3000 Years Ago the Israelites (Jews) Were Enslaved by Egypt

G-d:

·  G-d is spelt without its ‘o’ as Jews believe that it is taking the lords name in vain by writing it down on paper. As if it was full written down on paper and the paper was thrown away it would be a sin.

Passover:

·  3000 years ago the Israelites (Jews) were enslaved by Egypt.

·  Moses who was a simple Jewish Sheppard was told by G-d to go to the Pharaoh and demand his people’s freedom.

·  The Pharaoh refused and so Moses punished the Egyptians with 10 several plagues.

1.  Blood

2.  Frogs

3.  Lice (Vermin)

4.  Wild Beast (Fly’s)

5.  Blight (Cattle disease)

6.  Boils

7.  Hail

8.  Locust

9.  Darkness

10.  Kill all of the first born of Egypt

·  To prevent the killing of Jewish first born the Jews were told to put blood on their homes. This way G-d would Passover their homes.

·  Pesach means ‘Passover’ or ‘protection’ as G-d passed over their homes.

·  When the Pharaoh finally agreed to let the Israelites go the Jews quickly left their homes. They were forced to take their uncooked breads with them. In the desert heat these cooked into a cracker like bread that was called Matzos.

·  However the Pharaoh changed his mind and chased them into he red sea with his army. Moses then parted the seas for the Israelites to walk through. Once they were safely on the other side Moses closed the waters and it engulfed the Pharaoh and his army.

Spiritual Resistance:

·  Spiritual resistance is a non-armed resistance. This was done by carry on a ‘normal’ life while living in the ghettos and concentration camps. This was done by still practicing the rituals, praying, and going to school. The Nazis had banned all of these activities. They also created underground newspapers to allow information to be brought in and out of the ghettos.

Holocaust:

o  Refers to the state-sponsored, systematic, prosecution and annulations of European Jews by Nazi Germany between 1933 to 1945.

First Solution 1933-1938

·  The First Solution was meant to not kill the Jews but have them leave Germany. There were three methods they were going to use:

1.  Strip them of their citizenship.

2.  Harsh laws that pressured them to leave.

3.  Expel them from Germany. (Kick them out)

·  On April 7, 1933. Jewish public employees were fired.

·  April 21, 1933. Kosher meat was outlawed. A special way of butchering meat, some Jews can only eat kosher meats.

·  April 25, 1933. Jewish children are not allowed in public schools.

·  May 10, 1933. All Jewish written books are burned.

·  Sept 15, 1935. The Nuremberg Laws created more anti-Jewish Laws:

1.  Citizenship was taken away

2.  Forbid intermarriage of Jews and non-Jews.

3.  Forbid extramarital affairs between Jews and non-Jews.

4.  Jews could fly the Nazi flag

5.  Jews could not employ non-Jewish women under the age of 45.

·  April 1938 all Jews had to register anything of value that they owned.

·  October 1938, Jews had to sell all of their businesses and property at 5 to 10% of its actual value.

·  By the late 1930’s one-fourth of all Jews had left.

·  They were also banned from public places and forced to wear the yellow Star of David at all times.

·  On November 9 and 10, 1938 there was the first and only Nazi planned pogrom. It was later called Kristallnatten. They attacked businesses. Synagogues, and homes. They killed 1000 people on the streets and rounded up 20000 people for concentration camps.

Second Solution 1939 to 1942:

·  Germany had taken over part of Poland. Some had been given to Russian and some was turned into Government General for Germany.

·  The plan was to move all the Jews to the newly formed Government General. As there was already a large amount of Jews located there.

·  So they set up Ghettos that were close to the railways. This was so it would be easier to liquidate the ghettos and also to transport the work force.

·  They decided that disease, starvation, no medicine, and over working the Jews would also help solve the problem.

·  Workers were those between the ages of 14 and 65.

·  They also thought of making a reservation in Lublin, Poland to house all the Jews.

·  Also thought of emptying the island of Madagascar and making that the ‘Jewish’ island.

·  The ‘T-4’ program was also created. This is when the Nazi doctors killed people that were considered unfit. This included criminals, mentally ill, and deformed people. It is thought that this was also used to test the publics reaction to mass killings of people considered unfit for the Aryan race.

Final Solution 1942 to 1945:

·  The final solution was the extermination of all Jews.

·  This was to be done by:

1.  Shooting them

2.  Starvation

3.  Disease

4.  Overwork

5.  Gas chambers

6.  Gas vans

·  The Nazis create six extermination camps

1.  Treblinka

2.  Chelmno

3.  Sobibor

4.  Maidanek

5.  Auschwitz-Birkenau

6.  Belzec

·  They also used the Gas Vans or S-Trucks to begin killing them. These vehicles had the exhaust emptied into the back of the truck were the carbon monoxide killed the victims in the back.

·  The Einsatzgruppen also was in operation at this time. They were a task force that killed people on the streets.

Camps:

·  The first camp was built in 1933 to hold political prisoners.

·  Upon arrival at the camps doctors separated the prisoners. Right for life, left for death. The old, young (under 12), pregnant, crippled, and ill were sent to the left immediately.

·  Possession was taken away, their hair was removed, and they were showered, and given a uniform. Sometimes they were also tattooed.

o  Each of these steps was meant to be dehumanizing emotionally and physically.

Their day:

o  The day started at dawn.

o  They were then given shifts to go to the bathroom.

o  They marched to breakfast were they were given some bread and a liquid substitute for coffee or tea.

o  They worked for 10 to 14 hours

o  They worked in even the most severe weather.

o  They also did role call throughout the day; sometimes they were lined up for hours on end.

Gas Chambers:

·  The Nazis used many tricks to try and prevent the Jews or other victims from figuring out what was happening.

1.  They were told they were being resettled.

2.  They were given work permits.

3.  Told to bring work clothes and their tools

4.  Had them exchange their money so they wouldn’t have to at arrival.

5.  Postcards from family members that were sent before them were given to them. These said everything was okay, however, the victims were forced to write that.

6.  They were given food.

7.  Sometimes they traveled in travel cars not cattle cars.

8.  An orchestra was playing when they arrive.

9.  A Red Cross van was there to take the elderly or sick to the ‘hospital’ (which was the gas chamber)

10.  Told they were going to have a shower. Sometimes they were given towels and soap.

11.  Had showerheads installed in the chambers so they thought it was showers.

12.  Treblinka also had a fake train station in place.

·  The chambers could kill 2000 people in 5/6 minutes.

Death Tolls:

Camps Killed Survivors

Chelmno 360000 3

Belzec 600000 2

Sobibor 250000 64

Treblinka 800000 less then 40

Maidanek 500000 Less then 600

Auschwitz-Birkenau 1.5 to 2 million several thousand

Questions

Why didn’t they pretend they weren’t Jewish?

o  That is easier said then done. Some synagogues were raided and their registry of Jews was taken. Many Jews lived in Jewish communities, therefore, those communities were easily raided. Hasidic Jews wore beards, long hair, and hats. Therefore they were very easy targets. One of the tests that German or Polish authorities did was offer them Vodka. As Jews at the time did not drink Vodka. Another one was that men were circumcised.

What was needed to fake not being a Jew?

o  To fake not being a Jew a person would need multiple documents. They needed travel permits, work cars, ration cars, residence cards, birth certificates, and other documents. These were very hard to get a hold of illegally.

Vocabulary:

Hunger

Tired

Fear

Pain

Cold

o  When you see these words what do you think?

Hunger- What if you haven’t had anything more then a slice of bread a day for years?

Tired- What if you had to work for 14 hours a day. You only slept for a few hours a day, but you didn’t have blankets, and had to share your bed with 8 other people.

Fear- what id you had to fear for your life every moment of everyday.

Pain- What if you had to witness your family be killed. Or what if you had been beaten but couldn’t take anything for the pain. What if your muscles hurt so badly but you couldn’t rest.

Cold- What if you had nothing more then a thin uniform to wear during the winter. What if you didn’t have any blankets at night.

Struma

o  On December 1941, 769 Jews who were trying to escape Romania for Palestine paid large sums of money to board this ship. They were told that they would have to stop in Turkey to get their false papers. However, when they tried to land in Turkey, they were not allowed entry. The engine was broken and spent weeks at sea by it. Romania would not take the ship back, Turkey would not allow it to port, and Palestine would not let the Jews land there.

o  Turkey made a deadline of February 23, 1942 for the countries to decide what to do with Struma. No country would allow them access so Turkey took the boat to six to ten kilometers out to sea and left it there. As the engine did not work, it remains there until it exploded a couple hours later. It is thought that a Russian torpedo hit it. A rescue boat did not come for survivors until the next day. There were only two survivors. Though one was taken off the boat due to being pregnant.

Aryanization

o  Hitler and the Nazi party wanted to form an Aryan master race. Therefore, there were not to be any Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, mental ill, criminals, or anyone else consider ‘unfit.’ Therefore, the Nazis decided to get rid of all the ‘unfit’ people.

o  Therefore the Nazis created a definition for being Jewish.

1.  Having three Jewish grandparents.

2.  Having two Jewish grandparents who practiced Judaism.

3.  Having two Jewish grandparents and being married to a Jew.

4.  Any child born to a Jew after September 15, 1935.

o  All other mixed blood was called Mischlinges. Mischlinges had some rights but they were still restricted.

o  A person had to prove baptism and carry their ID cards to prove that they weren’t Jewish.

Death Marches:

·  Beginning in 1944 the Soviet were getting closer to the camps.

·  So the Nazis were liquidating the camps. They started marching some of them back to Germany. 20,000 died this way.

End of the War:

·  Nazi Germany had fallen and the Jews were liberated. But there was no were for them to go. As there was still anti-Semitic feelings in different areas and they were not allowed into other courtiers. Therefore, they had to live in Displaced Persons Camps.

·  55 million people were dead and 35 million were wounded.

·  17 million soldiers were dead.

·  Therefore, 38 million civilians were killed. This includes Jews, gypsies, POWs, and political prisoners.

Experiments:

·  The Nazi doctors performed extreme and cruel experiments on Jew and their other prisoners. Many of the patients died or suffered greatly during these experiments.

·  They tested people surviving in the coldest and hottest temperatures.

·  The tested how long newborns could survive without food?

·  The tested the cheapest sterilization for males and females.

·  They also performed tests on twins and other people who were considered ‘different.’