How To Understand The History Of The Holocaust In Flash (For Pc)

Transcription

1 The Holocaust Nazi Germany This icon indicates the slide contains activities created in Flash. These activities are not editable. 1 of 23 For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

2 What we will learn today 2 of 23 Between 1933 and 1945, Hitler and the Nazi party systematically persecuted German Jews. In this presentation we will consider: 1. how Nazi persecution of the Jews was able to escalate into state-led mass murder ('The Holocaust'). 2. the extent to which the international community and ordinary Germans chose to ignore what was happening. 3. how the Holocaust still affects international relations today.

3 3 of 23 The Escalation of Persecution

4 When and how were Jews persecuted? 4 of 23

5 Escalation 5 of 23 In its early stages, persecution was generally nonviolent and mainly focused on attacking Jewish rights and businesses. Since many people in Germany and the rest of Europe were traditionally anti-jewish, most Germans did not object to these forms of persecution. Once in power, the Nazis used propaganda and indoctrination to persuade people that the inferior Jews were conspiring to sabotage the Germanic master race. Gradually, most Germans came to accept more violent forms of persecution, culminating in Kristallnacht in Those who did not agree with the violence rarely voiced their concerns for fear of being arrested by the Gestapo.

6 Life for the Jews 6 of 23 I suddenly became very aware of my Jewish identity. Up until this point my religion had never seemed an important part of who I was. It wasn t very nice, to look over at the tennis courts and to know that you can t go in. You see your friends on their way to play tennis or hockey and you can t do any of those things any more. Edith Velmun, who was in Holland during the Nazi occupation.

7 Did other countries do enough to help the Jews? 7 of 23

8 8 of 23 Nazi Actions The historical guilt of world Jewry for the outbreak and extension of the war is so clearly proven that there is no point in wasting any words on it. The Jews wanted their war and now they have got it. But now they are feeling the effects of the prophecy which the Führer made on 30th January 1939 in the German Reichstag that, if international finance Jewry should succeed in plunging the nations once again into a world war, the result would be the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe. Goebbels, 1942

9 'Resettlement' The ghettos 9 of 23 As Germany conquered more and more land in Europe, the number of Jews under Nazi control increased drastically. Adolf Eichmann was put in charge of Jewish resettlement. This involved rounding up Jews from occupied countries and moving them to ghettos in a range of cities, the largest being the Warsaw ghetto in Poland. Walls were built to separate the ghetto from the rest of the city. Jews lived in cramped conditions 7 or 8 people to a room, each given only 300 calories of food per day. Although the Nazis were not yet systematically killing Jews, it is thought that around 500,000 Polish Jews died of disease and starvation in the ghettos.

10 'Resettlement' The ghettos 10 of 23 On the streets children are crying in vain, children who are dying of hunger. They howl, beg, sing, moan, shiver with cold, without underwear, without clothing, without shoes emaciated skeletons Already completely grown up at the age of five I no longer look at the people; when I hear groaning and sobbing I cross the road. A visitor to Warsaw, 1940.

11 Genocide The Final Solution 11 of 23 Till a few years ago, I thought of making a clean sweep of all European Jews and lumping them on Madagascar or some other island. But today, I m sure it s far better to exterminate them, right on the spot, wherever you find them. But by 1942, Hitler s policy toward the Jews was changing.

12 Genocide The Final Solution 12 of 23 In January 1942, a secret conference was held at Wannsee to discuss the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem. According to Rudolph Hess during his war crime trial in 1946: The Final Solution of the Jewish question meant the complete extermination of all Jews in Europe

13 13 of 23 Genocide The Final Solution Hitler and his lieutenants cloaked their most criminal activities in euphemistic language, [and] tried to keep their murderous plans secret Hitler was reluctant to commit himself to paper M Marrus, 1988, on the Final Solution. Why do you think Hitler s plans for the Jews changed? Why did he not want these plans written down?

14 Where were the Jews taken? 14 of 23 The Final Solution saw Jews initially herded out of their ghettos and into existing concentration camps. Some of these quickly turned from harsh prisons into straightforward execution sites. In addition, brand new Death Camps were created. These were built by the prisoners themselves and were designed specifically to kill people as quickly as possible.

15 Jewish populations in Europe, of 23

16 Extermination camp locations 16 of 23

17 What happened to the inmates? 17 of 23

18 Approximate Jewish death toll of 23

19 Legacy of the Holocaust 19 of 23 After World War II, the international community was horrified to discover the true scale of what had happened to the Jews. Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London. So in 1947, the United Nations, under pressure from Britain and the USA in particular, decided that the Jewish people should be given their own homeland.

20 Legacy of the Holocaust 20 of 23 The Jewish homeland was to be situated in Palestine, where the ancient Jewish Kingdom of Israel had once existed. However, the Muslim Arab peoples who already lived in this area refused to accept this decision. This gave rise to the Arab-Israeli conflict which continues to pose a serious threat to world peace today. The USA gives strong support to Israel while the Arab world supports the Palestinians. Do you think that the UN was right to create the state of Israel? Explain your answer.

21 Hitler s willing executioners? 21 of 23 The question of who was responsible for the Holocaust is a highly controversial one. David Irving argued that Hitler did not even know that the Holocaust was taking place! Irving s views have been largely discredited by other historians. Daniel Goldhagen in Hitler s Willing Executioners (1997) argues that the Final Solution was the responsibility of the German people as a whole, not just of Hitler and the Nazi Party.

22 Who was to blame for the Holocaust? 22 of 23 In the words of historian Richard Evans: Goldhagen argues that Germans killed Jews in their millions because they enjoyed doing it, and they enjoyed doing it because their minds and emotions were eaten up by a murderous, all-consuming hatred of Jews that had been pervasive in the German political culture for decades Based on the evidence of this presentation, and on the extracts shown on the following slide, do you agree with Goldhagen s interpretation?

23 Who was to blame for the Holocaust? 23 of 23