The Holocaust
• Freewrite or create a concept map in
your study guide:
What do you already know about the
Holocaust?
The Holocaust… as defined by the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum
• A specific genocidal event in twentieth-century history:
the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and
annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and
its collaborators between 1933 and 1945.
• Jews were the primary victims—6 million were
murdered; Gypsies, the handicapped, and Poles were
also targeted for destruction or decimation for racial,
ethnic, or national reasons.
• Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political
dissidents, also suffered grievous oppression and death
under Nazi tyranny.
Unit Terminology
• Assimilation: To accept the culture of
another group while giving up one’s own
• Ghetto: A section of the city in which Jews
were required to live, surrounded by walls.
• Genocide: Total annihilation of a race or
ethnic group (coined after WWII as a direct
result of how some nationalities/ethnic
groups were mistreated during the war).
Unit Terminology
• Holocaust: Greek root means “burnt hole”;
destruction of 6 million Jews and approx. 6 million
non-Jews during 1933-1945.
• Aryan Race: The pure Germanic race, used by the
Nazis to suggest a superior, non-Jewish Caucasian
typified by height, blonde hair, blue eyes.
• Third Reich: The 3rd Republic of Germany which
began Hitler’s rule in 1933, and ended with his defeat
in 1945.
Unit Terminology
• SS (Shutz-Staffel): est. 1929 as Hitler’s black-shirted
bodyguards; became elite guards of Nazis, trained in
brutality and put in charge of concentration camps.
• Gestapo: Secret police, organized in 1933, to uncover
and undermine political opposition.
• The Final Solution: plan devised in 1941 to speed up
the system of killing the Jews and “undesirables” (gas
chambers, crematories)
Unit Terminology
• Selection: Term used when the SS forced prisoners
to line up for inspection and decided which
prisoners would live and be killed.
• Allied Powers: Nations fighting Nazi Germany,
Italy, and Japan (primarily U.S., Britain, and Soviet
Union).
• Axis Powers: Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan (per
Berlin pact in 1940), then later Bulgaria, Croatia,
Hungary, and Slovakia.
Unit Vocabulary Terminology
• Concentration Camps: Est. 1933 by Nazis; for the
imprisonment of all “enemies” of their regime (all
political opponents e.g. communists, socialists,
monarchists), Jehovah’s Witnesses, gypsies,
homosexuals, and other “asocials”
– Beginning in 1938, Jews were targeted (before then, only
Jews fitting the above criteria were interned in camps).
– First 3 established: Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen
Unit Terminology
• Mein Kampf (My Struggle): Hitler’s
autobiographical book written while he was
imprisoned in 1923. In it, he propounds his
ideas for Germany, Germans having a
“superior race” and accusing Jews of being
the source of all evil.
– The people who read the book (except his
admirers) didn’t take it seriously – considered
ravings of a maniac
Unit Terminology
• Nuremburg Laws: 2 anti-Jewish statutes enacted in
1935 during the Nazi Party’s national convention in
Nuremburg, taking away Jews’ civil rights.
– Deprived German Jews of citizenship and related rights,
outlawed marriage of Jews and non-Jews, forbade Jews
from employing German females of childbearing age,
and displaying the German flag
– Carefully defined Jewishness based on bloodlines (even if
you had a Jewish grandparent, you would face
discrimination)
Unit Terminology (Jewish Terms)
• Torah: Primary source in the Jewish religion
is the Hebrew bible – 24 books in 3 sections
(the first 5 books of the Bible)
• Talmud: A collection of teachings of early
rabbis from the 5th and 6th centuries.
• Cabbala: Hasidic Jews also read this
commentary on the Torah (more mystical).
Unit Terminology (Jewish Terms)
• Rosh Hashanah: Marks the new year of the Jewish
calendar.
• Yom Kippur: The holiest day of the Jewish calendar,
the day in which every individual is judged by God.
• Passover: An eight-day festival commemorating the
freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage.
Holocaust History Timeline
1933:
- Nazi party takes power in Germany. Adolf Hitler
becomes chancellor,or prime minister of
Germany.- Nazis 'temporarily' suspend civil
liberties
- The Nazis set up the first concentration camp at
Dachau. The first inmates are 200 Communists.
- Books with ideas considered dangerous to Nazi
beliefs are burned.
1934
• Hitler combines the positions of chancellor
and president to become 'Fuhrer' or leader of
Germany.'
• Jewish newspapers can no longer be sold in
the streets.
1935
• Jews are deprived of their citizenship and
other basic rights.
• The Nazis intensify the persecution of
political people that donÕt agree with his
philosophy.
1936
• Nazis boycott Jewish-owned business.
• The Olympic Games are held in Germany;
signs barring Jews are removed until the event
is over.
• Jews no longer have the right to vote.
1938
• On Kristallnacht, the 'Night of Broken Glass,' Nazis
terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria - 30,000
Jews are arrested.
• Jews must carry id cards and Jewish passports are marked
with a "J."
• Jews no longer head businesses, attend plays, concerts, etc.;
• all Jewish children are moved to Jewish schools.
• Jewish businesses are shut down; they must sell businesses
and hand over securities and jewels.
• Jews must hand over drivers's licenses and car registrations.
• Jews must be in certain places at certain times.
1939
• Germany takes over Czechoslovakia and
invades Poland.
• World War II begins as Britain and France
declare war on Germany.
• Hitler orders that Jews must follow curfews;
Jews must turn in radios to the police; Jews
must wear yellow stars of David.
1940
• Nazis begin deporting German Jews to
Poland.
• Jews are forced into ghettos.
• Nazis begin the first mass murder of Jews in
Poland.
• Jews are put into concentration camps.
1941
• Germany attacks the Soviet Union.
• Jews throughout Western Europe are forced
into ghettos.
• Jews may not leave their houses without
permission form the police.
• Jews may no longer use public telephones.
1942
• Nazi officials discuss the 'Final Solution' their plan to kill all European Jews to the
government officials.
– Jews are forbidden to: subscribe to newspapers;
keep dogs, cats, birds, etc; keep electrical
equipment including typewriters; own bicycles;
buy meat, eggs, or mild; use public
transportation; attend school.
1943
• February: About 80 to 85 percent of the Jews
who would die in the Holocaust have already
been murdered.
1944
• Hitler takes over Hungary and begins
deporting 12,000 Hungarian Jews each day to
Auschwitz where they are murdered.
1945
• Hitler is defeated and World War II ends in
Europe.
• The Holocaust is over and the death camps
are emptied.
• Many survivors are placed in displaced
persons facilities.
1946
• An International Military Tribunal (Judicial
assembly) is created by Britain, France,the
United States, and the Soviet Union.
• At Nuremburg, Nazi leaders are tried for war
crimes by the above Judicial assembly.
1947
• The United Nations establishes a Jewish
homeland in British-controlled Palestine,
which becomes the State of Israel in 1948.
The Sounds of Nazi Germany
• Nazis reinforced the idea that the German Culture was
the greatest in history.
– Hitler suppressed all the work of those considered unfit
while promoting certain “proper German composers”
• Some “approved composers: Ludwig van Beethoven,
Anton Bruckner, Hans Hotter, Herbert von Karajan,
and Richard Wagner
• As you listen, freewrite in your journal: How does the
music make you feel? How could it have
influenced others during Hitler's time?
Dachau
Buchenwald
Auschwitz
Birkenau
Elie Wiesel Interview