American History Chapter 18 World War II Americans

American History Chapter 18: World War II: Americans at War III. The Holocaust

Bell Ringer • Define genocide. • Besides the holocaust – when else has genocide occurred? • What are some synonyms of holocaust?

Objectives • In what ways did Germany persecute Jews in the 1930 s? • How did Germany's policies toward Jews develop from murder into genocide?

The Nazis r

Herman Goering • Head of the police and Gestapo • Head of the Luftwaffe

Rudolph Hess • Deputy Fuhrer • Crash landed in Britain in 1941 • Murdered in Spandau prison in 1989

Heinrich Himmler • Head of the SS

Ernst Roehm • Head of SA

Joseph Goebbels • Head of Propaganda

Martin Bormann • Hitler’s Secretary

Albert Speer • Minister of the Interior

A) Setting the Scene • Aryans are German people • Semites are Arabs and Jews 10) anti-Semitism: discrimination, hostility, and violence directed at Jews • Quote 609

B) Persecution in Germany • 1933 Hitler makes ant-Semitism the official policy of Germany 11) Holocaust: Nazi Germany's systematic murder of European Jews. • 6 million Jews – 6 million other

a) Nazi Policies • • • Boycotts of Jew businesses Nuremberg Laws took German citizenship Jews and non-Jews no marriage 1938 lost businesses Doctors and lawyers forbidden to work for non-Jews • Identity cards – Sarah and Israel – letter J on clothing

b) Hitler’s Police • SS – Schutzstaffel – “black shirts” • Gestapo – German secret police 12) Concentration camps: place where political prisoners and “undesirables” are confined. Harsh. • Communists, Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witness, Gypsies, and homeless

c) Kristallnacht • German thugs throughout Germany and Austria looted and destroyed Jewish stores, houses, and synagogues 13) Kristallnacht – night of broken glass • Fined the Jews to pay for damage

d) Refugees Seek an Escape • Jews tried to get out of Germany – allowed but most recaptured later • US did not allow more Jews into country

C) From Murder to Genocide • Ghettos – self contained areas surrounded by wall and guards where Jews forced to live 14) Warsaw Ghetto: ghetto in the capital of Poland for Jews

a) The Einsatzgruppen • Special action squads/mobile killing squads • Babi Yar – killed 33, 000 Jews in 2 days 15) Wannsee Conference: where the final solution to the Jewish question was created 16) Genocide: deliberate destruction of an entire ethnic or cultural group

b) The Death Camps • Zyklon B poison gas most efficient way to kill people • 6 camps built in Poland – EZ 17) Death Camps – mass murder camps • 2 biggest Auschwitz (1. 5 mil) and Majdanek • Young and old killed – rest worked to death • Death chambers disguised as shower rooms • Cruel medical experiments • SS unit – Totenkopfverbande (Death Head Units) man the camps

c) Fighting Back • 1943 uprising at Treblinka death camp closed it for days • Warsaw Ghetto uprising – Jews received info that they were being killed – 50, 000 Jews held out for 27 days

d) Rescue and Liberation • • US knew about camps by 1942 but did little Denmark – all 8, 000 Jews smuggled out to Sweden 18) War Refugee Board: program that tried to help save people threatened by the Nazis • US troops stumbled upon camps 19) Nuremberg Trials: international military tribune conducted by the allies that convicted Nazis of War crimes • “following orders”

Review • In what ways did Germany persecute Jews in the 1930 s • How did Germany’s polices toward Jews develop from murder into genocide?