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Home , Giorgio Perlasca, Holocaust survivors, Josef Mengele

Unit VI: “Stories from the ” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Review of the Creation of the :

1. Why were the created in 1935? What did they do?

2. Identify & Explain the 3 Phases of the Jewish Question.

3. How is a ‘Jew’ legally defined According to Hitler?

4. How did the of Kristallnault Change in 1938?

5. Describe Life in the Ghetto.

6. What were the Units And why were they Created?

7. What did the "Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases” actually do?

8. How did the Previous Law lead to the Creation of the T-4 program?

9. What happened at the ? Be sure to explain both & Reinhardt Heydrich’s Roles.

10. Name 3 of the 6 Permanente Killing Factories Found in the country of______?

Unit VI: “Stories from ” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State http://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/ (40 Points)

Section 1: Maps and Plans

• First Click on a Larger War to Review the Location of Camps and Ghettos

• Next Click on the Interactive Map to explore of the Evolution of Auschwitz and its three camps.

• Once completed view section title Master Plans.

1) After Viewing the Maps and Plans explain at least 2 reasons why the Nazis were able to move mass numbers of across Europe without much resistance. (Minimum 3 Sentences 5 points)

2) Was Auschwitz designed to be Self-Sufficient in terms of the Final Solution? Explain why or why not. Be sure to support your answer with details from what you viewed in Section 1. (Minimum 3 Sentences 5 points)

Section 2: Auschwitz Archival maps, plans and pictures • You can view the 5 sections in any order you wish

1) Imagine if you were Architect of this Camp. Do you believe you would understand what you were creating? Why or Why not? (5 points)

Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust

Section 3: Understanding Auschwitz Today

Choose 3 of the following categories…

1. Lessons of the Holocaust 2. Origins of Genocide 3. Danger of Deniers 4. Contemporary Genocide 5. Why it’s Crucial to Understand History

1) Write a Paragraph using your articles discussing the Impact of Auschwitz Today. (Minimum of 7 sentences 15pts)

Section 4: Personal Histories of Auschwitz http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/gallery.php?ModuleId=10005189&MediaType=OI

Choose 3 of the Auschwitz — ID Card/Oral History stories to listen to.

1) In your own opinion how does one survive something as horrific as the Holocaust? (Minimum 3 Sentences 5 points)

2) In your own words describe the felling’s survivors most likely experience on a daily basis. (Minimum 3 Sentences 5 points)

Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Synopsis of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State

Episode. 1: The Origin of Auschwitz will examine the radical increase in violence against all opponents of the Nazi state during the 18-month period between 1940-Summer of 1941. As we learned in Unit V when the German Army invaded the the soldiers carried out campaign of murder and extermination under the orders of Hitler which included the first gassing experiments in Auschwitz, which were aimed at Russian prisoners of war, not Jews

Creation (Start: 03:21; Length: 8:00): Remember that Auschwitz, the site of the largest mass murder in the history of the world, did not start out as a death camp. In the spring of 1940, Rudolf Höss, a captain in the SS became commandant of a new Nazi concentration camp in the southern Polish town of Oswiecim, which the Germans called Auschwitz and was directed to create a concentration camp for ten thousand prisoners in former Polish army barracks to confine and oppress Polish Political Prisoners.

Transformation (Start: 11:21; Length: 8:45): The area around Auschwitz was rich in natural resources (fresh water, lime, coal), which made it an excellent location for IG Farben, the industrial conglomerate, to build a factory that would manufacture war materials which interested , the head of Hitler's SS squad. Himmler hoped that IG Farben's activities would fund the creation of a model Nazi settlement where prisoners would work as slave laborers and the SS would get rich selling coal and gravel to IG Farben.

Zyklon B (Start: 40:38; Length: 7:07) Himmler soon realized he needed a better method of killing—better for the murderers, not for their victims. So…. Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Synopsis of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State

Episode 2: The Orders and Initiatives discusses the crucial decision-making period of the Holocaust and reveals the secret plans of , Heinrich Himmler, and to annihilate the Jews. At a conference in January 1942, the Nazis plan how to achieve their goals. The first gas chambers are built at Auschwitz and the use of is developed. German doctors arrive to oversee each transport, deciding who should live and who should die.

Auschwitz in 1942 (Start: 28:21; Length: 10:55): During the spring of 1942, Auschwitz first began to play a central role in implementing the Final Solution. Höss had already been experimenting with the use of Zyklon B (prussic acid) and now, for the first time, the Nazis began to deport Jews to Auschwitz from places other than .

The Little Red House (Start: 28:26; Length: 10:55): Back at Auschwitz, the plans for Birkenau had changed. Soviet prisoners of war were now sent to factories elsewhere. And new gas chambers were built until Birkenau was the biggest graveyard in the world

Discussion Questions:

st 1) After Watching the 1 2 Episodes with your group discuss to what extent the following people are responsible for the Holocaust. Be prepared to explain your answer.

- Railroad workers - Chemists who developed Zyklon B as an insecticide - Non-Jewish residents of cities and towns in which ghettos were located - A Slovakian Hlinka Guard - Hitler's direct subordinates (e.g. Himmler, Heydrich, etc.) - Lower echelon subordinates who either followed Hitler's orders or improvised on their own - Physicians who "supervised" the selection of those who would be killed at death camps - Soldiers who rounded up people for deportation - Neighbors of people who were rounded up for deportation - A young member of the

2) Why do we usually hear more from survivors than from perpetrators? Who are you more likely to believe and why?

Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Synopsis of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State

Episode 3: Factories of Death examines the complex annihilation system the Nazis spread throughout Europe, with Auschwitz as the hub. We learn why the first Genocide is being perpetrated not only at Auschwitz, but at other camps, such as Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor. Astonishingly, rival Nazi camp commanders participate with enthusiasm and share ideas for the best method of mass murder.

The Children (Start: 7:22; Length: 10:43) Because the Nazis' greatest need was for Jewish adults who could work, approximately four thousand children were separated from their parents and sent alone to a makeshift camp in the suburbs of Paris called Drancy.

Heinrich Himmler (Start: 22:56; Length: 6:44): Heinrich Himmler made his second visit to Auschwitz, which now held about 30,000 prisoners. He was pleased with what he saw and promoted camp commandant Rudolf Höss to SS lieutenant colonel. On July 16, 1942, Himmler announced that all Polish Jews in the part of occupied Poland the Nazis called the —about two million people—should be resettled (a euphemism for murdered) by the end of the year.

Treblinka (Start: 29:40; Length: 7:51) Sixty miles northeast of Warsaw was a camp, called Treblinka. Unlike Auschwitz, its only purpose was to kill people

.

Discussion Questions:

1) A scholar has said that the presence of children sometimes facilitated and sometimes impeded German plans. What do you think this means? 2) How did the Nazis use children against their parents? 3) Explain what is meant by a "choiceless choice" and give examples. 4) How were people who were fathers, brothers, and uncles able to bring themselves to destroy children, and how were mothers, sisters, and aunts complicit in this?

Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Synopsis of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State

Episode 4: Corruption reveals the financial contributions Auschwitz made to the Third Reich. The Nazi plan was to kill "useless mouths" instantly upon arrival at Auschwitz and to work stronger prisoners to death as slave laborers in places like the nearby IG Farben factory. The SS also profited from the belongings of those they killed—so much so, that in the summer of 1943, an investigation was launched into corruption in the camp and Rudolf Höss, the commandant, was removed.

A Small Town (Start: 12:39; Length: 6:47): Oskar Gröning describes the small-town quality of living and working at Auschwitz, which had a grocery, canteen, cinema, sports club, and other places where officers could relax at the end of the day. Liquor was in ready supply and military discipline was lax. A black market existed for just about everything.

Dr. Josef Mengele (Start: 19:26; Length: 10:49): Dr. Josef Mengele, a physician and member of the SS, arrived at Auschwitz in May, and he performed atrocious experiments on pregnant women, children, twins, infants, and others.

Fighting Back (Start: 30:15; Length: 11:04): At Sobibor, a Nazi death camp where the SS were as corrupt as they were at Auschwitz, a group of Jews working in a tailor shop lured Germans in to look at purloined goods, killed them, and took their weapons, enabling approximately three hundred Jews to escape, about one hundred of whom survived the war.

Discussion Questions:

1) Some questions that Holocaust survivors often are asked: Why did you not escape? Why did you not rebel? Why did you not evade capture before they got to you? Discuss at least 5 factors that prevented most inmates of concentration camps from escaping and at least 5 factors that enabled certain resisters to succeed. Examples of Death Camp Resistance th Factors ofAuschwitz Failure 13 Sonderkomando Unit Factors of Success Sorbibor Jewish & Soviet Rebellion

Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Examples of Organized Resistance within the Death Camps & Ghetto’s

Directions: For Each Picture Describe the Cause of the Rebellion, What Occurred, and what was the Result of the Resistance for both the Rebel and the Germans.

The 13th Escape from Sobibor Unit of Auschwitz

The Uprising at Treblinka The Uprising

Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Did the U.S. Know About the Holocaust? Why were the atrocities of WWII rejected by the Allied powers?

By 1942 both Great Britain and the concluded that there was “A Deliberate Attempt to Kill All the Jews”. Proof of both governments knowledge of the Holocaust includes the following…..

A. The Voyage of the ‘St. Louis’ (1941)

B. What happened in the British House of Commons on November 12, 1942?

C. Later in November 1942 the U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull told the Prime Rabi of the Washington Synagogue that his quote “Fears were Justified”.

D. Do You Know what the so-called ‘ULTRA’ secret of WWII was?

E The Bermuda Conference April 19th -30th was an 11 day meeting between the countries of ______& ______which discussed the topic of the ______??? (Guess)

F. U.S. Treasury Department Report to the Secretary of State on the ‘Conscience of this Government on the Murder of the Jews’ (28 pages) was discovered by a reporter of the Washington Post who telephoned President Roosevelt at 2 A.M. with the intent to print the article on the front page the next morning. However…

-In Response FDR created the W.R.B. or the ______which would …

Fun Fact: Did you know the U.S. Never Bombed 1 Rail Train or the Death Camps?

-What did the Red Cross do about the Holocaust?

-How did Pope Pius XII respond to the Holocaust? Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Stories of Individuals who chose to Rescue Jews during the ‘Holocaust’ Liberator Country Reason for Result Ruth Gruber

Chiune Sugihara

Aristides de Sousa Mendes

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Liberator Country Reason for Result Angel Sanz-Briz

Giorgio Perlasca

Raul Wallenberg

Fun Fact: In over 200 years the United States of America has only issued 7 individuals

Honorary Citizen Documents.

Can You Name all 7?? Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust The Remarkable True Story of Oscar Shindler’s “List”

Film Forward

The film Schindler’s List focuses on the years of the Holocaust —a time when millions of Jews and other men, women, and children were murdered solely because of their ancestry. It is one of the darkest chapters in human history. Yet an appalling number of people, young and old, know little if anything about it. Even today the world has not yet learned the lesson of those terrible years. There are far too many places where hate, intolerance, and genocide still exist. Thus Schindler’s List is no less a “Jewish story” or a “German story” than it is a human story. And its subject matter applies to every generation. Schindler’s List is simply about racial hatred— which is the state of mind that attacks not what makes us people but what makes us different from each other. It is my hope that Schindler’s List will awaken and sustain an awareness of such evil and inspire this generation and future generations to seek an end to racial hatred.

-- Amblin Entertainment, Inc.

Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust The Remarkable True Story of Oscar Shindler’s “List”

Timeline of Key Events from the Movie Schindler’s List

 June, 1942 The Germans build a forced labor camp at Plaszow.

 June -October, 1942 Deportations and shootings terrorize the Krakow ghetto.

 February, 1943 Amon Goeth takes command of Plaszow. About 80 to 85 percent of the Jews who would die in the Holocaust have already perished.

 March 13-14, 1943 The Germans liquidate Krakow ghetto.

 March 1943 Schindler sets up a branch of his factory at Plaszow.

 August, 1944 Schindler’s factory is closed and his Jewish workers are taken back to Plaszow.

 October, 1944 Schindler creates a list of Jewish workers for his new plant in Brennec, ; workers are transferred from Plaszow via Auschwitz.

 January, 1945 Plaszow is closed and the remaining prisoners are sent to Auschwitz.

 May 8, 1945 World War II ends in Europe. The Holocaust is over.

 May 9, 1945 The Soviet army liberates the camp at Brennec.

 September 13, 1946 Goeth is found guilty of war crimes and is hung in Krakow.

 October 9, 1974 dies in , Germany.

Discussion Questions:

1. What were some of Schindler’s characteristics at the beginning of the movie? Where did he acquire the money to begin his factory?

2. What were Schindler’s reasons for hiring Jewish wokers?

3. Explain how he got his connections within the Nazi party.

4. Why did Schindler get into trouble with the government on his birthday? How did he get out of jail?

5. Why and how was the “list” created?

6. Explain why Schindler left one line blank on the “list”?

7. How does Schindler go broke?

8. Schindler is given a ring inscribed with a Hebrew saying, “whoever saves one life, saves the entire world”, where did the Jews get the gold for the ring? How does Schindler react when they give it to him?

Key Point: In your own words describe the scene in the movie that is the turning point for Schindler. Be sure to Explain why. Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Synopsis of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State

Episode 5: "Murder & Intrigue" explores the complex web of international politics spun during the last nine months of 1944. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz at a time when the killing machinery had been honed to perfection. That autumn saw a significant act of resistance in Auschwitz when a group of Jewish prisoners revolted.

Sonderkommandos (Start: 23:11; Length: 8:55) The spring and summer of 1944 were extremely busy times for the killing machines of Auschwitz and thus for the , the Jewish prisoners forced by the Nazis to work in the crematoria disposing of the dead. These prisoners worked under the constant threat of death and under tremendous psychic strain as they witnessed and furthered the Nazis' Final Solution.

Eliminating Evidence (Start: 38:54; Length: 9:03): By January 1945, as Soviet troops approached, Himmler and the SS knew that Auschwitz's days were numbered, and they were determined to erase the evidence of its existence. The SS destroyed the gas chambers and crematoria, and they ordered prisoners who were able to march in frigid temperatures to train stations. Once there, the prisoners boarded open wagons and were transported to new camps closer to the interior of Germany.

Discussion Questions

The Quote…“What was acceptable once will be acceptable again" was revised from an oft-used phrase , "What has happened once can happen again."

 What is the difference between the two formulations?

 What is the importance of stressing

acceptance rather than happenstance?