Understanding the Holocaust: Origins and Definitions

• The Holocaust is called Shoah in Hebrew, meaning a great and terrible wind.
• "Holocaust" originates from the Greek words "holos" (whole) and "caustos" (burnt), initially referring to a sacrifice consumed by fire.
• The term evolved to mean "a sacrifice on a large scale" and eventually "the complete destruction of a large number of persons - a great slaughter or massacre."
• Genocide, literally meaning the annihilation of a race, was first used in 1944.
• The United Nations Convention of 1948 defines genocide as acts committed to destroy a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.
• The Holocaust involved the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime.
• From 1933 to 1945, Germany was ruled by the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler and his collaborators.
• Initial Nazi actions against Jewish people included laws removing their rights in Germany, restricting professions, prohibiting marriage to non-Jewish Germans, and denying business ownership and access to public spaces.
• The Nazi Party's policies towards Jewish people evolved from discriminatory laws to persecutions, deportations, and concentration camps between 1933 and 1945.
• The term 'ghetto' refers to areas where Jews were forcibly confined under harsh conditions as part of the Nazi's systematic persecution.
• Methods used by the Nazis for extermination included mass shootings, starvation, and gassing at extermination centers.
• Approximately 6 million Jews were victims of the Holocaust.
• 1939 marked the beginning of World War II.
• Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party and later became the president of Germany.
• Nazi racial policies forced Jews to wear identifying symbols on their clothing.
• In addition to 6 million Jews, the Holocaust resulted in the deaths of 3 million non-Jews.

History of Judaism

• The Torah is the main scripture for Jewish people, central to their religious beliefs.
• Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic religions, with dietary restrictions and Sabbath observance.
• In the late 19th century, science began studying different races, leading to the belief that races possessed special skills or deficits, with some considered superior.
• Charles Darwin's theory of Survival of the Fittest was misused to justify racist policies, leading to Social Darwinism.
• Social Darwinism justifies discriminatory social policies based on the belief that certain races are superior.
• The Nazis viewed Jewishness as a racial trait, considering Jews an inferior race threatening German purity.
• Under Nazi ideology, Jewishness was defined by ancestry: Anyone with Jewish grandparents was considered Jewish regardless of their beliefs or conversions.
• A pogrom involves violent attacks against Jewish communities, often fueled by antisemitic behavior and sometimes supported by local legal systems.
• Antisemitic feelings led to Jews being blamed for the Black Death, resulting in the destruction of Jewish communities and their expulsion from England.
• Martin Luther's 1543 pamphlet 'The Jews and Their Lies' advocated burning Jewish schools and synagogues and described Jews in derogatory terms.
• The Jewish Question referred to debates in Britain, France, and Germany concerning the economic, legal, spiritual, and moral status of Jews.
• While the Age of Enlightenment aimed to break free from traditions, it also led to antisemitism as societies debated the role of Jews and increased discrimination.

Consequence of Treaty of Versailles and Great Depression on Germany

• Allies imposed heavy reparations on Germany, including 132 billion gold marks (~$33 billion).
• Germany financed World War I by borrowing money from the USA, resulting in massive national debt.
• Loss of territory weakened Germany's economy with fewer resources and reduced industrial capacity.
• The Weimar Republic faced political instability due to public distrust and the rise of smaller political parties.

Hyperinflation Crisis (1921-1923)

• The German government printed more money to pay reparations and cover domestic expenses, causing inflation.
• Prices rose rapidly, eroding savings and incomes, leading to widespread economic distress.
• By 1923, the German mark became worthless.
• Basic goods required wheelbarrows of cash to purchase.
• Savings were completely wiped out.

Impact of the Great Depression (1929-1933)

• Germany relied on US loans (Dawes Plan, 1924) to stabilize its economy, but by 1929 the loans had stopped as financiers wanted immediate repayments.
• 1931: Bank runs and collapses occurred as people lost confidence in financial institutions.
• The US imposed tariffs, reducing demand for German exports, and by 1932 production had fallen to 58% of 1928 levels.
• Mass unemployment rose: 1.5 million in 1929, over 3 million in 1930, and 6 million in 1933 (26% of the workforce).
• Millions struggled with poverty, malnutrition, and hunger-related diseases; white-collar professionals and university graduates also struggled to find work.
• Young men resorted to selling items, begging, doing odd jobs, or engaging in crime to survive.
• Chancellor Heinrich Brüning (1930) responded by raising taxes and cutting wages and government spending to reduce budget deficits and inflation.
• Brüning's policies worsened unemployment and economic suffering and were rejected by the Reichstag but enforced through emergency decrees with President Hindenburg's support.

The Rise Of Hitler

• Reich is a German term for ‘empire', used to imply various states.
• Third Reich – Nazi Germany, successor to the Holy Roman Empire (First Reich) and the German Empire (Second Reich), was meant to signify the establishment of a new, powerful German state that would last a thousand years, though it lasted only 12 years.
• Aryan – A so-called superior racial group of Northern European descent, used to justify discrimination.
• Aryan Race - A pseudo-scientific concept promoting racial superiority, central to Nazi policies.
• Lebensraum – ‘Living Space', used to justify the Nazi desire for territorial expansion to support the growing population, which led to war.
• After World War I ended, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which included the loss of colonies, military restrictions, and accepting full responsibility for the war.
• Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889 and was treated harshly as a child. He dropped out of school, moved to Vienna to study art but failed the entrance exam.
• After her death Hitler lost all financial support and became homeless where he develop strong anti-Semitic beliefs.
• In 1919, Hitler moved to Berlin to restart his artistic career but instead volunteered for WW1.
• After the war, Germany faced political unrest, starvation, and hyperinflation.
• Hitler worked as a spy and infiltrated the German Workers' party, which was anti-Semitic, nationalist, and anti-Marxist and became a key figure in the party and used speeches to gain support.
• By 1921, he was in the leadership, but by 1923 he was imprisoned in jail for a failed coup in Munich.
• Between 1924 and 1929, despite the minuscule size of the Nazi party, Hitler's public support allowed the forming of the SA, a violent group.
• The Great Depression in 1929 provided an opportunity for Hitler to exploit economic hardships. In 1930, the Nazi Party had won 107 seats in parliament, increasing to 230 by 1932.
• On January 30, Hitler was appointed chancellor and became president, merging both roles under the title of Fuhrer.
• Hitler abolished democracy, silenced opposition, and established a totalitarian regime. Over the next years, he rearmed Germany and demanded Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

Isolation of Jews

• The Holocaust unfolded in distinct stages—isolation, terror, imprisonment, and attempted elimination—orchestrated to dehumanize, marginalize, and exterminate millions.
• Isolation aimed to remove Jewish people from German society physically and socially.
• Nazis cultivated anti-Semitic beliefs through propaganda, portraying Jews as dangerous outsiders.
• The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripped Jews of citizenship and fundamental rights, excluding them from public life.
• Jewish businesses were boycotted, confiscated, or destroyed, impoverishing the community.
• The purpose of isolating Jews was to sever them from society, making persecution easier to justify and ensuring they lacked allies or means to resist.
• Each stage of the Holocaust had a purpose to dehumanize, control, and annihilate millions by isolating and weakening victims.

Propaganda as a tool of control

• Propaganda promotes an idea or image to prompt action, using newspaper articles, books, films, and posters.
• Propaganda posters use bright colors and symbolic images to convey a message and engage with high-level emotions to increase persuasiveness.
• Some of the emotions used are fear, anger, patriotism, duty, obligation, and desire.

Nazi Propaganda

• The regime used propaganda extensively to control and manipulate the population.
• It involved biased information to influence people.
• Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders used propaganda to promote the idea of a racially pure German society, excluding Jews and other marginalized groups.
• After Hitler became chancellor in 1933, the Nazis took control over all forms of media.
• One of the most recognizable symbols was the swastika, which represented the Nazi Party and German nationalism.
• The Germans made it so the public could listen to the public at home via radio, making them very cheap.

Nurernberg Laws

• The Nuremberg Laws were a set of laws enacted by the Nazi government on September 15, 1935.
• Jews were excluded from society and stripped of their rights.
• These laws were part of the broader Nazi policy of persecution against Jews.

Timeline of Jewish Persecution

• 1933: Jews were forced out of jobs in the civil service, teaching, law, and journalism; Germans were told to boycott Jewish shops, goods, doctors, and lawyers.
• 1935: Marriage and sexual relations between Jews and 'Aryans' were made illegal; Jews were excluded from parks, restaurants, and swimming pools.
• 1936: Jews were prohibited from owning bicycles, typewriters, or other electrical equipment.
• 1938: Jews had to have their passports stamped with a "J"; Jewish children were banned from attending school; Jews were excluded from cinemas, theaters, concerts, beaches, and holiday resorts; Jewish publishing houses and bookshops were closed down.
• 1940: Jews were allowed to buy groceries only between 4 pm and 5 pm; Jews' telephones were disconnected.
• 1941: Jews were only permitted to use public transport; all Jews over the age of six had to wear a yellow star with "Jew" written on it; mass deportations of German Jews to ghettos in Nazi-occupied Poland commenced.
• 1942: All Jewish homes were marked with a yellow star; Jews were prohibited from using public transport and were not permitted to have pets or receive eggs or fresh milk; Jews were not allowed to buy newspapers, magazines, or books.
• 1943: Berlin was declared judenfrei (free of Jews).

Book Burning

• Gleichschaltung (1933): Nazi effort to align professional and cultural organizations with Nazi ideology.
• Joseph Goebbels: Led propaganda efforts, purging Jewish officials and "degenerate" artists.
• Literary Control: Goebbels collaborated with the National Socialist German Students' Association to suppress "un-German" literature.
• Nazi Student Support: Ultranationalistic, antisemitic university students opposed the Weimar Republic and backed National Socialism.
• The Nazi Student Association launched the “Action against the Un-German Spirit” on April 6, 1933, with press releases and blacklists.
• Students burned ~25,000 books in torchlight parades on May 10, 1933, marking the start of Nazi censorship.
• Berlin Rally: 40,000 people heard Goebbels denounce “moral corruption" before burning works of banned authors
• The book burnings signaled intensified Nazi suppression, leading to further atrocities.

Key Entities

• Kristallnacht refers to The Night of the Broken Glass, an organized massacre or violent attack on Jews.
• SS (Schutzstaffel): An elite corps of the Nazi Party that served as Hitler's bodyguard and as a powerful paramilitary organization involved in security, surveillance, and the mass murder of Jews.
• SA (Sturmabteilung): A paramilitary group linked to the Nazi Party, crucial for Adolf Hitler's rise by enforcing party rules and influencing elections.
• Hitler Youth was established by Adolf Hitler in 1933, educated and trained male youth in Nazi principles.

Kristallnacht

• On the night of November 9–10, 1938, the Nazi regime carried out a planned attack on Jewish people and their property, known as Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass."
• The Nazi leaders, with Adolf Hitler's support, organized this violence, making it appear as if it was done by angry citizens, but it was state-sponsored.
• Nazis set hundreds of synagogues on fire and destroyed thousands of Jewish businesses, damaged Jewish cemeteries, broke into homes, and scared Jewish families.
• Police and Firefighters were told to let the violence happen.
• The Nazi authorities later released some men if their families could prove they planned to leave Germany.