Source: Bibi595, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inquiry Question: How did World War Two impact Europe’s Jewish community between 1939 and 1945?
“The things I saw beggar description… The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were . . . overpowering. . . . I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in [a] position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.‘”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied Supreme Commander in Europe and later President of the United States reflecting on seeing the concentration camp at Ohrdruf.
The German invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939, was the event that ignited the Second World War in Europe (China and Japan had been at war since 1937). The War resulted in the deaths of over 70 million people, including civilians. While the death of 6 million Jews may not seem terribly significant against this sum, it is critical to note the systematic nature of the violence committed against Jews and other individuals targeted for their perceived inferiority by the Nazis and their collaborators. Those that died in the Holocaust were not accidental killings but deliberate, planned, and carefully executed. In this lesson, we will examine the systematic nature of the Holocaust. This is the final destination of racism, social darwinism, and human tribalism. Hopefully we can learn something from it.
Video Questions
- What did Hitler reveal in 1935? Was Germany allowed to have this? Why or why not?
- What did Hitler do to the Rhineland? Was he allowed to do this? What did Britain and France do about it?
- What did Germany do to Austria? How did Britain and France respond?
- Why did Hitler want the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia? Describe the deal he made with Britain.
- Describe the Non-Aggression Pact signed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Bonus Source: World War Two in Real-Time
For those who are interested in the war itself, including battles and other combat related topics I highly recommend the World War Two in Real Time channel. They follow the War week by week and use very good quality sources, including many primary sources. Below I have linked the first episode which goes over the first week of the war when Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939.
Reading: The Holocaust
Read “The Holocaust” on page 825-827 (55-57) in Glencoe World History and answer the following questions.
- Describe the Nazi’s Final Solution. Review the word genocide.
- What were the ghettos? What did the Nazis do to them?
- Describe the SS “death squads”. What did they do?
- Why did the Nazis decide to use death camps (extermination camps) instead of the death squads?
Reading: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/final-solution-overview
The Ghettos
Viewing Instructions
- What were the ghettos like? How can you describe them?
- What is the importance of diaries as historical evidence? How are they different from memoirs (something written after the event)?
Primary Source Analysis: “Voices from the Lodz Ghetto”
Working with a partner you will read a section of the handout “Voices from the Lodz Ghetto”. This source, from the USHMM, includes diary entries from children and teenagers held in the Lodz Ghetto from 1939 to 1945.
With your partner, read through your assigned section and sources. Discuss and record;
- What happened to the Jews in the Lodz Ghetto.
- The perspectives of the Jews. In other words, how did they feel about what they experienced?
Auschwitz – The Killing Center
For these questions, I decided to refer to the victims of the Holocaust (Jews, gypsies, the disabled, etc.) as people and not as prisoners. It is so important to understand that these were people who had done nothing wrong. They were innocent of any crime. As a result, those who were taken to Auschwitz and either held in detention or killed there will be referred to as people. The killers will be called the Nazis. It is equally important to recognize that not all Germans either supported the Final Solution or were aware of its full extent. Germans today still deal with some degree of collective guilt over the Holocaust and today it is illegal in that country to show Nazi symbols, show the Nazi salute or even to deny the history of the Holocaust.
In total ~1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz.
1. What did people think was going to happen when they arrived at Auschwitz and got off the trains?
2. Describe what happened to people when they arrived at Auschwitz and got off the trains.
3. “At the ramp, women with children, and the elderly (the old), were sent directly to their ___________, and if you were young and able-bodied (healthy) and if at that period of time they needed workers then you were chosen for slave labour which essentially meant that you were chosen to die ____________ not to die immediately in the ______________________.”
4. What did the Nazis do to people’s hair? Why did they do this?
5. What was the purpose of the number the Nazis tattooed on people’s arms? How did it make Kitty (the Holocaust survivor in the film) feel?
6. “Selection didn’t just take place on arrival at Auschwitz, it was a daily occurrence. In fact, any time the prisoners were together if anybody at any point in time tipped over into that place where they were no longer useful to the Nazis they could simply be selected and sent into the _________________.”
7. How many people had to sleep together in Auschwitz? __________
8. What was the “Canada”?
“The duty of the survivor is to bear testimony to what happened… You have to warn people that these things can happen, that evil can be unleashed. Race hatred, violence, idolatries—they still flourish.”
Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, author, and Holocaust survivor (1995)
“We can only shape a bright future if we are aware of Germany’s enduring responsibility for the ultimate betrayal of all civilised values that was the Holocaust.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2017)
“The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.”
Sir Ian Kershaw
Key Terminology
| Invasion of Poland | On September 1st, 1939, the German army entered Poland. Although Hitler claimed Germany was responding to Polish “aggression” in reality he was implementing his policy of obtaining lebensraum for the German people and the ultimate objective of the campaign was to “Germanize” Poland. Both Britain and France had guranteed Poland’s independence and so they declared war on Germany days later, starting World War Two in Europe. |
| Lebensraum | Hitler’s policy of territorial expansion. In English it translates roughly to “living space”. Hitler believed the German people had insufficient land for agricultural production and so needed to seize it from “inferior peoples” in eastern Europe (e.g. Poles, Russians). |
| Anschluss | Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938. Hitler argued there should be a “Greater Germany”. Although he used the military to annex Austria it was a “bloodless invasion” since the Austrian army did not resist. France and Britain were unwilling to force a war over the issue. |
| Einsatzgruppen | The SS “death squads” that followed the Germany army during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. They were tasked with finding Jews in the occupied territory and executing them. This is part of the “Final Solution”. |
| Auschwitz | The largest and deadliest extermination camp. Over 1 million Jews were killed here, most in one of the four gas chambers. Others died from forced labour. |
| Lodz Ghetto | One of the largest ghettos in Nazi occupied Europe. Jews from across Europe were sent to the Lodz ghetto to be held temporarily until a “final solution” could be decided. Ultimately, Jews in the Lodz ghetto were sent to the Chelmno extermination camp where most would be gassed immediately upon arrival. |
| Extermination Camp | Distinct from a concentration camp. Extermination camps were intended to kill Jews immediately after their arrival. Typically the elderly, women with children, and young children were selected for death because they were unable to work. In total, there were six extermination camps. All of them were located in Poland. |