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Introduction to Holocaust
Antisemitism was at the foundation of the Holocaust. Antisemitism, the hatred of or prejudice against Jews, was a basic tenet of Nazi ideology. This prejudice was also widespread throughout Europe. Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews evolved and became increasingly more radical between 1933 and 1945. This radicalization culminated in the mass murder of six million Jews. -
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Holocaust
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Hitler Becomes Chancellor
As a result of the Nazis’ mass support, German president Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on January 30, 1933. His appointment paved the way to the Nazi dictatorship after Hindenburg’s death in August 1934. -
Concentration Camp
Nazi officials established the first concentration camp, Dachau, on March 22, 1933, for political prisoners. It was later used as a model for an expanded and centralized concentration camp system managed by the SS. The major purpose of the earliest concentration camps during the 1930s was to imprison and intimidate the leaders of political, social, and cultural movements that the Nazis perceived to be a threat to the survival of the regime. -
THE NUREMBERG RACE LAWS
The Nazis enacted the Nuremberg Laws, because they wanted to put their ideas about race into law. They believed in the false theory that the world is divided into distinct races that are not equally strong and valuable. The Nazis considered Germans to be members of the supposedly superior “Aryan” race. They saw the so-called Aryan German race as the strongest, and most valuable race of all. -
Hitler Youth Party
In 1939, more than 82% of eligible youth (age 10-18) belonged to the Hitler Youth or its female equivalent, the League of German Girls. While girls prepared for their futures as wives and mothers, boys participated in military training. In the last desperate months of the war, boys in their early teens were drawn into serving in the German civil defense and in the defensive militia called the Volkssturm (Home Guard). -
Auschwitz
Located in German-occupied Poland, Auschwitz consisted of three camps including a killing center. The camps were opened over the course of nearly two years, 1940-1942. Auschwitz closed in January 1945 with its liberation by the Soviet army.
More than 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, including nearly one million Jews. Those Jews who were not sent directly to gas chambers were selected for forced labor. -
WANNSEE CONFERENCE AND THE "FINAL SOLUTION"
The Wannsee Conference was a high-level meeting of German officials to discuss and implement the so-called “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” (mass killing). The SS envisioned that some 11 million Jews, some of them not living on German-controlled territory, would be eradicated as part of the Nazi program. -
WAR REFUGEE BOARD: BACKGROUND AND ESTABLISHMENT
The War Refugee Board streamlined the work of private relief agencies, helping them send money and resources into neutral and enemy territory. The board also placed American representatives in neutral nations to supervise projects and pressure the countries to welcome refugees.