Important information:
What was the holocaust?
Holocaust: the genocide of European Jews during World War II.
Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population.
Who caused the holocaust?
The person responsible for the holocaust was a man called Adolf Hitler. An Austrian-born German politician, he was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934.
1: The birth of Adlof Hitler(April 20,1889)
Adolf Hitler’s father was Alois Hitler, who had many wives, including his cousin, who was Hitler’s mother.
(June 7, 1837-January 3, 1903)
Adolf Hitler’s mother was Klara Hitler, who doted on Adolf, her only surviving child.
(August 12, 1860-December 21, 1907)
2: Why did Hitler gain hatred towards the Jews? (July 28, 1914 – Nov 11, 1918)
It all started in the first World War when Adolf offered to help Germany. When Germany lost the war in November, 1918, Hitler was in a military hospital. His eyes had been hurt in a poison gas attack. The news of the German surrender plunged him into a deep crisis. Hitler’s war experiences had a great influence on his life and thinking. In the aftermath of the war, he became radicalized and went into politics. Hitler blamed the Jewish community for the loss of the war.
“During the First World War (1914-1918), Hitler was a soldier in the German army. At the end of the war he, and many other German soldiers like him, could not get over the defeat of the German Empire. The German army command spread the myth that the army had not lost the war on the battlefield, but because they had been betrayed. By a ‘stab in the back’, as it was called at the time. Hitler bought into the myth: Jews and communists had betrayed the country and brought a left-wing government.” https://www.annefrank.org/en/topics/antisemitism/why-did-hitler-hate-jews/
3: What did Adolf Hitler do during WWII? (Sep 1, 1939– Sep 2, 1945)
During World War II. Adolf Hitler sent Nazi soldiers to invade all of Europe and made laws that meant that Jewish people could not have jobs and could not have any space within the public. He took the Jewish people to what were called The Jewish Ghettos and Concentration Camps.
4: A symbol of religion and good luck, turned into a symbol of hatred. The Swastika 卐 . (5000 BC -1920)
Adolf Hitler would use the Swastika as the Nazi symbol. Adolf Hitler designed the Nazi flag in 1920. He combined the swastika with the three colors of the German Imperial flag (red, black, and white.) Before Hitler, the swastika was an ancient symbol that was in use in many different cultures for at least 5,000 years. Adolf Hitler made it the centerpiece of the Nazi flag. Its present-day use by certain extremist groups promotes hate. The swastika was long used as a symbol of well-being in ancient societies, including those in India, China, Africa, native America, and Europe.
5:The Origins of the Swastika
“The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit svastika, which means “good fortune” or “well-being.” The motif (a hooked cross) appears to have first been used in Eurasia, as early as 7000 years ago, perhaps representing the movement of the sun through the sky. To this day, it is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Odinism. It is a common sight on temples or houses in India or Indonesia. Swastikas also have an ancient history in Europe, appearing on artifacts from pre-Christian European cultures.”https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/history-of-the-swastika
6: The end of the war (Sep 2, 1945)
In April of 1945, Hitler had committed suicide and with no commands, the Nazi soldiers were sent away and people that survived in the ghettos and camps, were set free. They all found a new way of living life.
7: Concentration Camps and the Jewish Ghettos (1933-1939)
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, including subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March, 1933 immediately after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
“In Nazi Germany after 1933, and across Nazi controlled Europe between 1938 and 1945, concentration camps became a major way in which the Nazis imposed their control. The aim of the Nazi concentration camps was to contain prisoners in one place. The administration of the camps had a distinct disregard for inmates’ lives and health, and as a result, tens of thousands of people perished within the camps. The aim of the Nazi extermination camps was to murder and annihilate all races deemed ‘degenerate:’ primarily Jews, but also Roma . The first concentration camps in Germany were set up as detention centers for so-called ‘enemies of the state’. Initially, these people were primarily political prisoners such as communists, but this soon expanded to also include Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Roma, and so called ‘a-socials.” ’.https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/the-camps/types-of-camps/concentration-camps/
8: How did the Nazis tell the difference between every person? (September 1, 1939)
On September 1, Adolf Hitler passed a rule that meant that if you were a Jew, woman or boy/male over the age of 6 you would have to where a six pointed star with the word “Jew” written in German (Jude) so that you could be discriminated against and put into camps if spotted by a Nazi.
In Concentration Camps or Jewish Ghettos, the Jews that were deemed “useless” by the Nazis wore the yellow “Jude” star and were treated with worse treatment. And the homosexuals were treated the same way the Jews were. The homosexuals were forced to wear an upside down pink triangle to represent that they were homosexual.
9: Today 2024 AD
Today in Germany the Nazi’s Swastika was banned from shows, video games and movies. Now the Nazi’s Swastika is now used in Neo Nazi groups, hatred and racism and for threatening members of the LGBTQAI+ community. And many of the Concentration Camps are now memorial museums. One of the most known ones is Auschwitz. During the Holocaust over six-million Jews were killed by the Nazis and by sickness in the camps. Today we also have Holocaust Remembrance Day to remember the victims of the Holocaust and to make sure that something like this never happens again.
“Change isn’t happening fast enough for men. You must make it happen faster. When you see injustice happening, stand up!” – Walter Kase, holocaust survivor.
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