 30,000 Jewish men taken to camps/prisons, Jewish women raped

the Holocaust

the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators from 1933 to 1945

Hitler’s “master race”

• Aryans → non-Jewish, non-Roma (gypsy), Caucasian (specifically Germans)

  • considered pure and superior

• most desired Aryans → blue-eyed blondes w/ Nordic features

• Jews and other minorities were considered “inferior” and a threat to German success

the Final Solution

last stage of the Holocaust to eliminate Jews; Hitler’s deliberate and systematic genocide of the Jews of Europe

• 1941-1945 (concretely planned out in 1942)

• felt that Jews weren’t dying quick enough → Final Solution

• Jews taken to concentration camps (were used for hard labor or killed)

• when the majority of Jews died (by the end, 2/3 European Jews had died)

  • children, women, disabled, and elderly were killed first → seen as “useless to keep”

reason for Kristallnacht

Herschel Grynspan’s assassination of Ernst von Rath

• angered at his parents’ deportation and how the Nazis treated them

• entered French Embassy, wanted to kill the German ambassador to France, but killed Rath instead

• German govt. used this to spread anti-semitism

Ernst von Rath

third secretary in the German legation

Herschel Grynspan

17 y/o Jewish refugee who killed Ernst von Rath

Joseph Goebbels

head of Nazi Propaganda Ministry; public minister of information for the Nazi regime

• organized a widespread pogrom against German Jews

• controlled all communications

• encouraged book burning to eliminate opposing ideas

Sturmabteilung

also called the SA; the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party

reasoning behind Kristallnacht’s name

Hermann Goering described the shattered glass of Jewish property as Jewish “crystals” or “diamonds”

Hermann Goering

Nazi/SA leader

• ordered the enactment of statutes to punish the Jewish community (couldn’t own stores, work, drive, or have public entertainment)

worst part of Georing’s enactment

the freeing of German insurance companies from paying for claims resulting from the destruction of Jewish property

• Jews were fined $400 million for the attack instead

• 150,000 Jews fled

what was the biggest change that came out of Kristallnacht?

general shift in Nazi policy toward the Jews

• before: tried persuading Jews to leave the country/immigrate

• after: direct approach to get them out of Germany → Holocaust

what event marked the beginning of the Holocaust?

Kristallnacht: first state-sponsored + antisemitic attack towards Jews

• beginning of widespread, government-led violence towards jews

impetus

reason

pogrom

coordinated acts of violence against a religious or ethnic group

• ex: Kristallnacht

Nuremberg Trials

trials where top Nazi leaders were openly punished for their crimes

• Nuremberg, Germany → 1945-1949 at Nuremberg Palace of Justice

• prosecuted/tried 22-24 top Nazi criminals in first trial

  • most claimed to be “following orders” → not excused

  • 12 sentenced to death

• Allied judges (U.S., Britain, Soviet Union, France)

• many top Nazis killed themselves as WWII was nearing an end → wanted to avoid punishment, saw no mercy for themselves

  • some escaped to South America and hid

what made the Nuremberg trials unique?

it was the first international war crimes trial that created a clear message:

• injustice towards humanity will not go unnoticed and unpunished

• the perpetrators will be punished severely to ensure something like this never occurs again

how does Hitler gain support in the Nazi Party?

capitalizes on German hatred of the Treaty of Versailles and Germany’s loss in WWI

• attacks the Treaty → “unfair”

• blames Germany’s problems on Jews and foreign powers (Allies)

Adolf Hitler

the Nazi leader who orchestrated the Holocaust

• Chancellor of Germany → 1933

• transforms Weimar Republic into the Third Reich

Third Reich

period of time when Hitler’s dictatorship/Nazi party was in power → 1933-1945

Heinrich Himmler

major Nazi leader who led the Schutzstaffel

• one of the main architects of the Holocaust and death camps

Schutzstaffel

also called the SS; paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party

Einsatzgruppen

SS death squads primarily responsible for mass shootings/murder

• formed by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich

Adolf Eichmann

high-ranked SS officer who helped organize the Holocaust

• in charge of transporting Jews from ghettos to concentration camps

• key role in creating + implementing Final Solution

Nuremberg Laws

passed in 1935; further restrictions + persecution towards Jews increased

• anyone w/ Jewish blood would be considered Jewish

• identification processes → needed to wear yellow Star of David patch

• needed to have Jewish names

• passports were invalid, needed to be marked with a “J” to even be considered

• Jews couldn’t become German citizens

• Jews + Germans couldn’t marry + have kids together → no “mixing” of races

Jewish Registry

forced all people with Jewish ancestry to register with the government → used to identify them

• many Jews were soon forced into ghettos

• had to wear Star of David patch

extermination camps

majority of camps in the Holocaust; designed to kill a mass number of Jews

Dr. Josef Mengele

carried out experiments on Jews in Auschwitz

• twins were often experimented on

• people had no anesthesia → painful

• people could be injected with viruses to see bodily reactions

• low chance of survival

Auschwitz

3 parts

1. extermination camp

2. forced labor camp

3. administrative center (people were checked in, bands play to ease the mood)

Dachau

first concentration camp

Chelmno

first extermination camp

Buchenwald

camp that was primarily used to target groups other than Jews

• during Final Solution, starting bringing in more Jews

Bergen-Belsen

first an exchange camp for POW, but then became a concentration camp

exchange camp

Jews were traded for German POW

• a way to get Jews out of Germany

how did people resist the Nazis?

• underground resistance movements to assist Jews in escaping

• residents of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (southern French village) helped thousands of Jews escape

  • many Protestants sheltered Jews

• Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

• would still have their own holiday celebrations + religious practices in ghettos

• White Rose resistance group

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

April 19, 1943

• used handmade weapons to resist soldiers

• 750 Jews held off German soldiers to avoid being taken to concentration camps

• eventually failed → 7000 Jews killed and 56000 deported

White Rose resistance group

• distributed anti-Nazi pamphlets

• led by students Sophie and Hans Seholl

  • caught by German authorities and killed in 1942

the liberation of the camps

• Allied forces reach camps starting in summer 1944

• Soviet forces liberate Auschwitz and camps in Poland + Eastern Germany

• American forces liberate Buchenwald and camps in the west

*however, many soldiers made the mistake of feeding the prisoners too much food → needed to adjust to regular eating again to avoid getting sick/dying