A brief overview of the four stages of the Holocaust. Usually I introduce it with Episode 9 of Band of Brothers (the clip where they find the camp) and Schindler's List (deportation of the ghetto clip and when the women's train arrives in Auschwitz).
2. 4 Stages
1. Defined as Other
2. Removal of Rights
3. Concentration
4. Final Solution
3. History
A. The Nazi Party was built on prejudice and AntiSemitism
Prejudice: an opinion formed beforehand /without
full knowledge
Anti-Semitism: hostility or prejudice against Jews
B. Anti-Semitism in Europe has a long history
Hitler's laws and the SS were not new to Jews
Many thought the discrimination was just a passing
phase
4. Stage One: Define as Other
A. Based on long-held stereotypes, Jewish people were
thought of as different
B. Nazis used stereotypes to enhance the mistrust some
Germans felt about the Jews
Mein Kampf. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's problems
Nazis defined the Jews as a separate race
C. Violence
Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938
Attack on Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues; killed
many Jews
Began to send people to concentration camps.
D. Began centuries before the Holocaust and lasted
throughout the Holocaust because of propaganda
5. Excerpt from a children’s
schoolroom:
'It is almost noon,' says the teacher. 'Now we must summarize
what we have learned in this lesson. What did we discuss?' All the
children raise their hands. The teacher calls on Karl Scholz, a little
boy on the front bench. 'We talked about how to recognize a Jew.'
'Good! Now tell us about it!'
Little Karl takes the pointer, goes to the blackboard and points
to the sketches. 'A Jew is usually recognized by his nose. The Jewish
nose is crooked at the end. It looks like the figure 6. So it is called the
"Jewish Six". Many non-Jews have crooked noses too. But their noses
are bent, not at the end, but further up. Such a nose is called a hook
nose or eagle's beak. It has nothing to do with a Jewish nose.'
'Right!' says the teacher. 'The Jew is also recognized not only by
his nose...,' the boy continues. 'The Jew is also recognized by his lips.
His lips are usually thick. Often the lower lip hangs down. That is
called "sloppy". And the Jew is also recognized by his eyes. His
eyelids are usually thicker and more fleshy that ours. The look of the
Jew is sly and sharp ....'
6. This was a chart
posted in
elementary
classrooms entitled
"German
Youth, Jewish
Youth“; its purpose
was to help Aryan
children distinguish
friend from foe.
7. Why?
Why, for what
purpose is the
blood flowing?
Behind the
scenes, the Jew
grins.
That makes the
answer clear:
They bleed for the
Jews.
8. On the evening of November 910, 1938 -- Kristallnacht, "The Night of
Broken Glass" -- rioters burned over
1,000 synagogues, vandalized and
looted 7,000 Jewish businesses and
homes, and killed dozens of Jews in an
assault instigated by Propaganda
Minister Joseph Goebbels. Synagogues
burned throughout the Reich……
13. Following Kristallnacht, those Jews with the
financial ability to leave Germany did
so….the writing was now on the wall.
14. Stage Two: Removal of Civil
Rights
A. Nuremberg Laws: laws were passed to deny
Jewish people equal rights.
B. Denied citizenship, prohibited from public
office and denied marriage rights to nonJews
15. Nuremburg Law Examples
Section 1
1. Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood
are forbidden.
Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the
purpose of evading this law, they were conducted abroad.
2. Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public
Prosecutor.
Section 2
Sexual relations outside marriage between Jews and nationals of
German or kindred blood are forbidden.
Section 3
Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens of German or
kindred blood as domestic servants ....
16. People with four German grandparents (white circles)
were of "German blood," while people were classified
as Jews if they were descended from three or more
Jewish grandparents (black circles in top row right).
17. An inter-married couple is publicly humiliated. The
non-Jewish woman carries a sign reading "I am the
greatest swine and sleep only with Jews." The man's
sign reads, "As a Jew, I only take German girls up to
my room."
18. Also in
1935, Jews were
forced to
purchase and wear
a six-pointed
star of David
whenever they
appeared in
public. The
yellow or blue
star was worn on
an armband or
pinned on a shirt
or coat.
19. Eugenics Program
"This person suffering
from hereditary
defects costs the
community 60,000
Reichsmark during his
lifetime. Fellow
German, that is your
money, too."
20. Stage 3: Concentration
A. Formation of ghettos
Ghetto: a walled section of a city
Began when Germany invaded Poland in 1939
B. Establishment of concentration camps for
Jews
32. A crowded street - 37% of Warsaw’s
population lived in 4.6% of its area
33. Stage Four: The Final
Solution
A. Wansee Conference, January 20, 1942:
proclaimed the Jewish population in Europe
was to be eliminated entirely
B. Liquidation: Took place in the camps with
gas (Zyklon B) & cremation
40. Origins
Starting in 1933, Hitler began establishing camps to harbour
his enemies.
The first was a Dachau, outside of Munich.
By 1939, however, the Germans had shifted from
containment and death through work to mass
extermination.
With that end in mind, death camps were established in
occupied Poland.
Of all the Nazi death camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau was the
largest and most infamous. It was created in early 1940 by
Heinrich Himmler, originally as a POW camp.
By 1942, however, it was turned into an extermination and
experimentation center under the guidance of commandant
Rudolf Hoss.
41.
42. In 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, SS Deputy
Fuhrer Reinhard Heydrich began the “Final
Solution” of the Jewish Question. This
decision would lead directly to the gates of
Auschwitz….
43. The First Camps
Three extermination camps were established
in Poland: Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka.
Upon arrival at the camps, many Jews were
sent directly to the gas chambers.
44. The First Camps
The Nazis also gassed Jews at other
extermination camps in Poland: AuschwitzBirkenau (which was the largest
camp), Majdanek, and Chelmno.
At Majdanek, groups of Jews deemed incapable
of work were gassed.
At Chelmno, Jews were gassed in mobile gas
vans.
The Nazis systematically murdered over three
million Jews in the extermination camps alone.
45. Auschwitz
The largest camp established by the Germans
Included a concentration, extermination, and
forced-labor camp
There were three different camps in all
46. Pictures of Auschwitz
Shows Auschwitz I, the
main camp, and the
(extermination) camp
Auschwitz II - Birkenau
The distance between
the two camps is
approx. 3 kilometres
47. Auschwitz Camps
Auschwitz I, or Stammlager, was meant as a
work camp
Had the capacity to hold 7,000 people
On average held 18,000
The camp was surrounded by electrically
charged fences
48. Auschwitz Camps
Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, was planned to be
an extermination camp
At its highest point it housed 100,000 people
New occupants were divided into protective
custody camps
In Birkenau were crematories II-V
49. The Lines of Death
Trains would have 20 cars, each car filled with up to 200
people. SS guards and doctors would greet them and
‘selection’ who would work, and who would go to the gas
chambers.
50.
51.
52.
53. Extermination Methods
Gas Chambers
Early Gas Chambers started as fumigation
chambers (got rid of lice from clothing)
The chambers would evolve into extermination
chambers
The gas used by the Germans was Zyklon-B
After its usage, prisoners would be stripped of
gold teeth and some even their hair.
Prisoners would be put on wagons and disposed
in ditches for later collection while the next
victims were undressing to enter the chamber
54. Zyklon B
This deadly gas, called “Hydrocyanic Prussic Acid”, was manufactured
in a crystal form. Masked SS soldiers, called “Fumigators”, would
stand on top of the gas chambers and dump the crystals through
specially designed holes in the roof.
55. Gas Chambers
Each row of lights in the gas chamber had an opening for gas. The
750 naked people crammed inside quickly began to suffocate. It
took approximately 20 minutes for every person to die. The
agonized screams of the dying people were muffled by the thick
concrete walls and by the rumble of diesel trucks outside, which were
started as the gas was dropped.
56. Account of Extermination by Rudolf Hoss, Commander at
Auschwitz
"The door would now be quickly screwed up and the gas discharged by the
waiting disinfectors through vents in the ceilings of the gas
chambers, down a shaft that led to the floor. This insured the rapid
distribution of the gas. It could be observed through the peephole in the
door that those who were standing nearest to the induction vents were
killed at once. It can be said that about one-third died straightaway. The
remainder staggered about and began to scream and struggle for air. The
screaming, however, soon changed to the death rattle and in a few
minutes all lay still...The door was opened half an hour after the induction
of the gas, and the ventilation switched on...The special detachment now
set about removing the gold teeth and cutting the hair from the women.
After this, the bodies were taken up by elevator and laid in front of the
ovens, which had meanwhile been stoked up. Depending on the size of
the bodies, up to three corpses could be put into one oven at the same
time. The time required for cremation...took twenty minutes."
57. Extermination Methods
Crematoriums
The Nazis needed a more effective way to
dispose of prisoners
Crematoriums were introduced and evolved
to become more effective
Ovens ran continuously with the ashes
intermingling
Early ovens would take 2 hours, later ones 10-
15 minutes
58.
59. Those who lived in the
camp worked every day
for 12 hours, and were
fed only 400 calories per
day. When they could no
longer stand the torture
or the work, they either
ran into the fence, or
walked up the SS and
asked for “special
treatment”. Their torture
ended… but the camp
went on.
60. IN 1945, AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU WAS
LIBERATED BY THE SOVIET RED ARMY.
THE SS HAD QUICKLY FLED THE CAMP TO
AVOID CAPTURE, AND HAD LEFT A MERE
7,000 PEOPLE ALIVE. THEY HAD NOT
BOTHERED TO CLEAN UP THE DEAD. WHAT
THE SOVIETS FOUND AS THEY ENTERED THE
CAMP DEFIED EXPLANATION. THE HORROR
OF THE NAZI REGIME WAS LAID BARE FOR
ALL TO SEE.
61.
62.
63.
64. Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a
warning to humanity, where the Nazis
murdered about one and a half million
men, women and children, mainly Jews from
various countries of Europe.
Auschwitz and Birkenau
1940-1945
76. Protective Custody Camps
Camp for Men
Camp for Women
Quarantine Camp
Theresienstadt Family
Camp
Gypsy Camp
Prisoner’s Hospital
Camp Mexico
Temporary Holding Camp
Camp Canada
Camp where the prisoner’s
valuable goods were sorted
Name was chosen because
Canada was a place of
immense wealth and richness
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77. Zyklon-B
Germans were using exhaust fumes which were
not efficient
Zyklon-B was being used at Auschwitz as a
vermin killer and disinfectant
It is a form of Hydrocyanic acid which become
active on contact with air
It was first used at Auschwitz on 600 Soviet
POWs in Sept. 1941
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