The Holocaust (P3) Flashcards
31/40 = A (32 cards)
1
Q
What were the historical roots of antisemitism in Europe
A
- Religious antisemitism: rooted in medieval Christianity; Jews blamed for death of Christ.
- Economic stereotypes: Jews seen as exploitative moneylenders (e.g. Shylock figure).
- Political scapegoating: Jews blamed for capitalism and communism.
- Russian pogroms (late 19th century): state-backed anti-Jewish violence.
2
Q
What role did racial theories play in shaping Nazi ideology?
A
- Theorists like Gobineau, Chamberlain, argued for Aryan superiority.
- Jews portrayed as racially inferior, parasitic, and a threat to Aryan purity.
- Mein Kampf (1925) outlined Hitler’s obsession with Jewish “race” and world conspiracy.
- Nazi racial ideology classified people hierarchically (Jews, Roma, Slavs = Untermenschen/subhumans).
3
Q
What were the early legal steps taken against Jews from 1933–35?
A
- April 1933: Boycott of Jewish shops; dismissal of Jews from civil service and professions.
- 1935 Nuremberg Laws:
Stripped Jews of citizenship.
Banned marriages/relations between Jews and “Aryans.”
1933–1939: ~⅓ of German Jews emigrated.
4
Q
How did antisemitic persecution escalate in the late 1930s?
A
- Kristallnacht (Nov 1938): state-sponsored pogrom; 91 Jews killed, 267 synagogues burned, 30,000 arrested.
- Businesses looted; Jews forced to pay 1 billion RM in “compensation.”
- Growing pressure for Jewish emigration (e.g., Evian Conference, 1938 – showed global reluctance).
- Public antisemitic propaganda intensified (e.g., Der Stürmer = anti-semitic newspaper).
5
Q
How did the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 change Jewish policy?
A
- Nazi rule extended to 2 million Polish Jews.
- Jews forced into ghettos (e.g., Warsaw Ghetto, Oct 1940) – 400,000 enclosed.
- Harsh conditions led to mass starvation, disease, and death.
- SS Einsatzgruppen began mass shootings of Jews in 1941 following invasion of USSR.
6
Q
What role did the war with the USSR (Operation Barbarossa, 1941) play?
A
- Marked radicalisation of Jewish policy.
- Einsatzgruppen murdered over 1 million Jews in 1941 alone (e.g., Babi Yar massacre – 33,771 Jews killed in 2 days).
- War gave cover for extreme measures, as secrecy increased.
- Some historians argue this was the turning point towards genocide
7
Q
How did Jews respond to persecution in the ghettos and camps?
A
- Cultural and religious life maintained as resistance (e.g., illegal schools, libraries).
- Armed uprisings:
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 1943): 750 fighters resisted for nearly a month. - Spiritual resistance: preserving dignity, identity, and faith.
- Jewish councils (Judenräte) controversial: some accused of collaboration, others tried to save lives.
8
Q
What was the ‘Final Solution’ and how was it implemented?
A
- Policy to systematically exterminate all Jews in Nazi-controlled Europe.
- Decision formalised at the Wannsee Conference (Jan 1942), led by Heydrich and Eichmann.
- Led to creation of extermination camps:
Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec. - Over 6 million Jews killed, including 1.5 million children.
9
Q
Who else was targeted by Nazi racial extermination policies?
A
- Roma and Sinti: ~220,000–500,000 killed (Porajmos).
- Disabled: T4 Euthanasia Programme (70,000 killed by 1941; later resumed covertly).
- Slavs (esp. Poles and Russians): seen as inferior, millions died from starvation, forced labour, and shootings.
- Homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, political opponents also imprisoned/killed.
10
Q
How did ordinary Germans respond to the persecution and extermination of Jews?
A
- Many were aware of anti-Jewish laws, Kristallnacht, and deportations.
- Some supported, some were indifferent, and a minority resisted.
- Knowledge of extermination camps was limited but not absent.
- E.g., returning soldiers, rail workers, and locals near camps knew details.
- Historians debate degree of complicity vs. ignorance.
11
Q
How did the Allies and international community respond during the Holocaust?
A
- Reports of genocide reached West by 1942 (e.g., Riegner Telegram).
- Allied governments slow to respond: focused on military victory.
- Evian Conference (1938): failed to provide refuge to fleeing Jews.
- Some rescue efforts: Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved thousands in Hungary.
- Historiographical debate: Were Allies indifferent or constrained by war aims?
12
Q
Intentionalist approach
A
- Hitler/the Nazis planned to exterminate
the Jews from the start. - Holocaust result of long-term planning by Hitler.
- Core idea: Hitler had a clear, unchanging plan (in Mein Kampf) to eliminate Jews.
- Argue that Hitler’s ideology drove others toward genocide (“Hitler’s will is the law”).
13
Q
key historians/ proponents of Intentionalism
A
- William Shirer
- Lucy Dawidowicz
- Eberhard Jäckel
14
Q
evidence supporting Intentionalism
A
- Mein Kampf :
Hitler described Jews as a racial threat and called for their removal from Germany.
“If at the beginning of the war… these Hebrew corrupters of the people had been held under poison gas… the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain.” - Reichstag speech 1933 :
“cleansing the German people”
15
Q
criticism of the Intentionalist approach
A
- Lack of direct written order from Hitler to exterminate Jews.
- Underestimates the bureaucratic chaos and competing Nazi agencies.
- Ignores evolving nature of policy - murderous intent not evident in 1933.
16
Q
Structuralist approach
A
- The nature of the Nazi state (chaotic, polycratic) produced genocide.
- There was no coherent
plan but the chaotic competition for Hitler’s approval between different
elements of the leadership produced a situation in which genocide could
occur. - Policies evolved due to lack of central coordination; “cumulative radicalisation”.
- Bureaucrats competed to interpret Hitler’s vague ideas in more radical ways.
- Decision to murder evolved from bottom-up initiatives, not master plan.
17
Q
evidence supporting Structuralism
A
- local Nazi officials in Poland initiated severe ghettoisation measures without direct central orders.
- power was divided among overlapping institutions (e.g. SS, Gestapo, civil service, Wehrmacht, Nazi Party).
- Mass shootings of Jews behind Eastern Front (e.g. Babi Yar) were initiated by SS field units, not centrally directed at first.
18
Q
key historians/proponents of Structuralism
A
- Martin Broszat – genocide evolved from wartime pressures and institutional disorder.
- Christopher Browning – in Ordinary Men, shows how average policemen became killers through social processes, not ideology alone.
- Hans Mommsen – “Hitler was a weak dictator” whose inaction encouraged radicalism.
19
Q
Functionalist approach
A
- unplanned, ad hoc response
to wartime developments in Eastern Europe, when Germany conquered areas
with large Jewish populations. - Initial aim: forced emigration, then deportations (e.g. Madagascar Plan).
- Shift to extermination only after Operation Barbarossa (1941) – mass shootings began.
- Decision for Final Solution made after logistical failure of deportation.
20
Q
key historians/proponents
A
- Christopher Browning : “no master plan”
- Martin Broszat: argued that mass murder developed as a series of “improvised decisions”, not through a central Hitler order.
- Raul Hilberg: in The Destruction of the European Jews, emphasized the incremental bureaucratic development of genocide.
21
Q
evidence of functionalist approach
A
Nazi policy focused on forced emigration, not extermination.
- Haavara Agreement (1933): Allowed ~60,000 Jews to emigrate to Palestine with some assets.
- 1940 Madagascar plan : deporting Jews to French colony
- Extermination only systematized after logistical failures in deportation and military strategy.
22
Q
Synthesis views
A
- Ian Kershaw’s “working towards the Führer”: ideology set parameters; bureaucracy radicalised implementation.
23
Q
Perpetrators
A
- SS, Gestapo, Einsatzgruppen, camp staff.
- Ordinary Germans (e.g. Browning’s “Ordinary Men” – Police Battalion 101 in Poland).
- Motivations: ideology, conformity, careerism, peer pressure.
- Goldhagen’s thesis: Germans were “willing executioners” due to unique antisemitic culture.
24
Q
Why did non-Germans participate in the killings?
A
- Collaboration by local populations in Ukraine, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania.
- Motivations: nationalism, antisemitism, opportunism, fear.
- E.g. Jedwabne massacre (Poland): locals murdered Jewish neighbors.
25
how did Jews resist the Holocaust?
- Spiritual resistance: maintaining culture, prayer, education.
- Armed resistance:
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943), Sobibor and Treblinka revolts.
- Cultural resistance: diaries (e.g. Anne Frank), art, documentation.
- Resistance often limited by conditions and lack of external support.
26
Did men and women experience the Holocaust differently?
- Women faced gender-specific abuse: sexual violence, separation from children.
- Female prisoners used in medical experiments (e.g., Ravensbrück).
- Roles in resistance and survival differed: women often built support networks.
27
Should Holocaust definitions include non-Jewish victims?
- Broader view: include Roma, disabled, Poles, Soviet POWs, homosexuals.
- Traditional definition focuses on the systematic genocide of Jews (unique ideological aim).
- UN Genocide Convention (1948) does not list Jews specifically.
28
Bystanders : How much did Britain and the USA know about the Holocaust during the war?
📜 Widespread knowledge among Allied governments by 1942:
- Reports from Polish underground and Jewish organizations provided detailed accounts.
- Riegner Telegram (August 1942): Sent to British and US officials - stated Nazi plans to exterminate all European Jews.
🗞️ Media reports confirmed atrocities:
- Articles in the New York Times and British newspapers reported mass killings, but often buried inside the papers, not front-page news.
29
What did the USA & Britain do
❗️December 1942 Joint Declaration (Allies):
- British and American governments issued a public statement condemning the mass murder of Jews.
- First official recognition of the Holocaust by the Allies - but no direct military or rescue response followed.
30
How did the U.S. and Britain respond to Jewish refugees
🚪 Restrictive immigration policies:
- both maintained strict immigration quotas.
- USA refused to admit the SS St. Louis (1939) - ship carrying 900 Jewish refugees turned back to Europe.
🏢 Evian Conference (1938):
- convened by the U.S. to discuss refugee crisis.
- most nations, including Britain and the U.S., refused to take in large numbers of Jews.
- Nazi propaganda used the conference to show that “no one wants the Jews.”
🇬🇧 Kindertransport (1938–39):
- Britain accepted ~10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children after Kristallnacht.
- however, adult refugees were still restricted.
31
What actions did the Allies take (or not take) after learning about extermination camps?
🛑 Allied leaders refused to bomb Auschwitz or railways to camps:
- requests rejected on the grounds that such action would divert from the main war effort.
- argued that winning the war was the best way to help Jews.
✈️ Auschwitz was within range of Allied bombers (e.g. from Italy), yet bombings targeted industrial sites nearby (e.g. IG Farben) instead.
- evidence for bystander inaction, despite technical capability.
🧾 War Refugee Board (U.S., 1944):
- created late in the war to aid Jews and other victims.
- helped rescue around 200,000 Jews.
- considered too late by many historians.
32
key historians for Bystander approach
- David Wyman (Intentionalist critique of bystanders):
in The Abandonment of the Jews, argues the U.S. government failed morally and practically to aid Jews, even when opportunities existed.
- Martin Gilbert (Holocaust historian):
points to lack of political will, not lack of knowledge, as the key factor behind Allied inaction.
