Consequences of World War II

1. Consequences of World War II THE HOLOCAUST Part 1 Objective: Analyze the consequences of World War II including the Holocaust and its impact.

2. Partner Question • 1. Share what you know about the Holocaust.

3. History of the Holocaust • Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933 • The Nazis claimed that the German people were a superior race called Aryans. • The Nazis looked down on non-Aryan people. • This group included Jews, Slavic peoples [Poles], and Gypsies [Roma]. • They also felt that Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Communists, homosexuals, and people with physical or mental disorders were inferior to them. • Many of these people became victims of systematic, government-sponsored persecution and extermination. • The Nazis were most relentless toward the Jews. • Their murder of some 6 million Jews and 5 million other people is known as the Holocaust [close to 12 million].

4. Treaty of Versailles • Devastating defeat of WWI and Treaty of Versailles created the climate for the Holocaust • The humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles created resentment among the German people. • Hitler was able to use this resentment to his advantage by blaming Jews for Germany’s economic problems. • In Mein Kampf, he refers to Jews as parasites and warns that they will hurt the Aryan race: The mightiest counterpart to the Aryan is represented by the Jew. • When Hitler took power in 1933, he had his chance to turn his racial beliefs into government policy. ?

5. Partner Questions • 2. What document caused resentment in Germany following WWI? • 3. Who used this resentment to his advantage? • 4. Who was blamed for all the problems of Germany?

6. Nuremberg Laws • The organized persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany began with the passage of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. • One of these laws, “The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor,” prohibited all marriages between Jews and German Christians. • “The Reich Citizenship Law” denied German citizenship to Jews. • Jews were reclassified as “nationals” and were banned from certain jobs. • Access to education was blocked, and property rights were taken away. • Eventually, all Jews were issued special identification cards and were required to wear a yellow star on their clothing to identify them in public. • Some German cities put up signs that said, “Jews Not Welcome.”

9. Partner Question • 5. Describe the Nuremberg Laws in your own words.

10. Kristallnacht • Not surprisingly, violence against Jews soon followed these measures. • An incident November 7, 1938, set off a wave of violence. • A Jewish teenager living in Paris was upset that his family in Germany had been forced out of their home and deported to Poland. • The teenager went to the Germany embassy in Paris and shot a German official. • This official died two days later. • Joseph Goebbels, the German minister of propaganda, used the incident as an excuse to sanction violence against German Jews.

11. Kristallnacht • On November 9 and 10, 1938, the violence began. • German mobs roamed the streets of cities and towns, attacking Jewish-owned businesses and Jewish homes. • Windows were broken. • Shops were looted and property destroyed. • Jewish schools and cemeteries were vandalized. • Over 7,000 Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed. • Hundreds of Jews were beaten, and nearly 100 died in the violence. • Thousands were arrested and taken off to concentration camps.

12. Kristallnacht • The two-night campaign of violence against German Jews is now called Kristallnacht, which means “Night of Broken Glass.” • It was the beginning of ever-increasing violence against Jewish people. • Many historians consider Kristallnacht the beginning of the Holocaust.

15. Partner Questions • 6. What does Kristallnacht mean? • 7. Describe the Kristallnacht.

16. Kristallnacht • The German government blamed the Jews for starting the violence of Kristallnacht. • In retaliation, it issued a new set of restrictive laws against Jews in Germany and German-held territory. • Jews were required to turn over any gold or other precious metals to the government. • Jewish-owned jewelry, art, and stocks and bonds were subject confiscation at any time. • Driver’s licenses were suspended. • Jews were prohibited from owning weapons, carrier pigeons, or radios. • A nationwide curfew for Jews was established to keep them off the streets during nighttime hours.

17. Partner Questions • 8. What is considered to be the beginning the Holocaust? • 9. What was the response of the Nazi government to Kristallnacht? • 10. How did the Nazi government attempt to suppress [keep out] information about Kristallnacht and other activities pertaining to the Jews treatment in Germany and German-held territories? [Limit Jewish Communication]

18. M. I. Libauequoted in Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust • All the things for which my parents had worked for eighteen long years were destroyed in less than ten minutes. Piles of valuable glasses, expensive furniture, linens-in short everything was destroyed….The Nazis left us yelling, “Don’t try to leave this house! We’ll soon be back again and take you to a concentration camp to be shot.” 1

19. Entry #24 5/16/14 • What is your reaction [emotions, feelings]to Libau’squote and the video? 2 http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_oi.php?MediaId=2712