The Holocaust

Human rights begin after one of the greatest genocides the world has

ever seen.

The Persecution Begins

• The Holocaust was the systematic murder of roughly 11 million people across Europe, more of half were Jews.

• Anti-Semitism, or hatred of Jews spread with Hitler’s belief that Jews were responsible for much of Germany’s economic problems.

Kristallnacht

• November 1938 became known as Kristallnacht or “Night of Broken Class”.

• Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish home, businesses, and synagogues across Germany.

• Some 30,000 Jews were arrested and hundreds of synagogues were burned.

• Afterwards the Nazis blamed the Jews for causing such destruction.

Jewish Refugees

• Jews fleeing Germany had problems finding nations that would accept them.

• France & Great Britain feared Anti-Semitism. • About 100,000 Jews made it to America but many

faced Anti-Semitism in the U.S. as well.

Plight of the St. Louis

• The German ocean liner passed Miami in 1939. • 740 of the 943 passengers were Jewish and had U.S.

immigration papers. • The Coast Guard followed the ship and sent it back to Europe. • Half of the Jewish passengers would later be killed during the

Holocaust.

Hitler’s “Final Solution”

• Hitler’s desire to rid the world of Jews led to the Final Solution.

• A policy of genocide, the deliberate and systematic killing of an entire population.

The Condemned

• Hitler’s Final Solution was based on the belief of the Aryan race or “master race”.

• That it was superior to all others. • Not only Jews but Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, and

the handicapped were also targeted.

Forced Relocation

• Most Jews were forced into ghettos, segregated Jewish areas in certain Polish cities.

• Nazis sealed them off with barbed wire and stone walls.

• Life in the ghettos was horrible but Jews did all they could to keep life normal.

Concentration Camps

• Also called labor camps because of the hard labor Jews did for Nazis it was also where millions would be put to death by the gas chamber.

• Auschwitz, the largest and most famous could execute up to 12,000 people a day.

• The SS would often separate those that were strong enough to work from those that should be killed immediately.

Survivors

• 6-10 million Jews were executed in the camps. • The Jewish population in Europe has never

recovered and many moved to Israel after WWII.