4.1.5 Impact of Nazi Rule: The Holocaust
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4.1.5 The Impact of Nazi Rule: The Holocaust
A Jewish woman walks towards the gas chambers with three young children after going through the selection process on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. © Courtesy U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
What does the image to the left communicate to you? What do the details from the picture and the caption below tell you about the ideology of fascism?
In the picture, a hunched old woman walks with several children beside a railroad track. The woman and children all have their heads covered and bowed. One of the children is helping the smallest one walk. The body language of the old lady and the child who is walking behind suggests that they are miserable yet prepared to accept their fate. Beyond the group is a strong and high barbed wire fence, and beyond that, a barren field with a person seated against a concrete wall in the far background. The overwhelming mood of the image is of dejection and resignation.
One student wrote this:
In the picture, a hunched old woman walks with several children beside a railroad track. The woman and children all have their heads covered and bowed. One of the children is helping the smallest one walk. The body language of the old lady and the child who is walking behind suggests that they are miserable yet prepared to accept their fate. Beyond the group is a strong and high barbed wire fence, and beyond that, a barren field with a person seated against a concrete wall in the far background. The overwhelming mood of the image is of dejection and resignation.
One student wrote this:
...you can see the destruction of the family unit and evidence of how the psychological destruction of humans took place even before murder. To me, this picture captures the very essence of all that is tragic about the holocaust. You can almost
put the dirge music to it in your head.
The story behind the photos on this page is fascinating. These photos were discovered by Holocaust survivor Lili Jacob, the only surviving member of her family, who had been placed in the infirmary at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp because
of typhus. When the camp was liberated by US soldiers, she went to the SS barracks to find some clothing. She found an album of photos (including some of herself) that had been collected to document the arrival, selection, and processing of Jews
from Subcarpathian Rus, a small area now mostly in the Ukraine.
When she left the camp, she took the album with her and later allowed the photos to be reprinted for the Jewish community. The negatives were later discovered in a museum. The photos were later used in the Auschwitz trials in which those who ran the camp were tried for their actions. Lili, who by then had emigrated to United States, was brought to testify at the trial.
When she left the camp, she took the album with her and later allowed the photos to be reprinted for the Jewish community. The negatives were later discovered in a museum. The photos were later used in the Auschwitz trials in which those who ran the camp were tried for their actions. Lili, who by then had emigrated to United States, was brought to testify at the trial.
Using a technique called scapegoating, or the direction of popular discontent, Hitler and the Nazis blamed the Jews for everything that had gone wrong with Germany. They drew upon the already existing belief of some Germans that the "Aryan" race was superior to all others, and the anti-Semitic view that was already present in Europe and North America, that the Jews were to blame for the death of Christ and the collapse of the economy.
Read about anti-semitism on page 177 in your text, Perspectives on Ideology.
Jewish women and children from Subcarpathian Russia await selection on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. © Courtesy U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
As they gained complete power over Germany, the Nazi attitudes against the Jews and any group they believed to be Untermenschen or "subhuman" escalated from oppression to persecution to extermination.
They practiced eugenics or enforced sterilization with the goal of allowing only those with desirable traits to reproduce. As a result, anyone who was disabled or deemed mentally deficient was sterilized. This went further when thousands of people who had been institutionalized were put to death. Others who were considered inferior and put to death included the Roma (Gypsies), blacks, homosexuals, and some religious groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Under the new laws introduced by the Nazis, Jewish people were at first prohibited from holding certain jobs. Each Jew had to wear a yellow star to be identified as a Jew. Thousands of Jews fled the country, and those who tried to help them were punished severely. All Jewish children were expelled from school, and all Jewish businesses were closed. The Jewish people were rounded up, put on trains, and sent to concentration camps where millions were put into forced labour and killed eventually. An estimated 9 to 11 million people died, including 6 million Jews.
They practiced eugenics or enforced sterilization with the goal of allowing only those with desirable traits to reproduce. As a result, anyone who was disabled or deemed mentally deficient was sterilized. This went further when thousands of people who had been institutionalized were put to death. Others who were considered inferior and put to death included the Roma (Gypsies), blacks, homosexuals, and some religious groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Under the new laws introduced by the Nazis, Jewish people were at first prohibited from holding certain jobs. Each Jew had to wear a yellow star to be identified as a Jew. Thousands of Jews fled the country, and those who tried to help them were punished severely. All Jewish children were expelled from school, and all Jewish businesses were closed. The Jewish people were rounded up, put on trains, and sent to concentration camps where millions were put into forced labour and killed eventually. An estimated 9 to 11 million people died, including 6 million Jews.
Read "Persecution of the Jews and Others" and "Nazi Eugenics" on pages 188 to 191 including the boxed text on the Nuremberg Laws on page 190 of your text Perspectives on Ideology.
As you read about the Holocaust, take notes on the following:
What ideas are presented about the rejection of liberalism?
What values and beliefs lie behind the ideology of fascism?
How did the Nazis use the techniques of dictatorship to maintain total control?
What values and beliefs lie behind the ideology of fascism?
How did the Nazis use the techniques of dictatorship to maintain total control?
Many excellent movies are available about the Holocaust, including Schindler's List, The Pianist, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Book Thief.
For more about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, go to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
For more about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, go to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.