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Nazis Take Power
After taking power, the Nazis concentrate on silencing their political opponents- communists, socialists, liberals, and anyone else who spoke out against the government. -
The Persecution Begins
Hitler ordered all "non-Aryans" to be removed from governent jobs -
Jews Targeted
The Nuremburg Laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship, jobs, and property. To make it easier for the Nazis to identify them, Jews had to wear a bright yellow Star of David attached to their clothing. -
Kristallnacht
Also called "Night of Broken Glass". Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, synagogues across Germany. Jewish shop windows by the hundreds were smashed. Around 100 Jews were killed, and hundreds more injured. Some 30,000 were arrested and hundreds of synagues were burned. Afterward, the Nazis blamed the Jews for the destruction. -
The Plight of St. Louis
The St. Louis passed Miami in 1939. Although 740 of the liner's 943 passengers had US immigrant papers, the Coast Guard followed the ship to prevent anyone from disembarking in America. The ship was forced to return to Europe. More than half of the passengers were later killed in the Holocaust. -
The Final Solution
A policy of the genocide, the deliberate killing of an entire population. It targeted Jews, Gypsies, Freemasons, and Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, mentally deficient, mentally ill, physically disabled, and the incurably ill. Jews were also sent to concentration camps, which are labor camps. -
Death Camps
Jews in communities not reached by the killing squads were dragged from their homes and herded onto trains or trucks for shipment to concentration camps, or labor camps. -
The Final Stage
To mass murder and starvation they would add a third method of killing-- murder by poison gas. They used this tactic in the 6 death camps in Poland. At some camps, to try to cover up the evidence of their slaughter, the Nazis installed huge crematoriums, or ovens, in which they were simply thrown into a pit and set on fire.
