Introducing the Holocaust

A Graphic Guide

Haim Bresheeth, Litza Jansz, Stuart Hood

• Publisher: Icon Books
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781785780141
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Holocaust History
• Index: History

'Excellent... an astounding amount of material.'
Times Educational Supplement Popular culture often portrays the Holocaust as a
horrific drama played out between Nazi executioners and ghetto Jewish victims -
in short, a single aberration of history. Introducing
the Holocaust is a powerful graphic guide that dissolves this
stereotype, explaining the causes and its relevance today. It places the
Holocaust where it belongs - at the centre of modern European and world
history. Haim Bresheeth and Stuart Hood - along with Litza
Jansz's outstanding illustrations - bring a unique and unforgettable perspective
to how we think about this most dark of shadows on human history.

The Holocaust is what we call the Nazi attempt to destroy European Jewry. It was part of a vast operation in genocide which, between 1939 and 1945, caused the following deaths:

In Hebrew, the Holocaust is called Shoah - a great and terrible wind.

“Holocaust” comes from the Greek. Holos means “whole” and caustos means “burnt” (as in caustic). Originally, it meant a sacrifice consumed by fire - a burnt offering. It came to mean “a sacrifice on a large scale”, and, by the end of the 17th century, “the complete destruction of a large number of persons - a great slaughter or massacre.”

The Holocaust is an example of Genocide. “genocide”, which literally means the annihilation of a race, was first used in 1944.

The United Nations Convention of 1948 defines the crime of genocide as “acts committed to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religous group as such.”

There have been many cases of genocide in history. The Spanish conquerors slaughtered the Native Americans; whole peoples like the Caribs disappeared. Following on the colonization of North America, the Native Americans were massacred by the army or settlers.

In modern times there have been numerous genocides. Here are some of them:

1904-1905		the annihilation of the Herero people in S.W. Africa by the German settlers and army
1915-1916		the Turkish massacre of 1 million Armenians
1965-1966		up to 1 million Communists and their families massacred by the Indonesian army
1972		between 1 and 3 million Bengalis massacred by the Pakistan army
1972		100,000 to 150,000 Hutus massacred by the ruling Tutsi tribe in Burundi in West Africa
1975-1979		up to 2 million Cambodians murdered by the Khmer Rouge in Kampuchea
1975 to the present		an estimated 200,000 islanders who wish to be independent massacred by the Indonesian army in East Timor
		the continuing destruction of the Indians of the Brazilian rain forest
		the “ethnic cleansing” in former Yugoslavia

Shoah - the Holocaust - was a case of Genocide. It was intended by the Nazis to be “the final solution” of what they saw as “the Jewish problem”. The Nazis’ stated aim was to make the territories under their control Judenrein - cleansed of Jews. It was therefore an extreme case of “racial cleansing”.

Its ideological basis was anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism

The word “anti-Semitism” was indented in 1879 by a German racist called Wilhelm Marr (1818-1904).

But anti-Semitism as a phenomenon was many centuries older. It has its roots in religion.

MURDERERS OF THE LORD REBELS AND DETESTORS OF GOD COMPANIONS OF THE DEVIL. NO BETTER THAN HOGS IN THEIR LEND GROSSNESS AND GLUTTONY.

The “Guilt” of the Jews

Protestant Anti-Semitism

The Protestant church inherited the anti-Semitism of the Catholics. Martin Luther, the great reformer, denounced the Jews as “the devil’s people”, as “liars and bloodhounds” and “a bloody and revengeful people”.

We are at fault in not slaying them. Set fire to their synagogues and schools and bury or cober with dirt whatever will not burn… This is to be bone in honour of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God may see that we are Christians.

The Other

Communities tend to define some group or its representative as “the Other”. “The Other” is a figure on to whom they project their fears and aggressions. This occurs particularly at times when the community is threatened economically, physically or culturally. “The Other” is usually different in some very obvious ways - skin colour, culture, dress or cuisine and “race” or nationality.

In Christian medieval Europe difference was forced upon the Jews. They were required to live in ghetto segregation. They were said to have a special smell - foetor Judaicus - just as other immigrants today are accused of having a “bad smell”. Throughout the centuries in Europe, the Jew has been “the Other” - different - set apart - by culture, by religion, by rituals, by dress (in some cases they were compelled to wear badges or specific robes), and by language. Many Jews have - as is their right - held very tenaciously to their differences.

The Jews and the Enlightenment

In the 18th century, the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment produced the body of thought that led to the French Revolution. It believed in equality irrespective of race.
It was against superstition. All religions, including Christianity and Judaism, were viewed with equal scepticism. The important thing was human understanding and tolerance.

As a result of the Enlightenment, the 19th century was a period of assimilation when Jews were received into Gentile society.

WE GAVE OUR BEST TO ART, MUSIC, LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. WE BECAME PROMINENT IN THE PROFESSIONS AND ACTIVE IN INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE.

But the success of the Jews in these various fields led to envy and criticism. Jewish entrepreneurs were seen as “new men” who exploited Jewish family and social networks (which extended across frontiers) to further their businesses in underhand and unfair ways

THE JEWS HAD DEVELOPED INTO A BOURGEOIS PEOPLE WHILE STILL IN THE GHETTO - AND THEY STEPPED OUT OF IT ONLY TO ENTER INTO FIERCE COMPETITION WITH THE MIDDLE CLASSES.

At the same time, Jews became increasingly associated with liberalism, radicalism, socialism and communism.

The idea took root in anti-Semitic circles that to do away with the Jews would at one fell swoop do away with capitalism and socialism.

“Scientific” Anti-Semitism

I BELIEVE THAT THE ARYAN RACE - WHITE EUROPEAN OF THE BLOND NORDIC TYPE - ARE A SUPERIOR RACE.

The Jews were Semites and not Aryans. They therefore constituted a foreign “Oriental” element in European “Aryan” society. They were seen as being unproductive - that is to say not labourers or peasants and yet successful, particularly in commerce and banking, and powerful through their manipulation of the press, the stage and entertainment. Aryans, by contrast, were rooted in nationhood.

Jews were believed particularly dangerous, because when they did assimilate, even to the point of...