The Holocaust 356 Final Exam Study Guide
Judenrat
"Jewish Council," administrative agency imposed by the Nazis and run by the Jews, predominantly used within the ghettos.
The Ghettos
A Jewish quarter in a city- Nazis isolated Jews and sent them off to segregated neighborhoods: slow deaths, cramped living spaces, starvation, unsanitary conditions (Warsaw, Lodz, Vilna, Minsk).
Major Wilhelm Trapp
Commander of Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the Nazi Order Police (Ordinary Men)- gave orders to kill Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, allowed some men to opt out.
Choiceless Choice
Having to choose between two things, neither of which you want to do.
Hungarian Jews
Protected until ~1944, then sent to Auschwitz and murdered
Rudolf Hoess
SS leader of Auschwitz- described extermination of Jews without any remorse
Auschwitz
(Poland)- Both a concentration camp and a death camp- was on of the largest camps: housed many people and was separated in different segments. Segments included I (for prisoners), II (Birkenau- where people either went left or right- gas chambers here), and III (Monowitz- people working)
Forms of Resistance
-Active Resistance (Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Jewish Partisans) -Passive Resistance (surviving, maintaining culture and spirituality)
Leon Bass
African American solider in WWII who witnessed the atrocities at the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945 when he was part of the group liberating the camp- discussed what he saw- death, dying, starvation, maltreatment, malnutrition, improper medical care (a man with webbed fingers from sores and scabs).
Ruth Gruber
American journalist, photographer, writer, humanitarian, and a US government official. In 1944, was assigned a secret mission to Europe to bring 1,000 Jewish refugees and wounded American soldiers from Italy to the US. These refugees were to be guests of President Roosevelt upon their arrival in NY. She petitioned to keep these refugees in the US until after the war, though many wanted them out. Eventually, they were allowed permission to apply for American residency in 1946. This was the only attempt made by the US to shelter Jewish refugees during the War.
Righteous Among the Nations
An honor bestowed on individuals by Israel (Yad Vashem) that honors non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.
Schnellbrief
An order from General Reinhard Heydrich that gave orders regarding the treatment and ghettoization of Jews in Poland. 2 parts: ghettoization of Jews and assembly of Judenrat.
Abraham Landau
Author of Branded On My Arm and In My Soul- was in camps like Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Gutenbrunn. One day in the ghetto, he skipped work, and his father was forced to give him 16 lashes with a leather whip. Lost all of his family members, but still remained hopeful enough to survive the camp.
Victor Frankl
Author of Man's Search for Meaning- in which he describes his experiences in Auschwitz. The main purpose of his book, and what he sought to teach after the end of WWII, is to find meaning and purpose in your life, especially in incredibly tough and trying situations (logotherapy). He believes you have a choice in how you suffer.
Elie Wiesel
Author of Night- wrote about his experiences with his father in Auschwitz and Buchenwald from 1944-1945. He discusses his resentment towards and disgust with humanity. He had to basically take care of his father as his father's state declined quickly. His father died in the camp.
Christopher Browning
Author of Ordinary Men- men of Unit 101 killed because they were told to by authority figures, not because they wanted to or out of hatred.
Jewish Star
Began marking Jews with stars in September 1941. Jewish newspaper announced that Jews had to wear these- "Judenkennzeichnen," Jews had to pay for their own. These were humiliating, Jews couldn't hide, used as identification of Jews.
Brundibar
Children's opera composed by a Czech Jew- Jewish children in Terezin/Theresienstadt performed this for audiences, including for the Nazi-made deception film.
Bergen Belsen
Concentration Camp in Germany- liberated in April 1945 by the British
Chelmno
Death camp (opened 1941) in central Poland- total of 3 survivors.
Final Solution
Determined at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942- Germans would use any means possible, especially gas chambers, to murder 11,000,000 targeted Jews.
Dachau
First Concentration Camp in 1933- where Jews arrested in Kristallnacht were taken.
Reinhard Heydrich
Gave orders regarding the treatment and ghettoization of Jews occupied in Poland- ghettoization of Polish Jews -2 Parts: Ghettoization: Concentration of Jews & Judenrat (organization of Jewish councils) -Ended up being assassinated by the Czechs, and in retaliation, an entire Czech town was burned down
Rescuers
Heroes, upstanders- came in many forms: giving Jews false papers, adoption, diplomatic intervention (getting Jews exit/entrance visas- King of Denmark), physically hiding Jews, people like Schindler protecting his Jewish workers saying their work was needed for the war, and those who provided food/ information to Jews.
Yad Vashem
Holocaust Remembrance in Israel that recognizes Holocaust victims and rescuers- people like Obama and Pope John Paul II have visited there
Terezin/Theresienstadt
Huge Nazi Deception- located outside of Prague- built as a "gift" for the German Jews to deceive the investigating Red Cross. Nazi's shot a movie here to show how "nice" it was, but in reality, conditions were deplorable. Here, entire families were able to stay together- but this was more like a concentration camp than a ghetto.
Martha and Waitstill Sharp
In 1939, these people, Unitarian Church members (he was a minister), headed to Europe. On their way, they stopped in Prague and set up a network of volunteers and agencies. While in Europe, their activities included registering refugees, bringing applicants to the attention of embassies, finding the scholarships or employment necessary for emigration, securing releases from prison, and arranging travel to safer destinations in London, Paris, or Geneva.
Wansee Conference
January 1942- gathering of all of the head Nazi officials where they planned the Final Solution of Jews (11,000,000 total targeted).
Adam Czerniakow
Jewish leader of the Warsaw Ghetto- committed suicide because he couldn't handle what he was being asked to do- to deport children to the camps. Tried to remove himself from the situation but ended up abandoning the people of the Ghetto- his suicide lead to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Death March
Jews to march from Auschwitz back to Germany (further West) because the Germans knew that the Soviets were coming for them and knew they were losing the war- had Jews march back to Germany so they could murder them. Some guards put on the clothes of the victims so that they would not be killed by liberators.
Chaim Rumkowski
Judenrat leader of the Lodz ghetto (the longest surviving ghetto in existence)- his mentality was "sacrifice the few to save the many"- made the decision to send children on the trains to the camps because he believed that if the ghetto could continue to work for the Germans, they would survive, and children could not work.
Mordechai Anielewicz
Leader of the Jewish Combat Organization during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from January to May 1943. Lead the first battle in the uprising with other individuals with pistols, preventing more Jews from being deported to death camps. Likely died sometime in 1943 though his body was never found.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Located in Washington, DC- has a ton of information about the Holocaust including artifacts, primary source documents, movies, images, interviews, does continued research on new information found/received.
Liberation Propaganda
Major differences in how liberators from different countries portrayed liberation from the camps. For example, the US displayed images of joy and triumph (likely staged images) when they liberated Dachau, but the British displayed much more gruesome images of when they liberated Belsen. British photos display dead bodies, and the British soldiers struggling to figure out what the do with what they discovered.
Liberator Trauma
Many liberators, after seeing the horrors in the camps when they arrived, were traumatized. Individuals like Leon Bass recall the devastation and horror- PTSD likely ensued for many.
Kristallnacht
November 1938- ignited when 19-year-old Herschel Grynszpan murdered Ernst von Rath (German Diplomat). Immediate, intense violence: burning synagogues, burning Torahs, beating Rabbis, looting Jewish stores, many Jews arrested and sent to Dacahu/ Buchenwald.
Holocaust Denial
People out there actually saying that the Holocaust did not exist- obviously can be combated by the huge amounts of evidence the Germans left behind- the Germans documented virtually everything.
Oscar Schindler
Protected the Jews that worked for him by stating that they were necessary for the war effort- saved those that he once exploited for work.
Jewish Youth Movement
Remained active throughout the Holocaust- leaders orchestrated Jewish organization and resistance in ghettoes and camps. Important in Warsaw Ghetto Uprising- young people came together and decided to resist- got weapons through the underground Polish movement and revolted. Also helped plan and implement the Beriha (escape from Europe) movement after the Holocaust.
Massacre at Babi Yar
September 29/30, 1941-Einsatzgruppen C forced groups of Jews to hand over their possessions and undress before being shot in a ravine (located near Kiev in the Soviet Union).
Memory/Memorials
So many around the world, many in the United States- the worlds attempt at fighting Holocaust deniers. Austria has a Memorial to the Street-Scrubbing Jew for the Anschluss Pogrom- there are Holocaust Museums all over, many of the camps have been turned into memorials and museums, etc.
Euthanasia
Term used to exterminating Jews-how Jews were killed- the "Final Solution,"- "Mercy Killing."
Simon Wiesenthal
The Nazi Hunter- spent his life hunting Nazis post WWII for them to be persecuted. In film I Have Never Forgotten You, he found meaning by bringing justice to the victims by getting the Nazis like Eichmann who disappeared to South America, and by keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.
Lodz
The largest ghetto in existence in the second largest city in Poland. Lead by the Judenrat leader Rumkovski who used the mentality, "sacrifice the few to save the many," and sent children to the camps.
Identification/Registration of Jews
Using the Stars, Jews could be identified much more easily. If Jews took off their stars and could not be found, your family or neighbors would be punished. The star correlated with your name on a list as a way of keeping track of who needed to be exterminated. Germans also made Jews have a red "J" in their passports so that they would be kept out at the borders of other countries.
Le Chambon
Village in Vichy, France that came together against the Nazis and hid people in their village by making fake passports and forging fake papers for these people and in the process, saved many lives.
Pope John Paul II
Was actually a rescuer of an individual in the Holocaust- after the war had ended, he rescued a starving 13 year old girl at a train station by carrying her where he was travelling- feeding her, and covering her- visited Auschwitz, Yad Vashem
Hiding
What some Jews were able to do with the help of heroic non-Jewish comrades who were risking their own lives. Some kept people in their homes (hidden in closets or underground bunkers), others kept Jews in barns, etc.
Death Camps
Where Jews were sent essentially to die- these often had few survivors- sole purpose was to kill Jews. Examples of these include Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka- industrialized mass murder.
Dawid Sierakowiak
Wrote a diary, described his life in the Lodz ghetto 1939-1943: died of tuberculosis, starvation, exhaustion, and ghetto disease