Holocaust

Classification

Symbolization

• Swastika (Germans)
• Star of David (Jews)
• Pink Triangle (Homosexuals)
• Red Triangle (political prisoners)
• Purple Triangle (Jehovah's Witnesses)
• Green Triangle (professional criminals)
• Blue Triangle (foreign forced labor)
• Black Triangle (Gypsy, vagrants, pacifists, etc.)

Dehumanization

• Nazi government named Jews an "inferior race"
• Basic human rights were removed and Nuremberg laws were put into place.
• e.g. boycotting Jewish business
• laws preventing Christians from marrying Jews
• enforced curfews for Jews

Organization
The Nazi's, particular the SS, organized the genocide.

Polarization

• Germans who supported Jews were threatened
• Propaganda
• e.g. blamed Jews for economic and social problems in the world
• Preached that jews must be excluded from society and schools
• Used films, posters, and dramas to teach a distorted image of the Jews.

Preparation
Jews first sent to live in ghettos before being sent to camps and minority groups were separated from Germans.

Extermination

Extermination

Denial

• Burned the bodies and placed them in mass graves.
• Citizens claimed they had no knowledge and denied involvement in Nuremberg laws.
• To this day the German government says the Holocaust was carried out by only certain members of the Nazi party.

International Response

• Most Americans unaware of what was going on.
• U.S. offered temporary refuge to Jews but limited the number to 10,000
• Allied forces stopped the Holocaust from continuing when they defeated the Nazis.
• U.N. adopted the genocide convention in 1948
• A Universal Declaration of Human rights was passed in 1948
• Nuremburg trials held to hold individuals responsible.

International Response

• Most Americans unaware of what was going on.
• U.S. offered temporary refuge to Jews but limited the number to 10,000
• Allied forces stopped the Holocaust from continuing when they defeated the Nazis.
• U.N. adopted the genocide convention in 1948
• A Universal Declaration of Human rights was passed in 1948
• Nuremburg trials held to hold individuals responsible.

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever
human beings endure suffering and humiliation.
We must always take sides.”