The Holocaust-Read and Response

The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of millions of Jewish people by the Nazi Party. The Nazis believed that Aryan Germans were superior to all other people. They launched a devastating genocide against people they considered to be inferior to them. These were mainly European Jews. However, the Nazis also persecuted other groups like the Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses, disabled people and gay people. Adolf Hitler was the head of Germany’s Nazi Party. He led this campaign of hatred. Beginning with Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, the Nazi Party made discrimination against Jewish people a part of German law. This legalized prejudice led to the murder of millions of people during World War II.

Based on the passage, the Holocaust began

• with the death of Hitler in 1945

• with Hitler's rise to power in 1933

• after the Nazi Party lost power in Germany

• before the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany

The Holocaust was not one single and random act of violence. It was carefully planned and orchestrated over a span of years. It happened because the German government created policies to persecute whole groups of people. These policies stripped people of civil rights. They made inequality legal. And the majority of citizens that were not directly affected by these laws did not oppose them. So German society normalized discrimination. This eventually led to outbreaks of violence and ultimately the mass murder of millions of Jewish people during World War II. It’s important to study and remember these horrific events and to understand that they happened in part because people did not stand to help those who were being persecuted.

Which of the following statements describes the Holocaust?

• a single act of violence by Nazi officials against Jews

• a genocide planned by Germans that took place during World War I

• any and all anti-Semitism that occured in Europe during World War II

• a systematic planned by Germans that took place during World War I

After the end of the First World War, Germany faced serious problems. Many Germans were upset that their country had been defeated. They were angry that the new government, the Weimar Republic, took the blame for the war and accepted the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty crippled Germany’s economy. The Nazi Party gained power because many Germans felt discontented. The Nazi Party was made up of proud German nationalists, many of whom were obsessed with racial purity. They believed that Aryan people of pure German descent were superior to others. The Nazi Party gained power and support because of its focus on German excellence. Hitler, the head of the Nazi Party, portrayed himself as a strong leader who could bring wealth and power back to Germany. Germans supported him because they felt Hitler could restore Germany as a superpower in Europe. Hitler was elected chancellor in 1933. By the following year, Hitler and the Nazi Party had created a dictatorship called the Third Reich. Hitler now ruled Germany with absolute power.

Which of the following statements best describes how Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany?

• Adolf Hitler seized power from the Weimar Republic after losing the election for chancellor.

• Many Germans felt that the Nazi Party would restore Germany's former glory, and they elected Hitler as chancellor.

• Leaders of the Weimar Republic felt that the Nazi Party could better rule Germany and peacefully transitioned power to Adolf Hitler.

• Many Germans felt that the Nazi Party would restore peace and equality in Germany and voted to create the Weimar Republlic, which Hitler led.