Annihilation

This episode covers the early years of Hitler’s accession to power. Europe in 1933 did not think the Nazi party, or the government, would last. In Germany, anti-Semitic sentiment is expressed in book burnings, boycotts and assaults, sanctioned by those in power.

By 1938, the Nazis are entrenched as the government and political opposition has been silenced. In the fall of 1939, Germany’s plans for war move forward along with plans for restrictions on Jews and the deportation of Jews, with their oppression in areas that Germany has annexed.

In the spring of 1940, Hitler’s relentless anti-Jewish propaganda has led to deteriorating conditions for Jews. As well as invading France, Hitler plans out the deportation and imprisonment of Jewish populations across Europe.

Across the Eastern front, in 1940-1941, Nazi squads and local police and auxiliary forces join in carrying out Operation Reinhart. This is the mandate for the extermination of Jewish populations, including women and children.

In 1942, death camps are installed in Poland. The roles of the Vichy government and the Swiss government in the genocide operations are examined. The confiscated resources of victims are used to finance the camps’ operations.

The trials of Nazi leaders in Nuremberg targeted those in the Nazi hierarchy. But historians ask, “Who are the guilty?” Are those who carried out the commands as culpable as those who gave the commands? Pogroms still occur after the war, as displaced Jews return to their decimated communities.