Going Deeper

Warsaw Ghetto - account

Auschwitz - account

Some people deny the holocaust happened.   On holocaust denial see the BBC, or Jewish Virtual Library websites.

The Holocaust

As time went on, the Nazi regime 'turned up the heat' on the Jews, tapping into long-standing anti-semitism (= hatred of the Jews), introducing more and more restrictions and persecutions, until they ended up with their 'Final Solution' of genocide.

You can see the process of development in this timeline:

19th century -

  Theories that Jews are 'a lower form of humanity' than Germans became popular.

1920s -

  Many Germans blamed the Jews for losing the war, and for the high unemployment.

1 April 1933 -

  Members of the SA stood outside Jewish shops and businesses and persuaded Germans to go to German shops.

After 1933 -

  Lessons in school taught German children to hate Jews.

Summer 1935 -

  'Jews not wanted' posters were put up in holiday resorts, public places, swimming baths and cafes.

Sept 1935 -

  'Nuremberg laws' - Jews were forbidden to vote, to hold public office or to marry 'Aryans'.

After 1936 -

  Jews were pushed out of their jobs as lawyers, doctors, and teachers etc.

Oct 1938 -

  Jews were encouraged to emigrate.   Jews who did not were sent to concentration camps in growing numbers.

9 Nov 1938 -

  Nazi mobs destroyed Jewish synagogues and businesses.   It was called Kristallnacht, from the glass left from broken windows.

1 Sep 1939 -

  War broke out.

After 1 Sep 1939 -

  Mentally and physically disabled children were put to death.

After 1940 -

  The Nazi film The Eternal Jew used crude propaganda methods to make the German cinema-goers hate the Polish Jews.

  All Jews were forced to wear the yellow 'star of David' as a form of identification.

  Jews forced to live in separate ghettos.

  Convicted homosexuals were given an alternative: castration or the concentration camp.

1941 -

  Conquest of Russia; the Germans captured vast numbers of Russian Jews.   Einsatzgruppen were set up to shoot Jews.

31 July 1941 -

  First suggestion of the 'Final Solution'.

20 Jan 1942 -

  Wannsee Conference: decision to implement the 'final solution', followed by the systematic genocide of gypsies and Jews.