The Holocaust was the systematic state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. The Nazis also targeted other groups they deemed racially inferior like Roma, Slavs, the disabled, and homosexuals. By 1945, the Germans and their allies had killed nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of the "Final Solution." Concentration camps, ghettos, and forced labor camps were set up across Europe to imprison and exploit victims.

1. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
1 The Holocaust was the Nazi policy to murder the Jews of
systematic, bureaucratic, state- Europe. Although Jews, whom the
sponsored persecution and Nazis deemed a priority danger
murder of approximately six to Germany, were the primary
million Jews by the Nazi regime victims of Nazi racism, other
and its collaborators. "Holocaust" victims included some 200,000
is a word of Greek origin meaning Roma (Gypsies). At least 200,000
"sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who mentally or physically disabled
came to power in Germany in patients, mainly Germans, living
January 1933, believed that in institutional settings, were
Germans were "racially superior" murdered in the so-called
and that the Jews, deemed Euthanasia1 Program.
"inferior," were an alien threat to
the so-called German racial 4 As Nazi tyranny spread across
community. Europe, the Germans and their
collaborators persecuted and
2 During the era of the Holocaust, murdered millions of other
German authorities also targeted people. Between two and three
other groups because of their million Soviet prisoners of war
perceived "racial inferiority": were murdered or died of
Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, starvation, disease, neglect, or
and some of the Slavic peoples maltreatment. The Germans
(Poles, Russians, and others). targeted the non-Jewish Polish
Other groups were persecuted on intelligentsia2 for killing, and
political, ideological, and deported millions of Polish and
behavioral grounds, among them Soviet civilians for forced labor in
Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Germany or in occupied Poland,
Witnesses, and homosexuals. where these individuals worked
and often died under deplorable
WHAT WAS THE conditions. From the earliest years
HOLOCAUST? of the Nazi regime, German
authorities persecuted
3 In 1933, the Jewish population homosexuals and others whose
of Europe stood at over nine behavior did not match prescribed
million. Most European Jews social norms. German police
lived in countries that Nazi officials targeted thousands of
Germany would occupy or political opponents (including
influence during World War II. 1
The act or practice of ending the life of
By 1945, the Germans and their an individual suffering from a terminal
collaborators killed nearly two out illness or an incurable condition, as by
of every three European Jews as lethal injection or the suspension of
part of the "Final Solution," the extraordinary medical treatment.
2
The intellectual elite of a society.
1

2. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
Communists, Socialists, and trade 6 Following the invasion of the
unionists) and religious dissidents Soviet Union in June 1941,
(such as Jehovah's Witnesses). Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing
Many of these individuals died as units) and, later, militarized
a result of incarceration and battalions of Order Police
maltreatment. officials, moved behind German
lines to carry out mass-murder
ADMINISTRATION OF THE operations against Jews, Roma,
"FINAL SOLUTION" and Soviet state and Communist
Party officials. German SS and
5 Inthe early years of the Nazi police units, supported by units of
regime, the National Socialist the Wehrmacht and the Waffen
government established SS, murdered more than a million
concentration camps to detain real Jewish men, women, and children,
and imagined political and and hundreds of thousands of
ideological opponents. others. Between 1941 and 1944,
Increasingly in the years before Nazi German authorities deported
the outbreak of war, SS and police millions of Jews from Germany,
officials incarcerated Jews, Roma, from occupied territories, and
and other victims of ethnic and from the countries of many of its
racial hatred in these camps. To Axis allies to ghettos and to
concentrate and monitor the killing centers, often called
Jewish population as well as to extermination camps, where they
facilitate later deportation of the were murdered in specially
Jews, the Germans and their developed gassing facilities.
collaborators created ghettos3,
transit camps4, and forced-labor THE END OF THE
camps for Jews during the war HOLOCAUST
years. The German authorities
also established numerous forced- 7 In the final months of the war,
labor camps, both in the so-called SS guards moved camp inmates
Greater German Reich and in by train or on forced marches,
German-occupied territory, for often called “death marches,” in
non-Jews whose labor the an attempt to prevent the Allied
Germans sought to exploit. liberation of large numbers of
prisoners. As Allied forces moved
across Europe in a series of
3
a section of a city occupied by a offensives against Germany, they
minority group who live there especially began to encounter and liberate
because of social, economic, or legal
concentration camp prisoners, as
pressure.
4 well as prisoners en route by
Transit camps were places to hold
people until they could be shipped off to forced march from one camp to
other camps such as execution or another. The marches continued
forced-labor camps. until May 7, 1945, the day the
German armed forces surrendered
unconditionally to the Allies. For
the western Allies, World War II
2

3. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
officially ended in Europe on the emigrated to Israel, including
next day, May 8 (V-E Day), while 136,000 Jewish displaced persons
Soviet forces announced their from Europe. Other Jewish DPs
“Victory Day” on May 9, 1945. emigrated to the United States and
other nations. The last DP camp
8 Inthe aftermath of the closed in 1957. The crimes
Holocaust, many of the survivors committed during the Holocaust
found shelter in displaced persons devastated most European Jewish
(DP) camps administered by the communities and eliminated
Allied powers. Between 1948 and hundreds of Jewish communities
1951, almost 700,000 Jews in occupied eastern Europe
entirely.
A. After Reading: Answer the Following Questions:
1. When speaking about the "Holocaust," what time period are we referring
to?
2. What is the meaning of holocaust?
3. Who are the Nazi and what were their believes?
4. Name the groups involved in the holocaust.
5. Why were the Jews singled out for extermination?
6. How many Jews were able to escape from Europe prior to the Holocaust?
7. What is death marches?
The Thesis Statement is that sentence or two in your text that contains
the focus of the story and tells the reader what the story is going to be
about
B. Finding the Thesis Statement:
Write a sentence from the first paragraph that tells the reader what the story
is about.
_____________________________________________________________
___________
___________________________________________________________________
___________
___________________________________________________________________
___________
_____________________________________________________________
___________
3

4. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
C. Match: match column A with the correct answer in column B
Column A Column B
____1. grounds a. hunger
____2. deemed b. main concern
____3. Euthanasia c. dictatorship, oppression
____4. Tyranny d. To provide a basis for (a theory, for example)
____5. disabled e. relating to, or characteristic of race or races
____6. starvation f. to establish as a objective or goal.
____7. regime g. rules
____8. racial h. Impaired, as in physical functioning
____9. priority i. rebellious
____10. targeted j. the intellectual elite of a society.
____11. Intelligentsia k. think or believe
____12. Dissidents l. ending the life of an individual suffering from
a terminal illness or an incurable condition
D. Vocabulary Building: Read the word that is in bold or expression in its
context and match it with the correct meaning. Use a dictionary if
necessary
____1. The Germans and their collaborators a. prisoner
created ghettos.
____2. For non-Jews whose labor the b. an alliance of powers, such as nations, to
Germans sought to exploit. promote mutual interests and policies.
____3. The systematic, bureaucratic, state- c. way, road
sponsored persecution and murder of
approximately six million Jews.
____4. The Germans targeted the non-Jewish d. to take the greatest possible advantage, it
Polish intelligentsia. could be in a job or intellectually.
____5. The countries of many of its Axis allies e. a section of a city occupied by a minority
to ghettos and to killing centers, often called group who live there especially because of
4

5. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
extermination camps. social, economic, or legal pressure
____6. SS guards moved camp inmates by f. harassment, maltreatment
train or on forced marches.
____7. Concentration camp prisoners, as well g. intense hate or hostility.
as prisoners en route by forced march from
one camp to another.
____8. Police officials incarcerated Jews, h. support
Roma, and other victims of ethnic and racial
hatred in these camps.
____9. The crimes committed during the i. An official who is rigidly devoted to the
Holocaust devastated most European Jewish. details of administrative procedure
____10. The Holocaust was the systematic, j. terrible, awful
bureaucratic, state-supported by abuse and
murder of approximately six million Jews
____11. My brother asked me to sponsor him; k. to overwhelm
he's running a marathon for the charity children
in need.
____12. Most Jews worked and often died l. the intellectual elite of a society.
under deplorable conditions.
E. Cognates are words that have similar pronunciations and spellings in
both languages (English and Spanish), and frequently have the same
meaning. There are thousands of cognates shared by English and Spanish.
Many of these are words with Latin or Greek origins and words that have
prefixes and suffixes derived from these ancient languages
Example: Destruction (English) Destrucción (Spanish)
Look back at the stories and find 10 words that have similar meaning in
Spanish
1. ______________________
6._______________________
2._______________________
7._______________________
5

6. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
3._______________________
8._______________________
4________________________
9._______________________
5________________________
10.______________________
6

7. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
F. Scramble words: Look back at the vocabulary words and write down
the correct form.
Unscramble each of the clue words.
Take the letters that appear in boxes and unscramble them for the final
7

8. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
message. Clue for the phrase: look back at the text. It is the meaning of an
important word in the text.
Until recently, the story of the children of the Holocaust was rarely told.
Here are accounts of the the war-time experiences of three child survivors:
5-year-old Lili, who was separated from her family and hidden in a convent;
7-year-old Krystyna, who lived for 14 months in a sewer, never seeing the
light of day; and 14-year-old Alexander, who learned about death on a
fateful day in the ghetto. These survivors speak for their friends and siblings
-- the one-and-a-half million children who were murdered during the
Holocaust.
Beyond Secret Tears
I was 4 years old and my brother was 5-1/2 years old when we were first
separated from our parents and placed in a Protestant orphanage in
Belgium. I was a depressed and confused child, but with the passing of time,
I began to believe that all children lived away from their parents.
Krystyna's Story
When Daddy found out that there would be a liquidation of the Ghetto, we
hid in the cellar. I was 7 years old then and I knew about everything. Later
we headed for the sewer. It was very wet and dark.
8

9. JUDY FLORES MATERIALS
My First Kaddish
At lunch time, I sat at the roadside with Willy, the other
Jewish carpenter. A passing Ukrainian peasant warned,
"They are killing the Jews in town. Why aren't you boys
hiding?"
"Killing Jews? What are you saying?" I asked in
disbelief.
"Look, there," he said, "see for yourself."
http://www.adl.org/children_holocaust/children_main1.asp
9