Agenda for Today

  • Final Call for Permission Slips
  • Note Audit and Review Tomorrow
  • Holocaust Presentation Part Four

The Holocaust: A Reflection on Genocide and Inhumanity

Topic: Introduction to the Holocaust of WWII

  • Essential Question: What was the Holocaust and how were the Nazis able to implement and execute such profound and widespread genocide?

What was the Holocaust?

  • Refers to the systemic persecution and mass genocide of the Jews in Europe during World War II by the Nazi Party and its collaborators.
  • Also involves the murder of millions of non-Jews, including:
    • Homosexuals
    • Trans individuals
    • Political dissidents
    • Artists
    • Mentally and physically handicapped people
    • Non-whites
    • Anyone critical of the Third Reich or seen as a threat.

The Numbers

  • Over six million European Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
  • An additional five million non-Jews also perished.
  • Two-thirds of all European Jews and nearly one-third of all Jews worldwide were exterminated in the Holocaust.

Visual Representation

  • Photographs shown during the presentation to convey the stories without discussion or writing.

Timeline of Atrocities: The Rise of Nazism and the Genocide of the Holocaust

  • Key figure: Adolf Hitler
  • Description:
    • Largely uneducated, failed artist, soldier, and political activist.
    • Imprisoned for a failed revolution; wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) outlining his views, which included genocide and racism.

Key Events of the 1930s

1933
  • January 30: Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany.
  • March 22: Opening of the Dachau concentration camp.
  • April 1: Boycott of Jewish shops and businesses.
  • April 7: Laws barred Jews from civil service and university positions.
  • April 26: Establishment of the Gestapo.
  • May 10: Public burning of books by Jews and dissidents.
  • July 14: Law stripping East European Jewish immigrants of German citizenship.
1935
  • May 31: Jews barred from serving in the armed forces.
  • September 15: Enactment of the Nuremberg Laws, stripping Jews of citizenship and prohibiting marriage with Aryans.
  • November 15: Definition of a Jew: anyone with three Jewish grandparents or two who identifies as a Jew.
Purpose of the Nuremberg Laws
  • Strip Jews of rights and citizenship.
  • Separate Jews from the population through propaganda and artwork promoting them as lesser beings.
1936
  • March 3: Jewish doctors barred from practicing medicine.
  • July: Sachsenhausen concentration camp opens.
  • October 25: Formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis between Hitler and Mussolini.
Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)
  • Triggered by growing anti-Semitism as the Nazi Party expanded.
  • A violent riot against Jewish businesses and synagogues lasted for two days.
  • Outcomes:
    • 267 synagogues destroyed.
    • Over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged.
    • Approximately 100 Jews killed and 30,000 arrested, sent to concentration camps.
    • Jewish communities fined for property damage caused by the riots.
1938
  • April 26: Mandatory registration of Jewish property.
  • November 12: Decree forcing Jews to transfer businesses to Aryans.
  • November 15: Expulsion of all Jewish pupils from schools.
  • December 12: Billion Marks fine on German Jews for Kristallnacht damages.
1939
  • January 30: Hitler's Reichstag speech predicts "Vernichtung" (extermination) of European Jews.
  • September 1: WWII begins with the invasion of Poland.
  • September 21: Directives to establish ghettos in German-occupied Poland.
  • October 12: Deportation of Austrian and Czech Jews begins.
  • October 28: Establishment of the first Polish ghetto in Piotrków.
  • November 23: Jews required to wear distinguishing armbands or yellow stars.

Jewish Ghettos

  • Established to segregate and isolate Jewish populations from the general populace.
  • Evictions often enforced at gunpoint; families relocated to dilapidated buildings, sharing space in overcrowded conditions.
  • Lifespan in ghettos marked by:
    • Severe scarcity of food, often below 300 calories per day.
    • Rampant disease leading to tens of thousands of deaths.
    • Some ghettos walled off to prevent escape.

Key Dates in 1941

  • March: Adolf Eichmann appointed head of Jewish affairs.
  • July 31: Heydrich tasked with implementing the “Final Solution.”
  • September 1: German Jews required to wear yellow stars labeled