Lesson 1: Introduction to the Holocaust

Jews arrive at “the ramp” at Auschwitz. The elderly and the very young, or anyone unfit for work, were sent to the gas chambers shortly after this photograph was taken.
Source: Anonymous photographer from the Auschwitz Erkennungsdienst. Several sources believe the photographer to have been SS officers Ernst Hoffmann or Bernhard Walter, who ran the Erkennungsdienst., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Inquiry Question (Factual): What was the Holocaust?

“The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.”

Sir Ian Kershaw, Popular Opinion and Dissent in the Third Reich

Reading: The Holocaust

Read “Introduction to the Holocaust” from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum linked here.

  1. Identify some words you think might be important terminology (e.g. concentration camp). Record these in your notes and include a definition.
  2. List some violent actions taken against victims of the Holocaust.
  3. What makes the Holocaust a genocide?

Key Terminology

HolocaustThe systematic extermination of European Jews by the Nazi regime and their collaborations during World War Two. An estimated 6 million Jews were killed.
JewsA cultural community of people who self-identify as being Jewish. Jews may be religious (i.e. follow the religion of Judaism), ethnic (i.e. descend from Jewish parents), or simply identify as Jewish. Basically, if you believe you are Jewish then you are.
AntisemitismHatred or prejudice towards Jewish people. Antisemitism has a long history in Europe and is not a modern phenomena.
GenocideAny attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, either in whole or in part.
IdentityIdentity is the combination of the values, beliefs and experiences that define, shape and inform who we are, our perspectives and how we behave as individuals, communities, societies and cultures.
ViolenceAn action that causes harm to a person or group.
DiasporaA community of people who have been displaced from their homeland.