Wannsee Conference

SWBAT: explain the significance of the Wannsee Conference

Do Now 5/22/13

1. What was the largest Ghetto in Poland?2. In your opinion, why was there little

resistance in the Ghettos?

(HW DUE FRIDAY! Questions on website)

MS St. Louis

• May 13, 1939 – from Hamburg, Germany to Cuba

• Mostly Jews escaping the Third Reich (937)• Upon arrival, Cuba refused the foreign

refugees entry– USA & Canada also refused entry

• Returned to Europe– Accepted by Belgium, Holland, France, UK,

• About 25% died in the camps

• “After appropriate prior approval by the Führer, emigration as a possible solution has been superseded by a policy of evacuating Jews to the East.” —Heydrich addressing the Wannsee conference

• What does this mean?

Wannsee Conference • January 20, 1942• 15 high-ranking Nazi Party and

German government officials gathered at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee

• discuss & coordinate what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question.”

• decided to take a policy of genocide-the deliberate and systematic killing of an entire population

Concentration Camp vs. Extermination Camp

• Concentration camps: had a number of purposes, – to work as reformatory facilities, – “punishment camps”– POW camps, transit camps, etc. – But the concentration camps did not work directly

as extermination sites! • Extermination camps: constructed with one

purpose– to mass murder Jews and other “unwanted”.

Extermination Camps

• 1941-1943: 6 extermination camps established• “pure” extermination camp & combined concentration-

extermination camp• “pure” extermination camps:– First: Chelmno – Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka – Only few hundred Jews survived these camps

• Combined– Auschwitz-Birkenau & Majdanek – At least 1 million Jews were killed in Auschwitz– Between 60,000-80,000 killed in Majdanek

Estimated Deaths• Poland – up to 3,000,000• USSR – over 700,000• Romania – 270,000• Czechoslovakia – 260,000• Hungary – over 180,000• Germany – 130,000• Lithuania – up to 130,000• Netherlands – over 100,000• France – 75,000• Latvia – 70,000

• Yugoslavia – 60,000• Greece – 60,000• Austria – 50,000• Belgium – over 50,000• Italy – 9,000• Estonia – over 1,000• Norway – under 1,000• Luxemburg – under 1,000• Danzig – under 1,000

• TOTAL: 5,100,000

Victims• Jews• Roma (Gypsies)• Poles & Slavs “untermenschen”

– “The destruction of Poland is our primary task. The aim is not the arrival at a certain line but the annihilation of living forces…” – Hitler

– Christian Poles, Intelligentsia teachers, doctors, clergy, business owners, attorneys, engineers, landowners, and writers

• Political Dissidents• Physical or Mental Disabilities • Jehova’s Witnesses• Homosexuals

• Red triangle—political prisoners• Green triangle— "professional criminals¨• Blue triangle—foreign forced laborers,

emigrants.• Purple triangle— Bible Students primarily

Jehovah's Witnesses• Pink triangle—sexual offenders, mostly

homosexual men • Black triangle—people who were deemed

"asocial elements" and "work shy" including – Roma (Gypsies), who were later assigned

a brown triangle– The mentally ill– Alcoholics– Vagrants and beggars– Pacifists– Conscription resisters– Prostitutes– Some anarchists– Drug addicts– Lesbians

• Brown triangle—Roma (Gypsies)

Exit Ticket

• In your opinion, what was the significance of the Wannsee Conference? Do you believe that Hitler orchestrated the final solution OR was it devised by individual powerful Nazi leaders?

The Final Solution

• Skip to the 5th paragraph• Break apart the quote by Heydrich• What language do you find to be ambiguous? • If you were to put this quote into your own

words, how would you explain Heydrich’s plan for the Jews?

The Wannsee Conference & The Final Solution

1. Where was the meeting held?

2. Who was the head deputy that held the meeting?

3. What was the purpose of the meeting?

4. In your opinion, what does the quote by Heydrich mean?

5. What was “the final solution” code for?

6. This did not mark the beginning of the Holocaust, who was already slaughtering Jews in occupied Soviet Union?

7. Who are the Einsatzgruppen?

8. Who were the victims of experimental gassing at Auschwitz?

9. WHY do you think the Nazi’s REALLY developed the gas chamber?

• http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_oi.php?ModuleId=10005445&MediaId=1905