The Holocaust
Nazi Germany
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What we will learn today
Between 1933 and 1945, Hitler and the Nazi party
systematically persecuted German Jews.
In this presentation we will consider:
1.
how Nazi persecution of the Jews was able to escalate
into state-led mass murder ('The Holocaust').
2.
the extent to which the international community and
ordinary Germans chose to ignore what was happening.
3.
how the Holocaust still affects international relations
today.
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The Escalation of
Persecution 1933–39
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When and how were Jews persecuted?
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Escalation
In its early stages, persecution was generally nonviolent and mainly focused on attacking Jewish rights
and businesses.
Since many people in Germany and the rest of Europe
were traditionally anti-Jewish, most Germans did not
object to these forms of persecution.
Once in power, the Nazis used propaganda and
indoctrination to persuade people that the ‘inferior’ Jews
were conspiring to sabotage the Germanic master race.
Gradually, most Germans came to accept more violent
forms of persecution, culminating in Kristallnacht in 1938.
Those who did not agree with the violence rarely voiced
their concerns for fear of being arrested by the Gestapo.
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Life for the Jews
“…I suddenly
became very
aware of my
Jewish identity.
Up until this
point my religion
had never
seemed an
important part of
who I was.”
“…It wasn’t very
nice, to look over at
the tennis courts and
to know that you
can’t go in. You see
your friends on their
way to play tennis or
hockey … and you
can’t do any of those
things any more.”
Edith Velmun, who was in Holland during the Nazi occupation.
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Did other countries do enough to help the Jews?
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Nazi Actions 1939–45
‘The historical guilt of world Jewry for the outbreak
and extension of the war is so clearly proven that
there is no point in wasting any words on it. The Jews
wanted their war and now they have got it. But now
they are feeling the effects of the prophecy which the
Führer made on 30th January 1939 in the German
Reichstag that, if international finance Jewry should
succeed in plunging the nations once again into a
world war, the result would be the annihilation of the
Jewish race in Europe.’ – Goebbels, 1942
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'Resettlement' – The ghettos
As Germany conquered more and more land in Europe,
the number of Jews under Nazi control increased
drastically. Adolf Eichmann was put in charge of ‘Jewish
resettlement’. This involved rounding up Jews from
occupied countries and moving them to ghettos in a range
of cities, the largest being the Warsaw ghetto in Poland.
Walls were built to separate the ghetto from the rest of the
city. Jews lived in cramped conditions – 7 or 8 people to a
room, each given only 300 calories of food per day.
Although the Nazis were not yet systematically killing
Jews, it is thought that around 500,000 Polish Jews died
of disease and starvation in the ghettos.
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'Resettlement' – The ghettos
“On the streets children are crying in vain,
children who are dying of hunger. They howl,
beg, sing, moan, shiver with cold, without
underwear, without clothing, without shoes …
emaciated skeletons … Already completely
grown up at the age of five … I no longer look
at the people; when I hear groaning and
sobbing I cross the road.”
A visitor to Warsaw, 1940.
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Genocide – The Final Solution
Till a few years
ago, I thought of
making a clean
sweep of all
European Jews and
lumping them on
Madagascar or
some other island.
But today, I’m sure
it’s far better to
exterminate them,
right on the spot,
wherever you find
them.
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But by 1942, Hitler’s policy
toward the Jews was changing.
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Genocide – The Final Solution
In January 1942, a secret conference was held at Wannsee
to discuss the ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Problem’.
According to Rudolph Hess during his war crime trial
in 1946:
The ‘Final Solution’ of
the Jewish question
meant the complete
extermination of all
Jews in Europe…
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Genocide – The Final Solution
“Hitler and his lieutenants cloaked their most criminal
activities in euphemistic language, [and] tried … to keep
their murderous plans secret … Hitler was reluctant to
commit himself to paper…”
M Marrus, 1988, on the Final Solution.
Why do you think Hitler’s plans for the Jews changed?
Why did he not want these plans written down?
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Where were the Jews taken?
The Final Solution saw Jews initially herded out of their
ghettos and into existing concentration camps. Some of
these quickly turned from harsh prisons into straightforward
execution sites.
In addition, brand new ‘Death Camps’ were created.
These were built by the prisoners themselves and were
designed specifically to kill people as quickly as possible.
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Jewish populations in Europe, 1939
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Extermination camp locations
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What happened to the inmates?
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Approximate Jewish death toll 1939–45
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Legacy of the Holocaust
After World War II,
the international
community was
horrified to discover
the true scale of
what had happened
to the Jews.
Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London.
So in 1947, the United Nations, under
pressure from Britain and the USA in
particular, decided that the Jewish people
should be given their own homeland.
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Legacy of the Holocaust
The Jewish homeland was to be situated in Palestine,
where the ancient Jewish Kingdom of Israel had once
existed.
However, the Muslim Arab peoples who already lived in
this area refused to accept this decision.
This gave rise to the Arab-Israeli conflict which continues
to pose a serious threat to world peace today. The USA
gives strong support to Israel while the Arab world
supports the Palestinians.
Do you think that the UN was right to create
the state of Israel? Explain your answer.
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Hitler’s willing executioners?
The question of who was responsible for the Holocaust is
a highly controversial one.
David Irving argued that Hitler did not even know that the
Holocaust was taking place! Irving’s views have been
largely discredited by other historians.
Daniel Goldhagen in Hitler’s Willing Executioners (1997)
argues that the Final Solution was the responsibility of
the German people as a whole, not just of Hitler and the
Nazi Party.
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Who was to blame for the Holocaust?
In the words of historian Richard Evans:
“Goldhagen argues that Germans killed Jews in their
millions because they enjoyed doing it, and they enjoyed
doing it because their minds and emotions were eaten
up by a murderous, all-consuming hatred of Jews that
had been pervasive in the German political culture for
decades…”
Based on the evidence of this presentation, and
on the extracts shown on the following slide, do
you agree with Goldhagen’s interpretation?
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Who was to blame for the Holocaust?
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