The End of World War IICh. 5 (p. 149-152)

The Holocaust Discovered As the Allies moved through Europe,

German concentration camps and the extent of the Holocaust was discovered– Hitler’s Final Solution to the “Jewish problem”

was genocide Genocide – the systematic extermination of a

religious or ethnic group– All Jews and “undesirables” in German-occupied

territory shipped to concentration camps Roma, Slavs, homosexuals, anti-Nazis, disabled

The Holocaust Discovered

Canadian troops helped liberate Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (N. Germany)– Found 60,000 starving and ill survivors– 13,000 unburied bodies of victims– Soldiers had to bury victims in mass graves,

burned down the camp to prevent disease– 50,000 people died in Bergen-Belsen during

the war, including Anne Frank and her sister

The Holocaust Discovered

The Holocaust Discovered

The Holocaust Discovered Holocaust Aftermath

– 6 million Jewish people and 5 million Roma, Slavs, and other “undesirables” had been killed

– Nuremberg Trials (1945) Allies set up military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germ. To prosecute Nazi leaders and others for war crimes 12 defendants sentenced to death, many others

imprisoned– Hermann Goering sentenced to death by hanging

Hitler’s right-hand-man and commander of Luftwaffe

First time that leaders of a country had been charged for immoral acts during wartime, but not the last

Nuremberg Trials

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Japan Surrenders After German surrender, Allies able to

focus on defeating Japanese Japanese air force and navy largely

defeated, army still strong– Reputation for fighting to the bitter end

Manhattan Project– US/British scientists developing atomic bomb– Canadian government supplied uranium Eldorado mine, NWT – Aboriginal workers suffered

from radiation poisoning, cancer

Japan Surrenders US President Truman orders use of atomic

bomb on Japan, rather than risk invasion– Cities fire-bombed, but hadn’t surrendered

6 Aug. 1945: “Enola Gay” bomber plane drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima– 70,000 people killed, 130,000 injured

9 Aug. 1945: atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki– 40,000 people killed, 75,000 injured

14 Aug. 1945: Japan surrenders (V-J Day)

Japan Surrenders

Japan Surrenders

Japan Surrenders

Japan Surrenders

Japan Surrenders

Japan Surrenders

The Atomic Bomb

Argument for use: US invasion of Japan could cost up to 500,000 American lives, not to mention Japanese; nuclear warfare could be used on Allies; $$$ (A-bomb development and possible invasion)

Argument against use: atomic bomb used prematurely (Japan nearly defeated, ready to surrender); civilians should not be targeted

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