The Holocaust

THE HOLOCAUST Robyn, Chelsey, Dustin & Jessie

Some Background.. The holocaust was led by the dictator Adolf Hitler. The Nazi party in Germany in the 1930s/1940s believed that certain people but mainly; Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled were inferior and didn’t deserve to live.

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Reasoning Behind It 

The Nazi party was anti-Semitic which means they hated Jews. Many Jewish people were part and contributed a great deal to the German society. Many of them were doctors, lawyers, bankers, teachers and business people. Hitler blamed the Jews of Germany for all economic problems when in reality Germany was having a difficult time because they had been defeated badly in WWI.

WWII In march of 1938, Germany won over Austria, and put harsh new laws in place that stripped the Austrian Jews of their rights. The German Troops invaded Poland in 1939. This caused Poland’s allies (great Britain and France) to declare war on Germany, thus triggering the start of WW2. Within the next year, Hitler and his forces invaded and took over the European nations of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg . Then came the falling of France leaving Great Britain to be overwhelmed by the German air assaults.

Hitler’s goals Hitler wanted to protect one thing, pure German blood and honor. He called the white, non-Jewish German’s “Aryans”. He also wanted to eventually invade and control all of Europe. 

Laws Hitler passed 

Hitler and his parliament passed laws making Jews give up their jobs, homes, their businesses and their rights. To make sure these laws were enforced, a police organization known as the Gestapo along with the most skilled army the “SS” imprisoned , beat, even murdered Jews, and for no other reason than because they were Jewish, if you questioned Hitler and his ways, you received similar beatings. Many of these people were sent to brutally ran prison and concentration

Ghettos During the years of the wars, the Nazis, under Hitler’s demand, created ghettos. Ghettos are small sealed areas inside cities and in Every this monthcase, tens of thousands of Jews were forced out of these ghettos and sent to forced-labor concentration crowded and camps and also death camps, where unless their labor was useful,unhealthy they were killed in gas chambers or murdered in some other way. This all comes living back toconditions. Hitler’s “final solution” which is the Nazi plan to eliminate all Jews.

Concentration/Extermination Camps 

Between the years 1942 and 1945 concentration and extermination camps were created all throughout Europe. Extermination camps were solely dedicated to the mass murder of Jewish and undesirable people yet many people died in concentration camps as well. In these camps the Nazis would do unspeakable things to the Jewish people. They would seal infant’s mouths shut so that they couldn’t nurse, just to see how long it would take them to die. The Nazi’s would take pleasure in riding on Jewish people’s backs. People in the camps were beat, raped, skinned, tortured, murdered and turned into slaves. They would perform sick and inhumane medical experiments on the Jews. Many people in these camps died in gas chambers or incinerators. Very few of the people who went to these camps survived.

Map of Concentration & Extermination Camps

Warsaw Ghetto

Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Did everyone in Germany hate the Jews? 

No, there were lots of Non-Jewish citizens who risked their own lives to rescue the tortured beings. There was also a resistance army who sabotaged the German army and helped the Jews escape. The resistance army was know as “the underground”, “the resistance” and/or “the

Star of David. 

As country after Country fell under Hitler’s occupation, Jewish people were singled out for being mistreated and they lost their rights. They were forced to wear the six pointed star of David, this was considered to be a symbol of Judaism. The star was to be worn on either the sleeve, chests or backs so that they could be easily noticed. this star let others know that you couldn’t walk freely like Non-Jews, also there were signs in theatres and cafes, restaurants and other

Facts        

The Holocaust began in January 1933 and ended, May 18th , 1945. There are approximately 500 survivors of all Nazi all death camps. There was over a million non-Jewish victims killed during the Holocaust. Approximately 1.5 million Jewish children were killed. Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp where the lives of 1 million Jews was taken. Out of the 7000 staff members at Auschwitz only about 750 of them were ever punished. 5000 Jewish communities were completely wiped out during the Holocaust. As shown in our chart, over 6 million Jewish people were murdered during the Holocaust which represented one third of all Jews alive at this time.