Hitler, Nazis and The Final Solution

Genocide- What is it?

• violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group.
• Coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1944. Polish-jewish lawyer who wanted to describe what the Nazis were doing.
• geno- meaning tribe or race
• -cide meaning killing

Discussion:

Are there others besides the Holocaust?

Rise to Power

• Germany's Great Depression proved to be the right platform for change.
• The peole were open to extremist options.
• Hitler ran against Paul von Hindenburg twice and came in second.
• Hitler became chancellor
• Hitler used his position to form a de facto legal dictatorship.
• Reichstag Fire Decree- suspended basic rights and allowed detention WITHOUT trial.
• Enabling Act- Cabinet given FULL legislative powers for four years and allowed for deviations from the constitution
• July 14, 1933- Nazi Party declared the only LEGAL political party in Germany
• Before Hindenburg's death- a new law had abolished the office of the president and combined those powers with the chancellor.
• Hitler became head of state, governent and formally named Leader and Chancellor.

How was Hitler persuasive?

• As a member of the German Worker's Party, his views became cemented. Personally designed the party banner.
• His speeches became well-known and audiences came.
• November 8, 1923- Beer Hall Putsch
• Hitler and the Sturmabteilung (SA) stormed a public meeting and announced a national revolution and the formation of a new government.

Hitler, Nazis and The Final Solution

Adolph Hitler

The Beginning

• Born in Austria. Father died young. Not the best student.
• Was poor and homeless.
• Watercolor painter- applied to the Academy of Fine Arts twice--was rejected.
• Fought in World War I.
• Rose to power because he could give voice to the base fears of the people.
• Joined and helped start German Workers Party in 1919.
• Conspirator to overthrow the Republic.
• Put in jail- wrote Mein Kampf

• Wounded at the Battle at the Somme- decorated with the Iron Cross First Class and the Black Wound Badge.
• Used anti-semitism as a tool for his rise to power
• January 1933- becomes Chancellor
• He gets more political and police power after the fire of the Reichstag in February of 1933.
• Able to start creating the dictatorship of the totalitarian state.
• Invasion of Poland in June 1941 was supposed to be quick. But declarations of war changed that.
• Hitler felt it was his duty to erase the Jews from the world.

Journal

Do you think the Holocaust was moral? Explain your reasoning.

The Final Solution

The Nazi Regime

• Social reform measures:
• anti-smoking country wide
• Abstinence from alcohol and meat
• Hitler would tell slaughter stories at dinner to shame diners.
• Keep your body pure from intoxicating or unclean substance

• Racial Hygiene:
• marriages banned between non-Jewish and Jewish Germans.
• "non-Aryans" denied German citizenship
• Children with physical and developmental disabilities were targeted in early policies
• Disabled adults euthanasia program was developed and authhorized later