Holocaust

Anti-Semitism refers to views or actions that harm or discriminate against Jews. During the Middle Ages, many Europeans persecuted, or punished, Jews for religious reasons. They thought Jews should be punished for not accepting Christianity. This persecution often took the form of violent attacks. Anti-Semitism also forced Jews to live in segregated neighborhoods called ghettos.

• Nazis gained control of Germany in 1933

• Policies against Jews were set.

• The laws against Jews started in 1935

These laws defined Jews as a race rather than a religious group. What mattered was whether a person’s ancestors were Jewish. Whatever that person’s religion was now, he or she was declared to be a Jew. Anyone who had more than two Jewish grandparents lost their German citizenship. They could not marry non-Jews. They lost many political and civil rights....Hitler ordered German citizens to boycott Jewish-owned businesses. He also banned Jewish citizens from certain opportunities. They could no longer hold jobs in civil service, banking, or medicine.

As a result of Nazi persecution, thousands of Jews left Germany in the 1930s. Many more tried to leave but had nowhere to go. Many countries set limits on immigration. These countries refused to accept large numbers of Jews. In the United States, the Immigration Act of 1924 set an annual quota of immigrants from each country. For example, once Germany had met its quota of immigrants for the year, the United States would not allow any more German immigrants until the next year. This quota system was popular during the Great Depression when jobs were scarce. However, it prevented thousands of Jews from immigrating to the United States.

Nazi Germany’s system of persecuting and murdering European Jews is known as the Holocaust. The Holocaust was an act of genocide. Genocide is an attempt to kill all members of a particular group of people.

The Nazis also persecuted and murdered millions of people other than the Jews. They believed that these other groups also were not fit to live. These groups included Roma (or gypsies) and people with mental and physical disabilities. The SS also murdered Slavs (an ethnic group in Eastern Europe) and a religious group called Jehovah’s Witnesses. Nazis also considered gay people and communists to be their enemies, and they murdered them. During the war, the Nazis also killed three million Soviet prisoners of war.

Watch the Video. Questions will follow the video.

Hitler's Plan

 The SS killing units were not working quickly enough to satisfy German officials. By spring 1942, the Nazi leadership set up the “Final Solution.” This was a policy to operate death camps for efficiently murdering Jews and others. These Nazi death camps were located in territory Germany had conquered from Poland. The two largest camps were near the towns of Auschwitz and Treblinka. At these camps, SS soldiers separated physically fit prisoners from the others. The physically fit were forced to do hard labor under harsh conditions. Many of these workers died.