Holocaust: Historical/Cultural Context
Information taken from the USHMM Encyclopedia
I. PRE-WAR STATE OF GERMANY
A. ______________________________ (1919) – “the victorious Allies of World War I (the United
States, Great Britain, France, Italy, etc.) imposed punitive territorial, military, and economic treaty terms
on defeated Germany”
1. Treaty contained a “______________________” meaning Germany “accepted responsibility
for causing WWI and was required to pay for ALL civilian damages”
2. Treaty required Germany to make territorial concessions, restrict military
forces, and to pay __________________ dollars of reparations over 30 years.
B. Worldwide economic depression – Great Depression in America too
II. JEWISH LIFE IN EUROPE (Pre-Holocaust)
A. GERMANY 1933: Total population of Germany ≈ 62,000,000; Jews represented less than ______
B. EUROPE 1933: ≈ 9,500,000 Jews. More than ________ of the world’s Jewish population lived in
Europe.
C. PROUD JEWISH CITIZENSHIP: Jewish citizens were proudly involved in military, government,
medical and education positions. Marriage was common between Jews and non-Jews.
III. ANTI-SEMITISM TERMS
A. Anti-semitism –
B. ___________________________ – violent riots launched against Jews
and frequently encouraged by government authorities
C. Judenrein (1933-1941) –
D. Nazi Propaganda: propaganda tries to force a doctrine on a whole people through art, music,
theater, films, books, radio, and the press
1. Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment & Propaganda – Joseph Goebbels
2. Red Cross’ inspection of Theresienstadt – “beautification program”
E. Holocaust (1933-1945): the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of
approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators
a. ‘Holocaust’ is a word of Greek origin meaning ‘__________________________________’
IV. PERSECUTION OF JEWS
A. Boycott of Jewish Businesses (1 day)
a. _______________________ was painted on business owners door in yellow and black paint
b. Signs reading “Don’t Buy from Jews” & “The Jews Are Our Misfortune”
B. ______________________________ (April 1933) – elimination of Jews from government agencies, and state
positions related to economy, law and culture; civil service workers restricted to “Aryans” only
C. Identification of Jews
a. __________________________________ (1935) – Pure Germans were identified by blood,
marriage, and family history
b. Jewish id cards were marked with a red “J”
c. Recognizable “Jewish” middle names given to those Jews who did not have recognizable “Jewish”
first names: “____________” – males/ “____________” – females
D. ________________ (Night of broken glass/crystal) November 9-10, 1938
a. Over 1000 Jewish synagogues were burned
b. 7000 Jewish businesses destroyed; Dozens of Jews killed
c. Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes were looted
while police and fire brigades stood by
E. Following Kristallnacht
a. The morning after Kristallnacht, _____________ German Jewish men were arrested for the crime’ of
being Jewish and sent to concentration camps (most sent to Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen)
b. Curfews set for Jews
c. Jewish children barred from public schools
d. Insurance money was confiscated from the Jews since they were to blame for the event.
i. Repayment of ≈ $400,000 million U.S. dollars at the 1938 rate
e. Registration of Jewish property
f. _________________________ – transfer of Jewish businesses to non-Jewish owners at minimal cost
V. THE FINAL SOLUTION – Nazi plan to annihilate the Jewish people
B. _________________ Conference (Jan. 1942) – Nazi coordination of a policy of genocide of European Jews
a. It determined that Hitler’s decision to solve the ‘Jewish Question’ would be through systematic mass
murder and detailed how that would be transmitted to the appropriate ministries and bureaucracies.
b. Stages: Persecution/Emigration, Ghettos, Mobile killing squads (Einsatzgruppen – shooting/gas
vans), Systematic deportation of Jews to concentration and extermination camps, Death marches
C. Victims: Roughly ___________________ total deaths
a. Jews…………………………………………………………………... 5,600,000 to 6,250,000
b. Romas (gypsies) …………………………………………………….. 222,000 to 250,000
c. Poles & Serbians ……………………………………………………. 3,700,000
d. Soviet prisoners of war …..…………………………………..……... 3,000,000
e. Political Dissidents and Dissenting Clergy …………………………. 80,000
f. Persons with Physical or Mental Disabilities …………………….… 70,000
g. Jehovah’s Witnesses …………………………………………………. 2,500
h. Homosexuals ………………………………………………………… 12,000
i. African-German children living in the Rhineland …………………… ???
*African-German children were looked at as a start to “bastardizing Europe and were forcibly
sterilized.
VI. STAGES OF ANIHILATION
A. Pre-camp deportation: life in the ghetto
a. ____________ – Jewish residential quarter established for a few days, a few months or years
b. September 1939 – first ghettos were established after the German invasion of Poland
c. More than _________ ghettos throughout eastern Europe; 400 in German occupied territories
d. Warsaw, Poland – largest ghetto which confined approximately _______________ Jews in
an area of only 1.3 square miles
B. Forced-Labor Camps
a. Before the Nazis took over, German law enforcement forced “outsiders” to work in
concentration camps as a way to help “educate” this new work
force on social discipline and proper work ethic
b. Forced labor used for Germany’s economic gain
c. Producing items to support the German war effort
d. Themes: “_________________________________________”
C. Concentration Camps: 1933-1945
a. Concentration Camp:
b. Hitler directed Heinrich Himmler to formalize the camps into a system
i. 1939-1942: significant expansion of the camp system
ii. 1942-1944: subcamps emerge near factories so prisoners could work for the war
supplies
c. Approximately 20,000 camps established by Nazi Germany
d. _________________ – first concentration camp established in March 1933.
D. Extermination Camps
a. Extermination Camps: Killing centers/death camps designed to carry out the “final
solution”
b. Approximately __________________ Jews were killed in extermination camps alone
c. Camps include:
i. Chelmno – 1st camp to open; Dec 1941
ii. _______________________ – largest killing center; Complex of camps including a
concentration, extermination camp, forced-labor camp, & medical experiments
d. Selection Process – When deportees arrived, men were
separated from women and children. A selection process ensued
choosing the “healthy” to work in forced labor camps.
e. Deportees marched to showers and were told that they were to
rid the bodies of lice; instead the deportees were gassed
f. ____________________ – Jewish prisoners forced to remove
teeth, hair, etc. and then burn the victims’ bodies in the
crematoriums.
Holocaust: Historical/Cultural Context
Information taken from the USHMM Encyclopedia
VII.
PRE-WAR STATE OF GERMANY
A. Treat of Versailles at the end of WWI (1919) – “the victorious Allies of World War I (the United
States, Great Britain, France, Italy, etc.) imposed punitive territorial, military, and economic treaty terms
on defeated Germany”
1. Treaty contained a “war guilt clause” meaning Germany “accepted responsibility for causing
WWI and was required to pay for ALL civilian damages”
2. Treaty required Germany to make territorial concessions, restrict military
forces, and to pay 5 BILLION dollars of reparations over 30 years.
B. Worldwide economic depression – Great Depression in America too
VIII.
JEWISH LIFE IN EUROPE (Pre-Holocaust)
D. GERMANY 1933: Total population of Germany ≈ 62,000,000; Jews represented less than 1%
E. EUROPE 1933: ≈ 9,500,000 Jews. More than 60% of the world’s Jewish population lived in
Europe.
F. PROUD JEWISH CITIZENSHIP: Jewish citizens were proudly involved in military, government,
medical and education positions. Marriage was common between Jews and non-Jews.
IX. ANTI-SEMITISM TERMS
A. Anti-semitism – prejudice against or hatred of Jews
B. Pogroms – violent riots launched against Jew and frequently encouraged
by government authorities”
C. Judenrein (1933-1941) – German cleansing of Jews
D. Nazi Propaganda: propaganda tries to force a doctrine on a whole people through art, music,
theater, films, books, radio, and the press
1. Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment & Propaganda – Joseph Goebbels
2. Red Cross’ inspection of Theresienstadt – “beautification program”
E. Holocaust (1933-1945): the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of
approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators
j. ‘Holocaust’ is a word of Greek origin meaning ‘sacrifice by fire’
X. PERSECUTION OF JEWS
F. Boycott of Jewish Businesses (1 day)
a. Star of David painted on business owners door in yellow and black paint
b. Signs reading “Don’t Buy from Jews” & “The Jews Are Our Misfortune”
G. Civil Service Law (April 1933) – elimination of Jews from government agencies, and state positions related
to economy, law and culture; civil service workers restricted to “Aryans” only
H. Identification of Jews
a. Nuremberg Race Laws (1935) – Pure Germans were identified by blood, marriage, and family history
b. Jewish id cards were marked with a red “J”
c. Recognizable “Jewish” middle names given to those Jews who did not have recognizable “Jewish”
first names: “Israel” – males/ “Sara” – females
I.
Kristallnacht (Night of broken glass/crystal) November 9-10, 1938
a. Over 1000 Jewish synagogues were burned
b. 7000 Jewish businesses destroyed; Dozens of Jews killed
c. Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes were looted
while police and fire brigades stood by
J. Following Kristallnacht
a. 1938 – The morning after Kristallnacht, 30,000 German Jewish men were arrested for the crime’ of
being Jewish and sent to concentration camps (most sent to Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen)
b. Curfews set for Jews
c. Jewish children barred from public schools
d. Insurance money was confiscated from the Jews since they were to blame for the event.
i. Repayment of ≈ $400,000 million U.S. dollars at the 1938 rate
e. Registration of Jewish property
f. Aryanization – transfer of Jewish businesses to non-Jewish owners at minimal cost
XI. THE FINAL SOLUTION – Nazi plan to annihilate the Jewish people
D. Wannsee Conference (Jan. 1942) – Nazi coordination of a policy of genocide of European Jews
a. It determined that Hitler’s decision to solve the ‘Jewish Question’ would be through systematic mass
murder and detailed how that would be transmitted to the appropriate ministries and bureaucracies.
b. Stages: Persecution/Emigration, Ghettos, Mobile killing squads (Einsatzgruppen – shooting/gas
vans), Systematic deportation of Jews to concentration and extermination camps, Death marches
E. Victims: Roughly 11 million total deaths
a. Jews…………………………………………………………………… 5,600,000 to 6,250,000
b. Romas (gypsies) …………………………………………………….. 222,000 to 250,000
c. Poles & Serbians ……………………………………………………. 3,700,000
d. Soviet prisoners of war …..…………………………………..……... 3,000,000
e. Political Dissidents and Dissenting Clergy …………………………. 80,000
f. Persons with Physical or Mental Disabilities …………………….… 70,000
g. Jehovah’s Witnesses …………………………………………………. 2,500
h. Homosexuals …………………………………………………………. 12,000
i. African-German children living in the Rhineland ……… ???
*African-German children were looked at as a start to “bastardizing Europe and were forcibly
sterilized.
XII.
STAGES OF ANIHILATION
E. Pre-camp deportation: life in the ghetto
a. Ghetto – Jewish residential quarter established for a few days, a few months or years
b. September 1939 – first ghettos were established after the German invasion of Poland
c. More than 800 ghettos throughout eastern Europe; 400 in German occupied territories
d. Warsaw, Poland – largest ghetto which confined approximately ½ million Jews in an area of
1.3 square miles
F. Forced-Labor Camps
a. Before the Nazis took over, German law enforcement forced “outsiders” to work in
concentration camps as a way to help “educate” this new work
force on social discipline and proper work ethic
b. Forced labor used for Germany’s economic gain
c. Producing items to support the German war effort
d. Themes: “Annihilation through work”
G. Concentration Camps: 1933-1945
a. Concentration Camp: a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under
harsh condition and without regard of the normal laws of imprisonments
b. Hitler directed Heinrich Himmler to formalize the camps into a system
i. 1939-1942: significant expansion of the camp system
ii. 1942-1944: subcamps emerge near factories so prisoners could work for the war
supplies
c. Approximately 20,000 camps established by Nazi Germany
d. Dachau – first concentration camp established in March 1933.
H. Extermination Camps
a. Extermination Camps: Killing centers/death camps designed to carry out the “final
solution”
b. Approximately 3,000,000 Jews were killed in extermination camps alone
c. Camps include:
i. Chelmno – 1st camp to open; Dec 1941
ii. Auschwitz-Birkenau – largest killing center; Complex of camps including a
concentration, extermination camp, forced-labor camp, & medical experiments
d. Selection Process – When deportees arrived, men were
separated from women and children. A selection process ensued
choosing the “healthy” to work in forced labor camps.
e. Deportees marched to showers and were told that they were to
rid the bodies of lice; instead the deportees were gassed (carbon
monoxide, zyklon b)
f. Sonderkommandos – Jewish prisoners forced to remove teeth,
hair, etc. and then burn the victims’ bodies in the crematoriums.
XIII.
RISE OF ADOLPH HITLER – Might not need
A. Born in Austria 1889
B. EDUCATION: Heavily influenced by the Vienna politics of Georg von Schönerer (ideology) and Karl
Lueger (strategies) – used racial superiority as a campaign tool
1. 1919 – His service during WWI solidified his commitment to an anti-sematic and social
Darwinist race theory based on the idea of combating the power of the Jew. He characterized Jews
not as a religion, but a race known as the “tuberculosis of the peoples.” His ultimate goal was the
removal of Jews altogether.
C. 1919 - Nazi Party Founded
D. 1923 - Beer Hall Putsch
1. Hitler imprisoned for treason during the coup
2. Writes Mein Kampf (My Struggle) pursuing an “Aryan” master race
E. 1933 – Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany
1. Marks the end of German democracy
2. Nazi party – National Socialist German Workers’ Party
a. Appealed to the unemployed, young and lower-middle class as it moved away from
individual freedoms and towards a social system aligning political parties,
government, cultural and professional organizations with the Nazi ideology
3. REICHSTAG – German parliament (can approve Hitler’s policies, but not reject or alter them)
a. Third Reich – Nazi state of Germany
b. Reichstag Fire Decree (February 1933) – suspension of civil rights established under
the Weimar Constitution
c. Enabling Law (March 1933) – Hitler’s cabinet assumes all legislative power
d. Civil Service Law (April 1933) – elimination of Jews from government agencies, and
state positions related to economy, law and culture
e. Nazi party was the only political party in Germany (July 1933)
1934 - Armed forces take an oath of loyalty to Hitler as Fuehrer – head
of the Nazi party
F.
Auschwitz-Birkenau
1. Largest camp located near Cracow/Krakow, Poland
a. Complex of camps including a concentration, extermination and forced-labor
camp; medical experiments also conducted – Dr. Mengele
b. Auschwitz I (1940), Auschwitz II (Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1942), Auschwitz III
(Auschwitz-Monowitz, 1942)
(1) Auschwitz I “serve[d] three purposes: 1. To incarcerate real and perceived
enemies of the Nazi regime and the German occupation authorities in Poland
for an indefinite period of time; 2) to have available a supply of forced
laborers for deployment in SS-owned, construction-related enterprises (and,
later, armaments and other war-related production); and 3) to serve as a site to
physically eliminate small, targeted groups of the population whose death was
determined by the SS and police authorities to be essential to the security of
Nazi Germany” (USHMM Encyclopedia – Auschwitz)
(2) Auschwitz II housed the largest total prison population.
2. Approximately 1,300,000 people were deported to Auschwitz and approximately 1.1
million people were killed, 9/10 of them Jewish
3. Arbeit Macht Frei – “Work Makes One Free”: work as a means of extermination
4. January 27, 1945 Soviet army liberates Auschwitz
RESPONSES
G. Evian Conference (1938)
1. Thirty-two countries discuss letting Jewish people to immigrate to their countries
2. “Responding to Evian, the German government was able to state with great pleasure how
‘astounding’ it was that foreign countries criticized Germany for their treatment of the Jews,
but none of them wanted to open the doors to them when ‘the opportunity offer[ed]’”
(USHMM Education – Jews in Europe/Evian Conference).
H. United States
1. 1924 – Congress sets up immigration quotas “limit[ing] and discriminat[ing] against
groups considered racially and ethnically undesirable (USHMM Education – Jews in
Europe/Evian Conference)
2. December 7, 1941 – Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. U.S. immediately declares war on
Japan.
3. Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S. December 11, 1941
4. August 1942 – U.S. receive information regarding the Nazi plan for total annihilation of
the Jews but do not respond
I.
Britain and France declare war on Germany – September 3, 1939.
J. Soviet Union
1. German-Soviet Pact
a. Economic agreement (August 19, 1939) – exchange of German manufactured
goods for Soviet raw materials
b. Non-aggression pact (August 23, 1939)
2. German-Soviet Pact enabled German attack on Poland (September 1, 1939) without
Soviet intervention
3. Soviets begin to take over portions of western Europe
4. December 18, 1940 – Hitler signs Directive 21 (Operation Barbarossa) – 1st operational
order for the invasion of the Soviet Union
5. June 1941 – German forces invade the Soviet Union