The Consequences of Bigotry

“Bigotry dwarfs the soul by shutting out the truth.”Edwin Hubbel Chapin

Created By: Thomas Yorke

Journal ActivityJournal Activity

Task: List Task: List Time allowed: 4 minutesTime allowed: 4 minutes List all you know about The HolocaustList all you know about The Holocaust

Concept Definition - The HolocaustConcept Definition - The Holocaust

What is it?What is it?– A historical eventA historical event

What was it like?What was it like?– Persecution was systematic (methodical)Persecution was systematic (methodical)– 6 million Jewish people were murdered6 million Jewish people were murdered– Brutal medical experiments were performed on Brutal medical experiments were performed on

humanshumans– State sponsored genocide; in other words, the Nazi State sponsored genocide; in other words, the Nazi

government endorsed and paid for killing whole government endorsed and paid for killing whole groups of innocent people.groups of innocent people.

Concept Definition - The HolocaustConcept Definition - The Holocaust

Who (victims)?Who (victims)?– Anyone who “opposed” Hitler and/or the Nazi Anyone who “opposed” Hitler and/or the Nazi

ideology: political adversaries, members of the ideology: political adversaries, members of the resistance, and those considered “inferior” to the resistance, and those considered “inferior” to the GermansGermans

Who (perpetrators)?Who (perpetrators)?– A A culturedcultured German people German people– A cultured, but A cultured, but ignorant and apathetic,ignorant and apathetic, world. world.

How?How?–BigotryBigotry and apathy and apathy– Fear tacticsFear tactics– Silence from the rest of the worldSilence from the rest of the world

Concept Definition - The HolocaustConcept Definition - The Holocaust

When/ where?When/ where?– 1933 – 19451933 – 1945– A large portion of Europe: Germany, Poland, A large portion of Europe: Germany, Poland,

Austria, France, Netherlands, Slovakia, Ukraine, Austria, France, Netherlands, Slovakia, Ukraine, & Czech Republic& Czech Republic

Confining Jews to ghettos was a critical step in Hitler's Final Solution . Ghettos were established by the Nazis to confine Jewish people into tightly packed areas of the cities of Eastern Europe. In total, the Nazis established 356 ghettos in Poland, the Soviet Union, the Baltic States, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Hungary between 1939 and 1945. There was no uniformity to these ghettos. The ghettos in small towns were generally not sealed off, which was often a temporary measure used until the residents could be sent to bigger ghettos .

Members of the SS separate Hungarian Jewish men from women and children upon arrival at the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center in Poland. After separating the victims by gender, the SS selected individuals for either forced labor or murder in gas chambers.

The persecution and genocide was accomplished in stages.

During their quest to conquer Europe and rearrange the ethnic composition of eastern Europe, the Nazis used deportation by train to forcibly remove members of ethnic groups from the territory on which they lived. They intended to remove all Jews from Europe, eventually through systematic mass murder.

Prisoners perform forced labor in the Plaszow concentration camp in Poland. (ca. 1943–44) Leopold Page Photographic Collection, courtesy of USHMM

Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany established about 20,000 camps to imprison its many millions of victims.

These camps were used for a range of purposes including forced-labor camps, transit camps which served as temporary way stations, and extermination camps built primarily or exclusively for mass murder

From its rise to power in 1933, the Nazi regime built a series of detention facilities to imprison and eliminate so-called "enemies of the state."

As Allied troops entered Nazi-occupied territories, the final rescue and liberation transpired.

The term "genocide" did not exist before 1944. It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group

Over 6 million Jewish people were systematically murdered in The Holocaust

The Nazis frequently used euphemistic language to disguise the true nature of their crimes. They used the term “Final Solution” to refer to their plan to annihilate the Jewish people.

Allied troops who stumbled upon the concentration camps were shocked at what they found. Large ditches filled with bodies, rooms of baby shoes, and gas chambers with fingernail marks on the walls all testified to Nazi brutality.

The Nazis began dismantling the camps, hoping to cover up their crimes. By the late winter/early spring of 1945, they sent prisoners walking to camps in central Germany. Thousands died in what became known as death marches.

Sinaida Grussman holds a name card intended to help surviving family members locate her at the Kloster Indersdorf displaced persons camp in Germany. (after May 7, 1945)

Emaciated Jewish survivors, who had been confined to the infirmary barracks, are gathered outside on the day after liberation.

Reflection

• What is your reaction?

• Who is the speaker in the song?

• Is this perspective effective? Why or why not?

• How to the visuals add (or detract) from the text and/or the song?

Review Quiz/Discussion• What is the dominate theme developed in

the song you just listened to (note: be able to justify your answer by quoting the lyrics)?

The Holocaust should always be remembered, as a way of preventing history from repeating itself.

The Holocaust is a time in history that should be forgotten because in today's day-and-age it could never happen again.

By remembering the Holocaust we are honoring those who were killed, so they did not die in vain.

State sponsored genocide is not something new to our world, but it needs to end.

References

Chapin, E. H. (2007). BrainyQuote. Retrieved July 17, 2007 from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/edwinhubbe157039.html

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2006). “Teaching about the Holocaust.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Web site. Retrieved July 17, 2007 from http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/teachabo/part_3.pdf

Wu-Tang Clan. (1998). The Swarm, Vol. 1. “Never Again.” Priority Records.