Eugenics

Prophesy Speech

• January 30, 1939 Hitler gives “Prophesy Speech”

• In this speech, Hitler tells his intention to annihilate the entire Jewish race

• Annihilate means to make into nothing

Eugenics

• Eugenics (“good birth”) term coined by British scientist ; movement dedicated to improving the human race by better breeding

• Eugenics is stemmed from Italian criminalist César Lombroso who said entire groups of people were born to be criminals– People with sloping foreheads, unusually large

ears, excessive length of arms, etc• By adding biology a cure could be created

Eugenics

• One cure-sterilize those that are less sufficient in order to keep them from reproducing

• Involuntary Sterilization was required in countries like Italy, Germany, and The United States – Half the states in the US passes these laws

• 1927 The United States Supreme Court upheld a ruling in Virginia that enforced involuntary sterilization– “three generations of imbeciles is enough”

Eugenics

• July 1933 Nazis made the Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases

• Nazis justify this law by congenital (at birth) feeblemindedness– Most often down syndrome, schizophrenia, manic

depressive, hereditary epilepsy, hereditary deafness, hereditary blindness, severe alcoholism

• Sterilizations by year– 1932-32,0001935-72,0001936-65,000

Eugenics

• Most congenital defects were reported by facility workers

• Complications from the sterilization caused many to die (women mostly because of the complexity of the surgery)

Eugenics

• Next step-getting rid of the people that already have these problems

Euthanasia

• Euthanasia is generally referred to as a “mercy killing”

• People who may be in a coma and is not likely they will recover or suffering from an incurable and very painful disease; a third party may in some cases put an end to that person’s suffering

• It is illegal in most of the United States– Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Texas are

exceptions

Euthanasia

• Knauer Infant• The father of an infant born with 1 leg, 1 arm, and

blind wrote to Hitler; the father described the child as an “idiot”

• Hitler sent his personal physician, Karl Brandt, to examine the child; his orders were that if the doctor found the fathers description to be accurate that in the name of Hitler, the child should be euthanized

• Upon Brandt’s return to Berlin, he handled similar cases in the same manner

Euthanasia

• In May 1939, Hitler instructed Brandt to pave the way for the killing of children by setting up a body entitled the `Reich Committee for the Scientific Registering of Serious Hereditary and Congenital Illnesses’.

• By a decree dated 18 August 1939, doctors and midwives were ordered to report all cases of “deformed” newborn.

T4

• The program quickly spread beyond infant ages Euthanasia program codename is T4– The name is that of the street address of the

headquarters: Tiegartenstrasse 4 in Berlin• Bishop von Galen, a catholic priest, preached

against the T4 program; raised the issue that it could happen to war vets next

T4

• In response Hitler shut the program down (1941); about 71,000 had been killed by that time (more accurately paused the program)

• The program for adult “euthanasia” was suspended, but “children’s” and “wild” euthanasia continued

• Much of the personnel from the Euthanasia centers were transferred to killing centers

Last child killed in T4 program

St. Louis• St. Louis passenger liner left

Hamburg; the ship was loaded with 930 Jewish refugees headed for Havana, Cuba

• Once they arrived in Cuba, they would await their quota number to be able to enter into the United States

• Each passenger was required to pay extra 230 reichsmarks to cover a contingency fee which was supposed to cover a return trip if needed

St. Louis

• Corrupt Cuban officials sold the visas to Nazis without Cuban authorization

• only 28 Jewish passengers had valid visas; the remaining passengers were not allowed to disembark from the ship or be admitted into Cuba

• Ship forced out of Cuban waters; sailed along Eastern coast; tried to radio FDR, but no response; US would not allow refugees in

St. LouisHolland, France, Great Britain , and Belgium each allowed a share of the passengers into their country

Anschluss• 1938 Germany annexed

Austria• Hitler makes the demand

on Czechoslovakia to turn over the Sudetenland

• The idea is not unpopular; most of the population are German speakers and were becoming unhappy with Czech-dominated government

Pretext for War

• Munich Conference• Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister,

and Edouard Daladier, French Prime Minister practicing the policy of appeasement, agreed to let Hitler have the Sudetenland; most of the people there wanted to be a part of Germany

• Hitler agreed to not take over any more of Czechoslovakia or any other land in exchange for the Sudetenland

Pretext for War

• March 1938 Hitler takes Bohemia and Moravia, another part of Czechoslovakia

• Great Britain and France issue guarantees to other countries like Poland and Slovakia; political unrest in Slovakia

Pretext for War• Danzig (Gdansk) important

seaport on the Baltic Sea• The Treaty of Versailles gave

the piece of land known as Danzig Corridor to Poland (from Germany)-Danzig is on this piece of land

• Hitler issues orders to have Danzig returned to Germany; Poles refuse-still counting on the promise from Great Britain and France

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact• In WWI, Germany struggled with war on both

fronts, so he planned ahead • August 23, 1939 Hitler and Stalin sign a non-

aggression pact stating that each country would not attack the other

• September 1, 1939 Hitler invades Poland (Danzig Corridor); Poland’s fate is sealed once the Soviet Union invades; Poland falls within a month

• Both sides profit from the Non-Aggression Pact

Poland

• Nazi divides it parts of Poland– The areas that are on the border, they are

incorporated into Germany; the area becomes known as Warthengau

– Warsaw and Krakow were the farthest away from Germany and had a larger population of Jewish people

Einsatzgruppen

• Mobile killing units were assembled; they were called Einsatzgruppen

• They were run out of the SS (Nazi police organization)

• Reinhard Heydrich was the head of the SS

Einsatzgruppen

• One Einsatzgruppen was assigned to each major army unit

• As a unit would invade a part of Poland, the Einsatzgruppen would come behind to eliminate anyone that was dangerous to Nazi Germany, (higher ups, educators, etc.)

Schnellbrief

• A “for your eyes only” brief written by Heydrich to determine what to do with Jews in occupied areas

• Jews could be killed if they didn’t follow German instructions

• Judenrat is the Jewish council; generally made up of prestigious Jews; urged Jews to comply

• Many Jews lived in small towns on the countryside called shtetl; Germans wanted them to move to the city

AB Aktion

• Aimed at eliminating Polish intellectuals• About 6,500 people shot• Germans assume that if the intellectuals are

dead, there won’t be much resistance, but they are wrong

Polish Jews

• Hans Frank is the governor general of Krakow• 1939 Jews are made to wear an armband with a blue

star of David; this is the first time they are made to wear distinctive clothing

• Jews are not allowed to move without permission• Jews are forced into slave labor• Jewish businesses are marked with the Star of David• Can’t use trains• Assaults and taunting by non-Jews

Ghettos

• They begin putting Jews in ghettos• 1st ghettos 1939-40• Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, and Lublin• They seal off the ghettos with Jews inside• German authorities choose the most crowded

part of the city for the ghetto; walls are usually built around the ghetto

Ghettos

• Severe punishments were dealt for trying to escape; usually death

• They had to risk leaving because they weren’t getting enough food

Ghettos

• Starvation brings disease• Typhus spreads through lice• Tuberculosis-– death rates in Warsaw Ghetto

were about 90 for every 1,000– Death rates in Lodz Ghetto

were about 76 for every 1,000

Ghettos

• In Eastern Poland, Heinrich Himmler suggests using Lublin reservation for a dumping ground

• Adolf Eichmann is in charge of dumping Polish Jews, but the plan never goes any further than paper

• Hitler turns to deadlier means to solve the “Jewish problem”

Madagascar Plan

• Madagascar Plan• Antisemites thought of

sending Jews to the island of Madagascar, Africa

• As the Battle of Britain took longer than planned and Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union, the plan became unfeasible

Ghettos

• In the summer of 1940, Hans Frank halts construction of further ghettos because he thinks they are moving Jews to Madagascar

• Germany can’t conquer North Africa, timing of Battle of Britain, and invasion of Soviet Union impedes the Madagascar plan

Commissar Order• September 1941 Commissar Order• May 1941 Einsatzgruppen was reinstated• 3,000 men split into 4 Einsatzgruppen groups:

A, B, C, D• Responsible to army to control front lines• June 1941 invasion began to carry out

Commissar Orders– It demanded that any Soviet political commissar

identified among captured troops be shot immediately

“Euphoria in Victory”

• Some historians believe that the German reason to commit mass murder was “euphoria in victory”– Hitler was overconfident because he thought he

was winning the war• 1942 was the most murderous year of the

Holocaust– Of those that would not survive the Holocaust

only 25% of those were already dead

Polish Jews

• October 1941 Jews are no longer allowed to emigrate from German occupied Europe

• Residential restrictions are put into place– Jews are forced to live in same apartment

buildings– “Jewish Star Regulation” forced to wear the star of

David as an indicator they are the enemy– Systematic deportation to East, most to Polish

ghettos

Polish Jews

• Nazis recognize that the evacuation of certain Jews, particularly prominent elderly, decorated, and disabled WWI vets, would lead to protests in foreign nations

• Heydrich and Eichmann decide to create a “model” ghetto for prominent Jews

• They choose a Czech town named Terezin– Terezin is and old Austrian town surrounded by

walls and a moat

Theresienstadt

• Judenrat, under the orders of Nazi authority, compiled lists of Jews to be placed on transport– Theresienstadt was a transit camp for Auschwitz-

Birkenau– To save some, they had to send others to death

Theresienstadt

• The International Red Cross wants to tour the camp (they had developed a belated concern for Jews)

• Nazis had parts of the camp cleaned, fed some of the prisoners, and sent some off to death before bringing in the Red Cross

• Once the Red Cross came in they saw elderly Jews enjoying a cup of coffee at an open air café listening to an orchestra

Theresienstadt

• They were fooled by the façade

• Nazis even made a propaganda film about Theresienstadt– “The Führer gives the

Jews a city”– Historical Film Footage

• http://www.usmbooks.com/confiscated_passports.html