THE HOLOCAUST

PREPARED BY MRS. SAYLES

MAY 10-14, 2021
 LESSON OBJECTIVES

1. Explain the term Holocaust.

2. Trace the History of Anti – Semitism and the Rise of Hitler
3. Discuss the impact of Hitlers “ Aryanization” of Germany on the Jews
4. Give an overview of the experiences of Holocaust victims.
5. Identify contemporary examples of discrimination today.
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY

https://answergarden.ch/1939354
 INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY

EXCERPT FROM THE MOVIE “THE BOY IN THE STRIPED

PAJAMAS”
• Class Discussion: Why did the well dressed boy get up upon hearing that his friend was
a Jew?
LESSON OBJECTIVE 1
Explain the term Holocaust
Hatred and intolerance in the form of Anti- Semitism – the
hostility/ discrimination against Jews which became widespread
in the years before and during world war 2. An ideology that
ultimately resulted in the Holocaust. The mass murder of
approximately six million Jews and millions of other ‘inferior’
people by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.
 THE HOLOCAUST: HITLER'S FINAL
SOLUTION
• The word “Holocaust” comes from the Greek words “holos” (whole) and “kaustos” (burned).
The term was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar.
• A word now synonymous with the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews and millions
of other targeted groups (European Roma called Gypsies, Homosexuals, Disabled) by the
German Nazi regime during World War II. Jews, though, were the Nazis' main targets and
victims.
• Hitler was anti-Semitic. He believed the Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German
racial purity and society.
• He used WW2 as a guise for his horrific murderous actions against the Jews.
 LESSON OBJECTIVE 2
Trace the History of Anti – Semitism and the Rise of Hitler
 WHY THE JEWS: HISTORY OF
ANTISEMITISM

Task: Watch the video below and comment on the origin of anti-semetism.

https://www.ushmm.org/antisemitism/what-is-antisemitism/why-the-jews-history-of-antisemitism
 HISTORICAL ANTI-SEMITISM AND HITLER'S
RISE TO POWER
Anti-Semitism, or anti-Jewish bigotry, had roots in Europe long before Hitler's rise. Followers of the
Jewish faith were often viewed as strange outsiders by their Christian neighbors. However, an
intellectual movement in the 17th and 18th centuries, called the Enlightenment, emphasized religious
tolerance. In the 19th century, Napoleon and other European rulers passed laws ending official
discrimination against Jews. But anti-Jewish feelings did not end. In many places, hateful attitudes
became less about religious differences and more about racial hostility.
The roots of Hitler’s vicious brand of anti-Semitism are unclear. Born in Austria in 1889, he served in
the German army during World War I, which began in 1914. After its defeat in 1918, Germany was
left with a shattered government and ruined economy. Like many anti-Semites in Germany, Hitler
blamed the Jews for the country’s downfall. This ignored the fact that some 100,000 German Jews
fought for their country during the war.
 "MEIN KAMPF”—"MY STRUGGLE

• While imprisoned for treason, Hitler wrote the book "Mein Kampf”—"My Struggle" — in which
he predicted a European war that would result in “the extermination of the Jewish race in
Germany.” Hitler was obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the “pure” German race, which
he called “Aryan.” He also argued for the need for “Lebensraum,” or living space, for that race to
expand.

• Hitler was obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the “pure” German race, which he called
“Aryan.” He also argued for the need for “Lebensraum,” or living space, for that race to expand.
Hence racial purity and territorial expansion became the twin goals behind his domestic and
foreign policy.
 LESSON OBJECTIVE 3
Discuss the impact of Hitlers “ Aryanization” of Germany on the Jews
VIDEO: “THE HOLOCAUST, GENOCIDE &
MASS MURDER”
 THE “ARYANIZATION” OF GERMANY

• Hitler’s actions against the Jews ( and other perceived inferior groups) 1933-1939 included:
❖ Passing discriminatory laws (Nuremberg Laws of 1935- attacked Jewish citizenship rights, could not
marry non-jews)
❖ Dismissing the Jews from civil service
❖ Jewish shops boycotted
❖ Kristallnacht - Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues are looted and destroyed
❖ Persecution - cancelled health insurance
❖ Stripped Jewish lawyers and doctors of their clients
❖ Arrested
❖ Deportation
❖ Concentration Camp : first one opened in Dachau 1933
❖ Had to wear special marks on clothing
 ARYANIZATION
❖ Einsatzgruppen (killing squads) began rounding up and murdering Jews in Russia
❖ Establishment of Jewish ghettos - The Warsaw ghetto was established on October 12th 1940. All
Jews living in Warsaw were to be segregated in a designated area. The area contained around
1,500 houses to accommodate the 400,000 Jews. The average number of people occupying each
room was 7.2. the food ration allocated to the Jewish population was around 200 calories per
day. Many people died from starvation and disease. Others risked their lives trying to smuggle
food into the ghetto. By April 1941 the death rate of those living in the Warsaw ghetto was
around 6,000 per month.
❖ Belzec opened in March 1942. Victims were brought to the camp by trains, unloaded and taken
to gas chambers disguised as showers. Carbon monoxide was them pumped into the chamber.
The bodies were buried in mass graves.
❖ Death camps - Auschwitz-Birkenau - the largest killing centre - it is estimated that between 1
and 2 million Jews were killed in this camp.
 HOLOCAUST IMAGES

Gas Chamber Body Oven Concentration Camps

1942 - Mass-gassing of Jews began at
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Treblinka II was built next to the Treblinka They faced insanitary conditions, poor
I concentration camp and opened in July diet, forced hard labour and ad hoc
1942. The bodies were initially buried in punishments.
mass graves but later were burned in huge
ovens. Around 925,000 Jews were killed in
this camp.
 LESSON OBJECTIVE 4
Overview of the experiences of Holocaust victims.
A SURVIVORS STORY
 LESSON OBJECTIVE 5
Outline contemporary examples of discrimination .
CAN YOU THINK OF ANY CONTEMPORARY
EXAMPLES OF DISCRIMINATION?
 CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLES CONFLICTS
ARISING FROM DISCRIMINATION
Conflicts in the Balkans, Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Darfur, as well
as in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, are among the best-known and deadliest examples
from the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
• Race - African Americans (Black Lives Matter Movement)
• Ehtnic Tensions - Arabs (and the Tuareg, who are Berbers) and sub-Saharan (black) Africans.
• Sexual Orientation – Homosexuals, Lesbians, Transsexual, Bi-sexual
• Socio-economic background
• Religion – Rastafari (1930s) -
https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Behind-that-Coral-Gardens-incident_95932 and
Muslim (especially after 9/11)
 LESSON CULMINATION

HOW CAN YOU CHANGE THIS NARRATIVE

OF DISCRIMINATION/INTOLERANCE
AGAINST PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT
FROM YOU?
REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST