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World War Two and the Holocaust

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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 388 556 SO 025 375 AUTHOR Boas, Jacob TITLE World War 'Iwo and the Holocaust. INSTITUTION Holocaust Center of Northern California, San Francisco. PUB DATE 89 NOTE 11(4.; Photographs may not reproduce clearly. AVAILABLE FROMThe Holocaust Center of Northern California, 639 14th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94118. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Anti Semitism; Conflict Resolution; Ethnic Bias; *Ethnic Discrimination; *Jews; Justice; Modern History; *Nazism; Peace; *Religious Discrimination; Secondary Education; Social Studies; Western Civilizatiol; *World War II IDENTIFIERS *Holocaust ABSTRACT This resource book presents readings that could be used to teach about the Holocaust. The readings are brief and could be appropriate for middle school and high school students. Several photographs accompany the text. The volume has the following chapters:(1) "From War to War" (history of Germany from late 19th Century through the end of World War II with an emphasis on the rise of Hitler and his campaign against Jews);(2) "The Holocaust" (the victims, the ghetto life, death camps, the consequences, etc.); (3) "Chronology 1918-1945" (chart showing by year and month the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, Persecution and Holocaust, and Jewish Response);(4) "Glossary";(5) "100 Holocaust Discussion Questions (Weimar, Hitler, WWII; Nazism and Jewry; Perpetrators, Bystanders, Rescuers; and General)";(6) "Selected Bibliography"; and (7) "Illustration Credits." Contains a 31-item bibliography.(EH) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS Imetenes,em Office al Educatronto Roseate!, and MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER 1ERIC1 )(in°, document haS been teproducedas 16-e-cL.41 ecetved hom the petson orotgameatron ongtnaung made to rmptoue C Minor changes have been reptoductron clualdy Points ot stets 0, oprehons stated rnthrsdoeu TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ment do not necessatoyrepresent &boar OERI DOSilsjh ot potrcy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)... t, NS1- Clat.N.1, nt 11. MM. THE HOLOCAUST JACOB BOAS, Ph.D., ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR THE HOLOCAUST CENTER OF NORTHERNCALIFORNIA 2 BEST copy AVAILABLE, WORLD WAR TWO AND THE HOLOCAUST By Jacob Boas, Ph.D. Associate Director Holocaust Center of Northern California © 1989 Holocaust Center of Northern California 639 14TH AVENUE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118 Printed by Andrew Stern (Quality Printing), Holocaust Survivor ;) WORLD WAR II AND THE HOLOCAUST Table of Contents I. FROM WAR TO WAR 1-39 11. THE HOLOCAUST 40-71 111. CHRONOLOGY 73-85 IV.GLOSSARY 86-90 V. 100 HOLOCAUST DISCUSSION QUESTIONS WEIMAR, HITLER, WWII 91-92 NAZISM AND JEWRY 92-95 PERPETRATORS, BYSTANDERS, RESCUERS 95-96 GENERAL 97-99 VI.SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 100-104 VII. ILLUSTRATION CREDITS 105-106 .4 WORLD WAR II AND THE HOLOCAUST I. FROM WAR TO WAR "Stabbed in the Back" The Second World War did not just happen.It had been brewing since the end of the First World War in 1918.Actually, the two decades that separate these two conflicts now appear to us as little more than a break in the action.This is certainly true as far as Germany was concerned. Germany had been defeated in World War I hit she had never been able to admit it to herself.Since no foreign soldier had set foot on her soil, the myth quickly took hold that she had not been defeated on the battlefield but had been "stabbed in the back" by traitors back home. The truth of the matter is that it was the army that had instructed the government to sue for peace because it could no longer carry on the war. tab-- The Pips Squeak The victorious powers that gathered in the palace of Versailles in 1919 to dictate the peace were not impressed by the "stab in the back" argument and rubbed salt into open wounds."We'll squeeze the orange till the pips squeak", British Prime Minister Lloyd George promised his countrymen. The victors forced Germany to accept a clause "Stabbed in theback" accepting the guilt for starting the war, stripped her of her colonies, scaled the army down to a bare minimum, and presented her with a bill she could not possibly pay. Germany's role as a power to be reckoned with seemed to be finished for years to come. ;) The Treaty of Versailles, all Germans agreed, was a joke, abad joke, and from now on no politician could get electedwithout promising to break the "chains of Versailles." A Fresil Start Defeat in war sparked a revolution at home. But the attempt was feeble and failed. Instead of a socialist society based on the model of Soviet Russia (the goal of the revolutionaries), Germany eventually settled on a form of government that had every democratic device:universal suffrage including the vote for women, proportional representation, the initiative, referendum and recall.The new Germany called itself the Weimar Republic, after the city of its founding. The Weimar constitution was a most democratic document. But it was only a piece of paper. The Republic rested on shaky foundations.It carried the stigma of having been born of defeat.It had few friends and many enemies.It was a republic without republicans.It was, at best, tolerated. 2 6' BEST COPY AVAILABLE School for Obedience Germany had no tradition of democracy. Democracy takes time to grow and there was little in Germany's past to indicate that this form of government could grow there. For much of its history authoritarianism had been the rule.People were taught to obey. In no other country was the military held in higher regard. The popularity of the military in part stemmed from that country's geographic position:at all times Germany felt threatened ly hostile powers, squeezed between Russia in the east and France in the west. Blood and Iron Until 1871, Germany was a patchwork of more than 39 states ranging in size from a few square kilometers to Prussia, about the size of Arizona. The ideals of the French Revolution, which had been translated into parliamentary democracy throughout much of Europe in the 19th century, left few traces in Germany. Every attempt at establishing a parliamentary democracy ended in failure.In 1848, for example, it looked as if a liberal- democratic regime would take root in Prussia.But the German 'iberals who came to power in Berlin lacked resolution and yielded to their opponents, the conservative aristocratic landowning and military classes. After the failure of 1848, Prussia set about uniting the German people by force. German nationalism and Prussian militarism combined to bring about the German Reich, with the Prussian king assuming the title of Kaiser (Emperor). The architect of this policy was Prussia's Prime Minister, Otto von Bismarck, whose contempt for democratic government was second to none."The great questions of the day," he declared, "will not be settled by resolutions and majority votes ... but by blood and iron." The policy of "blood and iron" worked well for Germany to a point.It succeeded in uniting the , country and in making it strong. But the Germans paid a heavy price. They remained unschooled in democracy and the ways of freedom. The Iron Chancellor Otto von Bisntarck A Cosmetic Change The bitter fruits of the authoritarian legacy became apparent immediately after World War I.Though Germany was officially a republic and a democracy, the real power lay with the elites that had been running the country before the war. The army officers, 3 judges, ranking bureaucrats, and members of the aristorsacy that made up thispowerful caste were anything but impartial servants ofthe state.In applying the country's laws, for example, Weimar's judges tended to favor extremi:Its on the right over those onthe left.Communists whose attempts to overthrow the state ended in failure habitually received stiff penalties or could expect to be murdered in the course of serving their sentences, while their counterparts on the right either got off scot-free or were givenbrief prison terms. A case in point is Adolf Hitler, Germany's future dictator. In 1923 Hitler, the leader of a small party of right-wing fanatics, tried to overthrow the government. Plans for a coup were laid in a beer hall in Munich,the capital of Bavaria, a state in southern Germany. The "Beer Hall Putsch" ended in disaster and Hitler was put on trial for treason. The judges listened politely while Hitler haranguedthem -- then handed him a 5-year sentence, of which he served 9 months in comfortable surroundings. While injail Hitler dictated Mein Kampf (My Battle), the bible of the Nazi movement. Nightmare Years Born in 1889 in Braunau, Austria, Hitler was a drifter, a never-do-well. His teachers remember him as a bright fellow who had trouble concentrating on his work.In 1909, he moved to Vienna, the hub of the multi-national Austro-Hungarian Empire. Pre-war Vienna crackled with excitement and was a magnet for every kind of artist and thinker. Hitler longed to be an artist, but he failed to get into art school:lack of talent, his examiners concluded. Often broke, he slept on park benches or in flophouses.For a while he supported himself painting postcards and posters which a friend peddled to tourists.Vienna, "city of dreams," turned out to be a nightmare for Hitler, and the four years he spent there were among the unhappiest of his life.In Vienna Hitler learned to hate. Hitler Encounters Jews There was nothing Hitler hated more about Vienna than its Jews."Is this a German"? he asked himself when he saw an orthodox Jew clad in a long coat and wearing side- 1 curls.
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