How did the Nazis' racial policies develop during WW2?

Question 1

What was Einsatzgruppen?
(SS Einsatzgruppen =special squads)

Answer 1

SS troops sent in to destroy all the elements of resistance

Question 2

What was the initial impact of the Einsatzgruppen?

Answer 2

about 16,000 Poles executed in mass shootings in autumn of 1939
immediately started violent persecution of Polish Jews
army encouraged its soldiers in the torture of Jews

Question 3

Why was the role of the Einsatzgruppen expanded and when?

Answer 3

in 1941 when the Third Reich invaded the Soviet Union
marked decisive development in racial war

Question 4

What did the four special Action Units, A,B,C and D do?

Answer 4

responsible for rounding up local Jews and Communist party officials, they were then murdered in a series of mass shootings

Question 5

How many Russian Jews had been killed by the end of 1941?

Answer 5

estimated that by the end of 1941, 600,000 Russian Jews had been killed

Question 6

Why did Ghettoisation develop?

Answer 6

because as the policy towards the Jews evolved 1939-41, it became increasingly important for the SS to concentrate Jews into controlled areas

Question 7

When did the Nazis create ghettos?

Answer 7

During WW2, forcibly moved Jews into them

Question 8

What were the ghettos like?

Answer 8

they were surrounded by high walls, barbed wire & guards, escape was difficult, smuggling food or goods into ghettos was difficult, meant many inhabitants died of starvation or disease

Question 9

What happened to ghettos from spring 1940?

Answer 9

ghettos became sealed from spring 1940, with the penalty of death for anyone caught trying to escape

Question 10

What were the conditions in the ghettos like after this?

Answer 10

conditions in the ghetto deteriorated, eg cramped living conditions, limited heating fuel, disease, death, poor sanitation

Question 11

What happened as a result of the poor conditions in the ghettos?

Answer 11

In the first two years of the war, half a million Polish Jews died

Question 12

What was the Final Solution?

Answer 12

Orchestrate the killing of every Jew in Europe

Question 13

What evidence shows that Hitler was against Jews?

Answer 13

Jan 1944, Himmler publicly stated in a speech to army officers that Hitler had given him a ‘Fuhrer Order’ to give priority to the ‘total solution of the Jewish question’.

Question 14

What happened in the Autumn of 1941 (racial policy against Jews) ?

Answer 14

Sept 1941, all Jews were forced to wear the yellow star of David

Question 15

What was the impact of the German occupation of Poland 1939?

Answer 15

it brought some 3 million Jews under Nazi control, before this the regime had encountered only a few hundred thousand Jews

Question 16

How many Jews had the SS Einsatzgruppen murdered by Spring 1942?

Answer 16

SS Einsatzgruppen had murdered over 500,000 Jews by Spring 1942

Question 17

What was the impact of the invasion of the USSR?

Answer 17

brought another 3 million Jews under Nazi control

Question 18

What is often portrayed as the ‘decisive’ meeting for the Final Solution?

Answer 18

The Wannsee Conference in West Berlin on the 20th January 1942

Question 19

What plans were drawn up at Wannsee Conference in Jan 1942?

Answer 19

plans to conscript Jews into labour gangs in Eastern Europe in which it was expected a large number would die
By this point the decision to kill using poison gas had been decided upon as cost effective & efficient

Question 20

What happened to camps in the course of 1942?

Answer 20

a no. of camps in Poland were developed into mass extermination centres, most notably Auschwitz, Sobibor & Treblinka

Question 21

When was the Warsaw Ghetto destroyed?

Answer 21

Feb 1943

Question 22

What was the process leading up to the deaths in the gas chambers?

Answer 22

most of the Polish Jews were cleared from their ghettos, then transported by train in appalling conditions to their deaths in the gas chambers

Question 23

What was the impact of the death chambers (deaths) ?

Answer 23

it is believed that of the original 3 million Polish Jews, only 4000 survived the war

Question 24

By 1945, how many European Jews had been murdered in the Holocaust?

Answer 24

It is estimated that 6 million had been murdered altogether

Question 25

What other groups were targeted by racial policies?

Answer 25

Gypsies, political opponents, Jehovah Witnesses, asocials and Soviet prisoners of war
Most dies through starvation, disease, overwork, or were shot or beaten

Question 26

How many Gypsies were sent to Auschwitz?

Answer 26

23,000 were sent to Auschwitz in 1943 and 1944

Question 27

What do Functionalists argue the reason the regime abandoned plans for resettlement and adopted policy of extermination was?

Answer 27

functionalists argue extermination became likely once it was clear the war would not be won quickly
the resettlement would create huge organisational problems for the regime, which would get in way of the priority of equipping the army to fight. Therefore extermination would help resolve this problem.

Question 28

What do Intentionalists argue the reason the regime abandoned plans for resettlement and adopted policy of extermination was?

Answer 28

challenge Functionalists, argue it was not just a response to military situation
argue that Hitler was committed to such a policy from early in his career & gradually increased pressures of Jewish population, leading ultimately to extermination because that is what he wanted

Question 29

What events suggest that adopting the policy of extermination/ the final solution was haphazard (unplanned) ?

Answer 29

Invasion of USSR- 3 million more Jews
became clear that war in Russia would not be over quickly, resettling large numbers in Poland or elsewhere became impossible + would have got in way of war effort
it was only after this that clear plan emerged in Wannsee Conference

Question 30

What else do Functionalists argue?

Answer 30

Hitler did not have control over many policies
Nazi Germany was chaotic – a ‘polycracy’
Hitler: The Weak Dictator
The Holocaust was a result of chaotic policy and individuals seeking to impress Hitler

Question 31

What else to Intentionalists argue?

Answer 31

Hitler had personal responsibility for decisions
Hitler: The Strong Dictator
Hitler took responsibility for ‘big’ decisions
The mass murder of the Jews was always intended – Hitler willed it.

Question 32

What are the key racial policies to talk about?

Answer 32

SS Einsatzgruppen
Ghettoisation
The Final Solution

Question 33

What did Heydrich Himmler tell the assembly at the Wannsee Conference 1942?

Answer 33

that the Madagascar plan wouldn’t work anymore, instead the Fuhrer had agreed that all Jews would be evacuated to east + made to work
those who survived the harsh conditions would be sent to death camps

Question 34

When did the gassing of Jews at Auschwitz begin?

Answer 34

March 1942

Question 35

What happened to the Jews on arrival at the camps? (the Final Solution in practice)

Answer 35

newcomers had their clothes & possessions confiscated
hair was cropped short, then sprayed with disinfectant, photographed, tattooed with their numbers
issued with blue-striped grey uniforms

Question 36

What was the daily ration in the death camps?

Answer 36

daily ration of food limited to 1300 calories, then expected to work from dawn to dusk

Question 37

how many were housed in a hut in the death camps?

Answer 37

40-50 housed in a hut, no personal hygiene

Question 38

When was the first Jewish ghetto set up?

Answer 38

In Lodz in April 1940

Question 39

What was the impact of ghettos of Jews?

Answer 39

Jews were gradually eliminated due to famine, cold + epidemics

Question 40

Who were the Ordnungspolizei?

Answer 40

special units of the police

Question 41

What did the Einsatzgruppen + Ordnungspolizei do?

Answer 41

followed immediately behind the invading armies to begin the process of ethnic cleansing

Question 42

What was the impact of the Einsatzgruppen + Ordnungspolizei process of ethnic cleansing?

Answer 42

inhumane killing of thousands of Jews occurred widely across the country
eg up to 33,000 perished at Babi Yar in Sept 1941, 20,000 at Kharkov and 30,000 at Bialystok in Aug 1943