German Jews example essay topic

4,673 words
The Holocaust 1) Newsletter of the Blond Champion This was a newsletter written by a very anti-Semitic writer named Lanz. The newsletters were actually a series of pamphlets written over the course of three years. Hitler frequently bought the pamphlets, which described history as a constant battle between blond Aryan heroes, and dark, hairy ape-men. Lanz sometimes identified the ape-men as Jews, and he predicted that pogroms would soon come. He promoted the swastika as a sign of racial purity, and eventually raised a swastika flag over his castle. He may have been the main person who set an impression in Hitler's mind that Jews are inferior, and a threat to society.

Due to reading Lanz's outlook on the Jews, Hitler concluded that diseased, filthy Jews would steal and abuse innocent young Aryan girls. 2) Protocols of the Elders of Zion This was a book brought to Germany and to Hitler by a Russian 'emir'e named Alfred Rosenberg. It claimed to unveil the plans of a secret international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. It was a pure piece of fiction, that was the new backbone for anti-Semites. Many anti-Semitic people commented on the Protocols. It was first brought to Germany in 1920, and by the end of 1920, there were already 120,000 copies sold!

3) Mein Kampf This is a book written by Adolf Hitler while he was in prison during 1923-24. In it, he portrays himself, at age 35, as a great intellectual and political figure. His single purpose was to write about his personal great nesses, and about his plans to take over Germany so he can get rid of the Jews. He takes much credit in Mein Kampf, he doesn't mention the fact that his parents, Lanz, and others influenced him a lot. He describes all of his ideas about the "Final Solution" to get rid of all the Jews in Germany, and then on to all the Jews in the World.

He also talks about the perfect race of Aryans, blond, blue eyed, broad shouldered Germans, and about promoting the spread of anti-Semites all over the world. 4) Bolshevism This was a policy held by Bolsheviks, a party that brought violent revolution to Russia in 1918. Hitler saw that there were many Jews involved in Bolshevism, so he used that to prove his point that Jews were out to rule the world. 5) Nazism- Nazi This was a political party also known as the Nationalist Socialist German Worker's party. It consisted of perfect German Aryans who had one goal in life- to wipe out all existence of Jews. Their anti-Semitic influential leader was Hitler.

6) Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a philosopher called the father of German nationalism, and the father of modern German anti-Semites. He felt that Jewish ideas were as bad as French ideas, and that it would be dangerous to the Germans if Jews were allowed to become German citizens. 7) Volk Two philosophers were involved in this term, Ernst Moritz Arndt, and his student, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, gave the name "Volk" to German nationalism. It means "people", but signifies so much more. It became more of a religious term, meaning a racially pure people, i. e., without racially impure Jews. It described the innermost character of what Germans were supposed to be.

Hitler had this tremendous animosity for gypsies, Jews, and homosexuals just because he did not see them as part of the German Volk. 8) Explain: Liberalism is Un German Since the Germans hated the French, and Liberalism was a French idea, Germany despised it. Also, Germany was a dictatorship, and liked it that way. Liberalism was pro-democracy, so obviously, by nature the Germans did not approve op it. 9) Anti Semites Petition of 1880's In the fall of 1880, an anti-Semitic petition was circulated. It was started by two schoolteachers, and a minor nobleman, and was distributed by a newly formed anti-Semitic students " club.

A petition that asked the German government to "free " Germany from Jews who were described as foreigners trying to master and destroy the German people. The petition also demanded that Jewish immigration became restricted. When it was presented to Chancellor Bismarck in April 1881, the petition had 225,000 signatures! 10) Leopard Zunz He was great Jewish reformer and historian of Judaism, who was an optimist. As opposed to another Jewish reformer, Berthold Auerbach, Zunz believed that this tremendous animosity the Germans possess for the Jews was childish, and will pass. The reality was actually far from Zunz's outlook.

Germans DID hate the Jews with all their hearts and all their souls, and will go to the farthest extent to display their hatred. 11) D"uh ring Eugen Karl D"uh ring was one leader of the reform unions. He was a philosopher and economist who taught at the University of Berlin until 1877, when university officials who found him, uncooperatively, forced him to retire. Like practically all unfortunate anti-Semites, D"uh ring blamed all his misfortunes on the Jews. He wrote that Judaism was taking over Germany, and that Jews were trying to destroy the state. His position as a famous teacher made his ideas become engraved in many of his student's minds.

His main idea was that the Jewish race was a "counter race" separated from all human races. In fact, one of his students was influenced by D"uh ring's ideas, tha the told his ideas to Hitler, who then adopted those ideas. 12) Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party This is another name for the Nazi party, which consisted of anti-Semitic people with the goal of wiping out every Jew and Jewish idea in this world. They supported the Aryan, a tall, blond, blue eyed, broad shouldered German.

Their abomination for the Jews was inconceivable! They were especially against the Jews having citizenship in Germany. 13) Totalitarian State A Totalitarian state is another word fora dictatorship. In this kind of a state, there is one ruler with absolute power.

The idea of a dictatorship was promoted by the Germans, and opposed to by the French. Hitler was the dictator in the German Totalitarian State. 14) Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic was another name for Germany after their defeat in World War 1 in 1919. It was given a Democratic constitution. But then, Germany went into a depression, and Hitler decided to blame all his problems on the Jews. He claimed he needed to become dictator to rid Germany of Jews.

When he became dictator, German citizenship was taken away from all Jews. Then, the Weimar Republic was no longer democratic. 15) Hindenburg Paul von Hindenburg was the last president of the Weimar Republic. On January 30, 1933, Hindenburg administered the oath of office to Adolf Hitler. His plans were for Hitler to be PRESIDENT, but that wasn't what Hitler had in mind. Hitler wanted to be the DICTATOR of Germany!

16) Public Safety Hitler was very cunning when it came to rising to power. He used his slogan of getting rid of Jews in order to become president. He then took steps toward being a dictator, until he was a full fledged dictator. The first anti-democratic step he took was on February 4, 1933, when he requested from Hindenburg the power to prohibit public meetings and to stop publications in which Hitler didn't like. He used the excuse that certain meetings and publications (Jewish meetings and publications) could " endanger public safety". Obviously all Hitler wanted was more power to get rid of the Jews, but he used the excuse that the Jews can endanger public safety.

17) Storm Troops The Storm Troops were the Nazi's secret army. It grew to have over 400,000 members right after Hitler came to power. Their objective, simple- to terrorize all whom Hitler hated, i. e., Communist, Socialists, trade union workers, and especially Jews. In ten days, the Storm Troops took over 15,000 prisoners into protective custody. 18) Gestapo The Gestapo was the Secret State Police Office.

The people who were in charge of the Gestapo, along with all other political German police services, were Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Himmler. It's headquarters were in Berlin. One thing they did was investigate "enemies of the state", which included Jews. Also, on Kristallnacht, the Gestapo was responsible for rounding up some 50,000 Polish Jews who were living in Germany. 19) Eichman Adolf Eichman was the person in charge of the Jewish affairs subsidiary of the SS.

Though he was a horrible person, and he killed MANY people, he was not as bad as Hitler! Hitler believed that if you have a trace of Jewish blood, then you are a Jew. Eichman believed, that some Jews, including Zionists, are OK Jews. Eichman actually applauded Zionism. 20) G"oringHermann G"or ing was a German cabinet minister in charge of the Storm Troops. He lived from 1893 to 1946.

He was a German Field Marshal, Commander in chief of the German air force. He was the second most powerful leader in Germany. 21) Lebensraum The literal meaning of this word is living space. Hitler said that "War is life", and his philosophy made him want to go to war- but not to simply conquer foreign territory or people. He wanted to go to war to make for space for the racially supreme, i. e., Aryans. 22) Kristallnacht or Night of the Broken Glass On the night of November 9, 1938, the Nazis went out hunting down " enemies of the state".

Fires were ignited throughout the country, and the streets were littered with broken glass from the windows of synagogues, Jewish stores, and homes. On Kristallnacht, over 7,000 businesses were destroyed, nearly 100 Jews were murdered, and thousands more were cruelly mistreated. 23) Reichstag The Reichstag building was a government building which was set to fire on February 27, 1933. An insane communist was found on the scene, but there was a very big rumor going around that Hitler's party may have set it on fire as a strategical move.

They would be able to blame the fire on the communists (which consisted on many Jews), so the Nazi party would be elected under the slogan that they would get rid of the Jews who set fire to the Reichstag building. 24) Blitzreig The literal meaning is lightning campaign. Hitler wanted to conquer Poland, but the British and French governments said they would come to Poland's aid. So Hitler decided to run a Lightning campaign throughout Poland, which was supposed to resist war. 25) Maxim Litvinov He was the Russian Foreign Minister who was sent to Germany to discuss a peace pact.

He represented everything the Nazis hated- He was a Jew, peace advocate, supporter of the League of Nations, friend of the Western democracies, and an opponent of the Nazis. Hitler hated Maxim, yet he still made a "pact with the Satan so as to drive out the Devil". 26) Einsatzgrupen Another name for Einsatzgrupen are the Special Duty Groups. Hitler commanded them to kill as many Jews as they can in the areas in which the German army had already defeated.

27) Shift from immigration to evacuation Immigration was simply relocating the Jews, but Hitler wanted more to be done about the Jewish Question. Evacuation was to EXTERMINATE all Jews, meaning to kill them. 28) Heydrich The people who were in charge of the Gestapo, along with all other political German police services, were Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Himmler. 29) Final Solution The Final Solution was to answer the Jewish Question. All Jews were to be evacuated, no matter what. Some prominent Jews would be given more time to evacuate.

30) GemeindeThere were over 1,300 members in this communal religious organization. It maintained synagogues, promoted religious education, and dispensed charity. It made its money from Jewish state taxes. The Gemeinden of each state belonged to central association. 31) Judenrat The Judenrat was an organization first established to help the Germans relocate the Jews into Poland.

Over time, they were to carry out every order of the Germans. They were fully responsible for prompt and careful cooperation with all government decrees. Instead of the Judenrat being used to relocate the Jews, they were later used to fully exterminate them. 32) Central Association of German Jews of the Jewish Religion This was the first Jewish group before the war that fought anti-Semitism. They were very optimistic, and told Jews that German is home to the Jews, and that won't change. 33) Martin Buber Martin Buber lived from 1878 to 1965.

Hew as extremely persuasive in summoning his fellow Jews to Jewish self-awareness. The scholar wrote books and gave lectures that stirred German Jews to be true to Jewish values in the totality of their lives. 34) Jewish Fraud In ghettos, many Jews suffered, but not only because of the Nazis. The Jews blamed their suffering on the Germans, and the Judenrat, who not only carried out the Nazis orders without hesitation or regret, but they also did more than what their commanders told them to do. The Judenrat was given the name Jewish Fraud by Jews, because of the way they we retreating the Jews. 35) Bund The Bund is also known as the socialist Jewish worker's association.

It was the strongest political movement in the Ghetto, located in Warsaw. Even when the Germans had siege of the city, it continued to hand print a daily newspaper. It often sponsored and organized public kitchens, a Socialist Red Cross to care for those who were sick and on forced labor, and a youth movement. The Bund also helped to fight off pogroms. 36) Bloody Friday Bloody Friday was late night on Friday (obviously), April 17, 1942, in Warsaw. The Bund and other underground press writers were caught, and warned by the Gestapo to stop printing the underground newspapers, and on Bloody Friday, some 50 of those Jews were shot in the street, after being seized in their homes.

37) Kovno ghetto, the Kovno Rabbi The Kovno ghetto is know as one of the worst ghettos. One incident was horrendous. The Germans constantly needed supplies to help them fight in the war they were fighting. They needed some Jewish workers.

So, they gave 5000 work permits to the Judenrat to distribute. The work permits would allow Jews to leave the ghetto so they be able to work for the Germans. The permits may actually save their lives. Only 5000 Jews could escape the tragedies of the ghetto. The Judenrat didn't know what to do.

They could burn all the permits, or choose the people at random. The Kovno Rabbi said if the community of Jews is threatened by persecution, and some may be saved, then the leaders of the community must muster up as much courage as they can to rescue as many as possible. Their problem was solved when the Jews of the Ghetto found out that there were 5000 work permits in the Judenrat. They ran a raid, and there were many injuries.

Whatever permits were therein the Judenrat, were stolen. There were many injuries due to the raid. 26,400 Jews were lined up every day, and few by few, they were shot. There were many other tragedies of the Kovno ghetto, one of them being the time the German Police set fire to a Kovno Ghetto hospital. 38) Arthur ZygelboymHe was the leader of the Jewish Labor Bund.

He committed suicide on May 11, 1943 (some say it was May 12), in London, in protest of the ignorance of the world toward the countless thousands of deaths in Polish Jewry. He was not necessarily a suicidal person. To me, he is a martyr. He died for a reason, not because he can't bear life.

In his farewell letter, he wrote, "By my death I wish to make my final protest against the passivity with which the world is looking on and permitting the extermination of the Jewish people. 39) Warsaw Ghetto There were many people in the Warsaw Ghetto. When word got to them about how the Germans wanted to kill all Jews, they came up with an uprising. There were two groups who organized the uprising: ZZ, and ZOB. There were many hostage situations in the ghetto. The uprising was unsuccessful, yet they accomplished a lot.

They destroyed and humiliated one of Hitler's armies, and they fought well for human dignity. 40) AdamCzerniakow He was the leader of the Judenrat in Warsaw. When there were 40 Judenrat officials taken hostage by Nazis, Czerniakow was left free because his wife was also a hostage. He tried to negotiate with Nazis, when they asked him to give over 6,000 Jews daily.

They would not save any children, and furthermore, they said that his wife would bethe first to be shot if there wasn't compliance. He committed suicide, because he wasn't able to comply. In my eyes, he was not a martyr. 41) Rumkowsky He was the chairman of the Lodz Ghetto. He was mean to them, because he thought that the harder they worked for the Germans, the more of a chance of survival they had.

The truth was, they were all going to die anyway. 42) Mordechai Anielewicz He was the commander of the Youth Fighting Organization (A.K.A., ZOB) in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He helped put together the Anti-Fascist Bloc, which helped to initiate underground resistance bands, to teach ghetto rebels various fighting techniques, and to convert ghetto residents who were still unsure of the appropriate course of action. 43) Himmler The Gestapo was the Secret State Police Office. Himmler was also the head of the SS in 1929, and made it even bigger than it was before he was in charge of it. Himmler became one of Hitler's most powerful and important agents.

44) Babi Yar The mass murder of Jews in 1941 were atrocious. Thousands of Jews were taken to the Kiev forest to dig their own graves. Then they were shot on the spot. 45) Nuremburg Laws These were a series of vicious anti-Jewish laws set out on September 15, 1935. The Reichstag unanimously adopted them, and established "Purity of German blood" a legal category.

Intermarriage between Jews and Germans was outlawed, so was a German working for a Jew- even if the German wanted to. The laws also excluded Jews from all citizenship rights. 46) Nuremberg trials These trials, held after World War II, put many Nazis on trial. Many pleaded insanity, but most claimed that they were just carrying out orders. Regardless, almost all Nazis were either killed, or locked up in jail.

47) Name five Concentration Camps 1) Auschwitz 2) Buchenwald 3) Birkenau 4) Belzec 5) Chelmno 48) Name three Death Camps 1) Sobibor 2) Treblinka 3) Majdanek 49) Name three large ghettos in Poland 1) Warsaw 2) Lodz 3) Kiev 50) Why did many Jewish Leaders Oppose Resistance Many Jewish leaders were told by the underground, things about the Nazis killing the Jews in the concentration camps. The Jewish leaders felt that most news the underground brought wasn't true, and if it was, and they cooperated with the Nazis, they would be saved. Since they felt that nothing bad would happen, and even if there would be troubles, it would be easy to escape the troubles. Theyalso believed that if there was a resistance, it wouldn't succeed, and your better off cooperating with the Nazis. 51) List Four Places Where There was Resistance 1) Tuczyn 2) Warsaw 3) Vilna 4) Sobibor 52) British White Paper 1939 This paper restricted immigration to Palestine. 53) British White Paper 1921 This paper restricted immigration to Palestine.

54) Establishment of the State of Israel 1948 On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was established. Israel belonged to the Jews. 55) Trial and Execution of Adolf Eichman 1961 Adolf Eichman was hunted down by Simon Wiesenthal in 1961, and in 1962, he was put to death in Israel for the crime of Genocide. 56) Neville Chamberlain Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) was the British Prime Minister from 1937 to 1940. At first, he did not care to take sides in Hitler's conquest for more Lebensraum. But he later stated that Hitler "deceived and disappointed him".

Hitler promised not to attack any of Poland, if he was given apiece of Czechoslovakia in which many Germans were living in. Neville is known for his appeasement policy, when he allowed Hitler to have the part of Czechoslovakia he wanted. But then, Hitler broke his promise, and that's why Britain was angry at Hitler. The British government and the French government announced that they would support Poland if Hitler tried to extend his power over Poland's borders.

Hitler tried to invade Poland, so, on September 3, Britain declared war on Germany. Neville Chamberlain was known for his policy of appeasement. 57) Goebbels Josef Paul Goebbels (1897-1945) was Hitler's Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. He was commanded by Hitler to make a boycott of all Jewish businesses in Germany. 58) Jewish Combat Organization Also known as the ZOB, the Jewish Combat Organization was formed in Warsaw by existing political parties there. They helped by training an army, and getting supplies for it.

This organization is a major factor in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. 59) Storm Troops The Storm Troops were the Nazi's private army. Bythe middle of 1933, the army had grown to over 400,000. It's mission was simply to terrorize those whom Hitler despised- Communists, Socialists, trade union workers, and especially the Jews.

In 10 days, the Storm Troops took 15,000 prisoners into "protective custody". 60) Theresienstadt This was a place chosen by ReinhardHeydrich, to be a place to keep prominent Jews, and elderly Jews. It was a camp, but not a concentration work or death camp. It served as a "model camp" or "transit camp", a camp to deceive foreign visitors. For the most part, whoever came to Theresienstadt, just stopped there. They were then shipped to another camp (extermination, work, of concentration) as their final destination.

61) Treblinka and Sobibor Both these places were death camps. At these camps, the ten percent who were most fit, were selected for work. The rest, were gassed. They were told to undress, and the woman and girls had their hair cut. Then they marched between files of police who hurried them along with whips, sticks, or guns to the gas chambers.

In these "shower rooms", they were rammed in, 1 person per square foot. Ten to thirty minutes later, all were dead! The dead bodies were burned to make room for new ones. These were two of the most atrocious camps. 62) Wannsee Conference On January 20, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich assembled a group of thirteen state and party officials for a conference in a small, private villa located in Am Grossen Wannsee.

ReinhardHeydrich and Adolf Eichman met at this conference. They discussed their plans for the Final Solution, and the shift from emigration to evacuation (a euphemism for "murder"). Theyalso discussed how to go about killing all the Jews in many foreign European countries. 63) Wallenberg Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish religious gentile, who helped save MANY Jews. 64) Simon W eisenthal SimonWeisenthal is known as the "Nazi Hunter". He is famous for catching and bringing to trial many infamous Nazis, including Adolf Eichman.

He was a survivor of the Holocaust, and has written many books along with many documentaries and films. 65) Chaim Kaplan He was a member of the Warsawghetto, and wanted all of the world to know what was going on. He wrote a few long articles describing conditions in the ghetto. He hid the articles in milk cans. So far, we have recovered all but one of his milk cans containing descriptions of the Warsaw Ghetto. If he would have been caught, he would have been tortured to death, or shot on the spot.

66) One Shabbat Archive Directed by Emanuel Ringelblum in Warsaw, hundreds of underground newspapers, private diaries, and transcribed interviews were preserved. This set an example for others ghettos, who did the same. The things which were preserved served to be very helpful to us in describing what life was like in the ghettos. 67) Police State This is another term for a totalitarian state.

A Totalitarian state is another word for a dictatorship. 68) Yan us Kozak He was a psychiatrist who was offered to be saved by the Germans, but he refused, because he wanted to stay with his people in Warsaw. He was the head of the child orphanage there. 69) Reinhard Heydrich The people who were in charge of the Gestapo, along with all other political German police services, were Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Himmler. Reinhard Heydrich chose Theresienstadt to be a place to keep prominent Jews, and elderly Jews.

70) Hershl Grynszpan On November 9, 1938, a terrible night in Jewish history occurred. It was called Kristallnacht. Technically, there were no events leading up to Kristallnacht, because the Germans were waiting for an excuse for them to be able to go on a rampage killing whichever Jews they felt like killing. Their excuse was HershlGrynszpan. In the fall of 1938, violence against Jews hit an all-time high. The Gestapo had rounded up some 15,000 Jews living in Germany, on the first people being HershlGrynszpan.

On November 7, Hershl showed his anger for being arrested by assassinating a German officer in Paris. This was the Nazi's excuse for killing thousands of people on Kristallnacht. 71) When did the US Enter World War 1? On December 7, 1941, the US entered the war, and declared war on Germany on December 11, 1941.72) Chelmno This was a death camp, in which at least 340,000 people died from the gas chambers alone! 73) Yan KarskiYan Karski was a messenger who stuck into the Warsawghetto, found out everything that was going on inside the ghetto, and reported it to the Warsaw citizens outside the ghetto.

Nobody came to the aid of the ghetto because they didn't have the guts and they hardly even believed Karski. 74) Evian Conference 75) The SS St. Louis 76) When was Poland Attacked by Germany? Poland was attacked by Germany on September 3, 1939.77) When was Eastern Poland attacked by the Germans? Eastern Poland was attacked by the Germans on September 17, 1939.78) When was Russia Attacked? Russia was attacked on June 22, 1941.79) When did the Germans Enter Hungary? The Germans entered Hungary in March 1944.