Why do genocides happen? 2.4a

In this lesson How did the Nazis try to you will: kill all European Jews?

■■ explore what When they joined the German army, some officers might never have imagined they happened to Jews would order the shooting of defenceless women and children. But from 1941 to ■■ The Nazi Party under Nazi control 1945 many did; they saw it as their duty to ensure that the German nation survived. controlled the media – newspapers, radio and ■■ use pictorial cinema. It produced lots of anti-Semitic information to Sowing seeds of hatred propaganda like this investigate a problem. Source a is clear evidence of just one act of murder. The Nazis, and those film,The Eternal Jew. who they got to help them, killed 6 million people, mostly Jewish men, women and children, between 1939 and 1945. In fact, the Nazis wanted to ■■ Anti-Semitism was taught at school, especially in history and biology lessons. Here, two Jewish children are forced to stand by a blackboard that Weigh the evidence! kill all 11 million Jews in Europe. It is very difficult to understand the reason reads ‘The Jews are our greatest enemy! Beware of Jews.’ Jewish children for this. Germany was a modern country with an educated population. were eventually excluded from German schools in 1938. 2 Look again at sources b–e. Which two do you What caused some otherwise ordinary people to become killers? Anti-Semitism think give the best evidence that Nazis were trying Hatred of Jews. There were a number of ways in which the Nazi government tried to to make ordinary Germans hate the Jews? As you encourage anti-Semitism between 1933 and 1945, including: make your decision remember to think about: Deportation ●● the content of the source Forced removal from your ●● propaganda In pairs, look at ? ●● the nature, origin and purpose of the source. home or country. ●● use of laws to exclude Jews from public life source a. Why might this soldier Genocide ●● threat of arrest for those who disagreed with Nazi views Deliberate attempt to have carried out murder an entire national ●● removing Jews from Germany and forcing them to live this shooting? Why did so few people help the Jews? or ethnic group of people. elsewhere in terrible conditions. Try to list three In Germany, the Nazis tried to control every single possible reasons. aspect of people’s lives – the books they read, the Ghetto music they listened to and who they could marry. If you Part of a town walled off from the rest where Jews ■■ A German soldier in the did not fit in, you could become a victim of a powerful Ukraine about to shoot a police state. Many people were arrested, imprisoned were forced to live. ■■ Ninety-one Jews were killed and 30,000 Jews were sent to woman and child, 1942. and even killed without a fair trial, because all the concentration camps in November 1938 after a Jew murdered a German diplomat in Paris. All German Jews had to wear a Star of David badge judges were Nazis. after 1 September 1941. Going undercover!

The Social Democrat Party (SPD) was banned in 1933, shortly after the Nazis came to power. The SPD leaders Use your eyes! fled from Germany to Prague to escape arrest, but they kept spies in the country to send reports about what 1 Look at sources b–e. was going on. For each one: 3 Imagine you are an SPD spy in 1939. You are told a) decide which method to send a report about how the Nazis are trying to of anti-Semitism this encourage anti-Semitic attitudes. In your report, source best shows use the evidence you have seen to make clear what b) explain your decision you think are the most important pressures. using details from the ■■ German Jews were deported to ghettos in Polish towns from Give lots of details about these pressures. source. October 1941. Living conditions in these ghettos were hellish.

98 History in Progress: 1901–Present Ruling:Living 1.1 What and working: did the suffragettes2.4 Why do genocides do to get happen?the vote? 99 Why do genocides happen? 2.4b

Who was to blame for the ‘’? Dear reader In this lesson Read for you will: Between 1940 and 1942 the Nazis shot more than 1 million Jews in Poland and yourself I am writing these words in the hour of my greatest ■■ investigate who was Russia. However, Nazi leaders worried that shooting was too slow and had a bad despair. I hope that you will take revenge on the impact on the morale of soldiers. At some point in 1941, leaders began to talk about 1 Read source a. responsible for the a ‘Final Solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem’, but it was not clear what this would be. ‘Final Solution’ a) What images do murderers! You must give my life some meaning! There were plans to send the Jews to Siberia or Madagascar. Siberia is a huge, flat you find the most ■■ use written sources to plain in central Russia where temperatures can plunge as low as minus 50 degrees powerful in this letter? In the large room, deep underground, a sign tells support an argument. Celsius in winter. Madagascar is a large island off the east coast of Africa where b) Why do you think the victims to undress because they are now in the malaria is a common disease. Zalmen Gradowski wrote this letter? Try ‘showers’. They look terrified; they know, they Why would the Nazis want to send the Jews to such places? to list three reasons. ? understand: they will be wiped out. It will be as if Crematoria Furnaces or ovens used Camps and killing they were never born. These are not real showers: not to burn corpses into ash. Failure to defeat Russia in the war meant that plans to send Jews to Siberia were water but gas comes out of them. After the gassing, Modern cremations are not possible. So the Nazis experimented with quicker ways to kill Jews within nothing like the ones used by the areas they controlled. Explosives and exhaust fumes from vans were tried the dead bodies are dragged from the tangle to the the Nazis. before a gas called Zyklon B was found to be a quick killer. Between 1941 and Extermination crematoria 1944, extermination camps were built where all European Jews, gypsies and ■■ The at . Children are piled up like logs at the To destroy completely; to kill. homosexuals could be murdered in huge gas chambers. Auschwitz, Poland, 1944. side then added afterwards, thrown on top of each pair of adults on an iron stretcher. The furnace is opened and the stretcher pushed in. The hair catches light first. The skin swells and blisters, bursting open after a few seconds. Arms and legs twist, veins and nerves seize up and cause the limbs to jerk. By now the whole body is on fire, the skin splits open, fat spills out and you hear the fire sizzle. The stomach bursts. The intestines pour out and within a few minutes no trace remains. The whole process takes 20 minutes, a body, a world, is reduced to dust …

■■ Letter found buried near the gas chambers in Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland. It was written by Zalmen Gradowski, a Polish Jew forced to work at the extermination camp.

100 History in Progress: 1901–Present Living and working: 2.4 Why do genocides happen? 101 Who was to blame? Extermination camp SOVIET UNION Zalmen Gradowski wanted revenge on the murderers, but who was to blame? NORWAY ESTONIA If the Jews start another Concentration camp (RUSSIA) Almost 5 million people were taken from their homes to camps like Auschwitz world war, the result will be where they were either murdered straight away or worked to death in what the destruction of the Jews Axis Country/annexed LATVIA became known as the Holocaust. Many Germans who lived through the Second in Europe! by Axis N World War claimed they did not know what was happening to the Jews. Some Occupied by Axis SWEDEN ■■ From a speech by Adolf Hitler in the Italy (Axis) at height OCCUPPIED historians doubt this claim and think that pressure for the ‘Final Solution’ came German Parliament, 30 January DENMARK LITHUANIA of occupation Baltic RUSSIA from ordinary people as much as from the Nazi leaders. 1939. Sea Allied Country North In 1996, an American historian called Daniel Goldhagen published a book called Sea EAST Neutral PRUSSIA Hitler’s Willing Executioners. In this book, he argued that most ordinary Germans BELARUS The Jews were removed from Bialystok wanted the Holocaust to happen because they hated Jews; the Nazi leaders Major transportation the region without the local routes just ‘unleashed’ this hatred. This caused lots of arguments in Germany: some people noticing. The action Warsaw WEST went very smoothly. UNITED thought that he unfairly insulted the German people; others thought he made NETH. PRUSSIA KINGDOM POLAND true points that were difficult to accept. What will you think? UKRAINE ■■ Extract from a letter between two leading Nazis who went on to run the BELGIUM GERMANY Auschwitz Lwow ‘Final Solution’, 29 October 1940. LUX. CZECH REP.

Paris Your turn … What’s the confusion? Following the orders of OCCUPIED FRANCE Vienna HUNGARY Budapest 31 July 1941, it was agreed Cluj 2 Use sources b–g and Despite years of research, many historians still that work should be done to SWITZ. AUSTRIA the map to make a do not agree who was ultimately to blame prepare for the ‘Final Solution’, SLOVENIA list of the people who for the Holocaust. This is partly because the but without upsetting the ROMANIA Black helped to carry out sources are not very clear. There is no source population. This work should begin in Poland because the Sea the ‘Final Solution’. For that says: ‘I order you to kill all the Jews.’ VICHY FRANCE CROATIA ghettos are overcrowded. (UNOCCUPIED) SERBIA each, decide whether 3 Look again at sources b–g. This time, BULGARIA it suggests Nazi leaders ■■ Extract from the record of a for each source explain why the content ITALY MONT. or ordinary people and the nature, origin and purpose meeting of Nazi leaders in Wannsee, Mediterranean were to blame for the of the source might lead to different a small town near Berlin, on SPAIN Sea MACE. ‘Final Solution’. 20 January 1942. Rome GREECE interpretations about who was to blame. 0 250 miles (400 km) ALBANIA Thessaloniki TURKEY

■■ Rail networks leading to prisons and extermination camps from the major cities. Online arguments … Q: What was your job during the war? I was present this afternoon at a ‘special action’ applied to female prisoners. All the A: It was very similar to my job before the war. I organised the timetables for 4 Below is the start of a thread in an online forum. Add your own longer comment, explaining which view you agree men are keen to take part in these actions special trains. with the most. Make sure you use lots of detail from the sources (and other information) in this and the previous because they get special rations: alcohol, lesson to support your argument. Q: Did you know that trains to Auschwitz meant death for the people on board? five cigarettes, sausage, bread. A: Of course not! I never went there. I stayed at my desk in Krakow. ■■ Extract from the diary of Dr Johann Kremer, a doctor By Joe_247, 14 May 10.33am Q: Auschwitz to Krakow is 40 miles. at Auschwitz, 5 September 1942. Doctors who had It might be tough for the Germans to hear, but I think Goldhagen is right. The Germans hated A: That’s not very far. And we knew nothing. Not a clue. developed ways to kill the mentally and physically the Jews before the Second World War started and they did nothing at all to stop the killing! Q: But you knew that the Nazis – that Hitler – didn’t like the Jews. handicapped in Germany in 1939 were sent to help with the ‘Final Solution’. By Lisa_365, 14 May 11.45am A: That we did. It was no secret. But as to their extermination, that was news to us. Goldhagen is wrong! The Nazi leaders tried their best to make ordinary Germans hate The builders can only finish the crematoria if Q: But the Polish people knew everything. the Jews, but even then they had to keep the killing a secret. There were lots of other they use wires and metal that are being kept reasons why some people helped carry out the Holocaust – not just anti-Semitism! A: That’s not surprising. They lived nearby, they heard, they talked. And they for other buildings. If we can use these, ‘special didn’t have to keep quiet. treatment’ can begin on 15 February 1943.

■■ From an interview with Walter Stier in 1985. He was one of 900,000 Germans who worked ■■ From a letter from architect Karl Bischoff to the on the railways. commander of Auschwitz, 29 January 1943.

102 History in Progress: 1901–Present Living and working: 2.4 Why do genocides happen? 103 Why do genocides happen? 2.4c Who was to blame? Card 5 In this lesson Why did the Hutus try to kill all the Tutsis? There is still a lot of argument about who was to blame for the genocide in The United Nations (UN) Rwanda. Cards 1–5 give information about a range of possible suspects. you will: Romeo Dallaire, the UN In many schools there are different groups of 2 a) In pairs, read the cards then place them in order of most to least General in Rwanda, reported ■■ investigate reasons students who sometimes do not get along. Janet’s story responsible for the genocide. that Interahamwe members why the 1994 b) Once you have agreed an order, compare your card order with a were making lists of Tutsis 1 Read source a. Try to pick genocide happened in ? How do these groups identify different pair. If your orders disagree, try to explain why you placed to murder. He asked for themselves? Why do these groups out reasons why Janet your cards in a different order. permission to seize their guns. Rwanda thinks the Hutus wanted sometimes not get along? c) Try to agree on a single order in your group of four, then in the Kofi Annan, his boss at the UN to murder her. ■■ weigh up the whole class! headquarters, told him to do importance of nothing but keep watching. different causes of Who were the Hutus and Tutsis? On 21 April 1994, the UN genocide. Rwanda is a beautiful, but poor country in Central Africa. Most people who live evacuated all white people, there are farmers who make just enough money to survive. The two main groups and reduced their number of people in Rwanda are Hutus and Tutsis. They have lived alongside each other Card 3 of troops in Rwanda from for more than 400 years; they speak the same language, and share the same The RPF (Tutsi) 2,568 to 270. religion, dress and customs. But in 1994, ordinary Hutus began to murder their Tutsi In 1962, many Tutsis fled to neighbours. More than 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in just 100 days. Most of these Card 4 Colony neighbouring countries where people were hacked to death with machetes. The Akazu (Hutu) Country or area of land that they were forced to live in is ruled by another country. refugee camps. In 1988, when it Akazu means ‘little hut’. It was the name given to the became clear they would not be small group of President Habyarimana’s friends and Interahamwe allowed home, the Tutsis formed relatives who controlled all the powerful jobs in Rwanda. Hutus think Tutsis are too tall and delicate; that they keep all the cattle and money for Extreme Hutus who formed their own army, the Rwandan In 1990 they started to organise the into groups armed with themselves rather than work hard on the farms like the Hutus. Hutus feared that the Tutsis would rise up and kill them. When the Hutus came to the school, grandmother told us to be Patriotic Front (RPF) to fight their Between 1992 and 1994, the InterahamweInterahamwe leaders guns and machetes. quiet and to lie down. I lay down between a lot of grown ups. I saw them kill my sister and way back home. In October 1990, imported a huge number of machetes. They were . Machete grandmother with machetes. I crawled under my grandmother’s dead body to hide. All the the RPF started the attacks on handed out by local mayors in the villages. The mayors screaming stopped and the only voices I could hear were those of the killers. One killer said, Long heavy knife, usually ‘I think that little thing is still alive.’ Another said, ‘I will cut her and if she does not move she is Rwanda that eventually forced also drew up lists of local Tutsis. In 1993, the Akazu set used to hack through jungle dead.’ That was when I felt a heavy blow on the back of my neck. Habyarimana to sign the Arusha up the RTLM radio station. On 7 April 1994, the DJ said, or to clear plants. Accords. Many Hutus began to ‘The cockroaches [Tutsis] have killed the president. ■ ■ From an interview with Janet Uylsabye, in 2004. Janet is a Tutsi who managed to survive a horrific attack at her fear the return of Tutsi power. You must take your spears, clubs, guns, swords, stones, school by the Hutus. everything – hack them, those cockroaches!’ Card 2 Card 1 President Habyarimana (Hutu) Your decision! The Belgians President Habyarimana had ruled colony Rwanda was a Belgian Rwanda since 1973. He did not let 3 Trials are still being held for the criminals who took from 1919 until 1962. The Belgians the Tutsis in neighbouring countries part in the genocide in Rwanda. Imagine you are a believed that the Tutsis were return home. He gave all the best judge. You have been asked to give your decision on racially superior. In 1931, they jobs to Hutus. In 1993, he signed the the following. Back to the start introduced identification cards Arusha Accords, an agreement to a) Which group shot down President Habyarimana’s P that said whether a Rwandan was share power with the Tutsis, and to plane on 6 April 1994: the Akazu or the RPF? In this enquiry you have read about two different genocides. Now Hutu or Tutsi. Only the Tutsis could merge the Rwandan Patriotic Front b) Which group was most responsible for the compare the Rwandan genocide work for the Belgians, and the (RPF) and the Rwandan army. He was genocide in Rwanda? Hutus became jealous. When the killed on 6 April 1994 when his plane with the Holocaust. Are there more You must explain your decision using evidence from similarities or more differences Belgians left, the Hutus rose up and was shot down. The genocide started the cards! between them? took power for themselves. the next day.

104 History in Progress: 1901–Present Living and working: 2.4 Why do genocides happen? 105 Why do genocides happen? 2.4d

Are genocides unique?

In this enquiry, you have explored two of the worst genocides in the twentieth Taking it century. But is it possible to compare them? Some historians argue that genocides Some Germans have called Many Ukrainians argue that In July 1995, 8,000 Bosnian the British and American a famine in 1932–33, which Muslims from the city of further! are so different you cannot make useful comparisons. Other historians argue that, bombing of Dresden from left 7 million people dead, Srebrenica were killed by although there are some differences, it would be wrong to ignore the similarities. By 15–17 February 1945 a was genocide. They argue Bosnian Serbs. Why did this looking at similarities we can improve our understanding of why genocides happen. ‘Holocaust by bomb’. Is that Josef Stalin, who ruled genocide take place in Europe it fair to call the death the Ukraine as part of the when the UN wanted the of 40,000 Germans in USSR, created the famine on Holocaust to be the ‘genocide Dresden a ‘Holocaust’? purpose. Was this genocide? that ended all genocides’?

Between 1975 and 1979 Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Draw conclusions Rouge, was responsible for the death of around 1 Using Lessons 2.4a–c, think of areas in which you might be able to 1.7 million people in compare the Holocaust with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Try to Dresden, Cambodia. He wanted to kill list at least three categories. Germany Ukraine most of the people who lived in the cities to start a new ‘pure’ 2 For each category you have come up with, are there more Bosnia society. Why did his terrible similarities or more differences between the Holocaust and Armenia ideas become reality for the the 1994 genocide in Rwanda? Use details from this enquiry Atlantic people of Cambodia? to complete a table like the one below. Ocean Darfur region, Area of Pacific Similar Different Southern comparison Sudan Cambodia Ocean 1 Causes of the Use of media to Death of the Rwandan Pacific genocide increase hate for the president as a trigger Ocean Jews and Tutsis for 1994 Genocide; but no single trigger for L History Holocaust Indian Ocean detective There were many more genocides in 3 Many history teachers still argue about how the Holocaust should N the twentieth century than we have be taught in schools. Was it unique or can it be compared to other covered in this enquiry. Use your genocides? Imagine you have been asked to write an article for From 2003–2008, 400,000 Most historians agree that the library and the Internet to explore one a magazine for teachers called Teaching History. The title of your people died and 2 million murder of around 1 million of the genocides shown on the map. article is: ‘Were there more similarities or differences between the people were forced to leave Armenians by Turks in 1915–17 Holocaust and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda?’ When you write your their homes in the Darfur was the first genocide of You can use the categories of article: region in southern Sudan. Why the twentieth century. The comparison that you used in has this happened? The US Turkish government disagrees. ●● make your argument clear right from the start government says that this is It argues that only 300,000 task 2 to help you approach these new genocides. ●● make clear the areas you have used to compare the genocides 0 4000 miles (6,437km) genocide, but the UN does not Armenians died, and that this agree. What will you think? was due to a civil war in which ●● explain your argument using details from the previous enquiries. many Turks died as well. It is a very controversial topic. ext What will you think? N

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106 History in Progress: 1901–Present Living and working: 2.4 Why do genocides happen? 107