The Holocaust
Important. In any discussion concerning the Holocaust it is important to note the following:
This is a sensitive topic and must be dealt with in a careful and considered manner. When teaching this to pupils their view and sensitivities must be taken into account.
One must also be clear with the definition of the Holocaust. There are many definitions offered and there is much discussion over how to define this terrible event. Below is the definition given by the Imperial War Museum:
"The Holocaust was the systematic murder of Europe’s Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War. For the first time in history, industrial methods were used for the mass extermination of a whole people.
The Nazis enslaved and murdered millions of others as well. Political opponents, Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), homosexuals, prisoners of conscience, people with physical and mental disabilities, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war and others were killed or died in camps as a result of neglect, starvation or disease."
This is a sensitive topic and must be dealt with in a careful and considered manner. When teaching this to pupils their view and sensitivities must be taken into account.
One must also be clear with the definition of the Holocaust. There are many definitions offered and there is much discussion over how to define this terrible event. Below is the definition given by the Imperial War Museum:
"The Holocaust was the systematic murder of Europe’s Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War. For the first time in history, industrial methods were used for the mass extermination of a whole people.
The Nazis enslaved and murdered millions of others as well. Political opponents, Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), homosexuals, prisoners of conscience, people with physical and mental disabilities, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war and others were killed or died in camps as a result of neglect, starvation or disease."
Key Events
January 30th 1933 Hitler is invited into power The Nazis came to power legally at the head of a right-wing coalition. A succession of governments failed to deal with the economic crisis. None of the conservative parties had mass support and they became increasingly afraid of a Communist victory. Eventually, a group of politicians offered Hitler the Chancellorship at the head of a coalition government. This offer came just in time because the Nazi vote was dipping.
1933 Law and Intimidation. The Nazis wanted Jews to be eliminated from politics, government service, public life, and cultural activity by a combination of law and intimidation. The government passed the "Law for the Reconstruction of the Civil Service", which enabled the expulsion of political opponents and the majority of Jews from government employment. There was sporadic anti-Jewish violence and in April Hitler approved a boycott of Jewish stores and shops.
15 September 1935 Nuremberg Laws On the eve of the annual party rally at Nuremberg civil servants produced the "Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour". A person was Jewish according to the number of grandparents who were Jews in a religious, not racial, sense. "Aryans" were forbidden from having sexual relations with Jews or marrying them. Jews lost their full citizenship and were reduced to second-class status.
9-10th November 1938 Kristallnacht In 1938 German Jews faced a hail of discriminatory regulations. Their assets and property were seized. On the night of 9-10th November, hundreds of synagogues were burned down and Jewish shops attacked. Over ninety Jews were killed. 30,000 were sent to concentration camps and not released unless they emigrated. The Nazis called this riot Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass", because of the destruction it caused.
Trying to escape. German and Austrian Jews realised that there was no future for them in the Third Reich and tried desperately to find countries that would accept them. But at a time of high unemployment, few countries wanted impoverished Jewish refugees. This was a tragedy because at that time Nazi policy was simply to make the Jews leave, but there were few places for them to go. Nevertheless, some Jews did manage to emigrate.
September 1939 Poland. The outbreak of war and the conquest of Poland forced the Nazis to reassess their anti- Jewish policies. From 1937-39 their aim was to make Jews emigrate. In 1939-40 the policy became forced emigration and expulsion. Jews were concentrated in towns and cities prior to being removed, and ghettos were created: a temporary measure and more a case of desperation than design.
1 September 1939 – 24 August 1941 Euthanasia The Nazi programme of compulsory euthanasia saw the murder of over 70,000 mentally or physically disabled inmates of sanatoria and asylums after doctors certified them as “life unworthy of life”. The victims were transported to one of six clinics where they were poisoned with carbon monoxide gas piped through false shower heads in mock bathrooms. The programme was suspended after some of the relatives worked out what was happening.
22 June 1941 Operation Barbarossa The invasion of the Soviet Union was intended by Hitler to be "an ideological war of extermination". Orders were issued for all captured political officers and Jews who worked for the Communist Party or the state to be shot by mobile killing squads known as Einsatzgruppen. They were assisted by locally recruited auxiliaries, especially in the Ukraine and the Baltic States. Policy soon shifted to killing Jewish men, women and children without any discrimination.
November 1941 Steps towards mass murder In November construction began on the first death camp at Belzec, near Lublin in Poland. Two more were planned in the region of Warsaw and Lublin. In December, gas vans operating in the town of Chelmno began the systematic murder of Jews from nearby Lodz. They were loaded into the back of lorries with the engine's exhaust fumes piped into the airtight compartment. The vans were then driven a few miles to mass graves in a forest, where the Jews were unloaded and buried.
20 January 1942 The Wannsee Conference In late November 1941 Heydrich summoned leading civil servants and SS officers to a meeting at Wannsee near Berlin to coordinate the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" in Europe. The meeting had to be postponed until 20th January 1942 as Germany declared war on America. At the Conference Heydrich announced the systematic deportation of Jews from across Europe to "the East". The fit would be put to work; those unable to would be put to death.
1942-1944 Genocide in Central and Eastern Europe The implementation of the "Final Solution" varied from country to country and was influenced by the extent of German control and the stage in the war at which it was put into effect. In every country anti-Jewish laws involved the registration and confiscation of Jewish property and assets. The distribution of plunder created a common interest between the Germans and their collaborators.
Summer 1943 - January 1945 The End of Extermination and the Death Marches From August 1943 the temporary death camps began to stop operating and evidence of their existence was destroyed. Majdanek, which was a death and labour camp near Lublin, was captured almost intact in July 1944. In November mass murder by gas at Auschwitz- Birkenau stopped. During the winter 1944-45 as the Red Army drew near, the Nazis started to evacuate camps in the East. The aim was to transport prisoners to camps in areas still under German control. Thousands perished on the wintery roads.
July 1944 - May 1945 Liberation. The concentration and extermination camps were liberated from July 1944. The last were overrun in April and May 1945. Allied troops entering the camps were shocked by what they found. For the prisoners liberation was not a clear cut experience. Some were too ill to know they were free. Survivors, especially those from Eastern Europe, had no homes to go to, did not want to return, or faced a cold reception.
November 1945 - October 1946 The Nuremberg Trials. The Allies discussed trying the top Nazis as war criminals during the war. This required a major innovation in international law. The Allies drew up the charter for an International Military Tribunal to try the surviving Nazi leaders. Its main purpose was to indict the Nazis for conspiring to wage an aggressive war as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes. The trial in Nuremberg lasted from November 1945 to October 1946. Although the mass murder of the Jews was mentioned, it was never central to the prosecution case. Thousands of perpetrators escaped justice.
January 30th 1933 Hitler is invited into power The Nazis came to power legally at the head of a right-wing coalition. A succession of governments failed to deal with the economic crisis. None of the conservative parties had mass support and they became increasingly afraid of a Communist victory. Eventually, a group of politicians offered Hitler the Chancellorship at the head of a coalition government. This offer came just in time because the Nazi vote was dipping.
1933 Law and Intimidation. The Nazis wanted Jews to be eliminated from politics, government service, public life, and cultural activity by a combination of law and intimidation. The government passed the "Law for the Reconstruction of the Civil Service", which enabled the expulsion of political opponents and the majority of Jews from government employment. There was sporadic anti-Jewish violence and in April Hitler approved a boycott of Jewish stores and shops.
15 September 1935 Nuremberg Laws On the eve of the annual party rally at Nuremberg civil servants produced the "Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour". A person was Jewish according to the number of grandparents who were Jews in a religious, not racial, sense. "Aryans" were forbidden from having sexual relations with Jews or marrying them. Jews lost their full citizenship and were reduced to second-class status.
9-10th November 1938 Kristallnacht In 1938 German Jews faced a hail of discriminatory regulations. Their assets and property were seized. On the night of 9-10th November, hundreds of synagogues were burned down and Jewish shops attacked. Over ninety Jews were killed. 30,000 were sent to concentration camps and not released unless they emigrated. The Nazis called this riot Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass", because of the destruction it caused.
Trying to escape. German and Austrian Jews realised that there was no future for them in the Third Reich and tried desperately to find countries that would accept them. But at a time of high unemployment, few countries wanted impoverished Jewish refugees. This was a tragedy because at that time Nazi policy was simply to make the Jews leave, but there were few places for them to go. Nevertheless, some Jews did manage to emigrate.
September 1939 Poland. The outbreak of war and the conquest of Poland forced the Nazis to reassess their anti- Jewish policies. From 1937-39 their aim was to make Jews emigrate. In 1939-40 the policy became forced emigration and expulsion. Jews were concentrated in towns and cities prior to being removed, and ghettos were created: a temporary measure and more a case of desperation than design.
1 September 1939 – 24 August 1941 Euthanasia The Nazi programme of compulsory euthanasia saw the murder of over 70,000 mentally or physically disabled inmates of sanatoria and asylums after doctors certified them as “life unworthy of life”. The victims were transported to one of six clinics where they were poisoned with carbon monoxide gas piped through false shower heads in mock bathrooms. The programme was suspended after some of the relatives worked out what was happening.
22 June 1941 Operation Barbarossa The invasion of the Soviet Union was intended by Hitler to be "an ideological war of extermination". Orders were issued for all captured political officers and Jews who worked for the Communist Party or the state to be shot by mobile killing squads known as Einsatzgruppen. They were assisted by locally recruited auxiliaries, especially in the Ukraine and the Baltic States. Policy soon shifted to killing Jewish men, women and children without any discrimination.
November 1941 Steps towards mass murder In November construction began on the first death camp at Belzec, near Lublin in Poland. Two more were planned in the region of Warsaw and Lublin. In December, gas vans operating in the town of Chelmno began the systematic murder of Jews from nearby Lodz. They were loaded into the back of lorries with the engine's exhaust fumes piped into the airtight compartment. The vans were then driven a few miles to mass graves in a forest, where the Jews were unloaded and buried.
20 January 1942 The Wannsee Conference In late November 1941 Heydrich summoned leading civil servants and SS officers to a meeting at Wannsee near Berlin to coordinate the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" in Europe. The meeting had to be postponed until 20th January 1942 as Germany declared war on America. At the Conference Heydrich announced the systematic deportation of Jews from across Europe to "the East". The fit would be put to work; those unable to would be put to death.
1942-1944 Genocide in Central and Eastern Europe The implementation of the "Final Solution" varied from country to country and was influenced by the extent of German control and the stage in the war at which it was put into effect. In every country anti-Jewish laws involved the registration and confiscation of Jewish property and assets. The distribution of plunder created a common interest between the Germans and their collaborators.
Summer 1943 - January 1945 The End of Extermination and the Death Marches From August 1943 the temporary death camps began to stop operating and evidence of their existence was destroyed. Majdanek, which was a death and labour camp near Lublin, was captured almost intact in July 1944. In November mass murder by gas at Auschwitz- Birkenau stopped. During the winter 1944-45 as the Red Army drew near, the Nazis started to evacuate camps in the East. The aim was to transport prisoners to camps in areas still under German control. Thousands perished on the wintery roads.
July 1944 - May 1945 Liberation. The concentration and extermination camps were liberated from July 1944. The last were overrun in April and May 1945. Allied troops entering the camps were shocked by what they found. For the prisoners liberation was not a clear cut experience. Some were too ill to know they were free. Survivors, especially those from Eastern Europe, had no homes to go to, did not want to return, or faced a cold reception.
November 1945 - October 1946 The Nuremberg Trials. The Allies discussed trying the top Nazis as war criminals during the war. This required a major innovation in international law. The Allies drew up the charter for an International Military Tribunal to try the surviving Nazi leaders. Its main purpose was to indict the Nazis for conspiring to wage an aggressive war as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes. The trial in Nuremberg lasted from November 1945 to October 1946. Although the mass murder of the Jews was mentioned, it was never central to the prosecution case. Thousands of perpetrators escaped justice.
Useful Resources
BBC Bitesize - http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/history/20th_century/holocaust/activity/
Imperial War Museum - http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-holocaust
Holocaust Educational Trust - https://www.het.org.uk/index.php
BBC Bitesize - http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/history/20th_century/holocaust/activity/
Imperial War Museum - http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-holocaust
Holocaust Educational Trust - https://www.het.org.uk/index.php