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DO NOT CHOOSE- This is for modeling- Elie Wiesel Timeline

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DO NOT CHOOSE- This is for modeling- Elie Wiesel Timeline

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Skim this timeline. Choose 5 important events that happen to the author. List them.

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Elie Wiesel 1928
The Kellogg-Briand Pact renounces war as an instrument of national policy.

On September 30, Elie Wiesel is born in Sighet, Transylvania, then and now part of Romania.

1931
Japan invades Manchuria, beginning hostilities in the Far East.

1933
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi Party takes control of Germany's government. The first permanent concentration camp, Dachau, is established.

1935
The Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews are decreed, depriving Jews of German citizenship.

1936
The SS renames its units deployed at concentration camps the "Death's Head Units," later known as "Death's Head Battalions." SS chief Heinrich Himmler is appointed chief of the German Police. The summer Olympic games are hosted in Berlin.

1937
Japan invades China proper, initiating the Pacific War that would become a part of World War II.

1938
Kristallnacht (night of crystal, also known as the night of broken glass): a government-organized pogrom against Jews in Germany, Austria, and the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia results in widespread destruction of synagogues, businesses, and homes and the loss of at least 91 lives in November.

1939
In April, Britain and France guarantee the integrity of Poland's borders after Hitler violates Munich Agreement of 1938 by invading and dismembering Czechoslovakia. In September, Germany invades Poland, starting World War II in Europe. In response, Great Britain, France, and the British Dominions declare war on Germany. In November, the first ghetto is established in Piotrków, Poland. Jews in parts of occupied Poland are forced to wear armbands bearing the Star of David for identification.

1940
In spring, Germans conquer Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister. In May, Auschwitz concentration camp is established near the Polish city Oswiecim. Italy declares war on Britain and France in June. In August, at German and Italian arbitration, Romania is compelled to cede northern Transylvania, including Sighet, to Hungary. In autumn, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia join the German-Italian alliance, called the Axis. German authorities begin to seal off ghettos in German-occupied Poland.

Elie Wiesel and his family become residents of Hungary.

1941
Nazi Germany attacks the Soviet Union on June 22. The British and the Soviets sign a Mutual Assistance agreement. On July 31 Nazi Security Police chief Reinhard Heydrich is given authorization to plan and coordinate a "total" and "final" solution of the "Jewish Question." Construction of Auschwitz-Birkenau camp (Auschwitz II) begins in autumn. The US enters World War II on December 8, a day after Germany's Axis partner, Japan, attacks the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On December 8, the first of the killing centers in Nazi-occupied Poland begins operations.

Twelve-year-old Elie Wiesel begins studying the Kabbalah.

1942
The Wannsee Conference held in Berlin in January in Berlin ensures the full cooperation of all state, Nazi Party, and SS agencies in implementing " the Final Solution"-a plan to murder the European Jews-under the coordination of the SS and police.

1943
Jews in the Warsaw ghetto rise up against their oppressors. By the end of the year, the Germans and their Axis partners have killed more than four million European Jews.

1944
Germany occupies Hungary in March. Between late April and early July, around 440,000 Hungarian Jews are deported from Hungary, most of them to Auschwitz. On June 6, D-Day, Anglo-American forces establish the first Allied beachhead in western Europe on the Normandy coast of German-occupied France. On June 22, Soviet forces begin a massive offensive in Belarus and advance to the outskirts of Warsaw in six weeks. Anne Frank's family is arrested by the German occupation authorities in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler orders a halt to the "Final Solution" in November 1944 and orders the destruction of the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Elie Wiesel is fifteen years old when he and his family are deported in May 1944 by the Hungarian gendarmerie and the German SS and police from Sighet to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perish; his two older sisters survive.

1945
Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz on January 27. US troops liberate Buchenwald on April 11. Germany surrenders on May 7; World War II in Europe ends on May 8. On September 2, the Pacific War ends with the surrender of Japan after the US drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. World War II is over. The United Nations is founded. Establishment of International Military Tribunal in August. On November 20, the trial of the top Nazi leaders begins in Nuremberg under the auspices of the International Military Tribunal. The Allies (France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union) indict 22 top-ranking Nazi leaders and six German and Nazi Party organizations for crimes against the peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

SS units evacuate Auschwitz in January. Elie and his father are transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar Germany. Elie's father dies in January; Elie is liberated with the arrival of US troops in April.

1946
Eighteen of 21 defendants are convicted by the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trial; 12 are sentenced to death.

1945-1949
177 Nazi offenders are tried under the jurisdiction of the International Military Tribunal in 12 subsequent Nuremberg trials of second rank Nazi leaders. Thousands more Nazi perpetrators and their collaborators are tried in the four zones of occupied Germany and in the countries that Germany and its Axis partners occupied.

1948
The State of Israel is created. On May 14, 1948, the last British forces withdraw from Palestine and the State of Israel is established in accordance with the United Nations Partition Plan that proposed the partition of Palestine into two states, an Arab state and a Jewish state.

The US Congress passes the Displaced Persons Act, authorizing 200,000 displaced persons to enter the United States.

On December 9, 1948, in the shadow of the Holocaust, the United Nations approves the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This convention establishes " genocide" as an international crime, which signatory nations "undertake to prevent and punish."

Elie Wiesel studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. He becomes interested in journalism.

1949
Elie Wiesel goes to Jerusalem for the first time.

1951
The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide enters into force.

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

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Elie Wiesel Timeline and World Events: 1928-1951

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Elie Wiesel 1928 The Kellogg-Briand Pact renounces war as an instrument of national policy. On September 30, Elie Wiesel is born in Sighet, Transylvania, then and now part of Romania. 1931 Japan invades Manchuria, beginning hostilities in the Far East. 1933 Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi Party takes control of Germany's government.

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How were the Nazi's able to convince so many people to stand by and let their friends and neighbors be dehumanized and murdered? What does this image tell you about how the Nazi's wanted people to view Jewish people?

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Nazi propaganda often portrayed Jews as engaged in a conspiracy to provoke war. Here, a stereotyped Jew conspires behind the scenes to control the Allied powers, represented by the British, American, and Soviet flags. The caption reads, "Behind the enemy powers: the Jew." Circa 1942.

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Topic 2: Genocide didn't just happen during the Holocaust

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Topic 2: Genocide didn't just happen during the Holocaust

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Mass atrocities have occurred around the world both before and after the Holocaust. Choose one of the areas/countries on this page and explore. What happened in that country/area? When did it happen? Why did it happen?

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The cases here represent areas of focus for the Simon-Skjodt Center and are not an exhaustive list of mass atrocities in the past and present. You will find information here on historical cases of genocide and other atrocities, places where mass atrocities are currently underway or populations are under threat, and areas where early warning signs call for concern and preventive action.

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Topic 3: Liberating the Concentration Camps

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Topic 3: Liberating the Concentration Camps

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This page contains several short historical film clips some are very graphic (if they bother you, please come see me to change your topic). The first is narrated, the rest are silent. Watch at least two of them. What stands out to you?  Why do you think they saved these videos?

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Concentration Camps, 1942-45 - Historical Film Footage

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The Mauthausen concentration camp was established shortly after the German annexation of Austria (1938). Prisoners in the camp were forced to perform crushing labor in a nearby stone quarry and, later, to construct subterranean tunnels for rocket assembly factories. US forces liberated the camp in May 1945.

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Who were some of the Non-Jews killed by Hitler's ideology? Why were they murdered? Do any of these groups surprise you? Why? (or why not?)

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Although Jews were the primary victims of the Nazi's evil, many other groups were targeted based on both racial and political grounds. Other groups singled out by the Nazis included LGBTQ individuals, the physically and mentally disabled, Roma (gypsies), Poles and other Slavic peoples, Jehovah's Witnesses, and members of political opposition groups. However tragic, these non-Jewish victims are typically not considered victims of the Holocaust. According to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, "By the 1950s, the English term Holocaust came to be employed as the term for the murder of the Jews in Europe by the Nazis. Although the term is sometimes used with reference to the murder of other groups by the Nazis, strictly speaking, those groups do not belong under the heading of the Holocaust, nor are they included in the generally accepted statistic of six million victims of the Holocaust."

How Many Non-Jews Were Killed*

Five million is frequently cited as the number of non-Jews killed by the Nazis. The figure is inaccurate and was apparently an invention of famed Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal. According to historian Deborah Lipstadt, he began to refer to "eleven million victims" of the Holocaust, six million Jews and five million non-Jews in the 1970s. Wiesenthal later admitted making up the figure to promote interest in the Holocaust among non-Jews. Lipstadt, says "he chose five million because it was almost, but not quite, as large as six million."

The number of non-Jewish civilians murdered for racial or ideological reasons in concentration camps, historian Yehuda Bauer estimates, was no more than half a million. As many as 35 million non-Jews were killed by the Nazis in the course of the war, he said.

Why Did Hitler Kill Non-Jews?

First, we need to examine Hitler's egocentric and maniac ideology. Hitler, who was Chancellor of Germany during the Holocaust, came to power in 1933 when Germany was experiencing severe economic hardship. Hitler promised the Germans that he would bring them prosperity and that his military actions would restore Germany to a position of power in Europe.

Hitler had a vision of a Master Race of Aryans that would control Europe. He used very powerful propaganda techniques to convince not only the German people, but countless others, that if they eliminated the people who stood in their way and the degenerates and racially inferior, they - the great Germans would prosper.

Hitler's first target was Germany's closest neighbor to the east, Poland. An agricultural country with little military power. Hitler attacked Poland from three directions on September 1, 1939 and, in just over one month, Poland was overrun.

In Poland, Hitler saw an agricultural land near Germany, populated by modest but strong and healthy farmers. Hitler quickly took control of Poland by wiping out the Polish intelligentsia. During the next few years, millions of other Polish citizens were rounded up and either placed in slave labor for German farmers and factories or taken to concentration camps where many were either starved and worked to death or used for scientific experiments.

The Jews in Poland were forced inside ghettos, but the non-Jews were made prisoners inside their own country. No one was allowed out. The Germans took over the ranches, farms and Polish factories. Most healthy citizens were forced into slave labor. Young Polish men were drafted into the German army. Blond haired children were "Germanized" and trained from an early age to be Nazi supporters.

"All Poles will disappear from the world," Heinrich Himmler said, It is essential that the great German people should consider it as its major task to destroy all Poles."

Jehovah's Witnesses

Every European country, even Germany, had those who did not believe in the Nazi ideology and who were willing to die for their beliefs. Perhaps no other group stood so firmly in their beliefs as the Jehovah's Witnesses. Hitler felt particularly threatened by this strong group of Christians because they, from the very beginning, refused to recognize any God other than Jehovah.

When asked to sign documents of loyalty to the Nazi ideology, they refused. Jehovah's Witnesses were forced to wear purple armbands and thousands were imprisoned as "dangerous" traitors because they refused to take a pledge of loyalty to the Third Reich.

Roma Gypsies

Like the Jews, the Roma were chosen for total annihilation solely because of their race.

Even though Jews are defined by religion, Hitler saw the Jewish people as a race that he believed needed to be annihilated. Likewise, the Roma were a nomadic people that were persecuted throughout history. Both groups were denied certain privileges in many European countries. The Germans believed both the Jews and Roma were racially inferior and degenerate and therefore worthless.

The Roma were also moved into special areas set up by the Nazis and half a million of them - representing almost the entire Eastern European Roma population - was wiped out during the war.

Courageous Resisters

Every European nation had its courageous resisters. Poland's Underground army -- made up of children, teenagers, men and women - was responsible for defending the lives of thousands of its Jewish and non-Jewish citizens. Many were killed for their acts of courage against the Nazis.

Even though most German citizens were supportive of Hitler's plan to control Europe, there were German citizens who died because they refused to go along with Hitler's plan.

Priests and Pastors Died for Their Beliefs

Hitler wanted to conquer all of Europe and create a new religion based on worship of the Nazi ideology. Since Catholic priests and Christian pastors were often influential leaders in their community, they were sought out by the Nazis. Thousands of Catholic priests and Christian pastors were forced into concentration camps. A special barracks was set up at Dachau, the camp near Munich, Germany, for clergymen. A few survived; some were executed, but most were allowed to die slowly of starvation or disease.

Pink Triangles for Homosexuals

Because Hitler's plan for a great Master Race had no room for homosexuals, many males from all nations, including Germany, were persecuted, tortured and executed. Suspected homosexuals among the Nazis were also sent to concentration camps, some wearing their SS uniforms and medals. The homosexual inmates were forced to wear pink triangles on their clothes so they could be easily recognized and further humiliated inside the camps. Between 5,000 to 15,000 homosexuals died in concentration camps during the Holocaust.

No Place for the Disabled

The Nazis decided that it was a waste of time and money to support the disabled. During Hitler's " cleansing program, " thousands of people with various handicaps were deemed useless and put to death like dogs and cats.

Sterilization for Black Children

Prior to World War I, there were very few dark-skinned people of African descent in Germany. But, during World War I, black African soldiers were brought in by the French during the Allied occupation. Most of the Germans, who were very race conscious, despised the dark-skinned "invasion." Some of these black soldiers married white German women that bore children referred to as "Rhineland Bastards" or the "Black Disgrace."

In , Hitler said he would eliminate all the children born of African-German descent because he considered them an "insult" to the German nation. "The mulatto children came about through rape or the white mother was a whore," Hitler wrote. "In both cases, there is not the slightest moral duty regarding these offspring of a foreign race."

The Nazis set up a secret group, Commission Number 3, to organize the sterilization of these "Rhineland Bastards" to keep intact the purity of the Aryan race. In 1937, all local authorities in Germany were to submit a list of all the mulattos. Then, these children were taken from their homes or schools without parental permission and put before the commission. Once a child was decided to be of black descent, the child was taken immediately to a hospital and sterilized. About 400 children were medically sterilized -- many times without their parents' knowledge.

Death or Divorce - A Choice for Many

Many husbands and wives of Jews in Germany were forced to choose between divorce or concentration camps. Hitler would not allow "interracial" marriages. Those that chose to remain married were punished by imprisonment in camps where many died.

*Added by Mitchell Bard

Sources: Holocaust Forgotten (Reprinted with permission from the author);
Yad Vashem;
Deborah E. Lipstadt, "Simon Wiesenthal and the Ethics of History,"Jewish Review of Books, (Winter 2011);
Ron Kampeas, "'Remember the 11 million'? Why an inflated victims tally irks Holocaust historians," JTA, (January 31, 2017).

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Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

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Topic 5: Eugenics and how pseudo-science supported the Nazis

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Topic 5: Eugenics and how pseudo-science supported the Nazis

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What is Eugenics? What did the Nazis mean by "racial hygene"? What kind of people did the Nazi's target? What happened to them?

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A significant number of Nazi persecutory policies stemmed from theories of racial hygiene, or eugenics. Such theories were prevalent among the international scientific community in the first decades of the twentieth century. The term "eugenics" (from the Greek for "good birth or stock") was coined in 1883 by the English naturalist Sir Francis Galton. The term's German counterpart, "racial hygiene" ( Rassenhygiene), was first employed by German economist Alfred Ploetz in 1895. At the core of the movement's belief system was the principle that human heredity was fixed and immutable.

Eugenic Theories

For eugenicists, the social ills of modern society-criminality, mental illness, alcoholism, and even poverty-stemmed from hereditary factors. Supporters of eugenic theory did not believe that these problems resulted from environmental factors, such as the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the late 19 th century in Europe and North America. Rather, they advanced the science of eugenics to address what they regarded as a decline in public health and morality.

Eugenicists had three primary objectives. First, they sought to discover "hereditary" traits that contributed to societal ills. Second, they aimed to develop biological solutions to these problems. Finally, eugenicists sought to campaign for public health measures to combat them.

The International Impact of Eugenic Theories

Eugenics found its most radical interpretation in Germany, but its influence was by no means limited to that nation alone. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, eugenic societies sprang up throughout most of the industrialized world. In Western Europe and the United States, the movement was embraced in the 1910s and 1920s. Most supporters in those places endorsed the objectives of American advocate Charles Davenport. Davenport advocated for the development of eugenics as "a science devoted to the improvement of the human race through better breeding." Its supporters lobbied for "positive" eugenic efforts. They advocated for public policies that aimed to maintain physically, racially, and hereditarily "healthy" individuals. For example, they sought to provide marital counseling, motherhood training, and social welfare to "deserving" families. In doing so, eugenics supporters hoped to encourage "better" families to reproduce.

Efforts to support the "productive" members of society brought negative measures. For instance, there were efforts to redirect economic resources from the "less valuable" in order to provide for the "worthy." Eugenicists also targeted the mentally ill and cognitively impaired. Many members of the eugenics community in Germany and the United States promoted strategies to marginalize segments of society with limited mental or social capacity. They promoted limiting their reproduction through voluntary or compulsory sterilization. Eugenicists argued that there was a direct link between diminished capacity and depravity, promiscuity, and criminality.

Members of the eugenic community in Germany and the US also viewed the racially "inferior" and poor as dangerous. Eugenicists maintained that such groups were tainted by deficiencies they inherited. They believed that these groups endangered the national community and financially burdened society.

More often than not eugenicists' "scientifically-drawn" conclusions did little more than to incorporate popular prejudice. However, by employing "research" and "theory" to their efforts, eugenicists could assert their beliefs as scientific fact.

Nazi Racial Hygiene

German eugenics pursued a separate and terrible course after 1933. Before 1914, the German racial hygiene movement did not differ greatly from its British and American counterparts. The German eugenics community became more radical shortly after World War I. The war brought unprecedented carnage. In addition, Germany saw economic devastation in the years between World War I and World War II. These factors heightened the division between those considered hereditarily "valuable" and those considered "unproductive." For instance, some believed that hereditarily "valuable" Germans had died on the battlefield, while the "unproductive" Germans institutionalized in prisons, hospitals, and welfare facilities remained behind. Such arguments resurfaced in the Weimar and early Nazi eras as a way to justify eugenic sterilization and a decrease in social services for the disabled and institutionalized.

By 1933, the theories of racial hygiene were embedded into the professional and public mindset. These theories influenced the thinking of Adolf Hitler and many of his followers. They embraced an ideology that blended racial antisemitism with eugenic theory. In doing so, the Hitler regime provided context and latitude for the implementation of eugenic measures in their most concrete and radical forms.

Racial hygiene shaped many of Nazi Germany's racial policies. Medical professionals implemented many of these policies and targeted individuals the Nazis defined as "hereditarily ill": those with mental, physical, or social disabilities. Nazis claimed these individuals placed both a genetic and a financial burden upon society and the state.

Nazi authorities resolved to intervene in the reproductive capacities of persons classified as "hereditarily ill." One of the first eugenic measures they initiated was the 1933 Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases ("Hereditary Health Law"). The law mandated forcible sterilization for nine disabilities and disorders, including schizophrenia and "hereditary feeblemindedness." As a result of the law, 400,000 Germans were ultimately sterilized in Nazi Germany. In addition, eugenic beliefs shaped Germany's 1935 Marital Hygiene Law. This law prohibited the marriage of persons with "diseased, inferior, or dangerous genetic material" to "healthy" German "Aryans."

Conclusion

Eugenic theory provided the basis for the "euthanasia" (T4) program. This clandestine program targeted disabled patients living in institutions throughout the German Reich for killing. An estimated 250,000 patients, the overwhelming majority of them German " Aryans," fell victim to this clandestine killing operation.

Last Edited: Oct 23, 2020

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

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A significant number of Nazi persecutory policies stemmed from theories of racial hygiene, or eugenics. Such theories were prevalent among the international scientific community in the first decades of the twentieth century. The term "eugenics" (from the Greek for "good birth or stock") was coined in 1883 by the English naturalist Sir Francis Galton.

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Choose one of the more than 50 oral histories and watch it. What is this person talking about? What is one thing you learned or one thing you will take away from watching this eye witness account?

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Search the Encyclopedia | Holocaust Encyclopedia

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Like other Jews, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In 1942, as Abraham hid in a crawl space, the Germans seized his mother and sisters in a raid. They perished. He was deployed for forced labor nearby, but escaped to return to his father in the ghetto.

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There are two videos on this page- pick one to watch. What is antisemitism exactly? How do you recognize it?

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These short videos explore antisemitism today and how it has persisted for thousands of years.

What Is Antisemitism?

Antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews. In the United States, antisemitic incidents continue to rise yearly. Hatred of Jews can take many forms, including violent attacks. It also appears in daily life. Do you know how to recognize it online, in social media, or in conversation?

Transcript

The suspect in today's mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh had an extensive antisemitic, anti-Jewish digital footprint.

On the last day of Passover, bloodshed in the middle of Shabbat services.

We believe that the suspect held views that reflected hatred of the Jewish people.

Violent attacks against Jews are on the rise.

In the US, antisemitic incidents are at the highest levels in 40 years-and have more than doubled in the past ten.

These attacks all have a common root: antisemitism.

Antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews.

And it can take many forms.

The Holocaust, during which Nazis and their collaborators murdered 6 million Jews, is the worst example of antisemitism in history.

But it also exists in daily life.

A popular meme depicts a man, meant to be Jewish, with exaggerated, grotesque features.

A social media influencer makes a joke about the Holocaust, or does a Nazi salute in a video shared with millions of followers.

Hateful hashtags trend on Instagram.

School buildings are defaced with swastikas.

Someone argues that Israel doesn't have the right to exist.

These are all expressions of antisemitism that can become dangerous if left unchallenged.

Sometimes, antisemitism doesn't sound like hatred - it might even sound complimentary.

For example, believing that all Jews are good with money can open the door to more overtly antisemitic beliefs such as all Jews are greedy.

When repeated over and over, and not questioned, stereotypes can be accepted as truth.

And that can eventually lead to biases and hatred of an entire group.

The Holocaust began with words, not killing.

And while there's no direct connection between sharing a meme and violent attacks, when left unchecked, antisemitism creeps into all aspects of society.

And starts chipping away at democratic values.

The more you hear or see antisemitism in your social media feed or in casual conversations, the more accustomed-or numb-you become to hateful and dangerous beliefs and behavior.

Which is why it's important to never ignore it, overlook it, or accept it.

Antisemitism Throughout Time

Hatred of Jews has existed for thousands of years. The Holocaust, in which the Nazis and their collaborators murdered six million Jews in Europe, was one of the worst examples. But antisemitism didn't start or end with the Holocaust. What makes antisemitism one of the oldest and most persistent forms of hatred?

Transcript

The Covid-19 pandemic upturned the world, creating both health and economic disasters.

Along with these disasters came another persistent threat: A rise in antisemitism.

Antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews.

In the US, antisemitic incidents are at the highest levels in 40 years-and have more than doubled in the past 10.

In times of economic or political turmoil, we often look for something or someone to blame.

For centuries, starting with the crucifixion of Jesus, Jews have been a frequent scapegoat, falsely blamed for catastrophic events.

In the Middle Ages, when the bubonic plague was destroying Europe, Jews were wrongly accused of spreading it by poisoning drinking wells.

It was even said that Jews murdered Christian babies to use their blood in religious rituals.

This so-called blood libel led to massacres of Jews between the 12th and 16th centuries.

Fast-forward to the early 1900s, and the devastation caused by the first world war made many people look for simple explanations for what had caused the conflict-or influenced its outcome.

In Germany, defeated military leaders spread lies that German Jews had betrayed their country, stabbing it in the back and causing it to lose the war.

In addition to having lost the first world war, Germany was struggling through the Great Depression of the 1930s.

This made many citizens even more desperate for someone to blame for the economic disaster.

The Nazi Party that rose to power in 1933 exploited this unrest.

They began depicting Jews as the enemy of the German people.

They said that Jews were an internal source of contagion or disease in Europe that had to be wiped out.

Through official state channels, Nazis said that Jews were the reason for Germany's misfortune.

They exploited the general population's readiness to scapegoat Jews by enacting laws that targeted the freedoms of the Jewish people.

Sometimes called the longest hatred, antisemitism has persisted for thousands of years.

No matter how much the world changes, antisemitism adapts, flaring up again and again during turbulent times.

Coronavirus lockdowns and COVID conspiracies are being blamed for a rise in antisemitism.

This persistent nature, not grounded in facts or reality, is what makes it so dangerous and deadly.

If history has taught us anything, it's that we can never ignore it, overlook it, or accept it.

The term antisemitism was coined only in the nineteenth century, but anti-Jewish hatred and Judeophobia (fear of Jews) date back to ancient times and have a variety of causes.

Holocaust denial is any attempt to negate the established facts of the Nazi genocide of European Jews.

The resources on this page promote effective teaching about antisemitism and the Holocaust.

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Antisemitism Explained - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews. In the United States, antisemitic incidents continue to rise yearly. Do you know how to recognize antisemitism online, in social media, or in conversation?

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What happened to each member of Irene's family when they arrived in Aushwitz? What did the Nazi's do to people?

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DIT Labs - Fairfax County Public Schools

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Surviving the Holocaust: Segment 5 — Arrival at Auschwitz

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How did Hitler and the Nazi (National Socialist German Workers' Party) come to power? What did they believe? What did they think was wrong with the world and their country?

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The Nazi Party was the radical far-right movement and political party led by Adolf Hitler. Its formal name was the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( Nationalsozialistische deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP). Nazi ideology was racist, nationalist, and anti-democratic. It was violently antisemitic and anti-Marxist.

The Nazi Party was founded in 1920, but won little popular support until the crisis of the Great Depression. In 1933, the German president appointed Hitler Chancellor. At the time, non-Nazis dominated Germany's government. However, the Nazis used emergency decrees, violence, and intimidation to quickly seize control. The Nazis abolished all other political parties. They declared Germany a one-party state with Hitler as its supreme leader.

Origin of the Nazi Party

After Racist and antisemitic groups sprang up on the radical right. They blamed Jews for Germany's defeat in the war. These groups opposed the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles. They were against democracy, human rights, capitalism, socialism, and communism. They advocated to exclude from German life anyone who did not belong to the German World War I ended, Germany experienced great political turmoil. The Volk or race. Treaty of Versailles (1919) imposed harsh terms on Germany, which had lost the war. In addition, the country saw the overthrow of its monarchy. In its place was the new Weimar Republic, a democratic government.

In September 1919, Hitler attended a meeting of one of these groups in Munich, the German Workers' Party. This small political organization sought to convert German workers away from Marxist Socialism. At the meeting, Hitler's public speaking skills attracted notice. He was recruited to a leading role.

In 1920, Hitler changed the Party's name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party. "National Socialism" was a racist and antisemitic political theory. It had been developed in Hitler's native Austria as the antithesis of Marxist Socialism and Communism. Marxists, for example, advocated for the global solidarity of the world's workers. They called for the abolition of nation states. National Socialists, however, sought to unify members of the German Volk in complete obedience to the state. They called for a strong state to lead the "master race" in the "racial struggle" against "inferior races," especially the Jews.

Hitler formulated a 25-point program in 1920. The program would remain the Party's only platform. Among its points, it rejected the Versailles settlement. It also demanded to unify all people of German "blood." The program called for a Greater Germany ruled by a strong central state. The country was to acquire new lands and colonies. The program would deny citizenship and rights to all non-Germans, particularly Jews.

The Nazi Party grew steadily under Hitler's leadership. It attracted support from influential people in the military, big business, and society. The Party also absorbed other radical right-wing groups. In 1921, Hitler organized a paramilitary force called the Storm Troops (Sturmabteilung, SA). SA members were war veterans and members of the Free Corps ( Freikorps), paramilitary units that battled left-wing movements in postwar Germany.

The Beer Hall Putsch

On November 8-9, 1923, Hitler and his followers staged a failed attempt to seize control of the Bavarian state. They believed this would trigger a nationwide uprising against the Weimar Republic.

The uprising began in the Bürgerbräu Keller, a Munich beer hall. World War I hero General Erich Ludendorff, Hitler, and other Nazi leaders led the march. About 2,000 Nazis and sympathizers followed. City police clashed with the marchers, leading to an exchange of gunfire. Four police officers and 14 Nazis were killed. After the putsch, German authorities banned the Nazi Party. Several of its leaders were arrested and charged with high treason. Hitler was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in jail. After only eight months, he was released for "good behavior."

While in prison, Hitler began dictating his book, Mein Kampf. The book set out his world view and personal mission. Hitler believed he was destined to lead the German "master race" in the battle between races to control land and resources. He would achieve this by creating a racially pure state and conquering Lebensraum (living space) in the Soviet Union. Further, he would destroy the Germans' ultimate enemy, the Jews, and their most dangerous weapon: Judeo-Bolshevism. Mein Kampf was published after Hitler's release. It did not become a bestseller in Germany until after he became Chancellor.

The Rise of the Nazi Party

After the putsch failed, Hitler concluded that the way to destroy the Weimar Republic was through democratic means. In 1925, he persuaded Bavaria's leaders to lift the ban on the Nazi Party. Hitler promised that he would seek power only through elections. He then reestablished the Nazi Party under his complete control. What came to define the Party was not its 25-point program, but rather complete loyalty to its Führer or Leader, Hitler.

The Nazi Party prepared to stand in the elections. It organized branches in each German state. These branches worked to establish cadres in regions, cities, towns, and villages. The Nazi Party had a rigid top-down command structure. Officials were appointed from above rather than elected by members. In each region, a Gauleiter or District Leader served as head. This position was appointed by Hitler and answered directly to him.

The 1928 Reichstag Elections

The Nazi Party's membership had quadrupled by the 1928 elections for the Reichstag, Germany's parliament. However, it won only 2.6% of the votes and 12 seats.

Despite its name, the National Socialist German Workers' Party won little support from industrial workers. This did not concern Hitler, who was seeking to create a mass movement. He aimed to appeal to the many groups that disliked the Weimar Republic and feared socialism and communism.

Hitler emphasized propaganda to attract attention and interest. He used press and posters to create stirring slogans. He displayed eye-catching emblems and uniforms. The Party staged many meetings, parades, and rallies. In addition, it created auxiliary organizations to appeal to specific groups. For example, there were groups for youth, women, teachers, and doctors. The Party became particularly popular with German youth and university students.

The 1930 Reichstag Elections

What most contributed to the Nazi Party's success was Germany's economic collapse during the Great Depression, beginning in 1929. The crisis resulted in widespread unemployment and poverty. It also led to an increase in crime. Germans' resulting anger and fear left them vulnerable to arguments from the extreme right and left.

The 1930 elections saw a sharp rise in support for both the Nazis and the Communists. The Nazis had more support, though, winning 18.3% of the vote and 107 seats. With this outcome, they became the second largest party in the Reichstag. President Hindenburg and his conservative advisers did not want the largest party, the Socialists, to form a government and so tried to rule by presidental decree. They hoped in time to amend the constitution and establish authoritarian rule.

The 1932 Reichstag Elections

Increased political divide led to increased violence. The SA was especially violent. By 1932, it had amassed 400,000 members. That summer, there were deadly street battles and daily assassinations. More and more Germans came to agree with Hitler's argument that parliamentary democracy was destroying Germany by catering to special interests. Hitler asserted that the nation needed a strong leader to unite Germany and rule in the national interest. The Party did not emphasize antisemitism in its general campaign messaging.

In the July 1932 elections, the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag. The Party had won 37.4% of the vote and 230 seats. Hitler, however, refused to join a coalition government unless he was appointed Chancellor. Hindenburg opposed this demand.

The Reichstag elections had to be held again in November 1932. The Nazi Party remained the largest party, but had won two million fewer votes than in July. The Party dropped to 196 seats, with 33.1% of the vote. By this time, Germany's economy was on the mend and the Party's popularity was receding. The odds for the Weimar Republic's survival appeared to be improving.

Then, on January 30, 1933, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor in a coalition government. It was not dominated by Nazis, but rather by members of the conservative German National People's Party and non-partisan professionals from the bureaucracy. Hindenburg took this step after his advisers assured him that the conservative members could control Hitler. They believed they could use Hitler's mass following to amend the constitution and create an authoritarian state.

Germany becomes a one-party dictatorship under Hitler

Once he became chancellor, Hitler moved quickly to bring the government under Party control. He persuaded Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and announce new elections. The Nazis' campaign platform called to unify all good Germans in the fight to eradicate "Marxism," meaning both communism and socialism. The Nazi Party saturated Germany with its propaganda. Meanwhile, the government restricted the opposition press. In much of Germany, SA and SS (Schutzstaffel) members were deputized as auxiliary police. They used their powers to attack, arrest, and kill communists.

On February 27, 1933, there was a fire in the Reichstag building. The fire provided the excuse to declare a state of emergency. This allowed the government to abolish civil liberties and take over state governments. In the March 5 Reichstag elections, the Nazi Party won 44% of the vote. Together with its coalition partner, the Party barely won a majority of seats. Hitler used arrests, intimidation, and false promises to get the necessary votes to pass the Enabling Act on March 23. This "enabled" Hitler and his cabinet to dictate laws without approval from the Reichstag or President.

The Nazi Party did not only seize control of all levels of government. It also worked to control all aspects of German economic, social, and cultural life. This process was called Gleichschaltung, or "coordination." All other political parties were abolished by July 14, 1933. Germany was declared a one-party state under the Nazi Party. Government, legal, and educational institutions were purged of Jews and suspected political opponents. Workers, employers, writers, and artists came under control of Nazi organizations. Sports and leisure activities, too, fell under Nazi control. Only the military and the churches escaped "coordination."

Threat from Within

By 1934, the main threat to Hitler's continued control of the government came from within the Nazi Party, specifically the SA. SA men were eager to punish enemies and cash in on the Nazi takeover. Their violence and intimidation was met with increasing public disapproval. To reassure the nation, Hitler announced that the revolutionary phase of the "national uprising" had ended. Among the SA, however, there was talk of a second revolution. This was to be led by SA commander Ernst Röhm. By this time, the SA had 4.5 million members. It far outnumbered the Reichswehr, Germany's armed forces. Röhm made no secret of his desire to subordinate the military to the SA. In June 1934, Germany's generals made clear to Hitler that he had to tame the SA or face a military coup.

On June 30, 1934, Hitler executed a bloody purge of the SA. The purge became known as the "Night of the Long Knives." The estimated 150 to 200 victims included Röhm and other SA leaders, as well as conservative figures who had earned Nazi displeasure. Though subordinate to the SA, the SS carried out most of the murders. As reward, Hitler made the SS an independent Nazi organization. Its leader Heinrich Himmler answered directly to Hitler.

On August 2, 1934, President Hindenburg died. Every member of the German armed forces was then ordered to swear an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler. German military leaders had welcomed the slaughter of SA leadership. Without opposition, Hitler abolished the separate position of Reich President. He declared himself Führer and Reich Chancellor, the absolute ruler of the German people.

The Nazi Party in Power

All "Aryan" Germans were expected to participate in organizations run by the Nazi Party. However, the Party itself remained elite by limiting its membership. According to the "leadership principle," it retained its top-down command structure. There were leaders at every level: regional, county, municipal, precinct, and neighborhood. Leaders were appointed from above and oversaw popular conformity to Nazi standards. Before it came to power, the Party had also created a government-like apparatus. Departments were responsible for the same areas as government ministries. For instance, there were departments for foreign policy, justice, labor, and economics. This structure never replaced the German bureaucracy. However, it acted alongside it and in continual competition with it.

Hitler transformed one party office into a government agency when he made propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, head of the new Propaganda Ministry. Goebbels created a cult of personality that glorified Hitler as Germany's infallible savior. Nazi propaganda became inescapable in Germany. It dominated the press, film, radio, and public spaces. Portraits or statues of Hitler appeared everywhere. Every city and town renamed a street or public space to honor him. In public, ordinary Germans were expected to praise Hitler and give the so-called German greeting ("Heil Hitler!"). Propaganda permeated school curricula as well. Children, for example, learned odes praising Hitler's leadership in public schools. Leni Riefenstahl's film "Triumph of the Will" vividly portrays the image of Hitler as an almost divine leader. The film is based on one of the Party's massive rallies at Nuremberg.

The Nazi Party's control of every level of government allowed it to pursue its antisemitic agenda. The central government enacted sweeping antisemitic decrees. Even before that, though, Nazi officials persecuted Jews at the local level. Jews were excluded from professions, businesses, and public spaces. Propaganda portrayed Jews as poisonous vermin plotting to destroy the German Volk though capitalism and bolshevism. Nazi leaders claimed that "the Jews" started World War II. The war was portrayed as a struggle for German survival. The Nazi claim that the Jews intended to destroy the Germans became the excuse for the Germans to destroy the Jews.

Defeat of Nazi Germany

By the late 1930s, the vast majority of Germans supported Hitler and the Nazi state. The only organized attempt to oust Hitler and the Nazi Party occurred on July 20, 1944. By this time, Germany's defeat in World War II appeared inevitable. Following Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945, Germany surrendered and was occupied by Allied forces.

The Allies banned the Nazi Party and declared it a criminal organization. They tried top Nazi leaders for crimes against humanity, among other crimes. To this day, the Nazi Party is banned in Germany.

Last Edited: Jun 25, 2020

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The National Socialist German Worker's Party, also known as the Nazi Party, was the far-right racist and antisemitic political party led by Adolf Hitler.

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From this set of posters, choose TWO different people to focus on. Who were these people and what did they do (in your own words) to help during the war?

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Kristallnacht was on November 9–10, 1938, when the Nazi regime coordinated a wave of antisemitic violence. What do these survivors remember from that night? What should we remember from their experiences? (what are your take-aways?)

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What were the warning signs??  What can we learn from them today?

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Watch this video that focuses on a woman who wrote a book about a Holocaust Denier, David Irving, and was sued by him. What are Holocaust Deniers? What do they think? Why is it important that we recognize that they are wrong?

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This three-minute video explains Holocaust denial and the different forms it takes.

Holocaust denial is a form of antisemitism. The only reason to deny the Holocaust is to inculcate and foster antisemitism. The Holocaust has the dubious distinction of being the best documented genocide in the world, so for anybody to disbelieve, they've got to come to it with some sort of preconceived notion.

Holocaust denial takes different forms, and I divided it into hardcore Holocaust denial and softcore Holocaust denial. Hardcore Holocaust denial is the argument made by deniers that there was no planned centralized program of annihilation of the Jews by the Nazis, that this whole idea of eliminating the Jews from the European continent and beyond never happened.

If you would ask them, "Well, why would the Jews make up this myth?" is that they did it for financial gain and to get the sympathy of the world in order to get a state. That in and of itself makes Holocaust denial a form of antisemitism because the rationale they give--to get money and to get a state--are of course at the center of the stereotypes associated with antisemitism.

But softcore denial does not deny the Holocaust. There were people who would say, "Well, of course the Holocaust happened, but was it really six million? Of course the Holocaust happened, but were there really gas chambers?" I think any thoughtful person today knows that that's a ridiculous kind of thing.

First of all for, deniers to be right, who has to be wrong? Well certainly all the survivors. You have the bystanders, but most of all, you have the perpetrators. What they said was, "I didn't do it. I was only following orders." So they had these different excuses, but they never said it didn't happen.

The audience often are antisemites who are looking to have their feelings confirmed or people who might not be overt antisemites but somehow are discomforted with the idea of Jew as victim. This is an attack on society at large. In almost every society where they've gone after Jews first, they've gone after other people after that. Prejudice has to be fought and amongst those prejudices, antisemitism has to be fought.

Why It's Important to Confront Holocaust Denial

The Nazi persecution of the Jews began with hateful words, escalated to discrimination and dehumanization, and culminated in genocide. The consequences for Jews were horrific, but suffering and death was not limited to them. Millions of others were victimized, displaced, forced into slave labor, and murdered. The Holocaust shows that when one group is targeted, all people are vulnerable.

The denial or distortion of history is an assault on truth and understanding. Comprehension and memory of the past are crucial to how we understand ourselves, our society, and our goals for the future. Intentionally denying or distorting the historical record threatens communal understanding of how to safeguard democracy and individual rights

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This three-minute video explains Holocaust denial and the different forms it takes. Holocaust denial is a form of antisemitism. The only reason to deny the Holocaust is to inculcate and foster antisemitism. The Holocaust has the dubious distinction of being the best documented genocide in the world, so for anybody to disbelieve, they've got to come to it with some sort of preconceived notion.

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1. What did the laws say about “Fitness to Marry.”

2. What were Mischlinge?

3. What made someone “a full Jew”?

4.How did they use these laws to hurt people?

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The Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935 deprived German Jews of their rights of citizenship, giving them the status of "subjects" in Hitler's Reich. The laws also made it forbidden for Jews to marry or have sexual relations with Aryans or to employ young Aryan women as household help. (An Aryan being a person with blond hair and blue eyes of Germanic heritage.)

The first two laws comprising the Nuremberg Race Laws were: "The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor" (regarding Jewish marriage) and "The Reich Citizenship Law" (designating Jews as subjects).

Those laws were soon followed by "The Law for the Protection of the Genetic Health of the German People," which required all persons wanting to marry to submit to a medical examination, after which a "Certificate of Fitness to Marry" would be issued if they were found to be disease free. The certificate was required in order to get a marriage license.

The Nuremberg Laws had the unexpected result of causing confusion and heated debate over who was a "full Jew." The Nazis then issued instructional charts such as the one shown below to help distinguish Jews from Mischlinge (Germans of mixed race) and Aryans. The white figures represent Aryans; the black figures represent Jews; and the shaded figures represent Mischlinge.

The Nazis settled on defining a "full Jew" as a person with three Jewish grandparents. Those with less were designated as Mischlinge of two degrees: First Degree - two Jewish grandparents; Second Degree - one Jewish grandparent.

After the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, a dozen supplemental Nazi decrees were issued that eventually outlawed the Jews completely, depriving them of their rights as human beings.

Instructional Chart

(Photo credit: Stadtarchiv Bielefeld, courtesy USHMM Photo Archives)

Terms of use: Private home/school non-commercial, non-Internet re-usage only is allowed of any text, graphics, photos, audio clips, other electronic files or materials from The History Place.

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The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline: September 15, 1935 - The Nuremberg Race Laws

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At The History Place - Part of the World War Two Timeline.

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FIRST- think about these questions... What was building 51? What do most of the buildings in Camp 1 have in common? Why? What happened in building 45? Building 47 was right next to the railroad tracks, what was it used for in the beginning, and why do you think it was located right next to the railroad tracks? If a Jew was being taken down the tube, where do you think they were probably going? Why do you think building 12 and 13 have additional fences around them?

SECOND- What did you learn about the Camps? Come up with at least 5 Important Ideas to share with the class.