An IntroductionTHE HOLOCAUST
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.
What was the Holocaust?
(Portrait of members of a Hungarian Jewish family)
HOW DID THE NAZI’S FEEL ABOUT THE JEWS?The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the
Jews, deemed “inferior,” were “unworthy of life.”
“The Eternal Jew” Film
Jews were accused of being behind the Allies
Jews were accused of being responsible for starting the war.
OTHERS WHO WERE CONSIDERED INFERIOR.
• Nazis also targeted other groups because of their perceived “racial inferiority”: Roma (Gypsies), persons with disabilities, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and others).
• Also Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals.
Roma (Gypsies) Jehovah’s WitnessesSoviet Prisoners
• 1933 - 9,000,000 Jews
• 1945 – 3,000,000 Jews
• 1945 – 200,000 Mentally/Physically Disabled were murdered.
• 1945 – Over 3,000,000 Soviet prisoners died while under Nazi control.
Europe Before and After
Mentally Disabled Jews
• Before beginning the war in 1939, the Nazis established concentration camps to imprison the inferior.
• Created ghettos, transit camps, and forced-labor camps.
• Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) carried out mass-murder operations against the inferior.
Concentration Camps
View of barracks in the Majdanek camp. Poland, date uncertain
• Biased info spread to shape public opinion and behavior.
• Its power depends on
• Message
• Technique
• Means of communication
• Environment
• Audience
• Propaganda
• Uses truths, half truths, or lies
• Plays on Emotion
• Attacks Opponents
Nazi Propaganda
This portrait depicts Hitler as a messianic figure gazing toward a better future for Germany
• Nazis used the latest technology to spread their propaganda• Print• Film• Broadcasts• Toys• Parades Vote For Hitler Slogan- Reaching out to
both industrial workers "of the fist" and white-collar workers "of the mind."
Nazi Propaganda
1. What is a simple definition of Propaganda?
2. What were 3 groups that were considered inferior amongst the Nazis?
3. How many Jews were murdered during the Holocaust?
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