“Organizing Mass Murder” History

First expectation: Students will know who was responsible for the decision to murder the Jews systematically and who was responsible for putting this decision into action.

1. Who gave the order to murder every, last European Jew?

historical terms: the “Hitler Myth, ” a “Hitler order,” Mein Kampf

historical figures: Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945), Josef Goebbels (1897-1945

2. Who else was personally responsible?

historical terms:judenfrei (free of Jews), Chelmno, Auschwitz, Majdanek, General Government

historical figures: Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich (1903-1942), Adolf Eichmann (1906-62), Odilio Globocnic (1904-1945)

Second expectation: Students will understand the significance of the Wannsee Conference (January 1942)?

1. What was the Wannsee Conference?

2. Why was the meeting called?

historical figures and terms: Wehrmacht,Einsatzgruppen, Gestapo, the Madagascar Plan, Benito Mussolini, the T4 program, Czechoslovakia, General Government

3. Who participated in the meeting?

historical terms: Foreign Ministry, Justice Ministry, Interior Ministry (that is, the national police), Ministry of the 4-Year Plan (that is, Economic Ministry), the Ministry of the Railroads and the Ministry of the Occupied Areas

4. What did the euphemism “resettlement” really stand for?

historical figures and terms: T4 Program, subterfuge

Third expectation: Students will understand the differences among German concentration camps slave labor camps and death camps.

1. What differences were there among the three types of camps?

historical terms: I.G. Farben, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Porsche, East Industry Inc., Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau,

2. How widely used was gas chambers and what gasses were used?

historical terms: T4 Program, sanatoriums, carbon monoxide, Zyklon-B, hydrogen cyanide, prussic acid,