The Holocaust

At the beginning of the war, the Nazis needed to deal with the “Jewish problem”

The initial plan to deport Jews to far off countries (Example: Madagascar) failed – no one wanted the Jews

Wannsee Conference: Berlin, 1942 – the “Final Solution” planned

Eliminate through forced labor with insufficient nourishment.

Deportation of Jews to killing centers.

Immediate death for those who were unable to work or the very young, the old, and the weak.

Segregation by gender of the remaining Jews.

Eventual death for the remaining Jews

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Concentration camps were designed to house “undesirables” and eventually Jews.

Upon arrival at a camp, the inmates were stripped of all their valuables and clothes

body hair was shaved off

Disinfected and given a shower

and issued a striped prison uniform without regard to size.

Why do you think the Nazis forced the Jews go through all of this before entering the camps?

Each step of the process was designed to dehumanize the prisoners, both physically and emotionally.

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Each prisoner was given a number. At Auschwitz, for example, the number was tattooed on the arm

Concentration Camp Prison Tattoos

Piles of human hair shaved off before going into Concentration Camps

The Gates at Auschwitz"Arbeit Macht Frei” – “Work Will Set

You Free”

Life in the camps was a living nightmare.

Their "beds" were bunks of slatted wood two and three tiers high.

Sent out to work for 10-14 hours in mines, factories, and road or airfield building, often in sub-zero weather or the severe heat of summer.

They were subjected to constant physical and emotional harassment and beating.

Food rations did not permit survival for very long.

Those who resisted orders of the guards were shot on the spot.

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Death Camps: CHEAPLY murder Jews and Undesirables

Millions of people were moved to death camps to an unknowing fate of death

Nazis coaxed prisoners with food and some money to leave the Concentration Camps and work in another location

DEATH

• Tricked into taking showers, millions of Jews were filed into bath houses that were really gas chambers. • Within 5 minutes, everyone within

the chambers were dead• Bodies shipped out and burned in

ovens.

• As a result of this technological "advancement," Auschwitz was able to "process" the death of 12,000 victims daily.

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Gas Chamber

Ovens

Vicious medical experiments were also tested on people in Concentration Camps.

Video Link: Twin in the Holocaust

During the war, the horrific camps were unknown to the world.

It wasn’t until Allied troops moved into German territory that the concentration and death camps were discovered.

Remember

Maus?Reminder:

-Vladek is a Polish Jew

-Drafted by Polish Army to fight in WWII

-Poland is invaded and occupied within the first week of war by the Nazis.

-Vladek is a prisoner of war.

-In MAUS II he is trying to survive in Auschwitz Concentration Camp