background preloader

Introduction to the Holocaust

Introduction to the Holocaust
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community. During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority": Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others). WHAT WAS THE HOLOCAUST? Although Jews, whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany, were the primary victims of Nazi racism, other victims included some 200,000 Roma (Gypsies). As Nazi tyranny spread across Europe, the Germans and their collaborators persecuted and murdered millions of other people. Further Reading Bergen, Doris. Dawidowicz, Lucy S.

Genocide Raphael Lemkin, in his work Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (1944), coined the term "genocide" by combining Greek genos (γένος; race, people) and Latin cīdere (to kill).[5] Lemkin defined genocide as follows: "Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups." Genocide as a crime[edit] International law[edit] Intent to destroy[edit] In part[edit]

Antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish religion or heritage.[1] A person who holds such positions is called an "antisemite". As Jews are an ethnoreligious group, antisemitism is generally considered a form of racism. While the term's etymology might suggest that antisemitism is directed against all Semitic people, the term was coined in the late 19th century in Germany as a more scientific-sounding term for Judenhass ("Jew-hatred"),[2] and that has been its normal use since then.[3] For the purposes of a 2005 U.S. governmental report, antisemitism was considered "hatred toward Jews—individually and as a group—that can be attributed to the Jewish religion and/or ethnicity."[4] Xenophobia and usage Usage Despite the use of the prefix anti-, the terms "Semitic" and "antisemitic" are not directly opposed to each other, making the term a misnomer. Etymology Definition Forms

The Holocaust The Holocaust (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστος holókaustos: hólos, "whole" and kaustós, "burnt")[2] also known as Shoah (Hebrew: השואה, HaShoah, "the catastrophe"; Yiddish: חורבן, Churben or Hurban, from the Hebrew for "destruction"), was the mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, throughout the German Reich and German-occupied territories.[3] Of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust, approximately two-thirds were killed.[4] Over one million Jewish children were killed in the Holocaust, as were approximately two million Jewish women and three million Jewish men.[5] A network of over 40,000 facilities in Germany and German-occupied territory were used to concentrate, hold, and kill Jews and other victims.[6] The persecution and genocide were carried out in stages. Etymology and use of the term Distinctive features Origins

German Jews during the Holocaust, 1939–1945 1933-1939 In January 1933, some 522,000 Jews by religious definition lived in Germany. Over half of these individuals, approximately 304,000 Jews, emigrated during the first six years of the Nazi dictatorship, leaving only approximately 214,000 Jews in Germany proper (1937 borders) on the eve of World War II. In the years between 1933 and 1939, the Nazi regime had brought radical and daunting social, economic, and communal change to the German Jewish community. Six years of Nazi-sponsored legislation had marginalized and disenfranchised Germany's Jewish citizenry and had expelled Jews from the professions and from commercial life. By early 1939, only about 16 percent of Jewish breadwinners had steady employment of any kind. World War II Yet the most drastic changes for the German Jewish community came with World War II in Europe. Following the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939, the government imposed new restrictions on Jews remaining in Germany. Deportation

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 novel from the point of view of a young boy, written by Irish novelist John Boyne. Unlike the months of planning Boyne devoted to his other books, he said that he wrote the entire first draft of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in two and a half days, barely sleeping until he got to the end.[1] As of March 2010, the novel had sold more than five million copies around the world.[2] It was published as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in the United States to go along with the traditional American spelling of the word. In both 2007 and 2008, it was the best selling book of the year in Spain. It has also reached number two on the New York Times bestseller list, as well as in the UK, Ireland, and Australia.[not verified in body] Plot[edit] Bruno finds out he is not allowed to explore the back of the house or its surroundings. Bruno's mother persuades his father to take them back to Berlin, with Bruno's father staying at Auschwitz as the commandant.

Diary Excerpts On Deportations"Our many Jewish friends and acquaintances are being taken away in droves. The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they're sending all the Jews....If it's that bad in Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places where the Germans are sending them? We assume that most of them are being murdered.

German Propaganda Archive (Guide Page) Nazi and East German Propaganda Guide Page Propaganda was central to Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic. The German Propaganda Archive includes both propaganda itself and material produced for the guidance of propagandists. The goal is to help people understand the two great totalitarian systems of the twentieth century by giving them access to the primary material. For further information on the site, see the FAQ. My book titled Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic (Michigan State University Press, 2004) provides an analysis of much of the material on the German Propaganda Archive. This site is maintained by: Randall Bytwerk [My e-mail address is available on the FAQ page.] Professor Emeritus Calvin College Page design by Rob Veenstra

Nazism Nazism, or National Socialism in full (German: Nationalsozialismus), is the ideology and practice associated with the 20th-century German Nazi Party and state as well as other related far-right groups. Usually characterised as a form of fascism that incorporates scientific racism and antisemitism, Nazism originally developed from the influences of pan-Germanism, the Völkisch German nationalist movement and the anti-communist Freikorps paramilitary culture in post-First World War Germany, which many Germans felt had been left humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles. German Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and social Darwinism, asserted the superiority of an Aryan master race, and criticised both capitalism and communism for being associated with Jewish materialism. The Nazi Party was founded as the pan-German nationalist and antisemitic German Workers' Party in January 1919. Etymology Position in the political spectrum Origins Völkisch nationalism

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ]; 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP); National Socialist German Workers Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and Führer (leader) of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As effective dictator of Nazi Germany, Hitler was at the centre of World War II in Europe, and the Holocaust. Hitler was a decorated veteran of World War I. He joined the precursor of the NSDAP, the German Workers' Party, in 1919 and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923 he attempted a coup in Munich to seize power. Hitler actively sought Lebensraum ("living space") for the German people. Early years Ancestry Hitler's father, Alois Hitler, Sr. (1837–1903), was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. Childhood and education Adolf Hitler as an infant (c. 1889–90). Early adulthood in Vienna and Munich World War I Beer Hall Putsch

Adolf Hitler Biography Synopsis Born in Austria in 1889, Adolf Hitler rose to power in German politics as leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, also known as the Nazi Party. Hitler was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, serving as dictator for the bulk of his time in power. His policies precipitated World War II and led to the genocide known as the Holocaust, which resulted in the deaths of some 6 million Jews and another 5 million noncombatants. Background and Early Years Dictator Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on April 20, 1889, and was the fourth of six children born to Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl. Alois died suddenly in 1903. In 1913, Hitler relocated to Munich. Hitler became embittered over the collapse of the war effort. Party Leadership and Imprisonment After World War I, Hitler returned to Munich and continued to work for the military as an intelligence officer. Hitler's fervid beer-hall speeches began attracting regular audiences. Rise to Power

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was born on 20th April, 1889, in the small Austrian town of Braunau near the German border. Both Hitler's parents had come from poor peasant families. His father Alois Hitler, the illegitimate son of a housemaid, was an intelligent and ambitious man and was at the time of Hitler's birth, a senior customs official in Lower Austria. Alois had been married before. In 1873 he had married Anna Glasl, the fifty-year-old adopted daughter of another customs collector. Klara Polzl, Hitler's mother, left home at sixteen to to join the household of her second cousin, Alois Hitler. Franziska saw Klara as a potential rival and insisted that she left the household. The first of the children of Alois's third marriage, Gustav, was born in May 1885, to be followed in September the following year by a second child, Ida, and another son, Otto, who died only days after his birth. In 1895, when Hitler was six years old, his father, Alois Hitler retired from government service. Louis L. Dr.

During the second World War, a horrible tragedy began to occur in Europe, starting in Germany. Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany, announced the ban of jewish people's rights. They were no longer allowed to go to do their daily activities such as the cinema, shopping, going to restaurants or even going to school. Not long after, many families were in hiding from the nazis who were there to send them to concentration camps. This article relates to Sweetgrass basket when Mattie and Sarah, among many other aboriginal children were being obliged to go to the residential schools. Many families like during World War II were keeping their children in hiding to keep them from going to the residential schools. by stephnso Oct 30

Related: