Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” Mr. Meetze Holocaust Review of the Creation of the Final Solution: 1. Why were the Nuremberg Laws 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 Night of Kristallnault Change Germany in 1938? 5. Describe Life in the Ghetto. 6. What were the Einsatzgruppen 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 Wannsee Conference? Be sure to explain both Adolf Eichmann & Reinhardt Heydrich’s Roles. 10. Name 3 of the 6 Permanente Killing Factories Found in the country of_________? Unit VI: “Stories from the Holocaust” 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 Jews 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 Soviet Union 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 Heinrich Himmler, 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 Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Reinhard Heydrich 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 Zyklon B 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 Poland. 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 Nazi Party 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 General Government—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.