8.9 -  The Holocaust

The Holocaust: Origins and Atrocities

• Hitler’s Racial Ideology: When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, he openly expressed his belief in the superiority of the Aryan race, which he claimed were the descendants of ancient Germanic peoples. Hitler viewed the Jewish population of Europe as the greatest threat to this "master race" and began implementing policies to establish a new racial order.

Early Anti-Jewish Policies

• Nuremberg Laws (1935): The first major iteration of Hitler's racial policies came in the form of the Nuremberg Laws. These laws stripped Jews of their citizenship and made it illegal for "pure-blood" Germans to marry Jews.

• Jewish Emigration: Initially, Hitler considered various plans for Jewish emigration, including the idea of sending Jews to Madagascar. However, with the outbreak of World War II, these plans became unmanageable, and his focus shifted to more extreme measures.

The Final Solution

• Wannsee Conference (1942): In 1942, Nazi leaders, including Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, and Hitler, devised the "Final Solution" to the so-called "Jewish problem," which called for the complete extermination of Jews rather than their emigration.

• Death Camps: Even before the Wannsee Conference, the Nazis had begun constructing death camps, such as Auschwitz and Dachau, to systematically carry out mass exterminations. Upon arrival at these camps, Jews were subjected to a brief medical examination; about 20-30% were selected for forced labor, while the remaining 70-80% were immediately murdered.

• Method of Execution: Those not selected for work were told they would be showered and deloused, but instead, they were forced into gas chambers where hydrogen cyanide was released, killing them within minutes. In total, approximately 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

Targeting Other Groups

• Additional Victims: In addition to Jews, the Nazis targeted other groups for extermination. This included around 1.5 million Romani people, who were also viewed as an inferior race. Other targeted groups included homosexuals, Slavic people, and individuals with disabilities, bringing the total death toll of these atrocities to an additional 4 to 5 million people.