The Holocaust and The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal

The Holocaust • Nazi Party – Hitler Elected Chancellor of Germany: 30 January, 1933

Hitler • Became popular by using: –Propaganda –Nationalism –Anti-Semitism –was incredibly charismatic

Propaganda • Posters, films, books • Children easier to influence – Hitler Youth – Teaching “racial theory” in classrooms – Children’s Books • More than 100, 000 copies sold in 1930 s • “Don’t Trust a Fox in a Green Meadow Or the Word of a Jew” • Slogans like “Judas the Jew betrayed Jesus the German to the Jews” recited in the classroom

History of Swastika • Ancient symbol • Countries that used the >3000 years old Swastika as a • Original word symbol: “svastika” comes – China from Sanskrit – England meaning: To be – Germany Good – Greece • Used mostly with – India positive meanings – UNITED STATES

The Nazis & The Swastika • Nazi Party formally adopted symbol in 1920. • Hitler designed the flag, choosing red, black and white because those were the colors of the original German flag. • Symbolized the “Aryan (Master) Race” since the mid 19 th century

Kristallnacht • “Night of Broken Glass” • Throughout Germany • November 9 -10, 1938 Jewish stores destroyed Jewish holy texts destroyed during Kristallnacht

Oberramstadt, Germany • Local synagogue burns during Kristallnacht while firefighters ignore it to “save” a nearby house. Bystanders watch as it is destroyed.

Boerneplatz: burning ; one wall remaining

Concentration Camps • 6 acknowledged • Almost German camps complete Jewish • Located in population of occupied Poland. • 3. 6 -4. 6 million killed • 80% Jews • ½ of all Jews killed during Holocaust Ruins at Birkenau: chimneys

Why Poland? • Poland=highest population of Jews in Europe • Easier to hide their crimes from German citizens and others • Easier to transport there ~Plaque at Birkenau

Who was targeted? • Gypsies (300, 000 -500, 000) • Mentally or Physically Handicapped • Homosexuals • Political Opposition Leaders – Socialists – Communists • Jehovah's Witnesses • ANYONE who disagreed with Hitler’s beliefs or was different than their ideal

Camp Death Tolls Maly Trostenets: >60, 000 Chelmno: >152, 000 Majdanek: 78, 000 -235, 000 SobibÓr: >250, 000 Belzec: >436, 000 Jasenovac: 500, 000 -840, 000 Treblinka: >800, 000

Auschwitz: ~1, 400, 000

Auschwitz Complex • Auschwitz I – Administrative Regional Headquarters – Torture Camp (~70, 000 killed) • Auschwitz II Birkenau – Death Camp (>1 million killed) • Auschwitz III Monowitz (Buna. Werke) – Work Camp • ~40 Additional Satellite Camps

Execution Wall Gas Chambers & Crematorium Block 11 Loot Storage Camp Kitchen A Section of Barracks Buildings To Birkenau

Smoke from Execution Area Crematoria V Railway Cars Trenches Prisoner Formations

Auschwitz Front gate of Auschwitz I. “Work makes one free. ” Door to Gas Chamber. “Harmful Gas! Entering endangers your life!”

Auschwitz II Entrance to Auschwitz II; commonly known as “Auschwitz. ” Main purpose of the camp: extermination

~700 prisoners attempted to escape from Auschwitz ~300 were successful 1 revolt was planned… …Hundreds If an escape was made, escaped… 10 people would be randomly selected by SS …All were officers… …and killed to captured, discourage others tortured, then from attempting an killed. escape.

Photos from Auschwitz Corpses of women on Block 11 (torture block) Execution Wall: 20, 000 killed Mountain of shoes taken from new arrivals

Barracks (TL)--Prisoners’ Clothes (BL)--Bathroom Facilities (TR)--Bunks (BR)

Ruins of Crematory III Crematory

Simon Wiesenthal (1908 -2005) • Born on December 31, 1908 in Buczacz, Ukraine • Wiesenthal’s father was killed in WWI; mother remarried • Was denied admission into the Polytechnic Institute in Lvov due to “quota restrictions on Jewish Students” • Earned his Architectural Engineering degree from the Technical University of Prague in 1932

Wiesenthal Background, cont. • Married Cyla Mueller in 1936 • Step-father arrested by secret police, died in prison and step-brother shot • Simon saved himself, mother and wife from deportation to Siberia by bribing a guard • Escaped execution by the Nazis with the help of a former employee

Concentration Camps • First: Janowska (with Cyla) – Forced labor: repair Eastern Railroad • Mother sent to Belzec (death camp) • By 1942, most of Simon and Cyla’s family were dead (total of 89 family members killed) • Simon was able to get false papers for Cyla to escape the camp in 1942 – Since she was blonde, she was never identified as a Jew or sent back to a camp

Simon’s Camps, Cont. • Escaped Janowska in 1943 • Caught and sent back in 1944 • 1 of 34 prisoners (out of 149, 000 originally) to move west with Nazis as they abandoned Janowska • Trek west took Simon to: – Plaszow – Gross-Rosen – Buchenwald – Mauthausen

4 th Camp: Buchenwald 3 rd Camp: Gross-Rosen 5 th Camp: Liberated Mauthausen Where Mother was 2 nd Camp: sent & killed Plaszow 1 st Camp: Janowska Lvov— where he lived

Liberated • From: Mauthausen • By: 11 th Armored Division of the Third U. S. Army on May 5, 1945 • Weighed less than 100 pounds

After the Holocaust • Both Cyla and Simon thought the other was dead… – Found each other late in 1945 – Daughter was born in 1946 • Became known as the “Nazi Hunter”

Life’s Work • Devoted himself to finding Nazis and getting them convicted for their crimes • Responsible for bringing almost 1, 100 Nazis to justice – Including: • Adolf Eichmann (administrator of the slaughter of the Jews) • Franz Murer (“The Butcher of Wilno”) • Erich Rajakowitsch (in charge of “death transports” in Holland)

Novels • The Murderers Among Us – Simon’s memoir; made into a movie • Sails of Hope • The Sunflower: On The Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness • Max and Helen • Krystyna • Every Day Remembrance Day • Justice Not Vengeance

“I want people to know the Nazis Achievements weren’t able to kill millions of people and get away with it. ” • Honorary British Knighthood ~Simon Wiesenthal • Presidential Medal of Freedom “…You believe in God and life after death. I • Dutch Freedom Medal also believe. Who we come to the other world • UN League for the Help of Refugees the and meet the millions of Jews who died in Award and they ask us, ‘What have you camps • US Congressional Gold answers. You will done? , ’ there will be many Medal say, ‘I became a of Honor • French Legion jeweler, ’ Another will say, ‘I have smuggled coffee and American • Founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center cigarettes, ’ Another will say, ‘I built houses, ’ – Museum of Tolerance forget you’. ” But I will say, ‘I did not To name a few… ~Wiesenthal

(Day 2) Terms You Should Know There are many words and terms in The Sunflower that might be unfamiliar to you…here’s a glossary of what they mean, so when you see them, you will understand what they are talking about…you will be tested over these words!

Holocaust • Literally means “Destruction by Fire” • Also used to refer to Nazi’s ethnic cleansing from 1933 -1945

Theology • The study of divine things or religious truth; divinity Michelangelo: The Sistine Chapel

Judaism • Monotheistic (one God) religion of the Jews, having its ethical, ceremonial, and legal foundation in the precepts of the Old Testament and in the teachings and commentaries of the rabbis as found chiefly in the Talmud

Anti-Semitism • Prejudice against Jews – “Semite”=Jewish person – “Anti”-Against • Nazi Germany had an official policy against Jewish people

Gentile • A person who is a “non-Jew” • A Christian is a Gentile

Agnostic • Believes there could be a higher power, but is not sure; doesn’t know what to believe

Sadists • Enjoyment of being cruel; taking pleasure in causing pain

SS • An elite quasimilitary unit that served as Hitler’s personal guard and as a special security force

Gestapo • Nazi Secret Police (organized in 1933); notorious for its brutal methods

Kapo • Nazi concentration camp prisoner who was given privileges in return for supervising prisoner work gangs; often brutal to fellow inmates

Askari • Russian deserters or prisoners who had enlisted of service under the Germans; used as a derogatory term.

Aryan • A non-Jewish Caucasian; “master race”; blonde, blue eyed, athletic Hmm…

Ghetto • a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live Building a wall in Warsaw to divide the “Aryan side” from the Jewish Ghetto

All that’s left of the Wall

Hitler Youth • “HJ” (Hitler Jugend) • Future “Aryan supermen” • Teaches young boys to fight for the Third Reich and be loyal to Nazi Germany

Ideology • The study of nature and the origin of ideas • The body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc. , that guides an individual