An Introduction to Number the Stars
- 1. The Holocaust … a quick summary by Mr. Herm and Mrs. Zwack
- 2. The Holocaust A Primary Source History
- 3. Between 1933 and 1945 six million people (Jews and others) were persecuted and murdered as a result of the events leading up to World War ll.
- 4. …6,000,000 people!! That’s the same as 60,000 schools the size of Monticello Middle School…
- 6. 60,000 schools the size of Monticello Middle School…
- 7. That’s also the same as 600 towns the size of Monticello… gone!
- 8. Most died from overwork, starvation, exposure to the elements, bullets, fire, poisonous gas, beatings, or hangings.
- 9. Who could have done this kind of thing?
- 10. The people who carried out this massacre were scientists, doctors, military, government personnel, and ordinary people.
- 11. This horrible event in history is now called The Holocaust.
- 12. How did the Holocaust happen? What lead up to these horrible events? Here’s a quick summary to help explain how the Holocaust came about…..
- 13. World War 1 - 1914-1919 • Germany was defeated in World War 1. • As a result of the war the German people were forced to pay for the damaged they had caused and to take the blame for World War 1.
- 14. *There was a lot of unemployment. *The German money was worthless the people were poor and desperate for change.
- 15. • In 1919, Adolf Hitler, a corporal in the German army, was hired to spy on a political party called the German Workers’ Party. (It was later known as the Nazis.)
- 16. • Hitler liked what the party stood for and he eventually became its leader.
- 17. • Hitler was a powerful speaker! He was very dramatic and theatrical in his speeches.
- 18. • Over a few years Hitler gained a lot of support for his party from the German people.
- 19. • In 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor (leader) of Germany.
- 20. • Hitler and the Nazis used fear and violence to manipulate the German people and take complete control of the government.
- 21. • Hitler’s protective police, called the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Geheime Staatzpolizei (GESTAPO) silenced any people who spoke against the Nazis.
- 22. * In March 1933 the first concentration camp for people who opposed his views was opened at Dachau, Germany. (Anyone who was identified as an opponent or enemy was arrested, taken to a concentration camp, beaten, or killed.)
- 23. * Hitler had been a racist long before he became chancellor. * He believed there existed a “master” race of physically fit, “racially pure” people called Aryans. * He believed these people should rule all of Germany and Europe.
- 24. * Hitler believed he needed to open up living space for the Aryan people. * So in order to accomplish this all people who were “inferior” had to be removed.
- 25. * Hitler and other Nazi leaders considered the Jewish “race” a danger to Germany’s future. * Hitler claimed that the Jews were “parasites” who fed off of a “host” race and weakened it. * He claimed that is was the Jews who were responsible for all the problems that existed in German society.
- 26. What happened to the Jews as time went by?
- 27. Nazi laws forbade Jews from owning businesses. Germans pass by the broken shop window of a Jewishowned business.
- 28. Jews couldn’t own property. Nazi thugs smashed Jewish homes, shops, and synagogues A Jewish orphanage destroyed by Nazis
- 29. Jews could no longer practice their professions – nurses, doctors, teachers, attorneys, businessmen…
- 30. Jews were forced to wear the Star of David to identify themselves.
- 31. Jews were only allowed to be outside certain times of day.
- 32. Jews were not allowed to ride buses, trains, or taxis. No Jews allowed sign on city street
- 33. In 1939, Jews were forced from their homes into ghettos.
- 34. *Life in a ghetto was very harsh. Jews being moved into the Warsaw ghetto Jewish child working in a ghetto workshop
- 35. *Several families lived in one room.
- 36. *Children could not go to school.
- 37. *All valuables had to be turned over to the Nazis.
- 38. *People died of disease and malnutrition.
- 39. 1933-1945 As the ghettos became overcrowded, Jews were herded onto railroad cattle cars and sent to concentration and death camps.
- 40. And this is where your story Number the Stars takes place….