TITLE a Study of the Holocaust, Student Readings. INSTITUTION
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 419 720 SO 027 122 TITLE A Study of the Holocaust, Student Readings. Third Edition. INSTITUTION Des Moines Public Schools, IA.; Jewish Federation of Great Des Moines, IA.; Heartland Area Education Agency 11, Johnston, IA. PUB DATE 1992-00-00 NOTE 163p. AVAILABLE FROM Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, 910 Polk Boulevard, Des Moines, Iowa 50311, telephone: 515-277-6321 ($3.50). PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Learner (051) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Anti Semitism; *Bias; Foreign Countries; Ghettos; International Crimes; *Jews; *Judaism; Minority Groups; *Nazism; Secondary Education; Social Discrimination; Social Studies; World History; *World War II IDENTIFIERS *Holocaust ABSTRACT This book of student readings is intended to provide factual information on the Holocaust and help students understand the importance of individual choice and responsibility for the people of a free society. Topics covered include: (1) "Racism and Anti-Semitism in Germany";(2) an excerpt from "Friedrich" by Hans Peter Richter (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc., NY, 1979); (3) "Exclusion 1933-1939"; (4) "Separation and Ghettoization 1939-1944"; (5) "Rescue and Resistance"; (6) "Extermination 1941-1945"; (7) "Liberation and Reaction of the Free World 1945"; and (8)"Implications for Democracy and Universality of the Holocaust 1945 to the Present." An extensive glossary of events, people, places, and terms related to the Holocaust is included for student use.(EH) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** A STUDY OF O N THE HOLOCAUST 4.: r ie. 4111. t . 1. Are iv.; V T`"AZ - STUDENT READINGS 1- 'fta. 4 or. lifetrotti. i MP OW , 41; ; . , U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 11/4 This document has been reproducedas ip40,,,,11,44,... received from the person or organization originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy >N ..111 . e PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND f DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL IN MICROFIC-E, AND IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA FOR ERIC. COLLECTION SUBSCRIBERS ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Lak TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 2A INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Acknowledgements This curriculum was made possible by a seed grant frorrt the family of Monek and Fela Mischkiet.In ,their memory we hope to educate present and future generations about the nature of the apocalyptic event in which the htlischkiets and their close friend; Selman Spiler, suffered and miraculously survived. We gratefully acknowledge the major contribution made by the late Rabbi Robert J. Addison, Executive Director of the Bureau for Jewish Living, to the preparation of this curriculum unit.Rabbi Addison earned his Ph.D. in the area, of Holocaust studies. All those who knew and worked with him were touched by his ability to create reality out of a dream. 3-01715 A STUDY OF THE HOLOCAUST Developed by the DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT and the COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMISSION of the JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DES MOINES in cooperation with HEARTLAND AREA EDUCATION AGENCY Third Edition 1992 i Goals and Objectives 1.To provide students with factual information on the Holocaust. 2. To help students understand the perversion of the legal process and rejection of the institutions of democratic government and western civilization by Nazi Germany. 3.To provide students with learning experiences which will allow them to experience the feelings, emotions, frustration, desperation, and despair which victims suffered as a result of the Holocaust. 4.To give students an understanding and appreciation for the courage, beliefs, and values of the victims of the Holocaust, both living and dead. 5. To teach students the inevitable consequences of hatred, prejudice, bigotryand scapegoating. 6.To help students recognize those factors and conditions which couldcause events similar to the Holocaust to happen in any society. 7. To help students understand the importance of individual choice and responsibility for the people of a free society. Fundamental Facts 1. The Holocaust was the systematic annihilation of certain ethnic andreligious groups carried out by the Third Reich. 2. The primary targets of Nazi genocide were Jews and Gypsies. 3. The Nazi racial theories which mandated the complete and utter annihilationof these ethnic groups, down to every last man, woman and child,made the Holocaust a unique event in human history, unparalleled byany other. 4. Participation in the Holocaust was not limited to the SS and the Naziparty. Engrained anti-Semitism and a desire to please theirnew Nazi masters motivated people under German occupation to willingly aid in the extermination of Jews. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TOPICS PAGE RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM IN GERMANY 1 GLOSSARY 8 FRIEDRICH 12 EXCLUSION 1933-1939 54 SEPARATION AND GHETTOIZATION 1939-1944 63 RESCUE AND RESISTANCE 71 EXTERMINATION 1941-1945 88 LIBERATION AND REACTION OF THE FREE WORLD 1945 102 IMPLICATIONS FOR DEMOCRACY AND UNIVERSALITY OF THE HOLOCAUST 1945 TO THE PRESENT 118 ...6 Adapted from The Holocaust, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem ikatt5in AND ANTI-SEMITISM IN ninny Anti-Semitism existed in Germany and other European countries for many hundreds of years before Hitler. Historically, prejudice and hatred against the Jews stemmed from the fact the Jewish people did not accept Jesus Christ as their Redeemer and did not follow the customs and teachings of Christianity. They preferred instead to folloW the customs and teachings of their own religion, Judaism, handed down for centuries by their Jewish forefathers. Because Jewish beliefs and traditions were different, Jews were kept in a state of servitude, misery and degradation by most of the Christian world. Jewish people spent centuries wandering among the various nations of Europe seeking unsuccessfully religious freedom and equality. Later, anti-Semitism was reinforced by economic, social and political factors. With the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany, anti-Semitism became a racial as well as religious prejudice. According to Nazism, German people belonged to a superior Nordic-Aryan race, while Jews were a sub- human race dedicated to undermining the structure of world affairs and taking authority and leadership away from the "superior" Aryan race. Jews were hated not only for their religious beliefs, but also their imagined economic role in society, their tendency to live as a closed social group, and their non-Aryan "tainted" Jewish blood. According to Nazi theory, humanity is not a homogeneous unit. When the Nazis came to power, the war of the races reached its climax. If the superior Aryan race was defeated, the victorious Jews would undoubtedly carry out their evil designs and the world would be doomed to decline and deteriorate. Obviously, if the Jews posed such a serious danger to society, any measure taken against them, including extermination, was justified. Such an attitude helped create the background for the "Final Solution". The economic and political circumstances in Germany between World War I and World War II aided Hitler's rise to power. Many Germans refused to accept that Germany had been defeated in World War I. They claimed that the German army had been "stabbed in the back" and that disloyalty at home had weakened the front and brought about the defeat of Germany. Much of the blame for weakening the front was, of course, heaped upon the Jews. The terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, which established the unpopular democratic based Weimar Republic and demanded payment of heavy reparations, were regarded in Germany as measures of revenge. A sense of frustration, refusal to accept the situation and an ever-growing fear of communism created fertile soil for the growth of the Nazi party and the rise of Hitler. 7 1 Hitler and his close associates displayed a remarkable talent for propaganda, organization and political extremism. They also realized they had to use legitimate means in order to gain power. However, they made no secret of their contempt for democracy and viewed it merely as a tool to be used to gain power and then be discarded on the day of victory. 1929 brought the beginning of a world-wide economic crisis which intensified the social and political unrest in Germany. This enabled the Nazi party to acquire 107 seats in the Reichstag in the elections of 1930. Hitler's appointment as Chancellor by the President, Field Marshall von Hindenburg, solidified their power. In "Mein Kampr, Hitler's autobiography, in the Nazi party press and in Nazi publications racist doctrines were openly stated. Anti-Semitism was one of the most powerful propaganda weapons used by the Nazis to gain support for the policies which eventually brought about the ghettoization and extermination of more than six million Jews during World War II. 8 2 1933-34 1935-36 30 JANUARY 7 JANUARY Appointment of Adolf Hitler as Reich Mussolini and Laval sign French - Italian Agreement in Chancellor (Prime Minister) Rome 13 JANUARY MARCH Establishment of the first concentration camp Saar region annexed to Germany in Nazi Germany: Dachau 16 MARCH Conscription reimposed throughout Germany, in open 14 JULY