Genocide = the elimination of an entire population, based upon their common identity (i.e. race, ethnicity, religion)

The “Final Solution” = Hitler's plan to specifically exterminate all Jews from Europe.

Holocaust victims:

Approximately 6 million Jews (out of a European population of 9 million Jews)

AND

Another 5 million+ persons from assorted other groups: - Communists, socialists, political opponents - Slavs (Poles, Russians, other eastern Europeans) - Gypsies (Roma) - Jehovah's Witnesses - homosexuals - mentally & physically disabled (including German

citizens)

Over 11 million civilians systematically murdered

The Holocaust, 1939 – 1945Poland is divided into East & West by the Molotov-Ribbentrop line (Non-Aggression Pact).

WESTERN POLAND:• 1939-1941: Jews are rounded up

into urban ghettos, many starve or die of disease.

• Jan, 1942: Wannsee Conference results in decision for more rapid extermination using death camps.

• 1942-1945: Jews are “relocated” to labor & death camps.

EASTERN POLAND & USSR:• 1941-1944: Small towns & villages

are emptied of Jewish population, marched outside of town, stripped naked, and die in mass shootings into mass graves. Ghettos later established in larger cities, w/ eventual deportations.

Upon arrival at concentration camps... the “selection”:

Those well enough to work were assigned to be slave laborers, and were slowly worked & starved to death.

The old, young (under 15), and sick were immediately sent to gas chambers to be murdered.

Genocide: the systematic elimination of a particular group of people (usually of a specific ethnic identity). Examples of genocide in the 20th and 21st Centuries 1915 – 1918 Armenian Genocide (Turkey) est. 1 million deaths 1932 – 1933 Ukrainian forced famine est. 7 million deaths 1938 – 1945 Holocaust est. 11 million deaths 1975 – 1979 Cambodian “Killing Fields” est. 2 million deaths 1994 Rwanda est. 800,000 deaths 1992 – 1995 Bosnia est. 200,000 deaths 2003 – 2010 Darfur (western Sudan) est. 330,000 deaths

If you lived in Nazi-occupied Europe in the early 1940’s, which of the following would you have been: bystander, collaborator, or dissenter? Why?

 

Guilt, Morality,Reward Punishment

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------COLLABORATOR BYSTANDER DISSENTER

Contributing Factors of the Holocaust:

Demagoguery: an inspirational, charismatic speaker that plays on the fears and prejudices of the public (i.e. economic depression, humiliation of Treaty of Versailles)

→ appeals to emotion & prejudices, not intellect.

→ offers overly simple answers to complicated problems

→ offers hope and a sense of security in exchange for loyalty

→ effective use of PROPAGANDA

Jingoism:

ultra-nationalistic pride, blind loyalty; provides cover for dominant ethnic group to marginalize minority groups (“you're not like us”)

Concentrated Power (Autocracy!):

too much control in the hands of too few (dictatorship); no separation of powers or checks & balances

Fear & Coercion:

dissenters are threatened by lost rights, imprisonment, death (SS, Gestapo)

Ethnocentrism & Racism: Marginalizing subgroups; different = “inferior”; exclude from

any political or economic power & targeted for abuse

Economic Desperation: Too much competition for scarce resources or employment

opportunities, results in majority excluding minority groups.

Scapegoating: Falsely assign blame for problems to a minority group (Jews)

Dehumanize Others: Justify abuse of scapegoated group by denying them their

humanity; treat people as animals.

Incremental approach:

Discriminate → Segregate → Exterminate: treatment of scapegoated group gets gradually worse over time, small changes get less notice than big changes.

Denial + Apathy:

act as if atrocities against scapegoated group are not as bad as they are, or are not happening at all. Internationally: “not my problem”. “Not aware or don’t care”.

Review:

→ Demagoguery

→ Economic desperation & competition

→ Ethnocentrism & Racism

→ Scapegoating

→ Dehumanize others

→ Jingoism

→ Autocracy

→ Fear & Coercion

→ Incremental approach

→ Denial, Apathy

PrideIgnoranceGreed

HOW TO PREVENT FASCISM… AND GENOCIDE:

CREATE AND PROTECT A STRONG, DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION:

- CHECKS AND BALANCES & SEPARATION OF POWERS (NO AUTOCRACY!)

- FREE SPEECH, ASSOCIATION, PETITIONING

(BASIC RIGHTS OF 1ST AMENDMENT)

- EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW FOR ALL CITIZENS (14TH)

EMBRACE & SUPPORT LIFELONG EDUCATION

- READ! A LOT! (multiple, independent sources)

- THINK CRITICALLY, ASK CHALLENGING QUESTIONS

- RECOGNIZE PROPAGANDA AND DEMAGOGUERY

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT & ACTIVISM: SPEAK, WRITE, COMMUNICATE, VOTE,

AGITATE, DEMONSTRATE… HOLD ELECTED OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE

DEMAND ECONOMIC LAWS AND REGULATIONS THAT STRIVE FOR A

BALANCED & SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY!

How can YOU stop genocide that is already occurring? 

Seek out and share AWARENESS & INFORMATION (you can’t care unless you’re aware) 

Pressure political leaders with letters, phone calls, petitions 

VOTE… MINDFULLY 

Participate in a public demonstration 

Donate to a charitable organization whose mission is to stop or prevent genocide 

Kick those responsible in the wallet: - Boycott nations and businesses that are associated (directly or indirectly) with genocide 

- DIVEST your money from nations and businesses associated (directly or indirectly) with genocide

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

- Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)

(German Lutheran pastor, pacifist)