Extra Credit Opportunity

Extra Credit Opportunity • No less than 2 pages, typed, 12 pt font. double spaced • Up to 20 points available– just because you do it does not mean you get all of the points • Points will be added to your test grade • Plagiarized work will not be counted • Prompt: Compare and contrast the different dictators of the Interwar Period. Discuss their nation’s conditions, party, leader, rise to power, promises, etc. Highlight differences between the three and also similarities. Explaining why these similarities and differences are important will be key to earning points.

The Holocaust “Never Again” -In five languages Picture I took at Dachau camp near Munich, Germany -Dachau wasthe first concentration camp for “political prisoners” set up in 1933

Background • 9 million Jews living in Europe by the time Hitler came to power. (most not in Germany, but other parts of central and Eastern Europe) • Jews and Christians have been hostile to each other since the Middle Ages • But this was based on a difference in RELIGION not based on difference of RACE • Jews are a passive people that do not attack • Holocaust translates to burnt whole

The Blame-Game • Hitler blames the Jews for the problems of Germany • Included: Losing WWI, the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles, economic depression • Hitler wanted a master Aryan Race that was superior to all others, and the Jews were a scapegoat to blame for Germany’s blunders

Hitler’s plan was to rule the world, and have a world without Jews so they could cause no more problems. • To figure out his “problem” the Nazis proposed the Final Solutionthat was to kill all Jewish people. The final solution to the Jewish question • This is a form of genocide- the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group. • Genocide is never based on FACT, but usually illusion of beliefs.

The Process Begins • Once Hitler takes over as Chancellor, the Nuremburg Laws make the Jews in Germany a separate group of people • As Germany takes over new places, Jews there become part of this different race as well. • The more power Hitler gained, the more he used to begin his extermination of Jews

The Nuremburg Laws- 1935 • Jews were stripped of their citizenship. Any person with 3-4 Jewish Grandparents was a Jew. There were also mixed Jews (1-2 grandparents). No mixing of Germans and Jews allowed • Could not convert to German if you were a Jew • Could not participate in German society • Had to wear arm bands to show that they were Jewish and not German

Removal from Society • Jewish businesses boycotted by Nazis • Kristallnacht looted Jewish shops • Jews were forced to live in ghettos • Separate areas meant for Jews only • Horrible conditions, little food, barbed wire to separate from the Nazis • Lost their jobs, life savings, even family members • Other Jews were deported from Nazi territory and sent to concentration camps to work. • Starvation, disease and cruel medical experiments awaited them at the camps

Moving to the Ghettos Jews awaiting to be moved to ghetto Isolation Building a wall around a Ghetto

“Work sets you Free” Dachau’s Gate, and the motto that was on most labor camp gates in Nazi Germany

Work-Camp Barracks Barracks at Dachau- Men and women separated and tight quarters

Hitler: Labor not enough • Hitler used his SS (secret police) to also execute Jewish civilians, women, and children. • Mobile killing stations set up as WWII went on throughout Soviet Russia to kill Jews in new Nazi territory • 35,000 killed with-in 2 days at BabiYar in USSR.

Executions SS troops executing Jewish men into a ditch for a massive grave site

Death Camps • Hitler still not satisfied with the amount of Jews, so death camps that had been being built during his regime go into effect. • 8 Death Camps were set up in Europe • Trains worth of Jews would come everyday. They would be separated by men and women. Few would be selected to live (but work hard). The rest would be disrobed and taken to “shower” in the gas chambers to die and be burned after their death.

Auschwitz- Southern Poland A train of Jews arrives in Auschwitz

Clothes and belongings taken Shoes and glasses of Jews taken to the gas chambers

Sent to death by poison gas Auschwitz gas chamber

Then buried…

Crematorium- Dachau It wasn’t until 1943 that the death camps had new gas chamber/crematoriums built instead of trying to bury all of the bodies.

Total Deaths • In all, 6 million Jews died at the hand of Nazi troops. (Non-soldiers, men, women, children) • 2 of every 3 Jews in Europe from 1933 died by the end of the war (9 Million  3 million) • 5 million other people killed in death camps as well • Poles, Slavs, homosexuals, the disabled and Gypsies (anyone not Aryan)

Aftermath • Most nations, even in Europe did not know of the mass killing, they thought Jews were in work camps, not being executed. • When a train-full of people was killed, nobody went back and told others to spread the word of what Nazis were doing (no evidence) • German people even were indifferent to how the Jews were treated, but did not know how bad it really was.

World Reactions… • Rumors started in 1942 of widespread murder of Jews, but the US and Britain did not act even though reports were confirmed. • The US created the War Refugee board in 1944 to help European Jews • Saved 200,000 • Could they have saved more? Why did they not act? Report from Poland to US About Jews being killed.

US Reaction US Senator Barkley visiting Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, 1945

Cover-Up • Once discovered, first by the Soviet soldiers, Germans tried to destroy evidence of the camps (even kill the remaining prisoners) • Allied Troops all over Europe were working to liberate the camps, freeing and caring for any remaining inmates • “I thought I had seen everything. I was a hardened soldier. I had been in combat since October 1944, and I had seen death and destruction that was unparalleled in modern times. But this– there are no words to describe this. • American Capt. Reid Draffen

Remembrance Today President Obama and German Chancellor with Elie Wiesel at Buchenwald

Extra Credit Opportunity