the holocaust

Genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948 means any part of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole are part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

  • Killing members of the group
  • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
  • Deliberately influencing on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about it’s physical destruction in whole or in part.
  • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Pyramid of hate questions

  • Yes. All the time.
  • Yes. Sometimes.
  • Maybe. Not recently but maybe when I was 12.
  • Possibly.
  • Yes.
  • No.
  • No.

The Notes

  • There’s no real answer to why the holocaust happened. However, some issues along the way can be pointed out to prevent future genocides. The holocaust wasn’t the only genocide.
  • Martin Niemoller
  • Nazi Legislation
    • Enabling acts
    • March 23rd, 1933
    • Bypass checks and balances
    • Chancellor and cabinet can legislate
      • This turned a democracy into a dictatorship.
      • The Nazis burned down a building but Hitler blamed socialists and communists to gain power in this bill.
    • Nuremberg Laws
    • September 15th, 1935
    • No intermarriage/dating
    • Defines German citizenship
    • November 1935: Formal definition
      • They wanted Jewish people to be contained and not reproduce with the German population.
      • They made a chart to show who was a citizen based on Jewish people in their family lineage. Judaism is a religion and anyone can convert into it.
  • Kristallancht - November 9th, 1938
    • “Night of Broken Glass”
    • Pogrom: organized massacre of an ethnic group.
    • Germany, Austria, and Sudetenland
    • 100 killed
    • 7,000 homes/businesses looted
    • 1,400 synagogues burned
    • 30,000 arrested and deported.
      • They were sent to Poland.
      • Caused by a man in Paris with family in Germany disagreeing with the laws and going to kill a Nazi. The German government then sponsored this.
    • Results
    • FDR condemns but US does not lift immigration restrictions
    • Clear message rising antisemitism was not temporary.
    • Turning point in Nazi Germany
      • More restrictive/prohibitive laws and actions
    • Hitler was a demagogue
  • There were over 400 laws passed against German Jews.
  • DP Camp - displaced person
  • Wannsee Conference
    • January 20th, 1942
    • Final Solution
    • 8 of 15 PhDS
    • 90 minutes
    • Einsatzgruppen - killing squads
    • Bagi Yar (Outside Kiev)
    • September 1941
    • They burned bodies to hide the evidence.
    • This is when the plans for the holocaust were decided.
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Group Activity (Video Notes)

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    • Kristin Keren (My group)
    • She said there was a train coming and they took her grandmother.
    • Her grandmother was waving goodbye and a solider hit her in the head.
    • She’s from Poland.
    • She was at least four years old.
    • We put this section in the fourth section of the Pyramid of Hate. It was assault by a Nazi to her grandmother, because she was Jewish and waving to her grandchildren.

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    • Lea Schabinski-Faranof
    • From Germany.
    • She was told that if people looked Jewish people in the eyes, they would see the devil in their minds. She was about eight years old.
    • They put this story under discrimination, the third section. It was harassment.

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    • Milton Belfer
    • They cut off his dad’s beard which as very important to him because of his religion.
    • He was asked where his parents hid the gold.
    • They put this under four and five. It’s literally genocide, although it was implied and never mentioned directly. It falls under four as well.

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    • Itka Zygmuntowicz
    • They took away her brother and sister. Her mother turned to her and told her that she had to go with the little children. But her mother told her that no matter what happens to her, don’t become bitter and hateful. That was the last time she saw her family.
    • Most likely 1943/44

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    • Peter Braunfeld
    • From Vienna, Austria
    • Germany occupied Austria when he was eight years old.
    • There was a sign that said that Jews were no longer welcome in the park. There was a sign at a doctor’s office he went to that said that they no longer treat Jewish patients.
    • This was under the second part of the pyramid, although it could be on three with the doctor refusing to treat Jewish patients.

video notes

  • they pushed for radio production and distribution to push propaganda
  • they even made a pro nazi movie.