Intro to the

Holocaust

Some of the people disapproved, but their disapproval was only silence
Kurt Messerschmidt- Jewish survivor

In your notes define this term and tell me what factors

make an event a catastrophe.
Give examples of natural and human catastrophes.
What is the difference between human and man made
catastrophes?
In groups answer the following:

1- Who is likely to study human catastrophes and why?

2- What kinds of questions would people studying human
catastrophes want to answer?
3- How would the questions be different from questions that
might be asked about natural catastrophes?

Catastrophe

The Holocaust (Shoah) occurred in Europe from 19331945 and resulted in the death of approximately 6
million Jews (two out of every three Jews); hundreds of
thousands of Sinti-Roma; at least 25,000 people with
mental or physical disabilities; more than 3 million
Soviet prisoners, about 2 million Poles and another 1
million Slavs who were targeted as slave labor; and
thousands of homosexuals, Communists, Socialists,
trades unionists, and Jehovahs Witnesses.
The word is Greek in origin. Hebrew world olah
translated into Greek as holokauston which means
offered up.
Why do we study this period in history?

Holocaust as a
Catastrophe

Look at the definitions of the Holocaust

by three different organizations.
Why are they different from each other?
How does the definition of holocaust1- destruction or slaughter on a mass
scale, especially caused by fire or
nuclear war. 2- a Jewish sacrificial
offering that is burned completely on an
alter. differ from each other?

Holocaust Definitions

Under the cover of WWII, for the sake of the

new order, the Nazis sought to destroy all of
the Jews in Europe. For the first time in history,
industrial methods were used for the mass
extermination of a whole people. Six million
were murdered, including 1.5 million children.
This event is called the Holocaust.
The Nazis enslaved and murdered millions of
others as well. Gypsies, people with physical
and mental disabilities, Poles, Soviet POWs,
trade unionists, political opponents, prisoners of
conscience, homosexuals, and others were killed
in vast numbers.

Imperial War Museum,

London, UK

The Holocaust refers to a specific genocidal

event in 20th century history: statesponsored, systematic persecution and
annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi
Germany and its collaborators between 1933
and 1945. Jews were the primary victims- 6
million were murdered; Gypsies, the
handicapped, and Poles were targeted for
destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic,
or national reasons. Millions more,
including homosexuals, Jehovahs
Witnesses, Soviet POWs, and political
dissidents, also suffered grievous
oppression and death under Nazi tyranny.

The Holocaust was the murder of approximately 6 million Jews

by the Nazis and the collaborators. Between the German
invasion of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 and the
end of the war in Europe in May 1945, Nazi Germany and its
accomplices strove to murder every Jew under their
domination. Because Nazi discrimination against the Jews
began with Hitlers accession to power in January 1933, many
historians consider this the start of the Holocaust era. The Jews
were not the only victims of Hitlers regime, but they were the
only group the Nazis sought to destroy entirely.

What context have you heard this

word?
What examples can you give of
genocides?
In small groups come up with your
own definition of genocide that
includes the instigator (i.e. the state),
the targeted group (i.e. an ethnic,
racial, tribal, national or religious
group), and the intent (deliberate).
UN definition- compare to your
definition
Which definition best fits the
Holocaust and why does the
Holocaust fits the definition of
genocide?

Genocide

In 1948, the UN defined genocide as any of the following acts

committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnic, racial, or religious group, including

Killing members of the group

Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or part
Imposing measures to prevent births within the group
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

UN Definition
of Genocide

Where do you get your information about the

Holocaust?
Are these primary or secondary sources?
What are primary or secondary sources?
Holocaust is one of the most documented events in
human history and that the perpetrators produced
most of the evidence.

Sources of
Information

If they called the Jews a question or a problem then there

had to be a solution. Final means it was the complete
action.
Goal- eliminate all Jewish blood.
Why?- vital to the survival of the German people
At the center are the Jews who were killed merely for
their blood not religion or identity. Then we have the
other victims.
Throughout the Holocaust the Jews struggled daily with
their faith and what they were experiencing.
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe
in love even when I dont feel it. I believe in God even
when He is silent.

Final Solution to the

Jewish Question

Jews were in Europe for more than 2,000 years before the
Holocaust and were found in every country.
Descendants of Abraham and trace roots back to Mesopotamia
in 17th century B.C.E. Story filled with exile, survival and return.
Pagan resentment: lived polytheistic world. Conflict came when
religion did not allow them to participate in community
activities like worshiping the emperor or working on the
Sabbath. Called lazy, superstitious, and unfriendly by
neighbors.
Conquest by Romans defined Jewish life for almost 2,000 years
starting in 70 C.E. Full Roman citizens by 212 A.D.
This is going to change focus of Judaism to where they are
more focused around Torah. This is the Judaism we know today.
Other obstacle was relationship with Christianity. Determines
experience in Europe.

Prior to the Holocaust

After the destruction of Jerusalem break between

Christianity and Judaism.
Jews (almost solely) became responsible for death of
Jesus. Early Christians thought role of Jews was to pave
way for Jesus and when they didnt leave they were being
defiant.
Exile was punishment for denying Jesus and his death.
Treated harshly.
During Crusades wave of anti-Semitic violence. Expelled
from France, Spain, and England. Pogroms and massacres
from 5th to 20th centuries.
Most Christians tolerated Jews because they were
needed. Moneylenders and traders.

1492 driven out of Spain along with the Muslims.

Protestant Reformation- Martin Luther detested Jews
and wrote against them.
Enlightenment did not make things better. Major
thinkers blamed Jews for Christianity and for
everything negative done it its name.
French Revolution things were somewhat better.
Offered some rights if they gave up their customs and
communal identity. After Napoleon defeated this went
away. Not restored after unification in 1871.
Did not get rid of anti-Semitism. Gave it racial
undertones that characterized it through the 20th
century.

Anti-Semitism became a political tool. Karl Lueger

became mayor of Vienna in the1890s using this.
Dreyfus Affair- Cpt. Alfred Dreyfus. Only Jewish officer
attached to armys general staff. Tried and convicted of
treason (false). Divided French. Evidence he was
framed. Finally pardoned. Lesson: not even safe in an
advanced nation.
1881 Czar Alexander II killed. Blamed the Jews. Pogroms
and massacres. Millions of Jews migrated to New World.
Population grew from 50,000 in 1881 to 3.4 million in
1919. During the Holocaust U.S. was no longer a haven.

19th century- Eastern Europe- lived in shtetls- mostly

Jewish villages. Spoke and read Yiddish. Wore
traditional black caftans. Community very observant.
Despite being anti-Semitic, Germany still best place
for intellectual and cultural life. Assimilated,
intermarried, converted.
20th century- civil equality guaranteed by law but
social barriers slow to disappear. Jews succeeded in
cultural areas. Nobel Prizes.
Most Jews poor and ordinary. When Nazis took power
in 1933 more than 9 million in 21 European countries
later taken by the Nazis. 560,000 lived in Germany
and less than 1% of population.

Anti-Semitism had become suddenly very rampant H. Henry

Sinason, Jewish survivor.
How does John Graham describe his feelings toward Germany
before the war? (19 years old when WWII began. Fled to
Kitchener Camp, a refugee camp in England.)
H. Henry Sinason mentions his father considered himself a
German first and Jewish second. What does this tell you about
how Jews identified with their country during this time period?
(14 years old when WWII began. Fled to France to live with an
uncle, then sent to an orphanage and later to the U.S.)
After listening to Margaret Lamberts testimony, what is your
sense of what the relationship between Jews and non-Jews was
like before the war? (25 years old when WWII began. 1937 fled
to the U.S.)

AntiSemitism

Do you know what anti-Semitism and stereotype mean?

Describe how Henry says his friends have changed. Who does he
believe is responsible for their change in attitude and behavior?
Henry Laurent makes it a point to discuss his fathers job and
position in the community. How does his testimony add to your
understanding of what was happening in Germany during this
time period? (15 years old when WWII began. Send on the
Kindertransport to England.)
Judith Becker talks about a course on racism taught in schools.
Why do you think the Nazis wanted to target young people with
their racial ideology? (10 years old when WWII began. Lived in
the Radom ghetto and was later in Majdanek, Auschwitz I,
Taucha, Wieliczka, Krakau-Plaszow, Malchow and Mauthausen.
Was also in Birkenau.)
What did you learn about how the atmosphere
is Germany was changing?

What group are you in? What stereotypes do people have of your
group?
Why do people believe stereotypes and why are they dangerous?
Anti-Semitism definition: the word antisemitism was coined in
1879 in Germany, in at attempt to define anti-Jewish sentiment on
a scientific basis. Unlike the traditional, religiously, and
emotionally based hatred of Jews, anti-Semitism was to justify the
rejection of Jews as a different people, nation, and alter race, that
threatens the mere existence of the national unity and the national
state. Gradually antisemitism became a political ideology
embraced by political parties and organizations determined to
protest against the so-called Jewish influence in political, social,
economic, and cultural life. Today the term antisemitism refers
to prejudice or discrimination against Jews, based on their religious
beliefs and/or group stereotypes.
Anti-Semitism Summary Worksheet
Not in Our Town Worksheet

Begins with Reichstag burning. Hindenburg invokes Article 48suspeds all individual and civil liberties. Homes can be searched
without warrant and property taken without due process.
Increase power of government. Death penalty for variety of
crimes. Became legal basis for camps. Enabling Act- Hitler
dictator.
Racism key to ideology. Shaped social policy from 1938 on, major
factor in WWII, and motivate German policy in occupied territory
during Holocaust.
Germans racially superior. Slavs, Gypsies, blacks inferior. Below
them were Jews. Considered parasites who lived off other races
and weakened them. Master race could only dominate if they
stayed racially pure.
Notions not original. Simplified racial ideas of 19 th century. Racism
under Hitler not theoretical. No mixing of blood. No procreation by
inferior races first through forced sterilization and later systematic
murder.

Terror Begins

April 1, 1933- official persecution began.

Boycott Jewish businesses throughout Germany. First nationwide
campaign against Jews.
Star of David on all storefronts. Storm Troopers out front keeping
people away. Warning signs.
Response to criticism of government. Foreign governments did not like
violence and threatened to boycott German goods.
Julius Streicher- leader of Central Committee for Counteracting Jewish
Atrocity Tales and Boycott. Told police not to interfere with boycott.
Mixed reactions. Depended on where you lived. Violence went up in
some areas. In other places Germans continued to do business with
Jews. Some Jews fled. Others defiant. Most optimistic it would not last.
Ended after 24 hours. Mandatory for Nazi members even after it
ended.
Civil Service Law: April 7, 1933. All non-Aryans fired from civil service
jobs. One of 400 separate laws between 1933 and 1939 to define,
exclude, segregate and impoverish the Jews.

Boycott

April 7, 1933- dissolved state governments and appointed Nazi

governors.
May 1- workers holiday. Labor leaders invited to parades and
celebrations. Next day arrested trade union leaders. By end of
month labor unions destroyed.
May 10th, 1933- thousands of Nazi students and professors
stormed libraries, universities and bookstores in 29 cities.
Hundreds of thousands of books burned. In Berlin alone 20,000
books burned to purify German culture. Not all of authors Jewish.
Jewish authors- Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Mann
Non-Jewish authors- Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Upton
Sinclair.
Communist authors- Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky.
Also Helen Keller and Margaret Sanger
Heinrich Heine- Where books are burned, in the end people will
be burned. 8 years between.

Burning of the
Books

March 21, 1933- special courts (Sondergerichte) to

try people hostile to state. Peoples Court- treason
cases. All top secret. No appeals except to Hitler.
Death sentences common. Concentration camps
set up to hold political prisoners without trial.
Political parties dissolved.
July 14, 1933- Nazi Party only political party
26,789 people in protective custody in camps.
Law for the Prevention of Hereditary and Defective
Offspring- July 14, 1933- sterilization of mentally
handicapped, schizophrenic, alcoholic or those with
genetic diseases.

Key to gaining loyalty. Present simple message to mass

audience. Make them believe part of an urgent struggle with
an evil enemy.
Dr. Joseph Goebbels: head of Ministry of Public Enlightenment
and Propaganda. Controlled flow of information.
Newspapers: If they didnt print what they were told to, were
closed. Editors had to fit racial profile: Aryan descent and not
married to a Jew. Most closed or had to fire editors and/or
publishers. Officials read and censored all papers.
Radio- first to exploit it. FDR later. Reported who listened to
foreign radio broadcasts and then they were arrested.
Reached mass audiences and was most persuasive tool.
Carried speeches, told of Aryan good deeds and played Nazi
approved music.
Demonstrations: at night by torchlight. Thousands carrying
banners. Took on quality of religious experience.

Nazi Propaganda

Propaganda is biased information spread to shape

public opinion and behavior.
Henry discusses how many of his former friends
became part of the Hitler Youth Movement. Why do you
think the children were receptive to joining such a
movement?
Henry says the children went from ignoring them to
abusing them. What kinds of things were taking place
in the country that allowed for this shift to take place?
What were some of the visual images Esther Clifford
talks about seeing on her way to school? What effect
did seeing such things have on her? (18 years old
when WWII began. Escaped deportation and finally
made it to England.)

Depends on message, technique, means of communication,

environment, context, climate and audience receptivity
Repeats the same information over and over
Twists and exploits the truth
Appeals to peoples emotions
Gives the illusion that most people agree with the message
Talks to people in their own language
Uses accessible media (i.e. newspaper, radio)
Give examples for propaganda you have seen and explain
which of these techniques listed were used.
What is the effect of propaganda?
Can one become critical toward propaganda? Why or why not?

How does propaganda

work?

Which technique do you think works the best for

propaganda? Which are most commonly used?
Does not always work. Power depends on: Message
that resonates with a specific audience; using
techniques tailored to message; choosing most
effective means of communication; environment
receptive to propaganda message; sympathetic
audience.
Bob Behr video
How did people communicate during this time period?
How are these means of communication similar and
different than those commonly used today?
What examples of propaganda do you see today?
What messages do you think target you? Where do
you see propaganda in your own lives?
The Nazis targeted the youth and used new
technology to spread their message.

Most infamous anti-Semitic newspaper.

Beginning in May 1923, every weekly issue for 22
years denounced Jews in crude and vicious ways.
Publisher and editor was Julius Streicher
Goals to capture he attention of masses so wrote
in a way they would understand.
In 1925 realized cartoons and photographs could
be absorbed faster than written article.
Hired cartoonist Phillip Rupprect (pen name Fips)
who drew thousands of revolting anti-Semitic
caricatures.

Der Strmer

As we watch the film you have three worksheets

that correspond with the three segments of the
film. Please complete them as you watch.
Path to Nazi Genocide Film
What were the key events in each context?
What were the emotional responses of people to
these events?
What propaganda messages did you see in each
context?
What were the different types of media used?

Path to Nazi Genocide

Factors that make propaganda effective

Democracy: used broad, emotional appeals offering simple
solutions to Germanys grave problems to win popular support.
Propaganda downplayed more radical side of their agenda. As the
challenges society faced grew they became more swayed by the
Nazi message. Dictatorship: used propaganda to consolidate their
power, fulfill their vision of a national community, and persecute
Jews. Destroyed free press.
War: integral part of Nazi military strategy. Used to persuade
Germans to support the war by disguising military aggression as
defensive and necessary. Prepared Germans to accept hardships at
home and to shut their eyes to the brutality inflicted on people in
other countries.

Impact of Propaganda

52 countries represented. Wanted to show off new

Germany.
Wanted people to think Germany was being unfairly
treated and the stories of anti-Semitism and suspension
of political rights were overstated.
Participating was controversial. If we went it meant we
were agreeing with Hitler- we should boycott.
Nazis said everyone was able to participate- not true. The
other sports clubs closed. Jews excluded.
Berlin cleaned up. Billboards taken down. Persecutions
slowed. Hitler at all the events.
His Aryan triumph spoiled. Jesse Owens won 4 gold
medals.

1936 Olympics

1933- forced sterilization legal. For next 10 years between

250,000 and 300,000 people were sterilized.
First Rhineland Bastards- children of black colonial soldiers
who served in French and Belgian occupation forces after
WWI.
Not first to do this. Several U.S. states sterilized those
considered abnormal.
Difference-Nazis made eugenics a national policy.
Racial sciences taught at universities. Medicine, history,
biology, anthropology changed to support racial theory.
Reich Health Offices- dedicated to racial hygiene.
Only serious opposition to this was Catholic Church.
Just beginning. In 1939 under guise of euthanasia program
began systematic murder of physically and mentally
disabled Germans.

Science of Race

Spring 1933 removed from civil service

Fall 1933 removed from newspapers
By the end of 1933 artists, musicians, filmmakers, and writers
expelled from guilds.
1935- stripped of citizenship.
September 15, 1935-Citizenship law becomes centerpiece of
anti-Jewish legislation.
Marriage of Jews and Germans forbidden.
Women under 45 could not work in Jewish homes
Jews could not fly German flag.
Not persecuted for religious beliefs but because of racial
identity.

Nuremberg Race Laws,

1935

Boiled down to racial purity. Hitler believed it was the

only way to survive. No mixing.
2 categories: full Jew had 3 Jewish grandparents. Part
Jews (mischlinge- mixed breeds) were difficult. Two
classes- first had 2 grandparents who were Jewish but
did not practice Judaism and did not have a Jewish
spouse. Second class had one Jewish grandparent.
Really did not matter. Any connection meant you lost
your rights. Even priests, nuns, monks or clergy who had
converted were Jews.
To prove German descent had to have 7 documents:
birth or baptismal certificate, certificates for both
parents, certificates for all four grandparents.

Persecutions increased. Jews Unwelcome signs

everywhere. Forbidden to sit on park benches.
Deprive them of anyway to make a living. All Jewish
property registered in 1938.
Jewish businesses Aryanized. Jewish workers and managers
fired.
Within a year German businesses took over 4 out of 5
Jewish businesses at bargain prices. German banks made a
ton of money.
July 1938 Jewish doctors told not to treat non-Jews. In
September lawyers no longer allowed to practice. Octoberat request of Switzerland, all passports marked with J.
August 17, 1938- added Israel and Sarah to all documents.

Outcasts

Despair, disbelief, and in some cases

accommodation. Took them by surprise.
Went against hundreds of years of
assimilation.
Mainstream Jewish community saw a future in
Germany. Traditionally stressed they were
Germans not Jews.
Stay the course. Go to Palestine.
Rapid increase in suicide. Many left. 19331939 one out of every two Jews emigrated.
Those who stayed became more devote.
Prayers took on new meaning. Press became
more important.

Jewish Response

Took 6 years for Nazis to completely dominate German life.

State supreme: government, society, and culture under
Nazis. Center of cult was Fhrer who had absolute power.
Army, civil servants, and judiciary swore allegiance to
Hitler personally. Heil Hitler said every day. No checks
and balances. Hitler was above law.
Gestapo- instrument of terror. Created by Hermann Goring
in 1933 as a new police unit. Brutality. Above the law. First
used to get rid of political opponents.
Gestapo present everywhere. Block wardens watched
neighbors, waiters told on patrons, workers watched
employers. Children watched teachers, parents and
pastors.
Reputations made them feared, respected and effective.

Nazi Society, Police

State

Hold people in protective custody which equaled

arbitrary arrest and punishment in camps. In first days
thousands arrested and placed in temporary camps.
Dachau: first major camp in 1933. Model for SS
controlled camps and training ground for personnel.
1936 built larger and more permanent camps.
Sachsenhausen in 1936; Buchenwald in 1938;
Ravensbrck , a special camp for women, in 1939.
June 1936 Heinrich Himmler new Chief of German
Police, knew camps had economic and political uses.
Germany moving to a war economy. Production up
but labor supply short. Camp prisoners made to work
on military and civilian construction projects and
camps built near quarries and brickyards.

Terror hand in hard with enforcing ideology. From birth to death

Nazis laid claim to every aspect of your life.
Hitler Youth and League of German Girls trained youth in state
obligations.
Young men joined Labor Service. Serving in Army mandatory.
Calendar filled with events to celebrate Nazism.
Churches fell in. Catholic Church thought it was protected
because Vatican signed concordat with Hitler in 1933 where they
could practice religion if they stayed out of politics. Became
puppets to his government.
Protestant Churches fell in line. Opposition was Confessional
Church under Reverend Martin Niemoller. Sent to Dachau in 1936.
Artistic and educational life restricted. Teachers and students
forced to leave schools.

How did they identify and persecute those who did not fit Aryan
ideal?
1934 government department develops series of card catalogues
on people. 1935 information gathered on Jews, Gypsies, and other
ethnic foreigners and people who suffered from genetic diseases.
1936 criminal police pilot project to register Gypsies.
1939 census. Explicit racial categories. Jews not by religion but
racial criteria. Basis for national card catalogue of German Jews.
Cards marked with J used for deportation lists. Most people listed
did not survive WWII.
1939 census done efficiently with help of German made, American
engineered Hollerith machine (early card sorter). Machine
eventually owned by ICBM.
SS labor deployment offices used Hollerith to monitor huge
number and determine occupational skills of prisoners shipped in
and out of camps.
Tech was neutral- use of it was not.

Technology

Wanted to increase territory and would go to war if necessary.

Saarland: (area bordering northeastern France) temporarily
taken after WWI pending a vote. January 1935 90% of voters
said to reunify with Germany.
1936 militarized Rhineland. Direct violation of Treaty of
Versailles
March 12, 1938 occupied Austria. Within one year -total
exclusion of Jews. Speed and efficiency of Anschluss served as
model for other areas. Long tradition of anti-Semitism helped.
185,000 Jews, 90% lived in Vienna. Followed German model.
Office of Jewish Emigration set up under SS. After annexation
set up a camp at Mauthausen to avoid sending Austrians to
Germany.
Adolf Eichmann was SS Jewish Specialist who was a master at
organizing deportations. Administered Office of Jewish
Emigration.

Expansion but not War

Union of all Germans. 3 million Germans live in Sudetenland

where they were minority. Wanted concessions from Czech
government. They said no- Hitler threatened invasion.
Not really about people. Full of industrial capacity,
resources of gold and copper, strategic fortifications.
Lebensraum- living space for militarily expanding Reich.
September 28-29, 1938: leaders met with Hitler in Munich.
No Czechs allowed. Britain, France, and Italy. Obligated to
help if Czechoslovakia threatened. Did not want German
invasion to lead to this. Gave him Sudetenland.
Appeasement. Neville Chamberlain. Not satisfied.
March 1939 took Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain replaced by
Winston Churchill. 6 months later Britain at war with
Germany.

Czechoslovakia

1933-1941 Nazi policy to make Reich judenreen (cleansed of

Jews). Forced emigration. By 1938 150,000 had left. Conditions
getting worse and harder to find safe places to go. Annexation of
Austria added more Jews than had left Germany in last 5 years.
32 countries got together to decide. FDR put it together under
pressure. American Jews wanted refugees let in and
restrictionists yelled loudly not to forget hardness of Depression.
Made it clear no country would be made to take more
immigrants than they already had. All programs privately
funded. Quota systems not be touched. British Palestine
Mandate not be discussed.
Nothing accomplished. U.S. did not even send an official but
rather a close friend of FDR.
Lasted 9 days. 39 relief organizations. Mostly they said they
would take no new refugees. Holland and Denmark took a few.
Dominican Republic took 100,000. Canada only take farmers.
Forced emigration only worked if other countries took them in.

Evian Conference July

1938

Jews- primary targets but not

the only ones. Targets for what
they did, for what they refused
to do, and others for who they
were.
Divided into master Aryan race
and then lesser races
identified by color, ethnicity,
culture and nationality.
Gypsies right behind Jews.
At first directed towards
political opponentscommunists, socialists, liberals
and trade unionists. Also
clergy and conservatives who
spoke out.

Enemies of the
State

Gypsies: Roma and Sinti persecuted before 1933 and even

Nazis did not have comprehensive law against them.
Pure Gypsies not issue and not targeted. Problem was mixing
of Gypsies and Germans.
1936 Reich Interior Ministry required Gypsies be
photographed and fingerprinted. Way to target when Nazis
started killing them.
1937 ordered draft of racial definitions for Gypsies. Sent to
camps. Only way to get rid of threat to German blood line
was to eliminate them.

Enemy of the
State:
Gypsies

Small minority. 25-30,000 in population of 65 million.

Problem -they did not enlist in army, participate in air
raid drills, or give up meetings and attempts at
converting people.
Persecuted from 1933-1945. some sent to camps
starting in 1935. those who stayed lost children, jobs,
pensions, and civil rights.
2,000 sent to camps. Unique- voluntary prisoners- if
recanted they would be set free. Some died but few
gave up faith.

Enemy of the State: Jehovahs

Witnesses

Sent to camps and wore special badges

so everyone knew what they were.
Hatred in Nazi ideology directed at male
homosexuals because threat to breeding
policy.
July 1, 1935, Ernst Rohm, head of SA,
shot to death during Night of the Long
Knives. Was a known homosexual and
close advisor to Hitler. This was a signal
to intensify the anti-homosexual
campaign.

Enemy of the State:

Homosexuals

Secret fraternal order whose Masonic lodges thought to

be covers for Jewish conspiracies. Started in 1717.
From 1732 on lodges open to Jews. Saw as part of
Jewish question.
1933 and 1934 lodges closed voluntarily or by force.
1935 all were abolished. Purged from civil service.
1938 persecution slowed as focus increased on Jews.
Massive rearmament program required all resources
even Freemasons.
April 1938 given partial amnesty. After became
ideological and cultural persecution. Did not stretch to
conquered territory.

Enemy of the State:

Freemasons

In Germany, they came first for the Communists,

and I didnt speak up because I was not a
Communist.
Then they came for the Jews and I didnt speak up
because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the
trade unionists, and I didnt speak up because I
was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the
Catholics, and I didnt speak up because I was a
Protestant. Then they came for me..and by that
time there was no one left to speak up.
Reverend Niemoller

Not many places to go. Emigration to Palestine limited by British.

U.S. created series of paper walls to keep refugees out.
Quota system based on country of origin. To get visa had to fill
out a lot of documents. Financial tests to weed out those who
would be a drain on society. Had to have certificate of good
conduct from local police.
No distinction for refugees fleeing persecution or religion so most
German Jews barred in 1939 as potential spies.
Didnt want to be haven for Jews. Depression, high unemployment.
Public did not want more immigrants . American Jews split and
powerless. Did not want to provoke anti-Semitism.
Even rescuing children failed. 1939 Britain took 100,000 German
Jewish children in the Kindertransport.
February 1939- Robert Wagner and Edith Rogers introduce bill to
grant permission to 20,000 German children under age of 14 to
come to U.S. All privately funded. Died -thought should help
American children first.

Refuge?

May 13, 1939 left Germany headed for Cuba with 937 passengers.
Most were Jewish. Had landing permits.
When arrived, Cuba refused to honor landing permits. Shipping
company knew this was going to happen. Captain did not know.
Bribes offered staring at $500 a person. As ship sat price jumped to
$1 million.
American Jewish Joint Distribution Company (JDC) in a spot. If they
paid that, other governments would start doing same. Public
pressure.
State department and other governments staying out. June 5 th said
ship could land if deposited $435,000 in 24 hours, could not meet.
Ship left Havana and captain appealed to U.S. Coast Guard kept
people from swimming ashore as went up coast before turning
towards Europe.
Belgium, France, England and Netherlands took refugees.
Within months Germans had overrun most of Europe. Only 288
taken in by England safe. Of the rest, more than 250 died in the
Holocaust.

Voyage of the St. Louis

U.S. took largest number of refugees- 130,000 to 160,000.

Until 1939 most had gone to Palestine but after that Britain
limited it to 15,000 a year for 5 years. 1939 took in 10,000
refugee children.
Latin American countries took almost 80,000 refugees.
German communists who sought asylum in Soviet Union
eventually died in Stalins terror campaigns.
Canada got few refugees and China did not require visa or police
certificate for admission until November 1, 1939. Jews arrested
after Kristallnacht could be feed from camps if left Germany
within 2 weeks.
German Jewish refugees were ordinary people. Those who were
important had easier time. Emergency Visitor Visa Program
created in U.S. to help important people flee. Save cultural elite
and relocate them. They created new communities here that kept
their culture alive.

To Safety