Adolf Hilter
- born in 1889 in Austria
- dropped out of school at 16
- wanted to be and artist and architect
- failed to get into art school
- moved to Germany in 1913
- joined German Army when WWI broke out
- was wounded twice (once by gas)
- won numerous medals
- accepted the “stab in the back” theory
- hated Weimer Republic
- joined the Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi) after WWI
- voted Fuhrer (Leader) of the Nazi Party in 1921
- Nazi party attracted the following groups of people:
1. Manual laborers
2. Former soldiers
3. Adventurers and misfits
- The Nazi Party:
1. was violently nationalistic
2. was anti-Semitic (anti-Jew)
3. Hated the democratic Weimer Republic
4. talked of the Volk (German common people) superiority
Holocaust
- The genocide of approximately six million European Jews during WW2
- A program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany throughout Nazi-occupied territory
- Approximately two-thirds of the population of nine million Jews who had lived in Europe before the Holocaust died
- Some maintain the the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' genocide of millions of people in the other groups from Germany and other occupied territory
- By this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims would be between 11 million and 17 million people killed
Who was killed in the Holocaust?
- Jews (6 million)
- Gypasies (500,000-1.5 million)
- mentally/physically handicapped people (75,000- 250,000)
- Soviet Slavs/POW's/ Troops (16.5 million)
- Poles (2.5 million)\
- Homosexuals (5-15 thousand)
- Communists/ Socialists ( many but number not confirmed)
- Dark skinned people
- Mixed Races
- Jehovahs Witnesses ( 2,500- 5,000)
Why is the Aryan Race?
- misused by the Nazis to mean a so-called master race that originated around Germany
- Perfect Aryan was blonde, blue-eyed, tall and musclar
Lebensborn- houses were set up throughout Germany and many occupied territories and many lebensborn children wer born to unwed mothers which helped lead to many rumors of rape
1933
- First concentration camop at Dachau in 1933. The first inmates were 200 Communists
- Nazis "temporarily" suspend civil liberties for all citizens in 1933- Never restored
- Jews were prohibited from working as civil servants, doctors, in the National Health Service, and teachers in public high schools. All but few Jewish students are banned from schools
Nuremburg Laws 1935\
- Took away Germans citizenship from jews thus making Jews second class citizens by removing their basic civil rights
- Established membership in the Jewish race as being anyone who either considered themselves Jewish or had three or four Jewish grandparents. People with one or two Jewish grandparents were considered to be a mixed race
- Jew could only marry jews
- no sexual relation between non-Jewish Germans and Jews
1936
- Nazis boycott Jewish-owned businesses
Kristallnact- 1938 (Night of the Broken Glass)
1939- Hitler orders the systematic murder of the metally and physically disabled in Germany and Austria
1940
- Nazis begin deporting German Jews to Poland
- Jews were forced into ghettos
- Nazis beging the first mass murder of Jews in Poland
1941
- Jews throughout Eastern Europe are forced to ghettos
- In two days, German units shoot 33,771 Ukrainian Jews at BabiYar - the largest massacre of the Holocaust
1942
- Nazi officials announce "Final Solution"- theur plan to kill all European Jews
- Five Death camps begin operation in Poland: Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka, Belzec, and Auschwitz
1943
- Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto resist as the Nazis begin new rounds of deportations. These jews hold out for nearly a month before the Nazis put down the uprising
1944
- Hitler takes over Hungary and begins deporting 12,000 Hungarian Jews each day to Auschwitz where they were murdered
1945
- Hitler is defeated and WW2 end in Eurpope
- The Holocaust is over and the death camps are emptied
- Many survivors are placed in displaced persons camps until they find a country willing to accept them
1947
- The United Nations establishes a Jewish homeland in British-controlled Palestine, which becomes the State of Israel in 1948
Russia/Soviet Union/USSR
Russia dropped out of WW I due to the Bolshevik Revolution
Economically, it was in terrible shape
Vladimir Ulyanov(Lenin)
- Russia became a communist country after the war
- Communist Countries-China, North Korea, Vitamen, Cuba, Lose
- The government is in control of everything etc.. businesses, control people
- Carl Marks theory- The poor with rise up and overrule the rich
Lenin emerged as the leader of the communists.
Lenin was a big Marxist supporter
-Marx never outlined how exactly to reach a classless society so Lenin and the government took control of the economy and farms with a promise to eventually give it back to the peasants.
Lenin organized the country into a federation of republics
- USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Lenin died in 1924
Power struggled ensued between Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin.
Stalin would win.
Josef Stalin
Wanted to focus on building up the Soviet Union’s economy- because of WW1
Eliminated political opponents in great purges(800,000)- he killed anyone who would be in his way:: he didnt want one to take over him
Wanted nationalization and collectivization of the economy
-gov’t took control of industry(nationalization)
-abolished private ownership(upset Kulaks)
-forced peasants to merge their land into large collective
farms(collectivization)
The Kulaks resisted and Stalin used the secret police to kill them
Stalin admitted that at least 10 million people died due to collectivization and famine
Five Year Plans
-Stalin’s idea of economic growth for industry and
agriculture
-Goals were to be met in a five year time frame
-Wasn’t until the third 5 Year Plan did the economy start
to improve
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