Holocaust 10: Part II

Historian Nikolaus Wachsmann (1944) From Auschwitz camp. -Killing remained personal, it did not because anonymous.

"Assembly-line mass murder was not smooth, automatic and clean as some historian has suggested... however much routine they developed killing did not become a purely mechanical process, devoid of agency and emotion. Every victim had perpetrators."

Collective Memory:

"Everything seems to indicate that the past is not preserved but is reconstructed on the basis of the present." - The way we remember the past influences how we live our present. We choose to remember certain history in a certain way and we choose to FORGET certain things. - What our culture decides to remember creates our identity. Because what we remember creates our self.

Concentration camps and killing centers

"Globocnik death camps" - Many of the Jews are in Poland and this is why they tried to build the killing camps in this area. *Belzec: 434,000 Jews killed Sobibor: 180,000 killed Treblinka: 780,000 killed* These are termed the Globocnik death camps but were called the operation Reinhard camps by the Nazi's.

Historians Memory/ Knowledge

"To understand something historically is to be aware of its complexity, to have sufficient detachment to sees if from multiple perspectives... Collective memory simplifies; sees events from a single, committed perspective;... reduces events to mythic archetypes. " -- Peter Novick. -Historians have a habit of reminding cultures of what was actually important. They also can challenge records or what we remember.

3/15/17: Post war Israel

*Focus* : Jewish survivors of the Holocaust who find themselves stuck. They can not return home, anti-Semitism is still strong and most of their homes have been taken over or sold

Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt (1963-4)

- A series of trials of which lower level Nazi's were put on trial. 20 or so former guards etc that had been serving in Auschwitz were tried. The is the first time since the war that the horrors were actually discussed. -This trial put the Holocaust of just being one of murder due to religion . --The worst crime was the murdering of Jews throughout Germany

Jewish Immigration to israel

- About 25% of Israel population are Jewish holocaust survivors. - Many people did not want to speak of the Holocaust ~ Zionists in Israel had an "I told you so" mentality toward these survivors. ~ Jewish resistance: While building their new nation state they want stories of strength and heroism. Not stories of victims. Holocaust stories during the 1940's and 1950's they wanted a strong story. - Massive immigration in 1950's from Jewish persons from Arab Nations. Almost all Jews of Iraq leave and go to Israel. 'The guy that can get rid of Jews' - Personally oversees over 400,000 Jews being deported to Auschwitz.

British Mandate (1918-1948)

- At the end of world war I, most of the major empires collapsed. Israel was part of the Ottoman empire that falls apart after WWI. Britain claims this land (Palestine) - in the 1920's, the British are sympathetic to Jews entering Palestine. These are normally Jews from Eastern Europe that are moving because a "political commitment" to create a Jewish homeland in British Palestine. Britain stated that the Jews had a right to establish a homeland in Palestine and this becomes a role of Britain in supporting these Jews to establish this. This number of Jews moving to Palestine greatly increased from 1922-1945. - In May 14, 1948 Israel declares its independence.

3 Example: of Courageous Individuals

- Catholic churches fought to hide the Jews in the monasteries in Italy. Bishop of Florence started this. - Lucien Bunel of France: Took in Jewish children and hid them in the school. However, someone informs the German police and they arrest the children that were being hidden and Brunel also was sent to a concentration camp. Just prior to dying he was asked why he had done this. He states that he had a responsibility to others and stated that this action was the best example he could set for the children in his school. He stood as an example for these children. - Paul Gruninger of Switzerland: Swiss policemen that were a border policeman. He decided that sending Jews away made no sense, he changed their papers so it looked like they had moved to Switzerland prior to the war. Eventually, they found this out and he was put on trial and he was fired and lost his pension. In his testimony, he states that it was his moral right.

Germany Reunited

- Eastern way: Not talking about Holocaust at all -Western way: Embracing the Holocaust memory - Huge memorial in the middle of Berlin. In 2005 designed by an American Jewish man. "The memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe" This is an example of how Holocaust memory had became a central part in Germany. You will always encounter the Jewish and anti-semitic memory of Germany. - Other countries do not have this type of memorials that Germany has for the Jews in the center of their Capital. This has been embedded into German society.

"Who is getting deported?" - "In the planning for the final solution, the Nuremberg Laws will in effect provide..."

- Everyone that is of Jewish decent was subject to deportation... But what about mixed marriage, or mixed blood? - Never have a full understanding of what to do with them. - Problem: Create an impact in the wider society that would spark a backlash. *Public support*

Trails Contribution to international law

- Firstly: Provided a lot of proof of the Holocaust. It serves to be one of the greatest database. - Introduced the new notions of International law * No one can hide behind the idea of "acting under orders" you are accountable for your actions. * Crimes against Humanity:

Shortcomings of Nuremberg

- Focus on top representatives of Nazi regime allows displacing primary responsibility onto a limited number of the representative of the repressive regime. - It reinforced a myth that it was the nazi's and not the Germans. -The inability to actually think about the Holocaust by it's own. The Jews were seen of one as many of the victims. This did a disservice to the types of horror that the Jewish people were put through. The Holocaust was the biggest crime during WWII but these trials failed to bring this to the forefront.

Germany

- Germany lost over 5 million soldiers over the course of the World War. - Germans remember this war as surviving bombing raids. But there is silence when it came to what happened to the Jews - *Due to cold war coming quickly, the Allies did not focus their attention on incriminating the Nazi's* - Post-liberation many Jews are sent to American zone of Germany. Jews were not very welcome anywhere else in Europe. -In 1948: Soviets decide to block the Western Area of Berlin. Germany is quickly used as front lines for Soviet take over.

SS that were found guilty

- Goering: - Hess - Hans Frank: Head of general govt - Ernst Kaltenbrunner - Ribbentrop: Negositator between stalin and hitler *Problem: The soviet judge. Once they had a pact to invade Poland.*

Nuremberg Trials

- Justice rather than revenge. - Establish a World Court to put on trial heads of the SS. -In August 1945 there is a conference among the allies and they set up a Military Tribunal and have a judge from each country that will hear the case that are brought against some of the main SS. - Nuremberg is where they held large rallies and in 1935 had passed the Nuremberg laws that dehumanized the Jews. This was a significant sight to step on top of this SS government. - The indicment consisted of 4 counts - Main category was regarding the War crimes rather than the Holocaust

The UN Genocide Convention

- Lemkin is successful in having the notion of "genocide" included in the prosecution indictment at the Nuremberg trials. - The killing of armenians and Jews put this title into law thanks to the persistance of Lemkin

German Occupation Expanded: Greece

- October 1940: Mussolini Italy invades Greece- but the Italians meet fierce resistance, with British supporting the Greeks. - Yugoslavia and freece Sephardic jews were the main living in Greece these are Jews that were expelled from 1492 Spain. They spoke in a foreign tongue and therefore did not fit in with their Greek neighbors. - Mussolini wanted to rebuild the Roman empire and fits goes into Greece and gets a lot of resistance. The Italian campaign in Greece runs into trouble right away and need Nazi's to come help. German then comes in and takes over the northern Greece and Italy gets southern Greece. - Between 1st and 2nd world war, Nationalism was taking over Greece and they were looking for what made you a Greek. They decided you need to be a Greek Orthodox Christian which leaves Jews out of the equation...again.. - The tension between Greeks and Jews plays out on the Jewish cemetery (The largest in Europe ~86acres) This was right in the middle of the city. Greece decided that having the Jewish graves here made it look like a Jewish city rather than Greek. - The Jewish cemetery was torn down and the university of expanded. This was carried out by the Greeks not Germans.

"Genocide"

- Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) - A Jew born in Poland who studied Law and was influenced early on by his conviction that the Ottoman mass murder of the Armenians during WWI should be treated as a crime against international law. - Emigrates in 1939: first to Sweden then to the US - Genocide is a crime without a name, it does not work to call it a mass murder -Genocide: A crime with the goal of destroying national, racial or religious groups, a crime in which international society as such should be vitally interested.

Wannsee Conference

- Some Jews can go to factories to work for the War effort because after they win the war they will die. -

"Undersecretary Luther calls attention.. to the fact that in some countries, such as the Scandinavian states, difficulties will arise if this problem..."

- The Nazi's knew that certain Western countries would not want their fellow Jewish neighbors to be deported.

Liberating the Concentration camps in 1945

- The camps that the Western Allies liberated were Western Germany camps were mainly just labor camps. The soviets liberated the death camps that were in the East. Due to this there were little knowledge in the media about the true horror of the death camps in the Eastern European front. - In the early years of post war, the Jews were not outted as being Jews. The wider public were not made aware of why these victims were here in the first place which was because they were Jews.

Palestine versus Israel

- War breaks out by 1948-1949 as soon as the United Nations decide to split the country into two. The civil war develops into a national war. All surrounding Arab nations declare war on Israel. -Israel survives the war due to France and Czechoslovakia. Russia thought all Jews were socialist so they wanted to support them thinking they would be on their side. This allows Israel to win this war victoriously.

German Chancellor in 1970

- german chancellor willy brandt (1969-1974) - He was seen as "untainted" by Nazi Germany as he fought against them during WWII. - He symbolizes the significant shift as to how Germany began to recognize their role in the Holocaust. - In 1970 he visits Warsaw and tries to repair relations with Poland and German. He states the borders after WWII are final. Germany will never cross into Polish territory again. This was highly controversial however very important step in resolving its relationship with Poland. -He also went to the Warsaw Memorial and paid respects to the Jewish people that had lived in the Warsaw ghetto. -

Year of 1945

-April 1945: Hitler commits suicide - Also Himmler and Goebbels(Head of propaganda) commit suicide -May 1945: Germany surrenders - Displacement of 112.5 million Germans from east to west. - Post war area : Allies take control of Germany and reorganize the political map of Europe as a consequence. Some of Germany pre war was taken away and became part of Poland (Germany shrunk considerably). Due to this, many Germans were displaced into the new Germany. - Germany is divided into 4 zones (Russsia, British, French, US) * However, soon the cold war comes (1947 - 1991) - In the mid to late 1940's there are some shared interest to hold Germany accountable for the war. Germany, Japanese and Italians need to be held accountable. -Right when the war is over, people do not think about the holocaust as a thing. This is for a long time a reluctance that Jews went through this.

Eastern Germany

-Communist versus Fascist. -The soviets recast how they fought the Fascists. They build large memorials of their soldiers. - The problem is that everyone were seen as political victims of the Fascist regime rather than specifically looking at the Jews who were targeted due to culture/religion.

An Exceptional Tale: DENMARK

-Danish government does not require Jews to register and to register their property. -Danish King Christian speaks out in support of the Jews - Sept 1943: SS General Werner Best, German administrator for Denmark, orders deportation of Danish Jews --A German official informs Danes beforehand, they warn the Jewish community and they organize the hiding of the Jews or sending them to Sweden (This actually works) -- Protest by Danish church and the king; Danish resistance organizes evacuation across the water to neutral Sweden with a participation of Danish police. - The Danes refuse the send their Jews, specifically, the King says we will not deport the Jews. (1943) *Not national self-interest instead... moral being* -Genuine humanitarian effort.

Refugee Jews

-French Jews were able to reenter french life.

Stalingrad

-January 1943: German Sixth army, along with allied Romanian and Croatian forces annihilated. Over 100000 soldiers die in battle and 90000 taken as prisoners. *definitive turning point of the war in the East.* - from this point on the war starts to fall apart and they have little chance of turning it around. - create an anxiety amongst germans about what will happen to them *They know that once they lose they are all guilty of the violence they have inflicted on all the people around them* - From beginning of 1943: The Germans are retreating.

The Romanian Holocaust

-Romania is driven by self-interest and Nationalism. - This is an important strategy for Germany because it has oil. -Romania has a very large Jewish population. - The Romanians went on a killing spree, killing about 20,000 Jews in about a day of mass shooting. Without the Germans doing anything. - Overall, 300,000 or so systematic genocide of Jews just by romanian. -However, when the Germany tells Romania to send the rest of the Jews to Auschwitz they refuse. This is probably due to Nationalism saying they know how to take care of their own Jews. -

bergen belsen

-in 1943, parts of it became a concentration camp. Initially this was an "exchange camp", where Jewish hostages were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war held overseas. - This was NOT an extermination camp, many people did die however, there were not gas chambers. - liberated by the British **VIDEO**

Netherlands

After initial protests against anti-Jewish measures, the wide-spread collaboration of Dutch administration and police. - German official Fritz Sauter reports to Himmler (1942) - Eager to get their hands on the property of Jews. - Amsterdam, declared "Jew Free" on sept. 29,1943

Deportation in Greece

April 1941- German occupation of Salonika July 1942- Forced labor assignments Feb 1943 - Jews forced into two main ghettos in Salonika March-Augst 1943: Deportation of 45,000 Salonikan Jews to Auschwitz However, the destruction of Jewish culture was carried out by Greek Nationalists.

Air raids on German cities

August 1942: Germany reaches largest expansion it will ever get too. - It looks by this point that Germany is winning this war. It is clear however that when you look deeply into the facts it is impossible that they will be able to keep this going. - After Jan 1943: The war is possibly going to be lost. Civilians knew this due to the extreme air raids that became very frequent in 1942. Americans and British meet in Morocco and they get a plan to attack 24/ a day. - Summer 1943: Attack on Hamburg that was consistent air raids. Over 600,000 civilians lost their lives. *Goal: (1)Destroy the German war economy. (2) Attack civilians on purpose to demoralize them.* Force the German population that the war is lost and to stand up against the Nazi Party. HOWEVER: despite all these devastating air raids, the civilians still did not give up their trust of Hitler. - In 1944: Still a surprising amount of Hitler support.

Auschwitz and Majdanek:

Auschwitz was a death camp and there were the most Jews killed here. But it was also a forced labor camp. - Operated longer than other killing sites -Systematic deportation from Jews from all over Europe to Auschwitz. - deportations to Auschwitz begin Jews from Slovakia and France in late March 1942 (These Jews were sent from all over Europe). Selection on arrival: Almost all children under age 14 were gassed immediately on average only about 20% of new arrivals selected for forced labor, all other gassed upon arrival -Medical Experiments: -Majdanek death camp: Like Auschwitz deportations begin in spring 1942, over 110,000 killed at this camp. - Auschwitz perfected the mass killing and served as the operating model for the rest of these camps.

Ordinary Men: Browning versus Goldhagen

Both used the same primary sources to interpret. How and why did the perpetrate due what they did? Goldhagen: But what about all the people that were murdered but were not Jewish? Monocausal claim: if you only have 1 reason yours on slippery ground. Browning: "Human factor": This is not just something can happen only at this time and place. But yet it is a conversion of a factor that causes people to buy into the program. Yes, Antisem. is very important to the movement, however, this is not the single factor alone. This behavior is fueled by much more ideological practices. The situation of the individuals : Peer pressure etc.

Individuals

Chiune Sugihara: Started giving visas for Jews to go to Japan. A representative of Japan. The heads in Tokyo told him to stop but he continued. Raoul Wallenberg: Swedish government official. Starting giving papers to Jews under Sweden which is neutral in the war. "International Ghetto" places that people with protection papers could be sent to. 100,00 jews survived due to this. - Two international diplomats and their role in saving Jews

2/27/17

Concentration camps, slave labor, killing centers

Wannsee Conference January 1942

Decision made: Conduct what they called the "final solution" on a Europe-wide scale. - Not *what* to do with them, rather it was informing the governments about what the next stop was. Not *what* but *how*. - Hedrich discusses how they have tried everything (immigration, exile, etc) now they only have the *final solution* left. - The Final solution: systematic killing in killing centers. He terms this as evacuations which are actually meaning taking all Jews to these centers in the East.

Einsatzgruppen (1941)

Ethnic cleansing. Special task forces. Question: Where is the population of all these soldiers coming from? - These task forces were tasked to round up all the people that were connected to the communist link. These people(primarily young Jewish men) - The excuses went from fighting communism to accusing Jews of killing Germans behind lines. *August 1941: the Systematic shooting of Jewish children in Lithuania. This proves this is not about communism or the killing of German soldiers. * This shows there is no future for any Jew in the Western Soviet union where Germany is in control. - These task forces come into a town, round these people uptake them into some remote location and local axillary forces due to mass shootings. Often forced them to undress before killing them so the army can use their things. - This required so much *participation* that shows how the world got involved. This is not a small amount of people due these horrific killings. This is a mass operation that is personal.

Western Europe: France and Holland

Everywhere in Europe, tendency to collaboration with Germany in the Early war years. Early on there is very little resistance However, once people realize that Germany would lose then you see more of a resistance against this.

The European Holocaust

From 1942- end of war: Concentrate Jews everywhere where German occupation is still in power. -

"The war against the Soviet Union is an ideological battle

Heinrich Himmler July 1941: - The Soviet Union war is totally different than the war in the West. This war is a struggle of races and an ideological battle. Not a war over territory but a war over between 2 opposing ideologies (Communism versus Fascism). This is important because there had to be 1 victor only one side can survive. It is a matter of destroying the opponent. *War of extermination* The war in the West allowed Western people to be integrated into the rule whereas the Soviets could not be. - On the other side: masses of people who are out to get Germany. "animals": dehumanization - Himmler has a ruthless ideology and states they can destroy all of them. He spreads the idea that the Germans are the victims of this communism. He states the USSR is treating their soldiers so badly that this killing is justified. - *ideology plays a very important role: By determining what Nazi leaders are choosing what do down to the soliders. Jews are not a small minority but they are collectively the prime enemy of Nazi Germany. Regardless of who or what they do they are a threat.*

3/6/17: The Last Years of the War

How does the holocaust unfold in the end of the war.

4 counts in Nuremberg trials

I. Conspiracy of committing crimes against peace - Everything that goes about starting a law of aggression II. Crimes against peace III. Crimes in violation of the laws and customs of war. IV. Crimes against humanity, including, inhumane acts, enslavement, murder and mass extermination against civilians.

Attack on Soviet Union

In June 1941: This is when Hitler decided to turn on Stalin. It was expected that the Nazi's would turn on the Soviets but not so soon. -The soviets were caught off guard. - The plan was for Germans to attack then retreat. Hitler figured the war would be about 4 months and did not prep for Russian winter. - The war quickly turns into a bloodbath and more soldiers die in this time then the whole war prior. -By the end of 1941: it is clear that the soviet union is not going to fall and therefore they need to take care of the "Jewish problem" now and not after the war. -War in Soviet union to be different than the one faught in the West as there were more Jews to be killed.

France

July 1942: Round up of "stateless Jews" and send them off to train stations that take them to concentration camps. The killing and transport are done by the Germans. However, the initial round up depends on the local police. -French end up being very efficient in labeling and rounding up the Jews in opposition to the Belgium police was not as efficient **A lot depends on the local police in Western Europe** -France had a history of Anti-Semitism and some may say it was the most of the Europe countries. - French do not see any problem with rounding up Jews that are not french citizens however they reject rounding up Jews that have citizenship. They believe that they cannot just send their jews off to be killed as they are French. *Nationalism*: The Jewish question becomes a battleground between unequal allies. One way for the less powerful allies to show they are not under German occupation is by not deporting their own citizens. Out of national interest not because they are being controlled. -By 1943: Most of the German allies see the Germans are going to lose so they start acting against these orders

"State secretary Dr. Buhler states that the General Government would welcome it if the final solution of this problem could begin in the..."

Kill the Jews in the General Govt first because the ghettos are starving and these people are deemed to not be fit to work for the war effort anyways.

Western Europe: How to round up the Jews?

Limited man power in places like : France. German occupation on a daily basis is not working, so how do they deport all of them?

Fall of France

May 1940: Hitler makes a proposition to erase the concept of the Jews by moving them to Africa or elsewhere other than Europe. France owned Madagascar so when they fell the idea was for Germany to take over *Madagascar* and move the Jews there. (~5.5 million Jews). - In a middle of the war, this proposition was outrageous. *The first time the Nazi's envision a Europe-wide empty Jewish population. The notion of getting rid of all of them. * Problem: Madagascar is far away this would require ships and the British navy is controlling the ocean and at this point, they are not falling. So a few months later this idea was put down.

"We are in the most favorable and broadly opportune moment in history"

Mihai Antonescu prime minister (1941)

German Allies and the Jewish Question : Italy

Mussolini was very anti-Semitic but Italian Nationalism came first. They were allies because the shared Fascist ideology and anti-democratic and they both wanted to kill the Soviet Union. -The Jewish community in Italy was very small and they were all very assimilated. - Italy was more racist toward their African colonies but when it came to Italian Jews, they were not on board with the Germans to get rid of all of these Jews. -Wherever Italy started occupying Jews were for the most part space. -However, in 1943 Mussolini was overthrown and the Germans came in and started doing their own deportations.

"The essential aim of the campaign against the Jewish- Bolshevist system is the complete crushing of its means of power and the extermination of the Asiatic influence in the European cultural region" "This poses taks for the troops which go beyond...." "The feeding at army kitchens of native"

Orders from Field Marshal con Reichenau (October 1941): The army is buying into this ideology that *Jewish= communism*. - The soldiers are aware that this war is not going to be the same as the one they had in the West. The rules of war are going out the window. *Jewish sub-humanity: Jews are not human* This plays out in multiple ways: German soldiers conduct mass killing through mass shooting and starvation. Soviet union POW camps would kill more in a day then the whole loss of USA. - Even just feeding these POWs were acts against Germany because they would not do anything for the war force. *A DIFFERENT WAR*

Hunger plan

Plan for ag. exploitation of the "surplus regions" of the soviet Union and destruction of Russian cities. The southern part of soviet would supply food. Ukraine peasants were subordinate people but were necessary to feed the Germans. Hitler insisted that Moscow and Leningrad not be captured but completely destroyed... why? Hitler saw them as taking food away from his soldiers. German troops lay *siege to Leningrad*(1944), however, this wasn't successful. Due to the winter, the water that connected the cities froze. 700,000 citizens starved to death

"I can now get down to doing some good practical work for our Fuhreer. I hope... that this opportunity will finally permit me to advance myself" "The region which I have to look after together with 25 hendarmes and 500 police officers"

Police officer: Letters by German police chief Fritz Jacob, deployed to Kamenents podolsky in 1942. -Group pressure of trying to get a higher level role in his occupation. - He has embodied this prejudice and does not seem to be bothered by this. These actions and killing actions. States he feels no pain of conscience despite this mass killing. From the Jewish perspective: They still believe that the war effort could use them, that they are skilled labors. The camps in Poland did the last longer because this idea of having their labor.

Western Germany and Israel

Signed in 1952. Western Germany rebuilds its self as a mirror image of the Western allies that will be diplomatic, part of NATO etc. - The must recognize that their past was horrific to Jews and they must agree to pay reparations to Israel in order to pay to help bring holocaust survivors to Israel and repay Jews that had been victimized. -

"...Europe will be combed from west to east. Germany proper, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.."

Sole purpose of finding every Jew and sending them to the camps in the east.

Territorial Solution

The "General Government" - Idea of a Jewish Reservation" in the Lublin district - Plans fail over the objections of the governor of General Government, Hans Frank, and practical problems. We do not have documents saying exactly what Hitler's ideology was, these ideas came from top SS and Hitler was the decision maker. - LUBLIN DISTRICT: Send all Jews there and it can be a Jewish territory. This was the *First Solution* However, Hans Frank the head of the Lublin district is very upset by this, he doesn't want his district to turn into a ghetto. In 1940 war goes west.

However.... The Holocaust was not.

The Holocaust is not a story of survival and resistance, but of systematic murder and widespread collaboration. A story of *Death* -Why do people do what they do: Individual level.

The fate of the European Jew

The antisemitic drive was there from the beginning of the war but the how to get rid of the Jews was not clear in the beginning of the war. -The very center of Jewish life was in Eastern Europe (Poland and USSR).

Eichmann trial in Jerusalem

This occurred in 1961. This puts the event of the Holocaust on the map. - Adolf Eichmann: Born in Germany moved to Austria. Joined the SS in 1932. He becomes an 'expert' in the Jewish question. In 1938 he is put in charge of emigration of Jews from Austria. He sets up the immigration office. Personally oversaw a mass deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. - In 1960 the Israel military find him in Argentina and take him back to Israel to persecute him - *Major Impact* in the world begin to think about the events of the Holocaust. *Television* made a huge difference in this, these trials were televised live across the world. This made this unimaginable crime into the spot light. - Prosecution puts the victims at the center focus. They use written documentation that was used to show that German population had waged an illegal war of aggression and in that killed 6 million Jews. He calls in personal survivors their stories. *Gideon Hausner* main goal is to put the history of the Holocaust on this record. He calls in a large number of witnesses/ survivors and had them discuss how they experienced the Holocaust. - This trial was much different from the Nuremberg trials. In this trial, the terminology goes from a crime committed by the Germans to a crime of the Europeans. The terminology of Genocide. He wanted to focus on Genocide but also focus on 'Jewry as a whole the entire concern.' Meaning put the Jews at the center. The Nuremberg trials discussed how there were many victims of the Holocaust, however, Hausner made sure to point out how this war was the main focus of the SS movement. Although there were so many people targeted: homosexuals, disabled, communists, etc however the only party that was fully singled out and that every single member of this Jewish group needed to die. This is particularly horrifying and the Eichmann trial made this the center focus.

" The Jews should be put to work in the East... Doubtless the large majority will be eliminated...."

Wannsee Conference 1942. Reinhard Heydrich. - Discussing how they are going to use the Jews as slave labor until they die. However, most of the Jews sent to these camps were killed on site. "Survival of the fittest": The Jews who make it are even more dangerous than the rest and he states they will deal with those Jews then.

Coming to terms with the Holocaust

Western Europe: -Silencing the Jewish victims - Remembering one's own suffering during WWII - The *"Vichy Syndrome"*: Vichy is the Capital of Southern France. The tendency to block out bad parts of History. France rewrites its history and leaves out this Vichy regime. -Post- war trials as turning points (~1960 and on) Eastern Europe - Victims of Fascism - Turning point after the fall of Soviet Empire 1989-1991 -Competing memories, equating Communism and Facism - Why did it take so long so people to start focusing on the Holocaust?

Question

What stopped Soviets from being able to push Germans out of their territory prior to 1943?

General Plan East.

Written by respected academics in Germany. How to organize and maximize space and economy. - Colonization and Germanization of the East - Academics plan for 'rational mapping of space and populations." - Anticipate the forced displacement of dozens of millions of civilians who were designated as "racially undesirable" - *BLACK EARTH LAND*: ????? -Jews are missing, the Polish and etc were told that they need to be moved but Jews were not even referenced.

Declaration of Independence In Israel

Zionist movement was established in 1897. - When Israel declares independence. - This country needed to be created and Israel is where the Jews came from originally. - By WWI that a nation of people has a right to a nation-state. By 1897 the Jews are a people and therefore have a right to natural self-determination. -The core belief that the main problem of the Jews is NOT that others do not like them, it is that the Jews did not have a homeland. The main problem is their homelessness. Only nations that have a nation-state have a good chance at surviving. In 1948 this comes to be.