3/11/08 8th

Today we had a lesson about the history of The Holocaust as a pre-reading activity for The Diary of Anne Frank.

What is The Holocaust?
Literally, it means a huge destruction or sacrifice.
When spelled with an upper-case “H” (making it a proper noun) it refers to the deliberate attempt by the Nazi government to destroy all Jewish people in Germany and surrounding countries.
Took place before and during WWII, between 1933 and 1945.
Targeted Jews, Gypsies, Poles, homosexuals, communists and anyone who tried to fight against the Nazi party.

The Jewish People
Judaism teaches that there is one God and that the Jews are the chosen people. The believe in The Torah.
Strong families.
Dietary code—Kosher foods.
Strong sense of community.
Jews live in all parts of the world.

Anti-Semitism
Hatred or unfair treatment of Jewish people.
Started in 1000 A.D. and occurred throughout Europe.
Religious reasons—Christians blamed Jews for killing Jesus.
Social reasons—Jews were different, spoke a different language, dressed differently, ate different foods, etc.

Hitler
Born in Austria, 1889.
Poor student, failed out of art school.
1914 joined German army, fought in WWI.
Germany lost WWI, Hitler blamed the Jews.
Decided to go into politics to right the wrongs Germany suffered.
Joined the Nazi party (National Socialist German Workers’ Party).
Became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933.
Gave himself the title, “Fuhrer” (tyrannical leader).
Charismatic speaker, had many faithful followers.
When Germany lost the war, committed suicide to avoid getting caught.

The Nazis
Hitler and friends wrote 25 points, outlining the aims of the Nazis. Some of these points:
Gain land to settle all German-speaking people.
Take control of more land to expand.
Ensure only people of German blood could be German citizens.
Allow only German citizens to have rights in German lands.
Give complete power to the government (Nazi party).
Require that non-German citizens leave Germany.
Require German citizens put the interest of the national community before their own.
Outlawed other political parties.
Believed in Racial superiority, “I believe that the Aryan race—white Europeans of the blonde, Nordic type—are superior.”
Racial purity—”No boy or girl must leave school without having a clear understanding of racial purity and the importance of keeping the racial blood pure.”


Propaganda
Information and ideas that are worded and presented so people will accept and believe them, even if they are not true.
Nazis used posters, radio broadcasts, leaflets, rallies and demonstrations to spread their propaganda.
Blamed Jews for Germany’s financial state, and for taking German jobs.
Used words like sub-human, vermin, filth, corrupters, and a plague to describe Jews. Referred to Jews as cargo or pieces when talking about transporting Jews to concentration camps.
Hitler promised Germans that their lives would be better, if they could get rid of the Jews.

German Jews in the 1930's
Nazis came into power in 1933.
They immediately started persecuting and killing Jews, but they kept it secret, so the Jews didn’t really understand the danger they were in.
Started taking Jews’ businesses from them.
Did not allow Jews to work with Germans.
Prohibited Jewish children from going to school with German children.
Banned from sports, cultural activities and public events.
The Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935—anyone with Jewish ancestry was a Jew, Jews could not marry Germans or become German citizens.
Jews began to see they were in danger, began to leave Germany.
Other countries had quotas of incoming Jews they would allow, making it difficult for Jews to leave.
Jews lost everything when they left.
Many Jews stayed, believing their persecution was only temporary, in order to keep their belonging intact.

Kindertransports
Jews began sending their children to other countries to live.
Most of these parents never saw their children again.
Children were smuggled out of Germany and taken to Britain and other countries willing to help.

Kristallnacht
The Night of Broken Glass, November 9, 1938.
An organized Nazi attack on synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses.
Many Jews were expelled from their homes.
Their belongings were taken from them.
Gestapo arrested 20,000 Jews and took them to concentration camps.
Nazis made Jews pay for repairs.
Germans who tried to intervene on behalf of Jews were also targeted.

Ghettos
After Kristallnacht, Jews were forced out of their homes and into ghettos.
Low supplies of food and water.
Many families lives in each apartment.
Jews were not allowed to leave the ghetto for any reason.
Jews were not allowed to work, did not have much money.
Possessions were taken from them when they were forced from homes into the ghetto.

The Final Solution
At a conference on January 20, 1942, the Nazis proposed “The Final Solution”
“The Final Solution” was to exterminate all Jews in countries under German control.
They planned to transport all Jews from Ghettos, concentration camps and labor camps to death camps.
There were mass graves, shooting, gassing, burning in ovens, and other atrocities.
Thousands of Jews were killed every day. The ovens burned continuously.
Auschwitz was the most notorious death camp, killing about 1,600,000 people.
As Germany began to lose the war, camps began to be liberated, or freed, in 1945.
Those Jews who survived had nothing to go home to, were separated from their families, didn’t have any money, so their suffering continued.

Jews in Hiding
To avoid concentration camps, some Jews went into hiding.
They relied on citizens to bring them food and supplies.
Those hiding the Jews often shared their own rations with those in hiding.
Citizens were risking their lives to hide Jews.
Many hidden Jews were found and killed.
Those hiding the Jews were punished, sometimes killed.
Neighbors often spied on each other, Nazis gave rewards for turning in people hiding Jews.
Anne Frank wrote her diary while she was in hiding.