The Holocaust



The Holocaust

The Holocaust Defined

The Holocaust was the organized murder of at least _____________ European Jews by the Nazis during World War II. The Holocaust was the largest _______________ in history.

Genocide – the attempt to kill an entire ethnic or religious group of people.

Anti-Semitism – prejudice against Jewish people.

By 1945 at least 66% of the European Jews were killed, with __________ losing 91% of it’s over 3 million Jews. The Nazis also killed a half million gypsies, 250,000 disabled persons, and over 3 million ___________ POWs. Jehovah’s Witnesses, the clergy, homosexuals, and intellectuals were also victims.

The Ghettos

During WWII the Nazis spread anti-Semitism into nations they conquered. In occupied Poland Jews had to wear a yellow ____________________ and were then forced into ____________, or inner city slums.

Poland’s ______________ ghetto was only a few square miles but housed 500,000 people. The ghetto was sealed off to prevent escapes.

The Nazis used three main tools to control and force Jews into ghettos:

1. _______________ - Jews were told they were being sent to “resettlement areas” in the east, and advised to pack, bring valuables and the tools of their trade.

2. _______________ - People need 2,400 calories a day, but the Nazis fed the Jews only _____ which made them weak and easy to control.

3. _______________ - The SS frequently performed on-the-spot public ___________________.

Einsatzgruppen

When the Nazis invaded the USSR the ______________________, or specially trained SS killing groups, followed the army to kill Jews and create lebensraum for Germans in the east.

The Einsatzgruppen brought Jews to _______________ areas and forced them to give up their valuables and take off their clothes. Many were forced to dig mass graves and then shot while kneeling at the edge of the pit. Some were buried alive.

The Einsatzgruppen also used “_______________.” The exhaust from the van was piped into the back of the van, and then later into a nearby building filled with prisoners.

Einsatzgruppen squads killed around ___________ people, but this required valuable fuel, manpower, ammunition, and time, so the Nazis sought a more _______________ killing plan.

The Death Camps

In 1942 the Nazis decided gassing at ________________ was much faster than the Einsatzgruppen. Although he referred to the Holocaust with code words, few historians doubt Hitler was directly involved. Hitler called the Holocaust “the _________________________ to the Jewish question,” and the “clean sweep.”

All new arrivals to the death camps went through “______________.” Children, the old and sick were sent straight to the “________________,” which were really the gas chambers. The healthy were sent to labor camps where they died from hard labor and starvation.

The Nazis succeeded in keeping the Holocaust a secret, and those who knew had no idea it was on such a __________ scale.

The Nazis crammed hundreds at a time in the gas chambers and dropped ______________ (gas) through holes in the ceiling. After a few minutes the prisoners painfully _________________ to death.

__________________ was the largest death camp where 9,000 Jews could be gassed and __________________ a day. Around 1.5 million people were killed at Auschwitz.

Jewish prisoners known as ___________________ first removed the hair, clothes, jewelery, and gold fillings from the dead, and then shoved the bodies into giant _________. After four months they were executed, cremated, and replaced with new arrivals.

Auschwitz was designed to look like a _______________________________ to deceive incoming Jews. Jews were also greeted by an orchestra playing classical music. Auschwitz was organized like a _____________ complex, which disguised its true purpose from overhead planes.

Nazi doctors performed gruesome __________________ on prisoners. Jews were boiled, frozen, poisoned, and cut to pieces. Some even shrunk heads, and made lampshades from ________.

The Nuremberg Trials

After the war the Axis leaders were tried for “crimes against ________________,” which included deportation, enslavement, murder, extermination and other atrocities.

At the Nuremberg Trials many top Nazis received death sentences, while others were imprisoned. Einsatzgruppen and camp leaders were also executed. The trials showed that political and military leaders could be held ___________________ for actions in wartime.

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