Part 3: Genocide

• Your goal:

Be able to compare the impact of genocide on different ethnic groups.

Genocide

Genocide is an attempt to

exterminate a group of people.

The Holocaust

•The mass killing of Jews and other civilians•Done by German Nazis during WWII

•This is not the only genocide in the world.

Why study the Holocaust?

• As an example of genocide

• As an example of a fragile civilization

• As an example of why we study history:

• To learn from the past that we might not repeat it.

Soon the mass of fainting humanity Is lead to the

clean foyer of death. Disrobe quickly, take a shower

and you will be fed. Food! Food! The hungry mass

of disoriented humanity awakens runs and fights to

get into the chamber of gas.

The heavy door closes and the cyclone dropped.

Soon the parents choke and turn blue. Later the

children turn rigid with death The people become a

twisted load, of intertwined limps and heads glued

with blood.

When the human pulp is ready for the

works, Sondercommando quickly pull the bodies

apart, peel the gold from the mouths, and the

remains are taken to the open pit where the bones

are cleaned with fire, and the fat drained for human

soap.-Alexander Kimel - Holocaust Survivor

Adolf Hitler, 1939“Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter - withpremeditation and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder of a state. It’s a matter of indifference to me what a weak western European civilization will say about me.

Adolf Hitler, 1939I have issued the command - and I’ll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad - that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy.

Adolf Hitler, 1939Accordingly I have placed my death-head formations in readiness - for the present only in the East - with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the Lebensraum which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

The Final SolutionIn 1941, the Nazis began referring to the Final Solution.

They were no longer trying to move the Jews out of their way. They were trying to destroy them entirely.

In 1933, the Nazis began rounding up Jews from all over Europe. They were told they were going to be resettled in the East (Ukraine). They could pack up a few belongings to take with them.

It was unfair, but resettlement didn’tsound horrible.

The truth:

Jews were being shipped to concentration camps. They were starved, abused, experimented on, and murdered.

The camps killed thousands of people each day.

One camp alone could kill20,000 people in a day.

The truth:

Jews were being shipped to concentration camps. They were starved, abused, experimented on, and murdered.

The camps killed over 10,000 people each day.

The gas chamber

Disposal of bodies

At first they buried bodies, but there were so many, they began cremating them.

These were people.

mothers daughters sisters brothers cousins uncles fathers students teachers neighbors artists friends

bankers butchers bakers classmates aunts citizens family scientists doctors carpenters musicians farmers athletes

cooks authors children grandparents

mothers daughters sisters brothers cousins uncles fathers students teachers neighbors artists friends

bankers butchers bakers classmates aunts citizens family scientists doctors carpenters musicians farmers athletes

cooks authors children grandparents

These were people.

People were systematically destroyed.

Holocaust

Do you see the smoke?

Auschwitz 1944

Who would believe the truth?

500,000 Gypsies killed250,000 disabled persons killed6,000,000 Jews killed

Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Social Democrats, Communists, partisans, trade unionists, Polish intelligentsia, Gypsies, Mentally disabled persons, physically disabled persons, blacks, prisoners of war, criminals, homeless, beggars, writers, journalists, lawyers and anyone who opposed the Nazis.

Who would believe the truth?

Even when reports came back about the true nature of the camps,people refused to believethat anyone would try to systematically kill so many people.

Jews were still being loaded into boxcars, thinking they were being resettled.

Why do we study this today?

Why is it important to understand?

Your assignment:

Examine the genocide packet and prepare a group report on two of the genocides listed.

Your report must include the following:•A map for each country involved•Number of people affected•Who was victimized•Who did this•What was done to the victims.

You will present this as a group to the entire class.