The Holocaust in History

Fall 2009 

Schools of Thought

•      Intentionalists - Those who believe that Hitler wanted to eliminated the Jews from the very beginning .

•      Functionalists - Those who believe that the Final Solution was a twisted road and prearranged.

Some Historians and The Holocaust

•      Christopher Browning -- a “Moderate Functionalist” sees no clear evidence that Hitler was planning Genocide.

•      Gerald Fleming  -- takes a “Functionalist” view that Hitler didn’t need to give an order since his subordinates knew what he wanted. He called this the Fuhrer’s Wish.

•      David Irving -- In Hitler’s War Irving argues that Hitler never knew of the Final Solution.

        When The Nazis Came to Power
in 1933

•      The Nazi victory gave Anti-Semitism a forum.

•      Nazi “Racial Experts” would have made David Duke proud.

•      The rank and file Nazis hoped that in time they would have a Juderein (Jew Free) Germany.

•      It was very difficult to purge Germany of the Jews since Jews were so integrated into the German community.

•      Many traditional conservatives wanted the Nazis to tone down the rhetoric.

Hitler’s Background

Using Traditional Models for Jewish Persecution

Pre-Final Solution Persecutions

•      Boycott of Jewish Businesses (April 1-4, 1933)

•      Denationalization - removing  citizenship of Jews from Eastern Europe that entered Germany after Nov. 11, 1918.

•      Nuremberg Laws in 1935.

•      Driving Jews from public and business community.

•      The SS “rationalized” the persecutions.

•      The goal was for Jews to immigrate.

Early Immigration Solutions

•      Syrian Solution -- Buy 30,000 square miles in Syria from the French and locate the Jews there.

•      Ecuador Solution -- Move the Jews to Oriente Province.

•      Madagascar Solution -- Move the Jews to the large island off the coast of Africa.

Nazi Solutions to the Jewish Question

The Voyage of the SS St. Louis

Jewish Immigration in Europe

Jewish Immigration Outside of Europe

Getting The Message

•      Pressure came from the Gestapo.

•      Developed the Judenliste and Adolf Eichmann was responsible for arranging the swift exodus of Jews from Germany and Austria.

•      Then there was the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

•      The worst was the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9-10, 1938.

The Origins of Kristallnacht

•      Poland passed an Expatriates Law on March 31, 1938.

•      If Polish Jews did not renew their passports, then they could not claim Polish nationality and this had to be done by Oct. 29, 1938.

•      The Germans then rounded up the Ostjuden and shipped them back to Poland on Oct. 28.

•      One such family was the Grynzpans and their son Herschel was living in Paris.

•      Young Grynzpan received a letter from his sister telling of their plight.

•      Grynzpan then shot the German Third Sec in the German Embassy -- Ernst Vom Rath.

Kristallnacht Pogrom

The Training Ground for the Final Solution

•      With the outbreak of the war, the immigration solution was no longer possible.

•      Earlier, Hitler authorized the elimination of the sick and mentally ill.

•      This was called the T4 Program, named after Tiergartenstrasse 4, the headquarters of the program.

•      Only the effort of Cardinal Galen slowed, but did not stop the process.

•      What it did was to serve as a training ground for the men who would run the killing centers in the East.

Did They All Look Like This?

The Final Solution to the Jewish Question

The Machinery of Destruction

The Origins of the Final Solution

•      The first step was the start of the euthanasia program.

•      Followed by the establishment of Ghettos in Poland and the decision on a “Territorial Solution.”

•      The Invasion of the Soviet Union and the use of the Einsatzgruppen, special action units, which traveled in the wake of the Wehrmacht into Russia.

The Wannsee Conference

•      July 31, 1941, Herman Goering orders Reinhard Heydrich to develop a comprehensive plan for the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.

•      The Meeting was set for January 20, 1942 in the Berlin Suburb of Wannsee.

•      It was to be a meeting of all bureaucratic and party agencies.

•      Numbers and costs were finalized.

Hitler in Mein Kampf on Jews

Operation Reinhard Death Camps

What About Resistance?

•      Most Jews did not know about what was about to happen.

•      European Jews thought that this persecution would pass too.

•      Resistance was rare with the exception of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

•      Few Jews could expect help from the outside.

•      The Germans used a policy of Collective Responsibility.

•      There has to be hope of success.

What Did The Allies Know and When Did They Know it?

•      Word reached the WJC in 1942 and was passed to the British and Americans.

•      The British broke the Enigma Code and knew what the Germans were doing in the West.

•      Escapees, especially Rudolf Vrba, passed photos to the West.

•      German soldiers took photos and it was the worst kept state secret.

What Could The Allies Have Done?

•      Bomb Auschwitz?

•      Distribute literature to Germany?

•      Execute German POWs?

•      Destroy German Cities?

•      Bomb the Railroads leading to Auschwitz?

•      Win the war as quickly as possible?

•      Encourage Jews to flee the Nazis?

Division of War Criminals and Perpetrators

•      The Planners or CEOs of the Holocaust.

•      Concentration or Death Camp Commandants.

•      The Civil Servants who made the process work.

•      The Ordinary men, including the police, soldiers, railroad workers, and the SS guards.

Concentration/Death Camp Commandants

•      Most were trained at Dachau, the first concentration camp in the system.

•      Many were veterans of World War I.

•      More had a background in the T4 Program.

•      Most saw themselves as soldiers serving the interests of the Reich.

The Civil Servants and the Holocaust

•      They saw themselves as competent and inner directed.

•      They did not belong to the Nazi Party.

•      They did not buy the Nazi Rhetoric.

•      Most were not Anti-Semites.

•      They did not read Anti-Semitic literature either.

•      They were not robots.

•      Yet they made the system work.

What About the Men of Reserve Police Battalion 101?

•      Many were middle age.

•      They came from the least Nazi region in Germany.

•      Most had a steady job before the war.

•      They received their education before Hitler came to Power.

•      Only 25 Percent were Party members.

•      Most were from the lower economic classes.

Factors That Influenced Rescue

•      The level of German control.

•      The Status of the Jews before the war.

•      The level of Anti-Semitism before the war.

•      Local attitudes toward the Jews.

•      The likelihood of rescue.

•      Geographical factors.

Why Did Rescuers Take The Risk?

•      They knew the intentions of the Nazis.

•      They believed what the Germans were doing was a crime.

•      If the Nazis could do this to the Jews, then they could do it to them.

•      Many helped without being asked.

•      Many rescuers volunteered knowing the risks.

Factors That Influenced Individual Rescuers

•      Patriotism and the respect for the law.

•      A sense of egalitarianism.

•      Christian values.

•      Hatred for the Nazis.

•      Political activism.

Primo Levi’s Gray Zone

Who is Kurt Gerstein?

The Ambiguity of Good: The Strange Case of Kurt Gerstein

•      He was born in 1905.

•      He was extremely religious.

•      Like many he was initially swept up with the enthusiasm of the Nazi movement.

•      When the Nazi’s attacked the Churches, he left the movement.

•      Spent time in Dachau and later joined the SS.

•      He witnessed the first use of Zyklon B gas.

•      He told the Swedes, the Church and the Dutch.

What Did The Church Know?

Holocaust Deniers

Origins and Goals of Holocaust Deniers

•      They see themselves as “revisionists.”

•      They seek to make fascism a legitimate political movement again.

•      They question the issue of numbers.

•      They call The Diary of Anne Frank a fraud.

•      They claim that most victims died of disease and are living in Russia or the United States.

•      They question if gas was ever used.

This Has Been A Corky Presentation