THE 'FINAL SOLUTION' Flashcards
WHAT were the actions towards Jewish people 1940-41?
Confused and uncontrolled. There was a mix of mass killings, ghettoisation and deportations
WHEN was the Wannsee Conference?
January 1942
WHAT was the Wannsee Conference?
A meeting to inform senior bureaucrats of their roles in implementing the decision to murder Jewish people in Europe (not the occasion where the decision was made)
WHO was involved in the Wannsee Conference?
- 15 high-ranking Nazi officials
- Reinhard Heydrich was chairman
- Hitler and Himmler were not in attendance
WHAT were the consequences of the Wannsee Conference?
Jewish people were now to be deported to specific areas where there was an organised camp system, accelerating the mass killings
WHAT was Operation Reinhard?
The codename for the plan to murder all Jewish people in Poland, using death camps.
HOW did the war turning against Germany affect the pace of the Nazi’s mass killings?
It accelerated the murder, the Nazis giving them a higher priority over military needs.
WHEN did the Nazis start to shut down and conceal the mass killings?
November 1944, when the Soviets were advancing deep into Poland
WHEN was the liberation of Auschwitz?
January 1945
WHAT was the first established killing centre in Poland and WHEN was it set up?
Chelmno was the first established and it was created in December 1941
WHAT are some examples of death camps in Poland?
Chelmno, Belzec, Treblinka and Auschwitz
HOW MANY people were murdered in Treblinka death camp?
Almost a million
WHEN was Auschwitz established as a major killing centre?
1943
WHAT was the significance of Auschwitz death camp?
- Became the hub of the Nazi killing machine
- From 1943, most other camps weere shut down and people were to be transported to Auschwitz instead
WHAT fraction of Holocaust victims died in Auschwitz?
1/5
WHAT are some ways that Jewish people resisted the Nazis during the Holocaust?
- Groups of partisan fighters across Eastern Europe worked to sabotage German occupiers
- Revolts in ghettos and camps
- A network of Jewish organisations smuggled details of the mass killings to the Allies
WHO were the Bielski brothers?
Partisan fighters who created a resistance group during the war, housing Jewish escapees and leading sabotage missions against Nazi forces
WHAT is an example of Jewish resistance in a ghetto?
A large rising took place in the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, lasting several months. The Nazis had to used significant force to crush it.
WHAT is an example of Jewish resistance in Auschwitz?
In 1944, Jewish prisoners blew up Crematorium 4
WHY did the news of the mass murders reaching the Allies during the war have little effect on the Holocaust?
- Western governments found it difficult to take in the full horror
- It wass difficult to take practical action against it
WHEN did the death marches begin?
Autumn 1944
HOW MANY people are thought to have died on the death marches?
250,000 - 400,000
WHY were the death marches so horrific?
- They occurred during the freezing winter
- People were already malnourished from the camps
- Many died of illness/exhaustion
WHAT is the intentionalist debate for the Holocaust?
- Hitler was motivated from the start
- All Germans either supported his anti-Semitic ideas or were incapable of opposing them due to terror/intimidation
WHAT is the problem with the intentionalist debate regarding the Holocaust?
It is too simplistic: Hitler was not an all-powerful dictator, the terror system was not effective enough to crush all opposition and thousands were involved in the mass killings.
WHAT is the structuralist debate for the Holocaust?
- Millions of ordinary people were involved in acts of persecution, deportation and killings
- Overlapping centres of power meant that men like Himmler and Heydrich significantly shaped the mass murders
