Holocaust - History Notes

1. What was the Holocaust? 2. What were the causes and effects of the Holocaust? 3. What methods did the Nazis use to carry out the extermination? 4. What were the Nuremberg Trials? The Holocaust was the organized murder of at least 6 million European Jews by the Nazis during World War II. The Holocaust was the largest genocide in history. Genocide – the attempt to kill an entire ethnic or religious group of people. Anti-Semitism – prejudice against Jewish people. By 1945 at least 66% of the European Jews were killed, with Poland losing 91% of it’s over 3 million Jews. The Nazis also killed a half million gypsies, 250,000 disabled persons, and over 3 million Soviet POWs. Jehovah’s Witnesses, the clergy, homosexuals, and intellectuals were also victims. During WWII the Nazis spread anti-Semitism into nations they conquered. In occupied Poland Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David and were then forced into ghettos, or inner city slums. Poland’s Warsaw ghetto was only a few square miles but housed 500,000 people. The ghetto was sealed off to prevent escapes. The Nazis used three main tools to control and force Jews into ghettos: 1. Deception - Jews were told they were being sent to “resettlement areas” in the east, and advised to pack, bring valuables and the tools of their trade. 2. Starvation - People need 2,400 calories a day, but the Nazis fed the Jews only 300 which made them weak and easy to control. 3. Terror - The SS frequently performed on-thespot public executions. When the Nazis invaded the USSR the Einsatzgruppen, or specially trained SS killing groups, followed the army to kill Jews and create lebensraum for Germans in the east. The Einsatzgruppen brought Jews to secluded areas and forced them to give up their valuables and take off their clothes. Many were forced to dig mass graves and then shot while kneeling at the edge of the pit. Some were buried alive. The Einsatzgruppen also used “gas vans.” The exhaust from the van was piped into the back of the van, and then later into a nearby building filled with prisoners. Einsatzgruppen squads killed around 2 million people, but this required valuable fuel, manpower, ammunition, and time, so the Nazis sought a more efficient killing plan. In 1942 the Nazis decided gassing at death camps was much faster than the Einsatzgruppen. Although he referred to the Holocaust with code words, few historians doubt Hitler was directly involved. Hitler called the Holocaust “the final solution to the Jewish Hitler & question,” and the Himmler “clean sweep.” “If I can send the flower of the German nation into the hell of war without the smallest pity for the spilling of precious German blood, then surely I have the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin…” Adolf Hitler All new arrivals to the death camps went through “selection.” Children, the old and sick were sent straight to the “showers,” which were really the gas chambers. The healthy were sent to labor camps where they died from hard labor and starvation. The Nazis succeeded in keeping the Holocaust a secret, and those who knew had no idea it was on such a large scale. The Nazis crammed hundreds at a time in the gas chambers and dropped Zyklon B (gas) through holes in the ceiling. After a few minutes the prisoners painfully suffocated to death. Auschwitz was the largest death camp where 9,000 Jews could be gassed and cremated a day. Around 1.5 million people were killed at Auschwitz. Jewish prisoners known as Sonderkommando first removed the hair, clothes, jewelery, and gold fillings from the dead, and then shoved the bodies into giant ovens. After four months they were executed, cremated, and replaced with new arrivals. Auschwitz was designed to look like a train station to deceive incoming Jews. Jews were also greeted by an orchestra playing classical music. Auschwitz was organized like a factory complex, which disguised its true purpose from overhead planes. Auschwitz Entrance Nazi doctors performed gruesome experiments on prisoners. Jews were boiled, frozen, poisoned, and cut to pieces. Some even shrunk heads, and made lampshades from skin. Poisoned children Nazi Experiments After the war the Axis leaders were tried for “crimes against humanity,” which included deportation, enslavement, murder, extermination and other atrocities. At the Nuremberg Trials many top Nazis received death sentences, while others were imprisoned. Einsatzgruppen and camp leaders were also executed. The trials showed that political and military leaders could be held accountable for actions in wartime.