RS121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Extermination Camp, Einsatzgruppen, German Christians

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MODULE #2 NOTES
2.1 The Shoah (Modernity + Cultural/Structural Bases of Holocaust)
Intro begin study of evil in modern world w/ Holocaust for both cultural + academic reasons
Hitler, Nazism + Holocaust are synonymous w/ evil in West + paradigmatic of evil in modern society
West Hitler, Nazism + Holocaust = special symbolic value
Eastern European Stalin over Hitler (more homicidal + mad)
East Asians Imperial Japanese Policy (30’s-40’s) = moment of evil
Chinese people Mao Zedong's power of communism in mass persecution/starvation/killing
Other evil = colonization of country by Western Europeans
Hitler, Nazism, + War
Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler sought elimination of all Jews from Germany + extermination in Europe = Holocaust
“Whole Burnt Offering” referring to bodies that were incinerated
Holocaust = sacrifice made to God, inappropriate + offer alternative “Shoah” = time of desolation
Genocide = removal of human race of a particular genus or type; understood genetically different from and
inferior to the German race
Nazi ideology defined them as existential threat to German people, had to be eliminated
To understand why Nazi targeted Jews = understand German history:
Germany + nation’s allies lost in WW1 to the ‘Allies’ alliance of New Zealand, India, + others
Treaty of 1919 Paris = humiliating for Germany blamed for war
Germans despised Treaty b/c loss was unexpected looked for someone to blame
Hitler (Austrian former corporal) joined small extremist political party = National Socialist Party
Became leader of Nazis (1921); bad in German elections; global economic depression improved chances of
Nazis rise to power when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany
Nazi totalitarian control over German state + society; Hitler given dictatorial powers
New position of strength = Nazi restrict Jews; forced to emigrate after state confiscate their wealth
Laws stripped Jews citizenship + isolate from German society
Hitler’s New German Empire
Hitler sought to create new German empire to compete w/ British, French, + American empires
During WW1 Germans suffered great hunger b/c superior British navy blockaded Germany preventing
mass importation of foods
Sought to conquer large parts of Eastern Europe to give Germs “lebensraum” = living room
Germany = become self-sufficient for another war
Problem millions of non-Germans in area
Hitler developed plan to deindustrialize Germany (dismantle factories) + depopulate farms
Hitler’s plan = planned extermination (starvation) of millions of people
Slavs = subhuman (die in hunger or enslaved)
Mass starvation + killing = not accidental; part of Hitler’s project
Hitler transformed Europe into German Empire or “Reich”
Nazi Ideology served as Hitler’s blueprint for revolutionary project
Faced many obstacles = externally (powerful enemies) + internally
Faced racial enemies = feared + hated Jews
Final solution to Jewish Question = “Endlosung” was not planned violence against Jews = priority of Jews
(When Germany invaded Soviet Union) Final solution = become official German policy
How did Jews Die?
Jews died in (4) ways:
1.) Spontaneous or planned mass violence (e.g. Jews killed, synagogues burned, businesses damaged)
2.) Ghettos Nazis confined Jews to certain neighbourhoods = became open-air prisons
Conditions = crowded, diseases, violence, scarce food
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3.) Einsatzgruppen (death squads) German armed forces invaded certain areas were followed by Mobile
Killing Units (einsatzgruppen) or Nazi paramilitary death squads
Sought out enemies / threats to German occupiers then exterminated
Jews = automatically threats gathered together, stripped of possessions, transported to remote
locations, killed + buried over million
4.) Camps three different kinds of camps
Concentration camps held in brutal prison conditions 
Transportation camps brought to an area to die
Slave labour camps enslaved till death
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Auschwitz (Poland) most famous death camp synonymous to Holocaust
Double camp = Auschwitz-Birkenau unique project first prisoner of war camp, slave camp, then death
Nazi regime killed non-combatants; mass killing became official policy
2.2 Holocaust Chronology (Dehumanization + Destruction of Jews)
Dehumanization of Jews: From Citizens (us) to Other (them)
Nazi Rise to Power began isolating Jews from German society
Became pervasive culture of anti-Judaism = deep roots in Christian Europe
Redefined religious prejudice in racial terms = Jews who had converted to Christianity were defined as
“other” meaning less than human; Nazis said Jews = life unworthy of life
Others were dehumanized disabled, mental illnesses, homosexuals, political opponents,
alcoholics, drug addicts, etc.
Nazis expressed a special fear + hatred of Jews = lethal threat
Convince ordinary Germans on violence against Jews = Nazi’s began isolating + dehumanizing Jews
Work against German nationalism; German Jews most integrated w/in Europe; Germans married to Jews
Jews dropped outward signs of identity, stopped practicing faith, converted to Christianity
Nazis developed elaborate plan = legislation to restructure German culture to convince Germs that Jews =
dangerous + foreigners; not citizens, but “other”, not a part of “us but threatening “them”
Chronology of Dehumanization + Destruction of Jews
Jan/1933 Hitler Appointed Chancellor of Germany: Hitler is given dictatorial powers; laws restricting Jews
from working + participation in society
Sep/1935: Nuremberg laws passed Jews excluded from citizenship + marriage/relations w/ Germans
Mar/1938: Anschluss or annexation of Austria Nuremberg laws expand to Austrian Jews; banned from
school
Nov/1938 :Kristallnacht anti-jewish riots after Herschel Grynszpan assassinates German official in Paris
Mar/1939: Germany annexed part of Czechoslovakia
Sep/1939 Germany invades Poland, Britain, France declare war; Euthanasia begins; targets are handicapped,
alcoholics, mentally ill, + others considered burden to German race; killing programs extend to Jews +
minorities
Apr/1940: Germany invaded Denmark + Norway
Jun/1940: France falls to Germany; creation of sealed ghettos in Poland
Jan/1942 Final Solution: liquidation of Polish Jews begin + Slovakian Jews, Roma, Sinti deported to
Auschwitz
Sep/1943 Liquidation of European Jews continues; Greek Jews deported to Treblinka; Krakow ghetto,
Lithuanian Jews killed, Italian Jews Auschwitz
Jun/1944 D-DAY + Acceleration of Auschwitz: Hungarian Jews Auschwitz; allied forces open Western front
Jan/1945 Nazis initiate death marches of Jews + slave labourers from killing centers + camps
Jan/1945 (later) Auschwitz, Buchenwald + Bergen-Belsen are liberated
Apr/1945 suicide of Hitler + surrender of Germany: Red Army captures Berlin; Germany surrenders
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Document Summary

2. 1 the shoah modernity + cultural/structural bases of holocaust) Intro begin study of evil in modern world w/ holocaust for both cultural + academic reasons. Hitler, nazism + holocaust are synonymous w/ evil in west + paradigmatic of evil in modern society. West hitler, nazism + holocaust = special symbolic value. Eastern european stalin over hitler more homicidal + mad) East asians imperial japanese policy 30(cid:519)s-40(cid:519)s) = moment of evil. Chinese people mao zedong s power of communism in mass persecution/starvation/killing. Other evil = colonization of country by western europeans. Nazi party led by adolf hitler sought elimination of all jews from germany + extermination in europe = holocaust (cid:522)whole burnt offering(cid:523) referring to bodies that were incinerated. Holocaust = sacrifice made to god, inappropriate + offer alternative (cid:522)shoah(cid:523) = time of desolation. Genocide = removal of human race of a particular genus or type; understood genetically different from and inferior to the german race.

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