WW2: The Rise of Nazism and the Holocaust | The Jewish Story | Unpacked

in the first half of the 20th century germany was the preeminent intellectual and cultural capital of the world and jews were well-integrated citizens the emergence of nazism and its leader adolf hitler changed europe and led to the greatest destruction that the jewish people have ever faced the holocaust during the 1920s and 1930s despite continuing anti-semitism and occasional pogroms jewish communities were a large component of european society cities villages and towns across europe boasted significant jewish populations in germany jews were leading academics artists and politicians as well as teachers doctors farmers and shopkeepers during this time a fringe political movement began gaining ground in germany promoting an extremely racist nationalism they were called the national socialist workers party or nazis and their leader was a man named adolf hitler anti-semitism was foundational to their ideology in his infamous book mein kampf hitler called the jewish people a noxious bacillus that lives as a parasite in the body of other nations once i really am in power hitler declared in 1922 my first and foremost task will be the annihilation of the jews in spite of rising support hitler and the nazis initially failed to gain much ground in german parliament it was not until after the economic collapse of 1929 that the party began to gain real political power social turmoil and strife led to a polarized and unstable political climate and very quickly the nazi party became the largest faction in the reichstag in january of 1933 adolf hitler was appointed chancellor of germany one month later the nazis claimed that a fire at the reichstag was started by communists planning an insurrection and used the fear of a communist takeover to abolish constitutional protections shortly thereafter hitler was given the right to govern without the consent of parliament effectively establishing a nazi dictatorship in germany on september 15 1935 the nazis passed a series of notoriously racist laws called the nuremberg laws which stripped jews of their german citizenship removed all of their political rights and legally institutionalized their persecution many jews attempted to flee the country though their options of where to go were very limited in september of 1939 germany invaded poland officially beginning world war ii in the wake of german military expansion a campaign of mass murder was carried out on the jewish population in towns and villages occupied by the german army german military and police units the most infamous being the ss were instructed to carry out a war of annihilation on the jews nazi soldiers often with the help of local collaborators rounded up jewish men women children and the elderly took them to mass graves and shot them to death murdering roughly 2 million jews within just a few years to separate and control the jewish population the nazis forced jews into ghettos small areas of cities and towns that were walled off from the rest of society in 1941 it became law that jews were required to wear a star of david to identify them at all times disease in the ghetto spread like wildfire and starvation was rampant in january of 1942 nazi leadership and representatives from various government ministries met at what came to be known as the von zaye conference to coordinate their efforts toward the efficient annihilation of the jewish people known as the final solution deportations to the death camps became the nazi regime's primary tactic of mass murder jews were sent in cattle cars to places like belzek sobibor and treblinka forced into chambers they were told were showers and gassed to death some camps such as the infamous auschwitz-birkenau complex doubled as labor and death camps where jews were forced to work and were then sent to the gas chambers to be murdered this assembly line of mass murder continued for years with thousands of jews murdered every day in the midst of this mass murder and destruction despite impossible odds and relentless brutality many jews resisted in the ghettos and camps prisoners carried out acts of sabotage smuggled weapons and organized uprisings some fled to the forests where they formed partisan units bands of guerrilla fighters that often included both jewish and non-jewish fighters united against nazism these partisan units blew up trains sabotaged nazi operations and fought head-to-head against german soldiers uprisings were waged in numerous ghettos including in krakow vilna bialistock and minsk spiritual resistance was also present throughout the ghettos and camps through observing holidays studying torah upholding jewish values creating art writing poetry singing songs spiritual resistors maintained dignity and upheld the strength of the human spirit even in the face of violent hatred cruelty and dehumanization throughout 1943 and 1944 the nazis accelerated their genocidal plan ghettos were liquidated and jews from all corners of nazi-occupied europe were deported to death camps and murdered finally in 1945 the russian army reached and liberated auschwitz u.s forces crossed the rhine and by april berlin was surrounded hitler committed suicide and germany unconditionally surrendered to the allies by the end of the tragic war roughly six million jews and five million others including roma poles homosexuals the disabled communists and political dissidents had been murdered by nazis villages cities and towns throughout europe that were once home to flourishing jewish communities were now empty of them survivors of the concentration and death camps who tried to return home often found their property seized by their non-jewish neighbors with no recourse for reclaiming their homes or possessions they became refugees many ending up in displaced persons camps before moving on to form what have since become flourishing jewish communities in the americas and the land of israel the holocaust was a brutal campaign of persecution and mass murder carried out by the nazis and their collaborators in an effort to systematically annihilate the entire european jewish population the scale of death and destruction is unfathomable but jewish communities have since worked tirelessly to care for survivors name the lost build and strengthen jewish life around the world and educate younger generations about the horrors of the holocaust so that it never happens again [Music] you

Channel: Unpacked

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Keywords: holocaust, jewish unpacked, unpacked explains, the jewish story, holocaust remembrance day, yom hashoah, nazi germany, hitler, ww2, world war 2, shoah, jewish people, poland, auschwitz, nazi, yad vashem, jewish educational media, nuremberg laws, the holocaust, jewish ghetto, jewish, jews, nazism, jewish history, jewish identity, jewish studies, judaism 101, six million jews, jew, jewish education, judaism, ashkenazi, adolf hitler, european jews, history of the jews, jewish 101

Id: 0FDfhPMA95I

Length: 7min 19sec (439 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 06 2022