Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Teachers’ Program Summer 2017 Documents May 12, 2017 Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Teachers’ Program Copyright © 2017 American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants PO Box 1922, New York, NY 10156 (212) 239-4230 www.hajrtp.org July 2017 Elaine Culbertson Neil Garfinkle Meryl Menashe Program Director Program Liaison Program Liaison COPYRIGHT NOTICE The Content here is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (“CCPL” or “license”). This Content is protected by copyright and/or other applicable law. Any use of the Content other than as authorized under this license or copyright law is prohibited. By exercising any rights to the work provided here, you accept and agree to be bound by the terms of this license. To the extent this license may be considered to be a contract, the licensor grants you the rights contained here in consideration of your acceptance of such terms and conditions. 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HAJRTP – 2017 Table of Contents Background Reading .................................................................................................... 1 July 1 ............................................................................................................................ 70 July 2-4 ....................................................................................................................... 115 HAJRTP – 2017 Table of Contents July 5 .......................................................................................................................... 204 July 6 .......................................................................................................................... 232 July 7 .......................................................................................................................... 258 July 8 .......................................................................................................................... 278 HAJRTP – 2017 Table of Contents July 9 .......................................................................................................................... 290 July 10 ........................................................................................................................ 339 Diaries and Memoirs ................................................................................................. 361 Poetry ......................................................................................................................... 381 HAJRTP – 2017 Table of Contents Using Survivor Testimony ...................................................................................... 425 National Archives Artifact Analysis .................................................................... 429 Resources .................................................................................................................. 438 HAJRTP – 2017 1 Background Reading Case Study: Freddie Knoller ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. HAJRTP – 2017 2 Definition of the Holocaust The Holocaust (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστος holókaustos: hólos, “whole” and kaustós, “burnt”) 1 Churben or ,חורבן :HaShoah, “the catastrophe”; Yiddish ,השואה :also known as Shoah (Hebrew Hurban, from the Hebrew for “destruction”), was the mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei “National Socialist German Workers’ Party,” NSDAP), throughout Germany 2 (Deutsches Reich, “German Empire”) and German-occupied territories.1F1F1F Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primary victims — six million were murdered. Roma (“Gypsies”) 3, physically and mentally disabled people and Poles were also targeted for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi tyranny. Source: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.php?ModuleId=10005143&MediaId=7827 1 Dawidowicz, Lucy (1975). The War Against the Jews., p. xxxvii. 2 Snyder, Timothy (2010). Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. London: The Bodley Head.2010, p. 45. Further examples of this usage can be found in: Bauer 2002, Cesarani 2004, Dawidowicz 1981, Evans 2002, Gilbert 1986, Hilberg 1996, Longerich 2012, Phayer 2000, Zuccotti 1999. 3 The word ‘Gypsy’ refers to any itinerant person who is suspected of dishonest practices derives from traditional racist stereotypes of the Romani people. Definition of the Holocaust HAJRTP – 2017 3 Chronological Framework for Teaching about the Holocaust 1933 Nazi Dictatorship/ Expansion without War January Hitler appointed Chancellor 1939 Discrimination and Segregation September World War II begins 1940 February Germans establish a ghetto in Łodz; first of many ghettoes 1941 Mass Killing of Jews Begins June Moblike killing units begin mass killing in Russia December U.S. enters World War II Gassing operations begin at Chelmno 1942 January Wansee Conference in Berlin Spring Gassing operations begin at other killing centers July Anne Frank goes into hiding 1943 Industrializated Killing/ Deportation of Jews to Killing Centers Warsaw Ghetto uprising Rescue of Danish Jews begins 1944 May First Deporation of Hungarian Jews June D-Day July Soviets liberate Majdanek 1945 Death Marches January Liberation of Auschwitz by Soviets May Germany surrenders Displaced Persons’ Camps/ Emiggation November Nuremberg War Crimes trial begins Chronological Framework for Teaching about the Holocaust HAJRTP – 2017 4 The Jews of Europe before and after the Holocaust Estimated Pre- Estimated Percent Country War Jewish killed killed population Baltic countries 253,000 228,000 90 Belgium 65,000 40,000 60 Bohemia and 90,000 80,000 89 Moravia Bulgaria 64,000 14,000 22 Byelorussian SSR 375,000 245,000 65 Denmark 8,000 52 <1 France 350,000 90,000 26 Germany and Austria 240,000 210,000 90 Greece 70,000 54,000 77 Hungary 650,000 450,000 70 Italy 40,000 8,000 20 Luxembourg 5,000 1,000 20 Netherlands 140,000 105,000 75 Norway 2,173 890 41 Poland 3,300,000 3,000,000 90 Romania 600,000 300,000 50 Russian SFSR 975,000 107,000 11 Slovakia 90,000 75,000 83 Ukrainian SSR 1,500,000 900,000 60 Yugoslavia 43,000 26,000 60 Total 8,861,800 5,933,900 67 These numbers from Lucy Dawidowicz show the annihilation of the Jewish population of Europe by (pre-war) country. Dawidowicz, Lucy. The War Against the Jews, Bantam, 1986.p. 403. The Jews of Europe before and after the Holocaust HAJRTP – 2017 5 Why Didn’t They All Leave? When a student asks this question, frequently they are wondering about German Jews before the start of 1939. • What is involved in leaving one’s homeland as well as what sacrifices must be made? o German Jews were in most cases patriotic citizens. Over 10,000 died fighting for Germany in World War I, and countless others were wounded and received medals for their valor and service. Jews, whether in the lower, middle, or upper classes, had lived in Germany for centuries and were well assimilated in the early twentieth century. o The oppressive measures targeting Jews in the pre-war period were passed and enforced gradually. Also, these types of pre-war measures and laws had been experienced throughout the history of the Jewish people in earlier periods and in other countries as well. No one at the time could have foreseen or predicted killing squads and killing centers. • What event or action (without the ‘20-20 hindsight’ that we have) should have convinced the Jews to flee? o Once the difficult decision was made to try to leave the country, prospective emigrants had to find a country willing to admit them and their family. This was very difficult, considering world immigration policies, as demonstrated by the results of the Evian Conference of 1938. If a safe haven could be found, what was needed to get there? The Jews of Europe before and after the Holocaust HAJRTP – 2017 6 Documentation Required for Immigration Visas to Enter the United States In the years immediately preceding U.S. entry into World War II, potential immigrants were required to file the following documents to obtain