the holocaust. what is the “holocaust”? refers to a specific genocidal event in 20 th century...
TRANSCRIPT
THE HOLOCAUST
What is the “Holocaust”?
• Refers to a specific genocidal event in 20th century
history
– Genocide: the deliberate and systematic extermination
of a national, racial, political, or cultural group
• Can be defined as “the state-sponsored,
systematic persecution and annihilation of
European Jews by Nazi Germany and its
collaborators between 1933 and 1945”
Who was targeted?• Jews were the primary victims
– 6 million were murdered
• Gypsies, Poles, and people with disabilities
were targeted for destruction based on racial,
ethnic or national reasons
– Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war and political
dissidents, also suffered grievous oppression and
death under Nazi tyranny
Why?• Renewed prejudice combined with centuries-old prejudice
and anti-Semitism; renewed by a nationalistic fervor that
emerged in Europe in the latter half of the nineteenth
century; fueled by Germany’s defeat in World War I;
exacerbated by worldwide economic hard times, the
ineffectiveness of the Weimar Republic and international
indifference; and catalyzed by the political charisma and
manipulative propaganda of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime
contributed to the occurrence of the Holocaust
• The Holocaust took place because individuals, groups
and nations made decisions to act or not to act
Concentration Camps• Refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined,
usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal
norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a
constitutional democracy
• In Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, concentration
camps (Konzentrationslager, KL or KZ) were an integral
feature
• The first concentration camps in Germany were established
soon after Hitler’s appointment as chancellor
• The Storm Troopers (SA), the SS (elite guard), the police, and
local civilian authorities organized detention camps to
incarcerate real and perceived political opponents
Results of the Holocaust• To concentrate and monitor the Jewish population as well as to
facilitate later deportation of the Jews, the Germans and their
collaborators created ghettos, transit camps, and forced-labor
camps for Jews during the war years.
– Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, militarized
battalions moved behind German lines to carry out mass-murder
operations against Jews, Romany Gypsies, and Soviet state and
Communist Party officials.
• Between 1941 and 1944, Nazi German authorities deported
millions of Jews from Germany and its occupied territories to
ghettos and to killing centers (often called extermination camps)
where they were murdered in specially developed gassing
facilities.
The End of the Holocaust• In the final months of the war, SS guards moved
camp inmates by train or on forced marches (often
called death marches) in an attempt to prevent the
Allied liberation of large numbers of prisoners
• As Allied forced moved across Europe, they began
to liberate concentration camp prisoners
• The marches continued until May 7, 1945, the day
the German armed forces surrendered
unconditionally to the Allies
The Effects of the Holocaust
• In the aftermath of the Holocaust, many of the
survivors found shelter in displaced persons
(DP) camps administered by the Allied powers.
• Between 1948 and 1951, almost 700,000 Jews
emigrated to Israel.
• Other Jewish DPs emigrated to the United
States and other nations
• The last DP camp closed in 1957.
Primary Source Documents
• Station 1: Family Photographs
• Station 2: Documentation
• Station 3: Maps/Labor Camp Photo
• Station 4: Symbols
• Station 5: Postcards/Letters
• Station 6: Newspaper Article
Analyzing Primary Sources: Questions to Consider
• What is this document?
• What does this document tell us
about The Holocaust? Gerda
Weissmann?
• What is your reaction to the
document?
The Long Road to VictoryWorld War II
American Involvement• When the war began in 1939, the United States declared
their neutrality
– However, Roosevelt found ways to give aid to Britain
– In early 1941, FDR persuaded Congress to pass the Lend-
Lease Act
• Allowed the U.S. to sell or led war materials to countries for the
defense of the U.S.
• In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill secretly met to
issue the Atlantic Charter
– Set goals for the war and the “final destruction of tyranny”
Japan Attacks• In early 1941, Japan advanced into French Indochina and the
Dutch East Indies
– To stop Japanese aggression, the U.S. banned the sale of war
materials to Japan
• Peace talks between Japan and the U.S. were unsuccessful
• General Tojo ordered a surprise attack on the American fleet
at Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i on December 7, 1941
– Japanese planes damaged or destroyed 19 ships, smashed
American planes and killed more than 2,400 people
• On December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt asked Congress
to declare war on Japan
– On December 11, Germany and Italy (as Japan’s allies) declared
war on the United States
Allied War Effort
• In 1942, the “Big Three” (Roosevelt, Churchill,
Stalin) agreed to finish the war in Europe before
turning their attention to Asia
• The Allies were committed to total war
– In the United States and Canada, many Japanese
citizens lost jobs, property, and their civil rights
– Some were forced into internment camps by the
government who decided they were a security risk
NORTH AFRICA AND ITALY
Turning Points in the War• In Egypt, the British under General Montgomery finally
stopped Rommel’s advance at the Battle of El Alamein
– Advancing on his troops, the “desert fox” was forced to surrender
in May 1943
• Victory in North Africa allowed the Allies to cross into Italy
– In July 1943, a combined British and American army landed in Sicily
and southern Italy
• As they moved up the country, retreating Italian forces were losing to the
Allies
– Seeing eventual defeat, the Italians overthrew Benito Mussolini and
he was hung by his troops
• The provisional government in Italy signed an armistice with
the allies but some isolated fighting continued for the next 18
months
EASTERN FRONT
The Red Army Resists• After their initial advance into the Soviet Union in 1941,
the Nazis were stalled outside of the capital for the winter
– In 1942, Hitler launched a new offensive that got as far as
Leningrad (later called Stalingrad)
• The Nazis surrounded the cities and they were fighting in
buildings and in the streets
– The Nazi forces surrendered in early 1943
• The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the costliest in the
war
– The Germans lost over 300,000 soldiers
– The Battle of Stalingrad was a Soviet victory turned the tide of
the war in the east
FRANCE
Invasion of France• By 1944, the Allies were ready to take back France
– To prepare for the invasion, Allied bombers flew constant missions
over Germany
• On June 6, 1944 the D-Day invasion of France began
– Allied planes dropped paratroopers behind enemy lines
– At dawn, 176,000 Allied troops crossed the English channel and
landed on the beaches of Normandy
• They broke through German defenses and advanced toward Paris
– At the same time, Allied forces sailed up from Italy into southern
France
– The French resistance rose up against the occupying Germans in
Paris
• Under pressure from all sides, the Germans retreated
• On August 25, the Allies entered Paris and within a month, freed all of
France
GERMANY
The Nazi Defeat• After fleeing France, the Allied forces battled toward Germany
– Their armies advanced into Belgium in December 1944 and Germany launched a
counterattack
• At the bloody Battle of the Bulge, both sides suffered terrible losses
– This was considered Hitler’s “last success”
• The Allies continued to bomb Germany over a two-year period, causing
great damage and huge number of casualties
• By March, the Allies crossed the Rhine River into Germany from the west
– In the east, Soviet troops marched to Berlin
• In late April 1945, Axis armies began to surrender
– Italy had surrendered and the troops killed Mussolini
– Hitler committed suicide in an underground bunker in Berlin
• The war in Europe officially ended on May 8, 1945
– Proclaimed as V-E Day (Victory in Europe)
WAR IN THE PACIFIC
War in the Pacific• By May 1942, the Japanese controlled most of
Southeast Asia and many Pacific islands
– The Allies strategy was “island-hopping”
– In May and June 1942, the United States fleets won
decisive battles at Coral Sea and Midway Islands
• They were able to weaken the Japanese naval power and stop
their advance
• In October 1944, General MacArthur began the fight
to retake the Philippines
– Beginning in 1944, some young Japanese chose to
become kamikaze pilots by taking suicide missions
crashing planes into warships
Victory in the Pacific• President Harry Truman replaced FDR on April 12, 1944
– Allied leaders urged the Japanese to surrender, but the
Japanese ignored the advice
• On August 6, 1945, an American plane dropped an atomic bomb
on Hiroshima
– It flattened four square miles and instantly killed more than 70,000 people
but the Japanese still refused to surrender
• On August 9, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and over
40,000 were killed
• Finally, on August 10, Emperor Hirohito forced the government to
surrender
– On September 2, 1945, the formal peace treaty was signed on board the
American battleship Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay
Leaders of World War II
Hirohito
• Emperor of Japan during WWII
• Japanese military general who planned
the attack on Pearl Harbor
Tojo
• German dictator during WWII
Adolf Hitler
• Italian fascist dictator during WWII
Benito Mussolini
• U.S. President for most of WWII
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Soviet dictator during WWII
Joseph Stalin
• British prime minister during WWII
Winston Churchill
• U.S. President who made the decision to
use the atomic bomb on Japan
Harry Truman