The Holocaust
“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”
-Elie Wiesel
What was the Holocaust?
 The holocaust was the
systematic persecution
and murder of
approximately six
million people of Jewish
faith and origin by the
Nazi regime and its
collaborators.
What lead to the
Holocaust?
 End of World War I
 Treaty of Versailles
 War Guilt Clause
World War I
 World War I began in 1914
and lasted until 1918.
 Allied powers won the war.
 United States
 Great Britain
 France
 Central powers lost war:
 Germany
 Austria
The Treaty of Versailles
 Treaty of Versailles was
the peace settlement
signed after World War
One had ended in 1918.
 Treaty signed between
Germany and the Allied
powers.
War Guilt Clause
 War Guilt Clause stated
that Germany was
responsible for World War
One.
 Effects:
 Germany had to pay
massive amounts of
money to Allied powers.
 Lesson the amount of
soldiers in their military
Discuss with a Partner
 The German people
were/are a very proud
group. How do you think
they felt after losing
WWI? Along with
losing, then having to
take all the blame for the
war, and hence fall into
an economic depression,
what could you assume
this would have done to
their sense of pride in
being Germans?
 How could the Allies
decision to make the
Germans sign the War
Guilt Clause backfire in
the long run?
 Who do you think the
Germans would blame
for their negative
feelings, and why do you
think they would blame
them?
Why?
 Due to the world wide embarrassment, country wide
depression, and the lack of national pride, Adolf Hitler was
able to rise to power. He was elected by the people in a
democratic election.
 Hitler needed someone else to blame other than Germans
for the loss of World War One. He needed a scapegoat.
 Hitler chose to blame the Jews, and other minority groups,
for the loss of the war.
Need to Know
Vocabulary
Genocide:

The deliberate killing of
people who belong to a
certain racial, political, or
cultural group.

Although there have been a
number of genocides
throughout history, the
Holocaust is considered
one of the most infamous
genocides in the history of
the world.
Need to Know
Vocabulary
Nazi Party:
 The political party
founded in Germany in
1919 and brought to
power by Adolf Hitler
in 1933.
Need to Know
Vocabulary
Aryan
Race
 Person of pure German
blood
 Ideally blond hair and
blue eyes
 Race does not really
exist
AntiSemitism

Prejudice against or
hatred of Jewish ancestry
or faith.
Systematic Approach to
Persecution of the Jews
 Beginning in the early 1930’s
 Phase One: Brainwashing


Propaganda (biased
information to support a view
point) encouraging German
nationalism and pride.
Propaganda creating a
villain or a scapegoat of
Jews.

Use of visual pictures,
radio messages, TV, etc.,
over a long period of
time. Created an US VS
THEM mentality.
Phase 2: Forced Relocation
 Phase 2 consisted of:
 Deportation of Jews
from their homes to
“neighborhoods” called
ghettos.
 Over 275 Ghettos in
Poland alone.
 Jews had to sew a “Star
of David” on their
clothing to allow Nazi
officers the ability to
identify Jews.
 Had a curfew.
 Could only shop in
certain areas.
Phase 3: Forced Labor
 Transfer Jews from ghettos
to concentration camps or
extermination camps.
 A concentration camp is
essentially a forced labor
camp in which the Nazi
officers forced inhabitants
to work with little food,
water, shelter, etc. Often led
to death by disease,
exposure, and starvation.
Phase 4: Extermination
 Phase 4 consisted of mass
executions of prisoners by
means of gas chambers.
 Germans foresaw
upcoming surrender, and
did not want to be punished
for their crimes against
humanity.
 Needed a way to dispose of
evidence of camps.
 Some camps exterminated
almost 90% of their
prisoners by means of the
gas chambers.
Liberation- 1945
 Over a span of almost 10
years, over 20 million Jews,
gypsies, and other groups
deemed “unworthy” of
Germany were
exterminated.
 Liberation, or the freeing of
prisoners, did not occur
until 1945. Most prisoners
were unable to return
home, were separated from
families, and had nothing
and no where to go.
Respond
 What was the most important information that you
learned today? Was there any information that
surprised you? If there was one thing that you will
remember about today’s presentation, what
information will that be?