“Prelude to the Holocaust” is a videoconference that describes how Hitler's Nazi Party acted against the Jews, first by stirring up anti-Semitism, then by actively persecuting them, and eventually moving to the mass murder of millions of Jews and others in Hitler's "Final Solution."
Students will analyze the impact of "Kristallnacht" or “ Night of Broken Glass” . They will study the reasons why Jews were singled out by Hitler and the Nazis. Students will explore the ideas the Nazis had about race and how people around the world responded to the Nazis' racial policies.
“Prelude to the Holocaust” looks at the wider picture of life in Nazi-controlled Europe at a time when a person's nationality or religious, cultural, or political beliefs could mean imprisonment and even death. This videoconference gives details about the impact of Nazi rule on every aspect of daily life, from work to leisure time, and looks at how the lives of men, women, and children were affected.
"PRELUDE to the HOLOCAUST" on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM (Central time) in WITNESSES and VOICES of the HOLOCAUST series
COST: $75 for each videoconference session.
FORMAT: 45 minutes in length. Format is 25-30 minutes presentation and then 15-20 minutes for question and answer session.
Rationale for Holocaust studies:
We must never forget the Holocaust because no one is free of the dangerous desire that lay at the root of the Holocaust to divide humanity into groups and categories.
"First they came…" is a famous statement attributed to pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.The text of Niemöller’s quotation is:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
It is often said “Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” (George Santayana 1863-1952) But it is equally true for those who will not face the human tendency to divide humanity into groups and categories and allow this division to develop into specific and targeted fear and hatred which soon escalates out of control.
