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Nazis Take Power
After Nazis took power in 1933, they concentrated on silencing their political opponents- communists, socialists, liberals, and anyone else who spoke out against the government. Once the Nazis had eliminated these groups, they turned against other groups in Germany. -
Removal From Government Jobs
On April 7th 1933, shortly after Hitler took power in Germany, he ordered all "non-Aryans" to be removed from government jobs. This was one of the first moves in the campaign for racial purity that later became the Holocaust. -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg 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
This even can also be called the "night of broken glass." Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany and Austria. An American who witnessed the violence wrote, "Jewish shop windows by the hundreds were systematically and wantonly smashed. . . . The main streets of the city were a positive litter of shattered plate glass." Around 100 Jews were killed, and hundreds more were injured. Some 30,000 Jews were arrested and hundreds of synagogues were burned. -
St. Louis
The German ocean liner passed Miami in 1939. Although 740 of the liner's 943 passengers had U.S. Immigration 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 murdered in the Holocaust. -
The Final Solution
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. Nazi concentration camps were originally set up to imprison political opponents and protesters, but were later converted into camps for "undesirables." Victims of the Nazis included homosexuals, the mentally deficient, the mentally ill, the physically disabled, and the incurably ill, along with the Jews. -
Death Camps
Chelmno began operating in 1941. Each camp had several huge gas chambers in which as many as 12,000 people could be killed a day. When prisoners arrived at Auschwitz, the largest death camp, they had to parade by several SS doctors. With a wave of the hand, the doctors separated those strong enough to work from those who would die that day. -
The Final Stage
Groups being executed were asked to leave their possessions behind with a promise that they would be returned later. They weer then led into room outside of the gas chamber and were told to undress for a shower. To complete the deception, the prisoners were even given soap. Finally, they were led into the chamber and poisoned with gas that spewed from vents in the walls. This was sometimes carried out with the accompaniment of music played by prisoners who had been temporarily spared execution.
