The Poles

by Theo Dean Slobod

The Nazis thought that the Poles where just a waste of their space, they invaded Poland on the first of September. Polish troops fought heroically but ran out of food and water and on September twenty seventh they were forced to surrender. Hitler sent the troops in Poland eastward for "more living space." The central southern areas became the General Government, and in 1941 Germany claimed eastern Poland as well. The Nazi's had a genocidal policy that targeted 3.3 million men children and women for destruction.

During the 1939 invasion of Poland, special action squads of SS and police were arresting or killing the civilians defying the Germans or thought capable to do so. During the summer of 1940 several thousand university professors, teachers, priests, and many others were shot. The mass murders occurred outside Warsaw, in the Kampinos forest near Palmiry and inside the city at the Pawiak prison.

The Germans closed or destroyed schools, museums, libraries and scientific laboratories. They demolished hundreds of monuments to national heroes. German officials then decreed that Polish children's schooling would end after a few years of elementary education. "The sole goal of this schooling is to teach them simple arithmetic - nothing above the number 500, how to write one's name and the doctrine that it is divine law to obey the Germans." Himmler wrote in his May 1940 memorandum.

Beginning in 1939 the SS began to expel Poles and Jews from the Wartherland and the Danzig corridor and move them to the General Government, by the end of 1940 the SS had expelled 325,000 people without warning. Many elderly people and children died. In 1941 the Germans expelled 45,000 more people. In late 1942 the SS also carried out huge expulsions in the General Government uprooting 110,000 poles from 300 villages.

Some Polish children were chosen for Germanization and forbidden to speak Polish and reeducated in SS or other Nazi institutions. Few ever saw their parents again. Many more children were rejected from Germanization; these unfortunate kids were sent to children's homes or killed. 50,000 children were kidnapped from Poland, mostly from orphanages or foster homes.

As the Polish resistance grew stronger, in 1943 after the German defeat at Stalingrad, German reprisal efforts escalated. The Germans destroyed a lot of villages killing women men and kids. Public executions occurred daily.

1.5 million Poles were transported for labor, most against their will, they were forced to wear purple P's on their clothing they had a curfew and were banned from any means of public transportation. 20,000 Poles died at Sachsenhausen, 20,000 at Gross-Rosen 30,000 at Mauthausen and 17,000 at Ravensbruck.

Handicapped in the Nazi Era

By Adam Bradstreet


After Hitler became chancellor the Nazis devised a plan to make what they believed to be an Aryan master race. The “Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases was made in July 14th 1933, the Sterilization started so that all handicapped and sick were sterilized .



Hitlers Idea
was that the Nazis should go around weeding out “Defects” and handicapped from their race to “Purify” it. He believed they “Spoiled the race” and that the “Inferior” people should be sterilized.



The Gas-chambers and The Crematoriums
They continued on with the “Purifying” by putting the Handicapped in gas-chambers, and saying that “they were just going to take a shower”. The gas-chambers were completed with a fake shower nozzle so the occupants believed they were just taking a shower. After, the Nazis took the body's to be cremated, one of the facilities (As pictured) celebrated their 10,000th cremation, having wine and food in the crematorium.





(A killing center were they took the mentally disabled.)




Through methods of gassing sterilization and execution, the Nazis tragically eliminated thousands of mentally ill in till the year of 1945.

Jehovah's Witnesses

by Olivia Bradstreet

During the Holocaust the Jehovah's Witnesses were prosecuted along with many other religious and racial groups.

The Jehovah's Witnesses, founded in 1870's America, were never truly welcomed in Germany and had very few friends. Even before the Nazis took hold, the Jehovah's Witnesses were not a particularly popular group, and their religious literature was often banned. When Hitler did take hold of Germany, they also would refuse to do the “Heil Hitler” salute, did not vote, and they did not join the German Labor Front or the army. They do not fight for any county (it against their religion), and Germany at the time was still recovering from losing WWI.

After Hitler became chancellor he banned Witnesses from certain areas in Germany, and eventually in 1935 the whole country. Twice the police raided Jehovah Witnesses' offices and confiscated religious literature. In 1934, Jehovah's Witnesses sent a letter to the government explaining their beliefs, which explained why they didn't vote, etc. This failed to convince the Nazis of the groups harmlessness. The Nazis then sent many Witnesses to concentration camps and prisons, and several were executed. Every Witness lost their job and benefits. After this the Witnesses were almost totally persecuted. A Gestapo was set up and began making lists of suspected Jehovah's Witnesses.

By 1939, including those from Austria and Czechoslovakia, 6,000 Witnesses were put into concentration camps and prisons.

Many Jehovah's Witnesses could sign a declaration renouncing their religion, but very few did.

All the while, Jehovah's Witnesses were still working, continuing to pray together, study the bible, and convert others. In the concentration camps they would still do these things, peacefully fighting the Nazis.

November 18 Homework Update

Our first research and writing assignment included choosing one of the five groups for reporting back to the class. The assignments were handed out, and the two remaining groups to review included the Sinti and Roma and the Jehova's Witnesses. I've completed my assignment and posted the reports below. We will review these in our next class, as well as the three remaining groups.

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Sinti and Roma

Europeans viewed Gypsies as social outcasts, a group with strange clothing, language and culture. The Nazis viewed Gypsies as racially inferior, and sought to prevent racial mixing to protect the “superior Aryan race” from impurity. Beginning in 1933, the Nazis made laws and created government offices to further restrict or eliminate the rights of Gypsies.

(Brown patch for Gypsies in the camps)

Laws against the Gypsies

• 1933 “Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Defects” government doctors force-sterilized Gypsies, part-Gypsies and Gypsies in mixed marriages.
• 1933 “Law Against Dangerous Habitual Criminals” Gypsies and others arrested and sent to concentration camps.
• Nuremburg Racial Laws, passed in 1935, prohibited mixed marriages, deprived Gypsies of their civil rights
• 1936 office to “Combat the Gypsy Menace” formed

Force movement of Gypsies to camps

• 1936, Berlin Zigeunerlager created, 600 Gypsies moved to special camp, near a sewage dump and cemetery. Three water pumps and two toilets meant disease spread rapidly. Zigeunerlager created in many other German cities.
• 1938: Austria’s Gypsies fall under laws, camps created in Austria for forced labor.
• 1938: 1000 Gypsies exported to Buchenwald, Dachau, Sachsenhausen and Lichtenburg
• 1939: several thousand sent to Mauthausen, Ravensbruck, Dachau and Buchenwald.

220,000 – 500,000 Gypsies were killed by the Nazis

• Einsatzgruppen used to kill thousands of Gypsies in Ukraine, Russia and Poland
• Fall 1941 in Serbia, almost all adult male gypsies and male Jews killed by German firing squads
• November 1941, 5000 Gypsies were sent to Lodz ghetto and then to Chelmno, and were some of the first victims of the gas vans in late 1941.
• In the summer of 1942, German and Polish Gypsies were transported to Treblinka and gassed.
• December 16, 1942, Heinrich Himmler ordered the deportation of Gypsies and part-Gypsies to Auschwitz-Birkenau. 23,000 transported to a Gypsy camp there, most killed through gassing, starvation and disease.
• Gypsy camp at Auschwitz liquidated on August 2 and 3, 1944, 2,897 gassed, and 1,400 remaining were moved to Buchenwald and Ravensbruck work camps.

Course Update - NEW

In addition to the below, since we are not having class on 11/25 (Thanksgiving) please read Maus II and be prepared to discuss at our next class.


Last Thursday 11/11

Reviewed "The Reichstag is Burning" and "The Indifferent Ones" discussed the role of the innocent bystander, and how the Nazis changed everything for German Jewish life.

We reviewed pages 411, 412, and discussed the questions.

Reading Assignment:

Read pages 408-410, "The Jews of Germany" answer the three questions.
Read pages 413-415, "The Night of Broken Glass" and answer the three questions.
Read pages 420-424.

Writing Assignment:

Read the brochure you had selected, prepare a five minute presentation about the subject, about one page of writing. Include key dates, an overview of what the Nazis did or why they persecuted that group, major events and include any relevant photos or multimedia to share.
Use the brochure with PDF and these websites for additional materials:

• Yad Vashem
• US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Next Several Classes

We have finished Maus I for this week's class, and also read materials on historical anti-semitism. We will cover some important history as a backdrop to Art Spiegelman's books, and then pick up with Maus II in a few weeks.




10/21 - World War I and the New European Map

A brief overview of WWI, and Jewish history during that time. Followed by the Great Depression, rise of the Nazi party and how German democracy failed.

10/28 - Prelude to War

Escalating laws and practices against the Jews in Germany and the rise of ghettos. This will catch us up to the end of Maus I.

Course Update

On Thursday we wrapped up our review of conflict resolution, prejudice and discrimination. We concluded the handouts by talking about hate crimes and racial extremism, such as white supremacy. Changing gears we discussed historical of anti-semitism, and how it occurred throughout European history.

Assignment: Finish Maus I

Additional readings for discussion next time:

• "Religious and Racial Anti-Semitism" by Milton Meltzer
• "The Things They Say Behind Your Back: Stereotypes about Jews" by William Helmreich
• "What is A Jew?" by Philip Rosen, PhD
• "Canonical and Nazi Anti-Jewish Measures" by Raul Hilberg
• "About The Jew" by Adolph Hitler
• "Ford and Hitler" by James and Suzanne Pool

Course Update

On Thursday we met and discussed "The Hangman" by Maurice Ogden. We also watched the video which was a short animation produced in 1964, and which brings the story to life in a very creepy way. Definately recommended for the curious, and part of many middle-school courses on the Holocaust.



Directed by Les Goldman and Paul Joulian
Narrated by Herschel Bernardi
Music composed and conducted by Serge Hovey

We also reviewed prejudice, stereotyping and conflict-resolution, which is part of the Prentice-Hall "Understanding Prejudice" lesson plan.

Assignment for next week: Start reading Maus I, and be prepared to review the "Conflict Resolution" and "Interrupting Prejudice" worksheets.

Welcome and First Assignment

Welcome to the Blog! I have provided a few materials that you are welcome to browse through to get a sense for the course. 

I've posted a famous quote from Martin Niemoller in order to focus on one theme for this course, which is the role of the "innocent bystander." When we study the Holocaust, or look at more recent genocide in Darfur or Kosovo, we need to ask what role did the bystander play? Did ordinary people try to help save their friends and neighbors from genocide, or did they look the other way?

We will be reading three books over the ten-weeks; Night by Elie Wiesel and the graphic novels Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman.  Feel free to start reading as soon as you get your hands on these excellent books. October 7 is less than two months away, so please register soon. 

For those of you looking to get more information about this course, or to register, please click the Course Description link at the right.

* * *

The first reading we will work with is a poem by Maurice Ogden called "The Hangman." I've posted the four stanzas, or parts, of the poem in four separate pages that you can link to at the right side of this blog. 

Each page has definitions for the words in the poem that might not be familiar, and I've put review questions at the end of each stanza.  We will discuss "The Hangman" in our first class meeting and we will watch a short movie that was made from the poem.

Assignment due by October 7: Please read the four parts of "The Hangman" and email me your answers to the review questions. Links are included in each stanza.

"They came first for the Communists

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

"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 expresses, in a condensed form, the understanding of history presented by Niemöller in a January 6, 1946 speech before representatives of the Confessing Church in Frankfurt. 

Source: Wikipedia

2010: Introduction to the Holocaust, a course for Unschoolers

Background: The Holocaust refers to a specific event in 20th century history: The systematic, bureaucratic annihilation of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and their collaborators as a central act of state during World War II. In 1933 approximately nine million Jews lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would be occupied by Germany during the war. By 1945, two out of every three European Jews had been killed.

Purpose: The purpose of this course will be to explore the history and events of the Holocaust, in compliance with the teaching principles established by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Resources will include literature as well as first-person video from survivors of the Holocaust.

Course Details: $150 for the ten week course, $25 discount for families with multiple siblings

Who: Unschoolers, ages 11+, maximum enrollment 14 students.
Where: 18 Highland Ave, Old Orchard Beach
When: October 7 through December 16, Thursday evenings from 6 pm – 7:30 pm, we will not meet on Thanksgiving.
Contact Info: Email: alexbradstreet@gmail.com. Please email me in advance if you will miss a class.

Enrollment and Payment: Please register now to let me know if you would like to participate. Course payment is due by October 1, please mail checks to Alex Bradstreet, 18 Highland Ave, Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064. You may also send money using PayPal, using my email address: alexbradstreet@gmail.com.

Required Course Materials: Please read these books! You may purchase them if you wish, or borrow them from a library. These first-person reports of life before, during and after the Holocaust will be a key part of this course. I have split up the reading over the first half of the course, but you may find that you cannot put these down once you start reading them.

1. Maus I by Art Spiegelman, Oct 7- Oct 21

2. Maus II by Art Spiegelman, Oct 28 - Nov 11

3. Night by Elie Weisel, Nov 18 - Dec 9  

Safe Learning Environment: This photo shows a pile of shoes outside a gas chamber. This image is chilling, but does not exploit the victim’s memories or assault the viewer’s emotions. In line with the USHMM teaching principles, I will attempt to maintain a safe learning environment for the students as we explore a horrific period of our history, while being respectful of each other and of the victims of the Holocaust.

A mound of victims’ shoes found in Majdanek after the liberation (#13108)

Online Work: We will be using a blog for assignments and to share online resources, as well as giving students the option to share their work. Students with laptops are encouraged to bring them to class. If access to the Internet is not possible at home, please let me know in advance and I will make accommodations for you.

About the Instructor: Alex Bradstreet holds a BA in History from the University of Maine, with a minor concentration in Modern Europe and the Holocaust. Alex taught at a middle school for one year until he decided to pursue a career in technology rather than education. Alex is the father of Adam and Olivia, two unschooling children who have been asking him to offer this course for some time.