World History

12/16/13

Warm-up1. Why was the Battle of the Atlantic important?2. Why did the success of D-Day mean that the

war was almost over?

Pick two to answer:3. What happened in the Battle of Britain?4. What happened at the Battle of Stalingrad?5. What happened at the Battle of El Alamein?6. What happened at the Battle of Midway?7. What happened at the Battle of the Bulge?

Timeline

• Using your notes, create a timeline for the events of WWII. Star anything you feel was a turning point.

• Use this to answer the first EQ:What were the most important events of WWII?Be sure to identify them and explain why they were important.

Ethics of Atomic BombsETHICAL UNETHICAL

It was a better option than invading Japan.

A new level of destruction that is criminal in nature.

The speedy end to the war may have saved civilian lives in the end.

It was not necessary to end the war (the Soviet declaration of war did).

It was part of total war. Terrorism—targeting innocents to achieve a political goal.

The Japanese refused to surrender after the Potsdam Declaration.

Nagasaki was three days after Hiroshima, before the full impact was known.

The firebombing was even more destructive than atomic bombings.

Dehumanization of Japanese: inability to reason with them outside of death.

Ethics of the Atomic Bombs

• Split into two sides: those who believe the bombing was ethical and those who believe the bombing was unethical.

• You have 5 minutes to develop an argument. The winning side will earn extra credit.

• 2 minutes: opening statements.• 2 minutes: rebuttals• 2 minutes: conclusions

• Mr. Phillis decides the winner.

Atomic Bombs

• Write an argument, based on your belief, of if the use of atomic bombs by the U.S. in WWII was ethical.

The Holocaust• Who: Hitler & the Nazi party• What: The genocide (systematic, organized

murder of a race) of Jews & murder of other “unfit” people.

• When: 1933-1945• Where: Poland, Germany, & other locations in

eastern Europe.• Why: Hitler’s propaganda had convinced some

Germans that the Jews must be eliminated.• How: A long history of anti-Semitism in Europe

& the rise of eugenics.

The History of anti-Semitism

• Pagan Era: Monotheism vs. polytheism: Jews as “others”• Early Christianity: Jews are blamed for the death of

Jesus.• Middle Ages: Jews practice usury. Seen as magical and

evil (work with the Devil). Murdered during Crusades.• After Enlightenment: improvement for Jews & all

people.• Late 19th century: birth of modern racism & eugenics

(Social Darwinism)

Hitler’s “Big Lie”

• The “Aryan” race (white, northern Europeans) are the best race. Jews are the worst race and are responsible for all of Germany’s trouble: they run other nations, made the Treaty of Versailles, and caused a racial decline in Germany.

• The elimination of Jews is called the Final Solution.

Events up to 1939• “Aryan paragraph” in 1933: education was limited for

non-Aryans.• 1933: sterilization law against anyone with genetic

diseases• 1935: Nuremberg Laws…end Aryan & non-Aryan

marriages. Jews are deported.• 1937: sterilization of “Rhineland bastards”—Afro-

German people• 1939: euthanasia of physically and mentally

handicapped• 1939: Operation Haymaker—capture Polish children

who are Aryan and bring them to Germany

The Holocaust

• Ghettos: Jews are forced to live in fenced-in parts of cities. They are guarded and cannot leave.

• Concentration camps: labor camps for Jews. Forced to work, not fed well, and part of cruel medical experiments.

• Mobile killing squads: starting in 1941. Go around and kill thousands of Jews not in camps or ghettos.

• Death camps: after 1941, some concentration camps made only to kill Jews. Auschwitz was the most famous. Jews are gassed in showers and then burned in furnaces.

Other victims of the Holocaust

• Poles, Slavs, gypsies, people with disabilities, homosexuals, etc.

• Anyone considered to be a lower status in the German concept of Social Darwinism

Dr. Josef Mengele

• The German doctor who did “experiments” on Jews at Auschwitz.

• Cut people open without anesthesia.• Cut off parts of people’s bodies.• Try to change people’s eye color with

injections.• Sew together people to make “twins.”

Heinrich Himmler

• Nazi leader during WWII.• Tape recording of him talking to

officers:The “Jewish evacuation” to avoid a

repeat of WWIThere will be “peace, happiness,

and well-being” for 1,000 years if Jews are exterminated.

FAQ 1

• Was Hitler the only person responsible?

• No. Lots of Germans and other people under German control helped. It required soldiers, railroad workers, etc.

FAQ 2

• Why didn’t the Jews leave Germany?

• Many were patriotic Germans. Others tried to leave but couldn’t—emigration laws were strict.

• “[Jews] can’t stay anywhere and can’t go anywhere.” -Chaim Weizmann

FAQ 3

• Why wasn’t there more resistance from Jews?

• Many Jews did resist the Germans. There were so few weapons available, however, that mass resistance was hard.

FAQ 4

• How did Germans know who was Jewish?

• The Germans had been identifying Jews for a long time through records (census, tax returns, synagogue lists, etc.).

FAQ 5

• What happened if you disobeyed an order to participate in Holocaust killing?

• There is no evidence that soldiers were killed. However, they lost opportunities to rise in the ranks & risked becoming social outcasts.

FAQ 6

• Wasn’t one of Hitler’s relatives Jewish?

• This is a rumor. Nobody knows who Hitler’s dad’s father was, so some people say he was Jewish. There is no evidence.

FAQ 7

• What did the U.S. know about the Holocaust?

• The United States government was aware of the Holocaust. The U.S. had its own issues with xenophobia (such as Japanese internment camps during WWII), however, and made harsh immigration laws. The U.S. was not the most helpful to Jews.

Destruction of the Holocaust• 9 million Jews in Europe in 1933. 6 million killed in

the Holocaust.• 5 million other “unfit” people killed.• Soviets, Americans, & British liberate (free) camps

in 1945.

“I thought I had seen everything. I was a hardened soldier. I had been in combat since October 1944, and I had seen death and destruction that was unparalleled in modern times. But this—there are no words to describe this.” -Allied soldier in WWII

Jewish badge

Shoes & wedding rings

Jewish prisoners

Starving prisoners

Essential Question

• Why and how did the Holocaust happen?

Definitely include: before the 20th century, what kept Jews from leaving/resisting, & why Germans participated.

The Holocaust video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FbxnWrBaDw