The War in the Pacific Reading Guide

Name ______Date ______Period _____

THE HOLOCAUST READING GUIDE

Directions: Use pages 483 and 552-557 in your textbook to fully answer the questions below. As always, some of the questions require careful thought as you read.

Start at Anti-Semitic Policies

1. What is anti-Semitism?

2. For how long had anti-Semitism been around in Europe?

3. Summarize the Nuremberg Laws.

4. Summarize the events of Kristallnacht.

5. Summarize the changes that took place after Kristallnacht.

6. Given what you have read about the situation in Germany after Kristallnacht, would you have decided to "emigrate from Germany" as requested? Or would you have stayed? Explain.

Pages 552-557

1. What were the two ways in which Nazi Germany controlled Europe in 1942?

2. What was the name of the French government which collaborated with the Nazis?

3. How many Jews were killed during the Holocaust?

4. Summarize what happened to Jews as they came into Auschwitz:

5. Why were children exterminated at Auschwitz? 6. How would you describe the affect (or feeling) in Rudolf Höss' description of Auschwitz?

7. Think back to yesterday. What was the German word for "undesirable" or "sub-human"?

8. Think back to yesterday. What was the German word for a member of the Aryan Race? What did that word mean?

9. What was the first country in which Hitler began his racial purification program?

10. Who was put in charge of the resettlement of Germans into Poland? What was his other job?

12. By 1942, how many Germans had been moved into Poland? What people were moved out?

13. After the invasion of the USSR what was Hitler's plan for Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians? What would happen to the territory they were living in?

14. Who do you think was worse: Adolf Hitler or Heinrich Himmler? Explain.

15. By the middle of 1944 how many non-Germans were working (effectively as slaves) in Germany to support the war effort? How many were working in their own countries?

16. Read the "People in History" section about Anne Frank. Which historical figures that we have covered this year would probably have appreciated/liked/agreed with her? Explain why!

17. What was the Final Solution?

18. Who was put in charge of the Final Solution? What group did he use to carry out his plans?

19. How did the role of the Einsatzgruppen change between its creation in 1939 and mid-1941?

20. What was the name of the largest extermination center in Poland? 21. The book says that many Jews were subjected to cruel and painful medical experiments. My concern is that the book calls them "medical" as if to imply that they had no medical value. In fact, many of them had great medical value in the long run (though they were undeniably cruel). Doctors make a promise called the Hippocratic Oath which, among other things, says they will never harm a patient. Do you think it is fair to blame Nazi doctors for violating that rule in their experiments?

22. Before you read "The Death Toll" use the map on page 554 to count the total number of each of the following: Concentration Camps: Death Camps: Einsatzgruppen Locations:

23. Geographically, where were most of the Death Camps? 24. Geographically, where were most of the Concentration Camps? 25. Geographically, where was the Einsatzgruppen primarily operating?

26. Turn to page 775 and read the selection called "The Holocaust- The Camp Victims". After you finish reading reflect on the description of the gassing.

27. How many European Jews were killed during the Holocaust (yes...I'm asking again)?

28. What percentage of the total Jewish population did that comprise?

29. Why do you think people would have collaborated with the Nazis? If you were in the situation faced by many people under Nazi control, do you think you would have chosen to collaborate with them? Seriously think about it...do not just say "no".

30. When Jews arrived at the camps who were the first to be sent to the gas chambers?

31. What did Heinrich Himmler want to teach Slavic children under German control?

32. Read the section on the New Order in Asia. What similarities and differences do you see between the way the Japanese and the Germans treated people under their control?