The Holocaust

World War II

Agenda• Warm up• Suit case • Holocaust Guided Notes• Found Poem• HW: Red Scarf Girl Ch. 12-14

Warm Up• What options do you think Russia, the U.S.,

and the European Union have concerning the Crimea vote? What consequences might each option have?

• Why might an object remaining after a disaster become a symbol for survivors? Do you think that images of these kinds of objects are powerful? Explain.

The Suite Case

•You will receive a picture of an empty suitcase•Write down the items you choose to take with you•You only can choose (10) ten items!•You are going to an unknown place•You have no idea how long you will be there

Suit Case Discussion Questions• What will you take with you, and why? • How does it feel to be under such a time limit

and such pressure? • What did you feel when you were asked to

pack those items? • What do you think that people felt when they

had to leave their home?

Key Vocabulary• Genocide

– the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation

• Holocaust– a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire.“– the systematic destruction of the Jewish population by Nazi

Germany– More than 6 million European Jews, as well as members of

other persecuted groups, such as gypsies and homosexuals, were murdered

• Death Camps or Concentration Camps– a place where large numbers of people are imprisoned

sometimes to provide forced labor or to await mass execution

Background Information

• In 1933, less than 1% of the German population was Jewish.

• Jews contributed significantly to German culture. Many served in World War I and thought of themselves as Germans first and Jews second.

• They considered Germany a home.

Why did Hitler target the Jews?

• Hitler publicly blamed the Jews for Germany’s loss of WWI and its failing economy.

• Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat for Germany’s problems.

How does this Nazi propaganda poster depict Jewish people?

The Master Race• The Master Race Nazi ideology Nordic race Aryan race Racially superior • Ancestry originated in the Germanic plains• Think blond hair and blue eyes!• Believed they were superior because they were less racially mixed.• Nazis decided to exterminate those who posed a threat to the Aryan Race

Labeled: “The Jewish Problem”

The New Order• “The year 1941 will be, I am convinced, the historical

year of a great European New Order.” -Adolf Hitler, 1941

• It would:-Ensure the master race was supreme-Expansion into Eastern Europe through

colonization-Annihilation of Jews and others that were

“unworthy” to live

Kristallnact• Hitler preached that Germans belonged to a

race that was superior to Jews• Kristallnact: The night of broken glass:

November 9-10, 1938• A planned series of attacks on Jewish stores,

buildings, and synagogues in Germany & Austria

Classification• Nuremberg Laws(1935) Anti-Semitic Laws that

determined German Citizenship.

• Classified society -Germans -Mix Blood -Jews

• Pronounced mix blood or Jewish, Nuremberg Laws restricted your citizenship

• Banned marriages and sexual acts between Jews and non-Jews.

Chart that indicates whether you are Jewish or not.

Discrimination• Nazis took away their

citizenship & rights

• Moved into ghettos: Sections of the city in

which all Jews were required to live

• Forced to wear the Jewish star

Jewish Ghettos• Ghetto: Jewish Quarters of a cityUsed to segregate Jews from the supreme

raceRequired by law to live thereUsually the most undesirable parts of a city

Ghettos- Nazi Germany

The “Final Solution” Rounded up and put in concentration camps• Forced labor• Extermination• Medical

experimentation

6 million Jews were tortured and murderedApproximately 6 million Poles, Slavs, Gypsies, and prisoners of war were killed

Concentration Camps• First built in Germany in 1933• Used to hold political opponents and union

leaders• Held 45,000 prisoners by 1933 all across

central Europe• Then used to purge German society of so-

called "racially undesirable elements" such as Jews, criminals, homosexuals, and Romani people.

Concentration Camps- Continued• During World War IINumber of camps exploded to more than 300• Political prisoners and "undesirable elements"

from across Europe were mass-incarcerated generally without judicial process.

• Concentration CampsUsed to re-educate according to Nazi values,

held POWs, or were labor campsPeople were treated like slaves

Concentration Camps

Extermination Camps• Camps during World War II built primarily but

not exclusively by Nazi Germany • To systematically kill millions of people by

execution (primarily by gassing)• Extreme work under starvation conditions• Most were a combination of Extermination

and Concentration Camps

Auschwitz• Polish• Auschwitz I: the base camp • Auschwitz II–Birkenau: the extermination

camp• Auschwitz III–Monowitz: a labor camp • At least 1.1 million prisoners died at Auschwitz• around 90 % of them Jewish• Approximately 1 in 6 Jews killed in the

Holocaust died at the camp

Gas Chamber at Auschwitz

Zyclon B Granules

Auschwitz

Liberation

• The first major camp, Majdanek, was liberated by the Soviets on July 23, 1944.

• Most others followed soon afterResults of the Holocaust6 million Jews died, about 5.7 million other

individuals (homosexuals, gypsies, mentally disabled)

Jewish Diaspora: In 1900, 81 percent of all the Jews in the world lived in Europe

Today, only a few sparse communities remain – the Jews have ceased to be a European people altogether

Found Poem:HolocaustBy Barbara Sonek

We played, we laughed, and we were loved.

We were ripped from the arms of our parents and thrown into the fire.

We were nothing more than children.

We had a future.

We were going to be lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, and mothers.

We had dreams, and then we had no hope.

We were taken away in the dead of night like cattle in cars, no air to breathe smothering, crying, starving, dying.

Separated from the world to be no more, from the ashes, hear our plea.

This atrocity to mankind cannot happen again.

Remember us, for we were the children whose dreams and lives were stolen away.

Found Poem Practice• Read the passage As you are reading, please underline or

(highlight) significant, moving, or vivid words or phrases within the text

You will then write out all those words/phrases in the space provided

You are going to use these words to create a unique Poem, that captures the mood of the passage

Let’s Practice:HolocaustBy Barbara Sonek

We played, we laughed, and we were loved.

We were ripped from the arms of our parents and thrown into the fire.

We were nothing more than children.

We had a future.

We were going to be lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, and mothers.

We had dreams, and then we had no hope.

We were taken away in the dead of night like cattle in cars, no air to breathe smothering, crying, starving, dying.

Separated from the world to be no more, from the ashes, hear our plea.

This atrocity to mankind cannot happen again.

Remember us, for we were the children whose dreams and lives were stolen away.

Found Poem Activity• I would like you now to create a Found poem on the following

text. Your instructions are to: 1.) Read the passage. 2.) As you are reading, please underline or (highlight) significant, moving, or vivid words or phrases within the text. 3.) Next, write out all those words/phrases in the space provided. 4.) You are going to use these words to create a unique Poem, that captures the mood of the passage. 5.) You will then arrange the words to create a new and powerful Poem. • The poem does not have to rhyme, I just ask that you be

creative and try your best.

Your Found Poem“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” • Elie Wiesel “Night