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Holocaust and Jewish Experience

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Holocaust and Jewish Experience

Read the account, then answer the questions using evidence from it and your own historical understanding. The Holocaust involved persecution, dispossession and murder; this worksheet discusses these events respectfully.

An account of persecution and survival

The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of six million Jewish people by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. It took place during the Nazi era, especially from 1933 to 1945. The Nazis also persecuted and murdered millions of other people, including Roma, disabled people, Polish civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, and people targeted for their political beliefs or identity. After Adolf Hitler became German chancellor in 1933, the Nazi government passed laws that stripped Jewish people of rights and encouraged discrimination. During the 1930s, many Jewish people faced exclusion from public life, threats and violence. In November 1938, Nazi-organised attacks known as Kristallnacht destroyed Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues and led to mass arrests. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany occupied much of Europe. Jewish people were forced into ghettos, deported, exploited as forced labourers and murdered. From 1941, Nazi Germany carried out mass shootings and expanded killing centres, including Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka. Concentration camps had different functions; some were primarily sites of imprisonment and forced labour, while extermination camps were established for mass murder. Conditions in many camps were brutal and deadly. Some people resisted or helped others, often at great risk. In 1938–39, the United Kingdom accepted nearly 10,000 mainly Jewish children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland through the Kindertransport. Many were separated from their families, and most never saw their parents again. British forces entered Bergen-Belsen in April 1945 and found thousands of prisoners in desperate conditions. Liberation ended imprisonment by the Nazis for those who survived, but it could not undo the losses or suffering.

Build your understanding

Use precise language. Distinguish what the account states from what you infer.

1.Which period best describes the Nazi era in which the Holocaust took place?

1914–1918
1933–1945
1945–1955
1920–1930

2.Select the two statements supported by the account.

Nazi persecution began before the Second World War.
Every concentration camp had exactly the same purpose.
The Kindertransport brought nearly 10,000 mainly Jewish children to the United Kingdom.
Liberation restored all families to their previous lives.

3.Put these events in chronological order by writing 1–4 beside each: British forces entered Bergen-Belsen; Hitler became German chancellor; Kristallnacht; the Kindertransport brought children to the UK.

4.What did the Nazi-organised attacks known as Kristallnacht target? Give two examples from the account.

5.Explain one difference between a concentration camp and an extermination camp, based on the account.

6.The account says that children on the Kindertransport were often separated from their families. What does this tell you about both the rescue effort and its limits?

7.True or false: The Holocaust refers only to the persecution of Jewish people, and no other groups were targeted by the Nazis.

TrueFalse

8.The account says liberation could not undo the losses and suffering. Explain why the word “liberation” does not mean that survivors’ difficulties ended immediately.

9.Why is it important to study individual experiences as well as dates and totals when learning about the Holocaust? Give one reason.