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The Holocaust Classwork

Hitler and the Nazi party believed that the German people were naturally superior to other
races. Germans who were of pure Aryan blood were members of the Master Race and would
come to rule the world after the war. All groups besides Aryans were considered subhuman and
naturally inferior by the Nazis. Hitler blamed many of Germanys problems, like losing World
War I and the Treaty of Versailles, on these groups, especially the Jews. In Hitlers vision of the
future, the subhuman people would be either used as slave labor or exterminated.
After becoming the unchallenged leader of Germany in 1933, Hitler began enacting laws
that limited the rights of Jews in Germany. These laws forbade Jews from attending German
schools, owning businesses, and holding jobs in the German government. Aryans were also
forbidden from marrying Jews. Many Germans at this time tried to prove they were of pure
blood by showing all of their grandparents were Aryan. In Hitlers Germany, even if you had
one Jewish grandparent, that was too much and you were considered a subhuman.
On November 8, 1938, thousands of Jewish businesses, synagogues, cemeteries, schools and
homes were attacked and destroyed by the Nazis. Later this was called Kristallnacht, or the
"night of broken glass" because you could hear glass breaking all night long. Along with the
damage to Jewish property, at least 91 Jews were killed.
Many Jews fled Germany as a result of this seemingly random attack, but many remained
because they felt Germany was their home country. Soon after this attack, the Nazis began
forcing Jews to relocate to ghettos. Tens of thousands of people were forced to live in ghettos
as they waited to be moved again to concentration camps. Concentration camps were mostly
labor camps where Jews were stripped of all their possessions and forced to work making
weapons for the German military. People were fed poorly and as they became too sick to work,
they began to die or were relocated again.
If Jews were unable to work, they would be sent to death camps like Auschwitz, a
concentration camp where Jews were systematically killed and their bodies burned. In all, more
than 6 million Jews were killed in what became known as the Holocaust. Over 1 million were
children. As the war progressed and Germany took more territory, the German military would
send Jews in conquered areas to concentration camps for work or extermination. In total, over
2/3rds of all the Jews in German occupied areas were killed.
After the war, the United Nations created the crime called Genocide, or the attempted killing
of an entire race or ethnicity. After the Holocaust, many Jews began moving to Palestine
(Israel).

Answer FIVE of the following questions in complete sentences.

1. Why did Hitler believe the Jews needed to be exterminated?

2. How did Hitler start taking away the rights of Jews in Germany? When?

3. What was Kristallnacht? Why did many Jews remain in Germany after Kristallnacht?

4. What were concentration camps? What happened to people there?

5. What happened to people too sick to work?

6. What is the Holocaust? How many people were affected?

7. What is genocide? How is it a human rights violation?

8. Why do you think the German people went along with Hitlers plans to exterminate the Jews?

9. What is the name of the idea that the Jews would return to their homeland in Israel? How did
the Holocaust help this happen?

Answer the questions for 4 of the documents.

Document #1
As the Nazi Party and Hitler began to take absolute control over Germany, a long series of laws
were passed to help control the German people. One law made it mandatory for German youths
to join Hitler Youth, a Nazi version of the Boy Scouts / Girl Scouts. Other laws made it mandatory
for all high ranking officials, politicians, and businessmen to become members of the Nazi Party.
The NUREMBERG LAWS were laws designed to persecute and eliminate the Jewish problem of
the German nation. these laws prevented Jews from going to German schools, from working in
German companies, from owning land or businesses, from living in Germany, and finally from life
itself.
How did life in Nazi Germany differ from life in a democracy?
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Document #2
When they came for the Gypsies, I did not speak up.
When they came for the homosexuals, I did not speak up.
When they came for the Jews, I did not speak up.
When they came for the Communists, I did not speak up.
When they came for the Catholics, I did not speak up.
When they finally came for me, there was no one left to speak up for me.
Father Niemoller, a German Lutheran Protestant priest was sent to a concentration
camp for publicly speaking out against the Nazis. He later died in the prison camp of
Auschwitz.
What is the moral of Father Niemoller's message?
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Document#3

What was Hitlers first goal when in power?

Based on your knowledge of the Holocaust, why did Hitler have this goal?

Document 4

Document #5
THE FINAL SOLUTION
6 million Jews were murdered throughout Europe. Here is the breakdown of some of the
countries.

COUNTRY

TOTAL JEWISH
POPULATION

ESTIMATED JEWISH
POPULATION
ANNIHALTATED

PERCENTAGE

Poland

3,300,000

300,0000

90.00%

Germany/Austria

240,000

210,000

88.00%

France

350,000

90,000

26.00%

The Netherlands

140,000

105,000

75.00%

Russia

975,000

107,000

11.00%

We know that the numbers are true for several reasons. First, the Nazis actually kept records of
the number of people who were sent to Concentration Camps and murdered. After World War II
ended, the Allies got those records and made them public. Second when the Allied soldiers freed
the people in the Concentration Camps near the end of the war, they saw with their own eyes
what had taken place.
1) Which countries had the most amount of Jews killed?
2) Why do you think this country had the most killed? (Think about how the war started)

3) Which country had the fewest killed?

4) How do we know the number of Jews killed is the actual number?
5) How do you think Allied soldiers responded to concentration camps when they discovered
them?

Document #6
JEWISH RESISTANCE
The most famous fight of resistance came in the city of Warsaw in Poland. Three quarters of the
400,000 Jews were
arrested and sent to Concentration Camps. In 1943, the remaining Jews fought back. Even
though they had no guns or ammunition to start with, they put such a great fight that the Nazis
had to send in an army to beat them. All of them were killed.
1) Explain how the Jewish population in Warsaw resisted the Nazis.

2) Do you think it is important to talk about Jewish Resistance the Holocaust? Why?

Document 7

Why do you think women prisoners were separated from male prisoners?