Holocaust Flashcards
Holocaust definition
Greek word for “sufferings by burning in fire
Jewish word in place of Holocaust
Shoah meaning “catastrophe”
When did the Nazi government take power
1933 by Adolf Hitler
Basic Nazi ideology
Jewish are inferior to non Jews, German people were the Master race
Untermenschen
Nazi labelled Jews as, meaning “Below human”
Ubermenschen
Nazi labelled Germans as, meaning Super human
Aryan
A race concept describing people who decent from Viking heritage, tall in stature and blonde and blue eyes
Nazis labelled as inferior
“Gypsies”, mentally and physically disable, Slavic people, communists, gays, and Jehovah witness religion, and union workers
2 kinds of camps
Concentration and Extermination camps
Concentration camp use
Slave labour for nazi war effort, to sell to private factories
Extermination camp use
To exterminate “undesirables” commonly know via gas chambers
Where were the death camps located
Not on German soil as they were illegal camps, they were built in Poland
6 Death camps what are their names!!
Auschwitz
Chelmno
Sobibor
Treblinka
Majdanek
Belzek
Crematorium
Special heat ovens to burn a body to ashes in 10-15 mins
Antisemitism
Hatred of Jewish people
Stab in the back theory
Hitler needed an enemy to blame for germanys loss in WWI. Hitler built the lie that Germany never lost and were stabbed in the back by the Jews and traitorous weak politicians
The poisonous mushroom
A Germans children book for children to push for nazi ideology and antisemitism
Joseph Goebbels
The minister of propaganda, used posters, newspapers, radios, street demonstrations to spread propaganda. Used position to persuade Germans to hate Jews
2 types of poster
Antisemitic and Pro-Aryan
Leni Riefenstahl
Hurlers filmmaker, hired to create propaganda movies for Nazi gov. Most famous movie filmed in Nuremberg showing the annual Nazi rally every summer. She denies helping Hitler stating “I’m just a filmmaker”
2 diseases in camp
Cholera - spread by contaminated water. Typhus - spread by lice biting into your flesh
3 problems phase one had
- Shootings up close and personal leading mentally unwell soldiers
- Bullets cost too much
- Burying bodies contaminated water
3 problems answer
Kill huge number of victims in gas chambers and cremate their remains
Why were gas chambers a better option
Chemicals were cheap, soldiers were far from the killing, bodies did not need burying
People who were sent to death camps were:
Older, unhealthy, women with infants as they would not be great for slave labour
Victims were lied ti
Sign out front “Arbeit macht fre” meaning “work will make you free. Told they were going to the showers and were led to gas chambers so they wouldn’t panic
Zyklon-B
A chemical used as rat poison would be poured through a tube in the roof of the gas chambers which would mix with oxygen to become a poisonous gas
Sonderkommandos
Jewish prisoners who were selected by SS guards to assist the Nazis in the murder process in exchange for special privileges. Only lived for a few months
Sonderkommandos job
Cut hair of prisoners to sell to shoe factories. Took bodies to elevator to where crematoriums are. Took out teeth with gold fillings to make into gold bars.
Nazi medical experiments
Put prisoners in bath of ice to see when they would die of hypothermia. Took out organs to see how long they’d survive.
Injected patients with unknown chemicals
Sewed two children together to see if they could live as Siamese twins.
Female Jewish workers were sterilized.prisoners put in high pressure chambers to see if they could survive a plane crash
Dr. Josef Mengle
Conducted illegal medical experiments. Escaped after WWII
What happened in 1945
The war was coming to an end and was ordered to destroy all the evidence. Death marches and cut off water supply.
Allied powers came in too fast though and caught them
Allied powers
USA, Canada, Britain, USSR
Nuremberg trials
The trials for the 177 nazis captured. Allied forces appointed 3 judges
US one
Britain one
Russian one
Trialed for 2 crimes
War crimes
Genocide
Hermann Goering
Hitler stop advisor “economic minister” then became “Air force leader (Riefenstahl)
What did Goering defend and what was the gods response
“This was a war and you just follow orders”
“Soldiers need to disobey illegal orders”
Executioner
John woods, botched many hangings and was obviously not a real executioner
Executions
Almost all botched, Julius streicher botched so bad he had to be taken down and strangled.
Julius Streicher
Editor of Dir Stiirmer
Nazi newspaper
Poisonous mush room
Convicted as participating in a genocide by creating hateful propaganda
Why was the Allied forces so careful in the crimes they charged
Because it was a war and so they only charged with crimes they actually commitex
How did Goering die
Was to be hanged after being found guilty but committed suicide
Where did Nazis put the Jews and why
Put Jews in fenced off neighbourhoods called ghettos to help control them and round them up
Why were camps always next to railroads
To make the transportation very easy and efficient
The Evian Conference
1932, when Nazis began terrorizing Jews, the us president rounded up 32 countries in hopes of opening up borders to refugees. No one did
1939 German Jews escape
Ship went across Atlantic Ocean.
Was turned down at Cuba
Was turned down at US
Was turned down at Canada
Forced to return to their country
Kristallnacht
“Night of crystal (glass)”
1938, Hitler got mad a Jew killed their officer.
Planned to allow German mobs to riot and destroy Jewish businesses
Herschel Gyrnszpan
A Jew teen from France that killed a Nazi officer for not allowing their family into France
Why was Kristallnacht important
It showed Jews that they were being targeted for a genocide
Nuremberg laws
1935, Hitler passed a series of laws.
Stripped Jews of their citizenship and rights
Prohibited Jews from marrying Germans
Forced Jew teachers , lawyers and doctors to quit their job
Jews forced to wear Star of David
Jew businesses forced into German ownership
Jews had to have a red “J” stamped on their passport
Wannasee conference
1942, 15 top Nazi officials discussed the plan of the final solution
Aktion T-4/Euthanasia
Nazi gov believed physically or mentally I’ll people were making Germany weak
Crippled
Down syndrome
Epilepsy
Schizo
Doctors ordered to inject people with poison to murder them
Notified families with letters of their passing
Another way they tried to kill people
Use gas vans, the tail pipe inside to pour in fumes when driven around to kill them
The people would vomit and defecate
Too much trouble
Einsatzgruppen (killing squads)
Before gas chambers, there were killing squads
They woudl round up undesirables
4 mobile killing Squads
Operated mostly in
Soviet Union
Baltic région of Lithuania
Estonia and Latvia
Poland
What did the killing squads do
Killed undesirables in the forest
Victims dug a pit and stood in front of them while they were shot point blank
SS soldiers (Shutzstaffel)
Hurlers personal guards
Put in charge of the 2 kinds of camp
Wore black uniforms and death head insignia
Selection did what
Doctors looked for
Not sick
No coughing
Good muscle bone
Not too old
Etc
If you had any of these things you were pointed for special treatment (gas chambers)
Camp conditions
Slept in barracks
Giant outdoor pits for washrooms
Diseas spread
Overcrowded
Minimal food
Not enough protein, fresh vegetable, no vitamins
Soup with no meat
Food often spoiled
Heinrich Himmler
Leader of SS
In charge of camps
Committed suicide
Reinhard Heydrich
Head of Nazi intelligence agency
In charge of planning Kristallnacht
Top decision maker
Adolf eichman
Rank in SS
Present at Wannsee conference
Planned how to transport Jews
Escaped arrest to Argentina but was killed by Israeli gov
Us general Dwight D Eisenhower
Visited Nazis camps and was so disgusted he recorded and photographed everything
Made nearby town people look at it
Oskar Groning
Came forth many years later at 93 to speak against Holocaust deniers saying he saw the crematoriums and gas chambers
Oskar groning convixted of
For the death as an accessory to murder to 300000 people
Being responsible for counting banknotes confiscated from prisoners
Allege he hid victims luggage to hide victims fate
Jews throughout history blamed for
Any natural disaster
Conspiracy with the devil
Black Death and poisoning wells
Using non Jewish victims in Jewish rituals
Treason and treachery (death of Jesus)
Stabbing Germany in the back
Being a demonic force that poisoned the world with conflicting ideas such as exploitative capitalism and communism
Repeatedly accused of
Caring only about money
Conspiracy
Plotting to take over the world
How did Germany accept antisemitism
Pushed in media’s
Propaganda everywhere appeared everyone agreed with it
Everyone needed something to blend for their life being bad
