The Holocaust

• Nazi policies and practice in relation to Jews, Gypsies and other minority groups
• The Holocaust: the systematic state-sponsored killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children and millions of others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The Germans called this "the final solution to the Jewish question."
• Adolf Hitler


  • Corporal in World War 1, awarded two Iron Crosses for bravery, devastated by Germany's defeat and armistice, joined and took over leadership of the Nazi party, attempted to overthrow the Bavarian government in the "Beer Hall Putsch", wrote "Mein Kampf" detailing his racial goals and belief in the Aryan Master Race
• Mein Kampf


  Hitler's autobiography where he detailed his life story and aims for Germany, including his racial goals and belief in the Aryan Master Race
• Hitler in Landsberg Gaol


  1924

  
• The Jewry of Europe were mentioned extensively in Mein Kampf, especially in the context of who was to blame for the war in Europe, and the defeat of Germany. Hitler reinforced once that the Jewry would need to be 'resettled in the East'.
• By the time that Hitler left prison in late 1924, conditions in Germany had improved, and it was not until the Depression, that Hitler would be able to seize the opportunity to gain large amounts of influence.
• In the years 1924 – 1929, Hitler and the Nazi party continued to develop systems of control, organs of terror and branches of the party that would deal with every facet of life in Germany once the party gained control.
• Organisations formed by the Nazis


  • SS (Shutzstaffel - the "Black shirts" and part of Hitler's personal body guard)
  • SA (Sturmabteilung - the "brown shirts" or the Storm Troopers)
• The Depression hit Germany very badly in 1930. This proved to be the opportunity that the Nazi's needed to get the power that they craved.
• In the many elections of the period from 1930 – 1932, the Nazi's proved that they were gaining in strength, and as a result, on 30th January 1933, Hitler was appointed to the position of Chancellor (Prime Minister) of Germany.
• Hitler's consolidation of power


  1. Nazis open Dachau concentration camp

  2. German Parliament passes Enabling Act giving Hitler dictatorial powers

  3. Burning of books in Berlin and throughout Germany

  4. Nazis establish Reich Chamber of Culture, then exclude Jews from the Arts

  5. Nazis prohibit Jews from owning land

  6. Jews are prohibited from being newspaper editors

  7. Jews are banned from the German Labour Front

  8. Jews not allowed national health insurance

  9. Jews are prohibited from getting legal qualifications

  10. German President von Hindenburg dies, Hitler becomes Führer
• Nazi Germany


  • The issues of race and Aryan racial superiority underpinned everything that the Nazi regime hoped to achieve
  • The achievement of "volksgemeinschaft" at home was based on race
  • Outside of Germany, the aim was "lebensraum" (living space for the master race) and the creation of a racially-based new German empire
• Nazi Racial Policy and Practice to 1939

  1. Jews could be physically attacked and no action would be taken

  2. A series of petty regulations aimed at Jews were introduced across the country

  3. Excluding Jews from using public buses, parks and swimming pools

  4. Putting up signs indicating certain entrances and areas were not available for Jewish people

  5. Jewish school students were ridiculed and humiliated

  6. Nazis called for a national boycott of all Jewish businesses

  7. Formal legislation excluded Jewish people from a range of activities
• Nuremberg Laws


  The Reich Citizenship Act - Jews were no longer German citizens and lost all the rights that citizenship bestowed<|>The Blood Protection Act - German citizens and Jews were not allowed to marry or engage in sexual relations
• Lebensborn program


  Nazi authorities created it to increase Germany's population by encouraging "racially valuable" German women to give birth at Lebensborn homes. During WWII, it became complicit in kidnapping foreign children with "Aryan" features.
• How the Nazis discriminated against the Jews


  • Legal discrimination in the form of antisemitic laws
  • Various forms of public identification and exclusion
  • Organised violence
  • Physical Displacement
  • Internment
  • Widespread theft and plunder
  • Forced labour
• Final Solution


  The deliberate and systematic mass murder of European Jews, carried out from 1941 to 1945 through mass shootings and asphyxiation with poison gas
• Holocaust denial is any attempt to negate the established facts of the Nazi genocide of European Jews. It is a form of antisemitism.
• Key denial assertions of Holocaust deniers

  • The murder of approximately six million Jews during WWII never occurred
  • The Nazis had no official policy or intention to exterminate the Jews
  • The poison gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp never existed
• The Holocaust


  The systematic state-sponsored killing of 6 million Jews, and millions of other minorities by Nazi Germany, and their collaborators during WWII
• Germans had also called this "the final solution to the Jewish question"
• Historical Context


  • The Great Depression hit Germany severely in 1930, proving an opportunity for the Nazi Party to get the power they wanted
  • In election periods from 1930-1932, the Nazi Party was gaining strength, leading to Hitler becoming the Chancellor of Germany on 30th January 1933
• Hitler's consolidation of power


  1. Nazis open Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück concentration camps

  2. German Parliament passes Enabling Act, giving Hitler dictatorial powers

  3. Burning of books throughout Germany

  4. Nazis establish the Reich Chamber of Culture, and exclude Jews from the Arts

  5. Nazis prohibit Jews from owning land

  6. Jews are prohibited from being newspaper editors

  7. Jews are banned from the German Labour Front

  8. Jews are not allowed national health insurance

  9. Jews are prohibited from obtaining legal qualifications

  10. German President von Hidenburg dies. Hitler becomes Führer
• Nazi Germany


  • "Volksgemeinschaft" - Germans no longer working or middle class, no longer Bavarians or Prussians, no longer Catholics or Protestants, instead only a part of the Aryan race
  • Germany wanted to expand their land space, in an aim called "lebensraum", living space for the master race, in order to achieve a racially-based new empire
• Nazi Racial Policy and Practice to 1939

  1. Jews could be physically attacked and no action would be taken against those who attacked them

  2. Many petty regulations aimed at Jews were introduced

  3. Not being able to use public buses, parks and swimming pools

  4. Putting up signs saying that certain entrances/areas were not available for Jews

  5. Jewish students were humiliated as their racial inferiority was explained for the benefit of their Aryan peers

  6. Nazis created a national boycott of all Jewish businesses

  7. SA guards stood outside Jewish stores, intimidating people from entering them

  8. Mass sackings of Jews from the Civil Service following the Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service, universities restricted Jews

  9. Jews were formally denied marriage loans

  10. Jews were denied entry into the legal system

  11. Jews were excluded from the media and arts

  12. The Reich Citizenship Act: Jews were no longer German citizens, losing all rights that their citizenship brought

  13. The Blood Protection Act: German citizens and Jews were not allowed to marry or engage in sexual relations, in order to maintain the purity of German blood
• Nazi's discrimination against the Jews

  • Legal discrimination in the form of antisemitic laws
  • Various forms of public identification and exclusion
  • Organised violence
  • Physical displacement
  • Interment
  • Widespread theft
  • Forced labour
• The "Final Solution"


  The Nazi's deliberate and systematic mass murder of European Jews
• Methods of killing in the "Final Solution"

  1. Mass shootings conducted by Einsatzgruppen

  2. Asphyxiation with poison gas at killing centres and in mobile gas vans