THE HOLOCAUST
Introduction
The Holocaust (though it has its roots in earlier religious and racially based antisemitism) was a unique phenomenon, different from all other persecutions of the Jews and indeed of other genocides insofar as in the Holocaust, the murder was not a means to an end, but was the end in itself, seen as a greater good. Jews were to be eliminated completely, so that not one Jewish man, woman or child would remain on the planet in any country conquered by the Germans and their allies.
The word, “holocaust” means a burnt offering, a sacrifice. For some, the Hebrew term, “Shoah” “devastation, cataclysm” is preferable.
Historical background:
Text 1: The Nuremberg Laws: 1935
".....the purity of the German blood is the pre-requisite for the future existence of the German People."
Forbade mixed marriages and extra-marital relations.
Deprived Jews of citizenship.
Text 2: Decree for the Elimination of the Jews from German Economic Life
A list of enterprises a Jew could not take part in: Jews removed from commercial life.
Text 3: Ghetto Decreed for Berlin, December 5, 1938
Jews in Berlin confined to a ghetto. Further isolation.
Text 4: Protocols of the Wannsee Conference
Detailed Nazi plans to rid Europe of its Jewish population through "the final solution of the Jewish Question" (genocide).
Text 5: Gideon Hausner, Opening Speech at the Eichmann Trial
Summary of the complaints of the Jew against his oppressor.
"The unprecedented crime, carried out by Europeans in the twentieth century, led to the adoption of the concept of a crime unknown to human annals even during the darkest ages - the crime of Genocide."
Introduction
The Holocaust (though it has its roots in earlier religious and racially based antisemitism) was a unique phenomenon, different from all other persecutions of the Jews and indeed of other genocides insofar as in the Holocaust, the murder was not a means to an end, but was the end in itself, seen as a greater good. Jews were to be eliminated completely, so that not one Jewish man, woman or child would remain on the planet in any country conquered by the Germans and their allies.
The word, “holocaust” means a burnt offering, a sacrifice. For some, the Hebrew term, “Shoah” “devastation, cataclysm” is preferable.
Historical background:
- 1924 Nazis won 24 seats. Mein Kampf published: Hitler sees his struggle as a cosmic struggle which supersedes all other matters. The struggle against the Jews is the work of the Lord- it is central to his ideology.
- 1929 130,000 votes
- 1932 Nazis won 37%, or 400,000 votes.
- 1933: (Jan 30th) With support of industry, President von Hindenburg, Hitler chancellor.
- 1934: After death of Hindenberg, Hitler declares himself President and chancellor of the 3rd Reich.
- 1935: Nuremberg Laws - Jews deprived of citizenship
- 1938: Kristalnacht
- 1939 -1941: Ghettos and mass murder in occupied areas.
- 1942-1945: "The Final Solution"
Text 1: The Nuremberg Laws: 1935
".....the purity of the German blood is the pre-requisite for the future existence of the German People."
Forbade mixed marriages and extra-marital relations.
Deprived Jews of citizenship.
Text 2: Decree for the Elimination of the Jews from German Economic Life
A list of enterprises a Jew could not take part in: Jews removed from commercial life.
Text 3: Ghetto Decreed for Berlin, December 5, 1938
Jews in Berlin confined to a ghetto. Further isolation.
Text 4: Protocols of the Wannsee Conference
Detailed Nazi plans to rid Europe of its Jewish population through "the final solution of the Jewish Question" (genocide).
Text 5: Gideon Hausner, Opening Speech at the Eichmann Trial
Summary of the complaints of the Jew against his oppressor.
"The unprecedented crime, carried out by Europeans in the twentieth century, led to the adoption of the concept of a crime unknown to human annals even during the darkest ages - the crime of Genocide."
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