Holocaust Supplemental Reading

Period 6 Regan Sonny An

Section 1/Anti-Semitism in Europe

Focus Questions What role did religion play in the development of anti-Semitism in Europe? o In medieval times, the Jewish were a minority within the Christian population. They (the Jews) were oppressed, barred from holding public office, forced to wear distinctive clothing, considered to be dangerous, beat and even executed. What were some contributions made by Jews to European culture? o Furthermore, many [Jews] had made important contributions to German literature, science, arts, and philosophy. How did anti-Semitism and nationalism become mixed in the 1800s? o Hitler, on his rise to power, exploits the pre-existing anti-Semitism evident in Germany (and later on, Austria) and unifies his empire by finding a common pariah in their society: die Juden.

Terms to Know Anti-Semitism prejudice against Jews Ghetto 1100s, separate sections of cities for Jewish community Pogrom armed attacks by angry mobs or by Cossacks (special mounted units in the Russian army) targeted towards Jews

Section 1 Review 1. Define: anti-Semitism, ghetto, pogrom. a. Refer to Terms to Know. 2. What kind of persecutions and hardships had Jews undergone in medieval Europe? a. Refer to the 1st focus question. 3. Who were some of the outstanding Jewish artists and intellectuals of the late 1800s and early 1900s? Name Sigmund Freud Arnold Schnberg Gustav Mahler Arthur Schnitzler Albert Einstein Franz Kafka Marc Chagall Accomplishment/Occupation Developed psychoanalysis Composer Composer Playwright Physicist Author Painter

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Holocaust Supplemental Reading

Period 6 Regan Sonny An 4. How did Nazi propaganda take advantage of anti-Semitic feelings in Germany and Austria? a. Nazi propaganda repeated the same lies over and over: You are out of work because of the Jews. Germany lost the war because of the Jews. 5. Critical thinking: How was the linking of anti-Semitism and nationalism even more dangerous than prejudices based on religious differences?

Section 2/Hitlers Final Solution

Focus Questions How did Hitlers personal hatred of Jews lead to persecutions throughout Europe? o Hitler promised the German people a larger, stronger nation with a pure German population. He used both German government and the Nazi Party organization to carry out his plans against the Jews of Germany. How did anti-Semitism make conditions worse for Jews in Eastern Europe? o Hitler made anti-Semitism part of Germanys legal system. This legalization of the idea that Jews were not true citizens of Germany made it easier for other Germans to think of the Jews as a people set apart as different and inferior to themselves. o Such feelings contributed to mob attacks on Jews such as the famous Kristallnacht or night of the broken glass of November 1938. What system was set up by the Nazis to bring about the final solution? o Hitler and his aides were no longer satisfied with driving Jews out of Germany or with random murders such as those carried out in the Soviet Union. o With the decision to carry out the final solution, the Nazis planned to make some camps into death camps. Who tried to help the Jews? Accomplishments/Efforts Spoke out strongly & urged congregation resistance Strongly anti-Nazi
Underground resistance movement King & government gave Jews official protection Protected Jewish population til German overrun Helped save 100,000 Hungarian Jews from Nazis Actively protected countrys Jewish community Refused to allow its Jews to be sent to camps Did not allow deportation of their own people

People/Organizations/Countries Protestant & Catholic clergy members

People of Netherlands, Belgium, & Scandinavia Norway Denmark Hungary Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat Fascist Italy Finland Romania & Bulgaria

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Holocaust Supplemental Reading

Period 6 Regan Sonny An Terms to Know Genocide systemic destruction of an entire people (i.e. the Jews of Europe) Nuremberg Laws 1935, laws that took away Jews legal rights, restricted where they could live and work, and took away their property Nazi-Soviet Pact pact between Hitler and Stalin; agreed not to interfere with each others plans for aggression against neighboring peoples Eisantzgruppen mobile killing squads; special motorized units of the SS, the elite Nazi police force led by Heinrich Himmler Final solution systematic destruction of the entire Jewish population in Europe; led by Heinrich Himmler Collective responsibility policy organized by the Nazis; entire Jewish communities were responsible for individual acts of resistance or sabotage

Section 2 Review 1. Define or identify: genocide, Nuremberg Laws, Nazi-Soviet Pact, Einsatzgruppen, final solution collective responsibility a. Refer to Terms to Know. In what parts of Europe did the Nazis begin mass murders of the Jewish population? a. Against the Jews of Europe, the Germans waged a war of extermination. b. In southern Russia, soldiers from Romania, a German ally, helped the Einsatzgruppen. c. In the Ukraine and Baltic countries, where anti-Semitism was strong, the death squards also got help from local volunteers. When and why were the death camps started? a. the first camps, Chelmno and Belzec, which opened in December 1941. b. The camps were thus part of the machinery of terror by which the Nazis kept control. c. [The camps] main purpose would be to kill people. How did Germanys allies respond to the Nazi plan for murdering the Jews? a. Norway had an official Nazi puppet government, but the underground resistance movement helped Jews escape to neutral Sweden. b. Frances pro-German Vichy government, strongly anti-Semitic in its policies, cooperated with the Nazis in deporting non-French Jewish refugees Critical thinking: How did the Nazis make use of the policy of collective responsibility? Why was it effective?

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Holocaust Supplemental Reading

Period 6 Regan Sonny An

Section 3/After the Holocaust

Focus Questions How did the Holocaust damage Western civilization as a whole? o The Nazis brutal attempt to destroy an entire people stood as a serious challenge to Judeo-Christian values and to the Enlightenment ideals of human goodness, respect for others, rationality, tolerance, and progress. What explanations were given by those who took part in the Holocaust? o Some former Nazi soldiers from the camps or death squads later denied taking part, or said that they had not really known what was happening. o If they had any second thoughts, they apparently convinced themselves that they had no personal responsibility for these deeds: they were only following orders, doing their duty as good Germans or good soldiers. o These perpetrators hardly thought of themselves as anything other than skilled technicians, and often seemed genuinely surprised when, years later, they were branded as accomplices to mass murder. Michael R. Marrus, specialist in Holocaust history How did the world come to learn more about the events of the Holocaust? o 1961, the trial of Adolf Eichmann, chief administrator in charge of the final solution Eichmann in Jerusalem, book by Hannah Arendt, took account of the trial Other books published in regards to the trial allowed for other scholars and historians to look more fully into the events

Section 3 Review 1. What were the effects of the Holocaust on European Jews? a. The six million Jews who had been murdered were about two thirds of the entire Jewish population of Europe. b. A rich and ancient tradition of Jewish community life and culture vanished, never to be restored. In what way did the Holocaust challenge the basic beliefs of Western civilization? a. Refer to the 1st focus question. How did most of the Nazis involved in the Holocaust later justify their actions? a. Refer to the 2nd focus question. What was significant about the trial of Adolf Eichmann? a. Refer to the 3rd focus question. Critical thinking: Explain the statement that the Holocaust is a tragedy that belongs to everyone. 4|Page

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