THE HOLOCAUST
1933 – 1945
“Some Were Neighbors:
Collaboration and Complicity in the Holocaust”
An Online Exhibition from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
THE HOLOCAUST
WAS THE SYSTEMATIC,
BUREAUCRATIC MASS
MURDER OF MORE THAN
SIX MILLION JEWS BY THE
NAZI REGIME AND ITS
COLLABORATORS
Holocaust History
This lesson examines the choices that
people made concerning the Jews during
the Holocaust. This lesson especially
identifies various levels of society
focusing on motivations and factors that
resulted in the decisions for life or death
for the Jewish people.
Humiliation of Jews
Oil on Canvas
Created by K-12th grade and College-Age Students
In towns all over Europe, honorable Jews were forced by officials
to scrub entire sidewalks and streets with small brushes while
they were laughed at and scorned by large crowds of pro-Nazis.
"The world is a dangerous place, not
because of those who do evil, but because of
those who look on and do nothing.“
- Albert Einstein
Nazis Approach Jewish Men
Oil on Canvas
Created by K-12th grade and College-Age Students
These Hasidic Jews in the
Warsaw Ghetto are being
humiliated by Nazi
officers as they are
forced to take their hats
off as a form of surrender
to these cruel officials,
who stand mockingly
imposing their assumed
superiority.
Warsaw Ghetto: Jewish Police
Pen and Ink – Stipple
Jewish Order Service police units were established by the German
authorities through the Jewish Councils within the ghettos. Belonging
to a protected organization such as this provided these men
protection from being selected for forced labor, yet they were
constantly under the tight control of their Nazi “superiors.”
Hungarian Roundup:
Jews with Hands Raised
Oil Painting
Created by K-12th grade and College-Age Students
In 1944, the Nazi officials rounded up the Hungarian Jews of Budapest at
the delight of non-Jewish civilians. Thousands of Jews were forced to
immediately yield as they raised their hands while they were subjected to
the cruel demands of the Nazi officials.
“First they came
for the Socialists, and I did not
speak out—Because I was not a Socialist. Then they
came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for
the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a
Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left
to speak for me.”
- Martin Niemöller
Protestant Pastor who opposed the Nazi regime.
Righteous Among the Nations:
Erszebet Fajo
Oil on Canvas
Created by K-12th grade and College-Age Students
Erzsebet Fajo was a young
nursemaid for a Jewish family
who organized their escape at
the time of the time of the
roundup and deportation of
Jews from their area. After the
war, the family adopted her and
provided her with an education.
She was named Righteous
Among the Nations in 1986.
Righteous Among the Nations:
Lt. Albert Battel
Oil on Canvas
Created by K-12th grade and College-Age Students
During a Nazi attempt to deport Jews
from a Polish ghetto, Nazi
Oberleutenant Albert Battel
successfully blocked the bridge that
provided the only access to the
ghetto. Later the same day, Battel
broke into the ghetto and evacuated
around one hundred Jews and their
families to the local command
barracks.
“Don’t ever
let anyone tell you sticks and
stones will break your bones, but words will
never harm you. It’s a lie. I was brutalized and
tortured and nearly starved to death. I can
remember every name the Nazis ever called me.”
- Quote from a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust
who survived Auschwitz Concentration Camp
Sources
http://www.ushmm.org/
http://www.yadvashem.org
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary
Images courtesy of the WFCS Holocaust Museum
http://theholocaustmuseum.info/
Copyright © 2014. WFCS Holocaust Museum