Historians have debated who the main perpetrators of the Holocaust were and why they carried it out. Some historians like Lucy Dawidowicz and Carrie Supple believe that Adolf Hitler had planned the genocide of Jews from the early 1920s and 1930s. They argue he pursued this goal relentlessly once in power. Other perpetrators included Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, and Hermann Göring who helped implement Hitler's plans. Historians have proposed reasons for why perpetrators carried out the Holocaust, including longstanding German antisemitism, jealousy of Jews, scapegoating, religious fervor, and a desire for wealth from confiscating Jewish property.

1. Holocaust
Perpetrators: who
were they and why
did they did it?
Historians Interpretations
Holocaust

2. My Job Your Job
Introduce what historians write about
the perpetrators of The Holocaust OR
Historians Interpretations
Discuss and Report: who were the
perpetrators of the Holocaust and why
they did it.
STUDY

3. Historians
So what do different historians think of Holocaust
Perpetrators: who were they and why did they did it?
(Intentionalist Historians)

4. LUCY DAWIDOWICZ
● Believes that Hitler conceived the idea of Jewish genocide in
the 1920s.
● That Hitler pursued this aim remorselessly once he came into
power in 1933.
● She believes that Hitler’s domestic and foreign policies were
dictated by his determination to purify and strengthen the
German race, i.e. get rid of the Jews.

5. ● Hitler was the driving force behind anti-Jewish policies.
● Initially he settled for compromise solutions to the ‘Jewish problem’ because he
could not quite see the long term possibility of solving it.
● Hitler and the Nazis had two intentions from the start:
○ “to turn Jews into ‘socially dead’ beings – beings that were violently
dominated, natally alienated and generally dishonored – and, once they
were, to treat them as such.”
○ “to remove the Jews as thoroughly and permanently from social and, as far
as possible, from physical contact with the German people, and thereby to
neutralize them as a factor in German life.”
Daniel Goldhagen

6. ● argues that ordinary Germans were knowing and willing participants in the
Holocaust, which he claims had its roots in a deep German anti-Semitism.
● Many historians disagree with Goldhagen's thesis, arguing that while anti-
Semitism undeniably existed in Germany, his idea of a uniquely German anti-
Semitism is unacceptable, and that the mass extermination was unknown to
many and was enforced by a dictatorial Nazi government.
Daniel Goldhagen (continue)

7. ● Supple is a strong supporter of the theory that Hitler and the Nazis planned the
systematic genocide of the Jews from the start of the Chancellorship in 1933
and it was not an ad hoc reaction to political, social and economic problems in
Germany.
● Supple points out that in 1933, in Hitler’s first speech, he stated:
● “I vowed to begin the fight and not rest until this plague has finally been
removed.”
● This suggests that the Holocaust and Final Solution was planned very early on in
Hitler’s Chancellorship.
Carrie Supple

8. ● In July 1941 Goering sent Heydrich a written order ‘to make preparations for the
general solution of the Jewish problem within the German sphere of influence
of Europe.”
● In 1941 Hitler also gave an ‘order for a Final Solution of the Jewish Question.’
● Supple points out that Hitler ‘said a way must be found of exterminating the
remaining Jews of Europe as quickly and effectively as possible.
● Hitler made Adolf Eichman, who was originally in charge of Jewish
’Resettlement’, directly in charge of the Destruction.
Carrie Supple (continue)

9. Discuss and Report: who were the perpetrators of
the Holocaust and why they did it. You can use these
reference below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kxP4vjYJujGurDWQtcle8nVXvtVa6Rzv/view PPT
ARTICLES
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/perpetrators?parent=en%2F1
1716
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-search-for-
perpetrators?parent=en%2F10834
USE GOOGLE DOCS TO WRITE YOUR DISCUSSION REPORT
Time until 11.10

10. Conclusion
PERPETRATORS
Adolf Hitler
Heinrich Himmler
Reinhard Heydrich
Hermann Göring
Nazi Party
WHY DID THEY DO IT
● Long standing antisemitism
● Jealousy/Envy
● The need for a scapegoat-need to blame someone, can’t blame
themselves
● Religious fervor
● An “enemy” that was easily detected-appearance, diet, language,
religious rituals-and forced to wear marks of clear identification-
yellow starts
● Fear of growing communist movement worldwide and in Germany
(Lenin and Karl Marx both have Jewish blood)
● Small enough numbers to be a non-political threat, offering little
resistance
● Greed-confiscate property and house furnishings and bank
accounts and personal items of value

11. NEXT SESSION:
DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
Victims: how far did Jews resist the Holocaust, and how can resistance
be defined? Did men and women experience the Holocaust in different
ways? Should definitions of the Holocaust include victims other than
Jews?
Reading materials:
Reread Slide 9-19 and read the
article about Women during The
Holocaust
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kxP4vjYJujGurD
WQtcle8nVXvtVa6Rzv/view PPT
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/artic
le/women-during-the-holocaust