Historical Context

• Before the Holocaust began, Germany had a Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic was a democracy which meant that people had a voice in their government. It gave freedom of speech and religion to the people and voting rights for women.
• The Treaty of Versaille was created after Germany lost World War 1 and it stated that the Germans would have to admit defeat. The Germans would also have to pay the U.S, France, Italy, etc. for the damages. Lastly it also said that they had to give up 13% of their land and six million people.
• When Germany lost World War 1 it had devastating effects such as a failed economy and low moral/pride. Soon many people began becoming desperate. This is when Hitler decided to take advantage of people because they had become so desperate.
•  Hitler was a politician and he was devastated when Germany lost WWI. He began blaming other people for what had happened and he said it was the Jews’ fault and so he began gaining power by convincing others that it was also the Jews’ fault. Hitler first gained power in 1933.
•   Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party. He blamed the Jews for Germany’s loss of WWI. Hitler believed that only true Germans had the right to live.
•  The Holocaust began 1939 and ended 1945. It was the mass murder of Jews and other groups that were considered inferior. German Nazi soldiers would execute Jews and others by the hundreds.
•  Hitler and his Nazi followers began getting ideas of creating ghettos and extermination camps. They began to think that these places would be created to degrade the Jews. Hitler began thinking about it and soon he wanted them to be created.
•  Extermination camps were created in 1933. In these camps they would execute Jews by the hundreds. The Nazis used many strategies to kill them like by guns or by gas chambers.
•  In 1939 World War 2 broke out between many countries. Some of these countries were Japan, Italy, U.S, and Germany. The U.S didn’t enter the war until later but they were still a part of it in the end.
•  Nazis created ghettos to place Jews in so they could live there. These ghettos were horrible dirty places and the living conditions were also horrible. Ghettos were created to embarrass and degrade Jews; they were also created to isolate Jews from the outside world.
•  The U.S at first did not do anything to help the Jews. They thought that by avoiding the problem it would go away. Then on December 6, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor so the U.S decided to fight back and they also decided to interfere in the Holocaust.
• Finally the end of the war and the Holocaust came in 1945. Also the end of Adolf Hitler came that year. He and his wife both committed suicide on April 30, 1945.