Holocaust Study Guide Flashcards
List and define the eight stages of genocide.
- Classification - Distinguishes people into “us” and “them”. Based on ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality. Universaly human and doesn’t necessarily result in genocide.
- Symbolization - We give names or other symbols to the classifications. “Jews” or “Gypsies”, or distinguish them by colors or dress; and apply them to members of groups. Symbolization is universally human and does not necessarily result in genocide.
- Dehumanization - One group denies the humanity of the other group. Hate propaganda in print and on radios/TVs is used to vilify the victim group. Genocidal societies lack constitutional protection for opposing speech.
- Organization - Genocide is always organized, usually by the state. Special army units or militias are often trained and armed. Plans are made for genocidal killings. As mentioned in #3, genocidal societies lack protection.
- Polarization - Extremists drive the groups apart. Extremist target moderates, intimidating and silencing the center. The few who side with the oppressed would be silenced themselves! Either join us or there are consequences for your actions.
- Preparation - Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity. Death lists are drawn up. Members of victim groups are forced to wear identifying symbols. They are often segregated into ghettos, forced into concentration camps, or confined to a famine-struck region and starved.
- Extermination - Extermination begins, and quickly becomes the mass killing. The technical, legal term is “genocide.“ It is “extermination” to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human. Remember, you dehumanized them in #3. When it is sponsored by the state, the armed forces often work with militias (local groups) to do the killing.
- Denial - The perpetrators of genocide dig up themass graves, burn the bodies, try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims. Nothing happens unless they are captured and a tribunal (trial) is established to try them.
What is propaganda? How was it used as a means of perpetrating the Holocaust?
Propaganda - Information, ideas, or rumors, that deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc. Vilifies the victim group
What is Hitler’s “Final Solution”?
Hitler’s idea to kill anyone he deemed unfit for his “Master Race.
Which groups were targeted during the Holocaust?
6 million Jews. “Racially inferior” groups - Romas (gypsies), Russians and Poles (Slavic people), Disabled (mental and physical). Some were persecuted for politics, ideas, or behaviors - Communists and Socialist, Jehovah’s Witness, Homosexual.
How did the Allies help Displaced Persons after the war?
The Allies led Displaced Persons Camps after the war where they gave them care and help. The camps officially closed in 1957. After they closed, the displaced persons emigrated to America and other countries. Israel, the new Jewish state, was created in 1948
Describe the Nuremberg Trials.
Germans were caught and put on trial from 1945 through 1949. The 24 top leaders. Their “excuse” was that they were “simply following orders” and it “wasn’t their fault. Out of the original 24, 19 were found guilty and 12 were sentenced to death. Then there were another 130 guilty. The bottom line…people are responsible for their actions
What is the holocaust?
The term given to the genocide committed by the Germans. It means “sacrifice by fire”. Germans believed they were “racially superior” and so they should eliminate all others. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems. Jews (and others) were sent to many different places, including ghettos, transit camps, labor camps, and extermination camps.
Where were the extermination camps located?
Poland
When/how did most citizens discover the existence of concentration camps?
Most people learned about the concentration camps when they were liberated.
Describe the structure in terms of importance of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Look at paper.
