Name__________________________________________ Date____________Period_____The Holocaust Classwork Hitler and the Nazi party believed that the German people were naturally superior to other races. Germans who were of “pure Aryan blood” were members of the Master Race and would come to rule the world after the war. All groups besides Aryans were considered subhuman and naturally inferior by the Nazis. Hitler blamed many of Germany’s problems, like losing World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, on these groups, especially the Jews. In Hitler’s vision of the future, the subhuman people would be either used as slave labor or exterminated. After becoming the unchallenged leader of Germany in 1933, Hitler began enacting laws that limited the rights of Jews in Germany. These laws forbade Jews from attending German schools, owning businesses, and holding jobs in the German government. Aryans were also forbidden from marrying Jews. Many Germans at this time tried to prove they were of “pure” blood by showing all of their grandparents were Aryan. In Hitler’s Germany, even if you had one Jewish grandparent, that was too much and you were considered a “subhuman”. On November 8, 1938, thousands of Jewish businesses, synagogues, cemeteries, schools and homes were attacked and destroyed by the Nazis. Later this was called Kristallnacht, or the "night of broken glass" because you could hear glass breaking all night long. Along with the damage to Jewish property, at least 91 Jews were killed. Many Jews fled Germany as a result of this seemingly random attack, but many remained because they felt Germany was their home country. Soon after this attack, the Nazis began forcing Jews to relocate to ghettos. Tens of thousands of people were forced to live in ghettos as they waited to be moved again to concentration camps. Concentration camps were mostly labor camps where Jews were stripped of all their possessions and forced to work making weapons for the German military. People were fed poorly and as they became too sick to work, they began to die or were relocated again. If Jews were unable to work, they would be sent to death camps like Auschwitz, a concentration camp where Jews were systematically killed and their bodies burned. In all, more than 6 million Jews were killed in what became known as the Holocaust. Over 1 million were children. As the war progressed and Germany took more territory, the German military would send Jews in conquered areas to concentration camps for work or extermination. In total, over 2/3rds of all the Jews in German occupied areas were killed. After the war, the United Nations created the crime called Genocide, or the attempted killing of an entire race or ethnicity. After the Holocaust, many Jews began moving to Palestine (Israel). Answer FIVE of the following questions in complete sentences. 1. Why did Hitler believe the Jews needed to be exterminated? 2. How did Hitler start taking away the rights of Jews in Germany? When? 3. What was Kristallnacht? Why did many Jews remain in Germany after Kristallnacht? 4. What were concentration camps? What happened to people there? 5. What happened to people too sick to work? 6. What is the Holocaust? How many people were affected? 7. What is genocide? How is it a human rights violation? 8. Why do you think the German people went along with Hitler’s plans to exterminate the Jews? 9. What is the name of the idea that the Jews would return to their homeland in Israel? How did the Holocaust help this happen? Answer the questions for 4 of the documents. Document #1 “As the Nazi Party and Hitler began to take absolute control over Germany, a long series of laws were passed to help control the German people. One law made it mandatory for German youths to join Hitler Youth, a Nazi version of the Boy Scouts / Girl Scouts. Other laws made it mandatory for all high ranking officials, politicians, and businessmen to become members of the Nazi Party. The NUREMBERG LAWS were laws designed to persecute and eliminate the “Jewish problem of the German nation.” these laws prevented Jews from going to German schools, from working in German companies, from owning land or businesses, from living in Germany, and finally from life itself.” How did life in Nazi Germany differ from life in a democracy? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Document #2 “When they came for the Gypsies, I did not speak up. When they came for the homosexuals, I did not speak up. When they came for the Jews, I did not speak up. When they came for the Communists, I did not speak up. When they came for the Catholics, I did not speak up. When they finally came for me, there was no one left to speak up for me.” Father Niemoller, a German Lutheran Protestant priest was sent to a concentration camp for publicly speaking out against the Nazis. He later died in the prison camp of Auschwitz. What is the moral of Father Niemoller's message? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Document#3 What was Hitler’s first goal when in power? Based on your knowledge of the Holocaust, why did Hitler have this goal? Document 4 Document #5 THE FINAL SOLUTION 6 million Jews were murdered throughout Europe. Here is the breakdown of some of the countries. COUNTRY TOTAL JEWISH POPULATION ESTIMATED JEWISH POPULATION ANNIHALTATED PERCENTAGE Poland 3,300,000 300,0000 90.00% Germany/Austria 240,000 210,000 88.00% France 350,000 90,000 26.00% The Netherlands 140,000 105,000 75.00% Russia 975,000 107,000 11.00% We know that the numbers are true for several reasons. First, the Nazis actually kept records of the number of people who were sent to Concentration Camps and murdered. After World War II ended, the Allies got those records and made them public. Second when the Allied soldiers freed the people in the Concentration Camps near the end of the war, they saw with their own eyes what had taken place. 1) Which countries had the most amount of Jews killed? 2) Why do you think this country had the most killed? (Think about how the war started) 3) Which country had the fewest killed? 4) How do we know the number of Jews killed is the actual number? 5) How do you think Allied soldiers responded to concentration camps when they discovered them? Document #6 JEWISH RESISTANCE The most famous fight of resistance came in the city of Warsaw in Poland. Three quarters of the 400,000 Jews were arrested and sent to Concentration Camps. In 1943, the remaining Jews fought back. Even though they had no guns or ammunition to start with, they put such a great fight that the Nazis had to send in an army to beat them. All of them were killed. 1) Explain how the Jewish population in Warsaw resisted the Nazis. 2) Do you think it is important to talk about Jewish Resistance the Holocaust? Why? Document 7 Why do you think women prisoners were separated from male prisoners?