The Holocaust

18 October 2004 (Lecture #22)

• People flock to Hitler who teaches them to hate Jews

• Euthanasia – kill off Germans who are insane, in nursing homes, born with birth defects, etc.

• Anti-Semantic policies

o 1933 – boycott Jews; Star of David

o 1935 – Nuremberg Laws

o 1938 – Jewish property confiscated; Krystallnacht

• Total War – Hitler announces “War of Destruction” à destroy the Jewish culture too

o Poland – Jews interned and executed

o Russia – Commissar Order; Barbarossa Decree

§ 90% of Soviet POWs killed

o Final Solution – make Europe “judenfre” … ultimate goal: 14.3M