The+Holocaust


 * Vocabulary

Anitsemitism -** Opposition to and discrimination against Jews.


 * Auschwitz -** Main Nazi extermination camp.


 * B'richa -** Organized and illegal mass movement of Jews near the end of WWII.


 * Communism -** Concept in which a collective community shares ownership of recources. Provides equal sharing of work.


 * Dachau -** One of the first concentration camps, designed to hold political enemies such as Communists.


 * Death camp -** Nazi centers where Jews were brought to be killed.


 * Death marches -** Victims were forced to march long distances, under poor conditions. Many died.


 * Dehumanization -** Denying Jews their civil rights.


 * DP -** Displaced Person


 * Euthanasia -** Nazi euphemism of deliberate killings of the handicapped people.


 * Fascism -** The idea that the Nation is the biggest concern, not individual concerns.


 * Final Solution -** Hitler's Decree in 1942 to finish off all Jews by use of extermination camps.


 * Gas chambers -** Chambers filled with poison gas used to execute the Jews.


 * Genocide -** Systematically massacreing a specific group of people.


 * Ghettos -** Poor areas of the city where Jews were forced to live.


 * Gypsies -** Another group of people persecuted by the Nazi's.


 * Hitler, Adolf -** Supreme leader of the Nazi's, Chancellor of Germany.


 * Holocaust -** Means sacrifice burned by fire. Refers to the massacre of six million Jews by the Nazi's.


 * Judaism -** Monotheistic religion based off of the Torah, the old testiment of the Bible.


 * Kristallnacht - "**Night of Broken Glass" Thousands of jewish homes and stores and synagogues ransacked. Considered to be the Start of the Holocaust.


 * Madagascar Plan** - Idea considered by the Nazi's to deport the Jews to Madagascar.


 * Majdenek -** First camp to be liberated by Soviets in 1944.


 * Mein Kampf -** Book written by Hitler meaning "My Struggle". Basis for Nazi party.


 * Nazi Party -** Platform based on militaristic, antisemetic, nationalist policies.


 * Nuremburg Laws -** First Laws discriminating against German Jews, Major cause of the Holocaust.


 * Prejudice -** Judgements founded on fear and suspicion that form opinions before facts are known.


 * Righteous Gentiles -** Citizens who were not Jewish that risked their lives to save Jews.


 * Socialism -** System of social organization that advocates ownership of Land.


 * Stalin, Joseph -** Premire of Russia during WWII. Secretary General of the Nazi Party


 * Swastika -** Emblem adopted by the Nazi party**.**


 * Third Reich -** Meaning "Third Regime". The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire.


 * Zionism -** A call for Jews to return to their Biblical Home.


 * Zyklon B -** The Chemical used in the Nazi Gas Chambers.

Document 1 A - Author: A European Jew This man has family in the United states and wishes to escape the Nazi's by running to America. P - Place and Time: May 7, 1940, Nazi Germany This letter was sent just before Hitler ordered the invasion into Belgium and Holland. The Jews wished to flee the Nazi's because of the harsh persecution that they would have to face otherwise. P - Prior Knowledge: The Jewish Persecution. The holocaust was just beginning to happen and the best decision for the Jews was to flee Europe so that they would be safe from persecution. This Jewish man would not want to stay in a place where he would be tortured and eventually murdered. A - Audience: The Jew's family The family back in America are the people who would help him escape to America so that he could live and help other Jews come to safety. R - Reason: To Leave Nazi Germany The Jewish man wanted to escape the Nazi's and return home. He needed to correspond with his family so that he could have a place to go when he arrived in the United States. T - The Main Idea: Corresponding with family in the United States so that the Jewish man can flee the Nazi Persecution. He starts off talking about the medical examinations he had to take in order to get the ships tickets, and also that paying for them would be difficult and they were getting help from the Jewish committee. He also touches upon his correspondance with other people who are helping him emmigrate and asks what he should bring in his luggage. S - Significance: The Jews letter made it through Nazi censuring, he was able to get to America and help other Jews flee Germany. This letter shows that the Jews with connections were able to escape the terrors of the Holocaust, although they had to be careful with how they worded their letters or else they would be sought after.

Document 1  ** Document 2 ** **A - Author**: Dr. Erhard Weitzal, German Advisor on Jewish Affairs. Document 2
 * P- Place and Time**: October 25, 1941, Berlin
 * P- Prior Knowledge**: This letter was sent shortly before Hitler submitted his "Final Solution" to the Jewish Problem, in which extermination camps were established and gas chambers were put into use.
 * A - Audience**: Heinrich Lohse, the German Commander of the Eastern Reich, which consisted of Russia and the Baltic Countries, Lohse had taken a feirce stand against the Jews and had recently ordered to stop sending surplus supplies to the concentration camps.
 * R - Reason**: He is responding to Lohse's letter about Lohse's ideas to a "solution to the Jewish problem"
 * T - The Main Idea**: He is confirming with Lohse that poisonous gassing devices, which would probably consist of vans emitting posionous exhaust, will be set up to stop "unfortunate public displays"
 * S - Significance**: It is one of the first mentions of gassing devices being used to kill Jews and one of the first mentions of a "Solution" to the Jewish problem which Hitler will later use.

**Document 3** **A - Author**: SS Dr. Johann Paul Kremer, He was a replacement Doctor at Auschwitz extermination camp. Document 3
 * P - Place and Time**: September 1-5, 1942, Extermination Camp at Auschwitz.
 * P - Prior Knowledge**: Auschwitz was one of the largest extermination camps in which Jews were taken to be systematically killed in mass number. Gas Chambers were used in addition to open air shootings. Auschwitz was known as the "Camp of Annihilation" and was first created in 1942.
 * A - Audience**: It is a diary, there is no paticular audience he probably did not plan on it becoming released to the public years in the future.
 * R - Reason**: Well, what reason is there for writing in a diary. He was probably just talking to himself. Or perhaps he wanted to look back on it later and reminisce.
 * T - The Main Idea**: Besides the usual day to day events that he discusses such as what he ate, He talks about his first sightings of "Special Actions". The Special Actions being the gassing of Jews in Gassing Chambers with the Chemical Zyklon B.
 * S - Significance**: The Diary is one of the few insider looks that can be obtained of the horrors of the largest extermination camp of the holocaust. And the doctor, despite being a German SS, showed some shock and disgust at the mass killings of the Jews showing that even some Germans had a little regret.

Origins

Concentration/Extermination Camps

Non-Jewish Vicitms

Ghettos

Liberation