The Final Solution

MOBILE KILLING MACHINES

• Einsatzgruppen (E-Squad) developed to follow the German army into villages and systematically eliminate "undesirables".
• These were small groups, mostly comprised of individuals who had difficulty making the "just following orders" argument.
• Mobile killing squads were used to ensure all "undesirables" were eliminated from a location. Referred to as STAGE 3.
• Gas-vans were used to make the killing process more efficient, which lead to the development of concentration camps. This is known as STAGE 4: EXTERMINATION - AUSCHWITZ.
• Inmates began to die from the conditions in concentration camps, and ventilation systems were used to get rid of the bodies, which were held in large chambers.
• This process helped foster the notion of using chambers to kill en masse.
• By the time the Allies found the camps, many bodies were held in large chambers.
• Altogether, $6,000,000$ Jews were killed by the Nazis, along with countless other "undesirables".

NIGHT OF THE BROKEN GLASS

• Kristallnacht: In 1938, the murder of a German diplomat in Paris triggered an event targeting Jewish businesses and citizens.
• Jews across Germany were affected during an event that can be seen as the beginning of the Holocaust.

THE PATH OF GENOCIDE

• After Kristallnacht, it became clear that Jews would not be safe.
• Authorities were involved in the violence against Jews during Kristallnacht.
• In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their citizenship rights.
• The Nazis tried to force Jews to leave Germany, but other countries were either unwilling or unable to accept them.

STAGE 2: SEGREGATION

• Jews were forced to live in ghettos to isolate them from the rest of society.
• Ghettos were dirty, filthy places with extreme overcrowding.
• Disease was everywhere, and food was in very short supply in the ghettos.

GHETTOIZATION BEGINS

• In 1939, the St. Louis ship left Hamburg and travelled to six different countries, but was denied entry every time.
• Jews remaining in Germany were forced into Ghettos.

LIFE IN THE GHETTOS

• Ghettos were created to isolate, humiliate, and control Jews.
• Ghettos were unsanitary, dirty, and violent.
• Warsaw Ghetto: 450,000 people were forced to live in 1.3 square miles.

The Holocaust: Outsiders in Nazi Germany

• Long before Hitler came to power, anti-semitism was present in Germany (and much of Europe).
• In the aftermath of WWI, there were strong anti-semitic feelings in Germany. The growing Nazi movement used these feelings to promote their own agenda.
• Jews, along with Slavs, Poles, Roma, the mentally disabled, and a host of others, were portrayed as scapegoats for Germany's problems.

4 STAGES OF ISOLATION

1. Stripping of Rights
2. Segregation
3. Mobile Killing Squads
4. Extermination

STAGE 1: STRIPPING OF RIGHTS

• In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws did the following to Jews:
  1. Stripped Citizenship Rights
  2. Employment limited or denied
  3. Banned from schools and Universities
  4. Forced to carry identification
  5. Forced to wear the yellow arm band - Star of David
  6. Jewish places of worship were destroyed

DISCRIMINATION BECOMES OFFICIAL

• Nazis were seen as liberators from the Treaty of Versailles.
• Nazis used propaganda as a tool to manipulate and control the German people; anyone opposed would be imprisoned.