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Text Box: The Holocaust
Victory in Japan

What was the Holocaust?
An attempt by the Nazis to kill all Jews in occupied Europe and, eventually, the world.
In 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, top Nazi and SS officials met in Wannsee
(near Berlin, Germany) to discuss plans to murder all the Jews in Europe.

The Einsatzgruppen
In June 1941, Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler’s regular army, called the Wehrmacht (Armed Forces) invade, and a special squad – the Einsatzgruppen – followed. Their job was to kill all Jews and to also kill all members of the Communist Party. They killed 1.5 million Jews/Communists in the Soviet Union. This still wasn’t fast enough for Hitler. He wanted 11 million dead.

The Final Solution
Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems after World War One. He wanted to murder all the Jews in Europe. At camps in Auschwitz and Treblinka, Jews were starved or worked to death OR suffocated in gas chambers. Bodies were buried in mass graves OR cremated. Gold teeth, hair, all possessions were harvested for the Nazi war effort.

Canada’s Shame
Between 1935-45, Canada had the worst record for admitting Jewish refugees. Many of Canada’s leaders were anti-Semitic (against Jews) and blocked their entry. The most famous case is the St Louis, a ship carrying thousands of Jewish refugees was denied the right to dock in Canada. They were forced to go back to Europe and face extermination.

Victory over Japan
The Manhattan Project - The secret name of the project to create the atomic bomb. Many Canadian scientists worked on the project. Uranium – the most important ingredient in the a-bomb – was mined in Canada. Albert Einstein also worked on the project briefly.

Canadians in the Pacific
Mackenzie King told the Allies (after VE Day) that no Canadian would be sent to the Pacific theatre. People could volunteer if they wished (after 30 days R&R in Canada). 80,000 volunteered but the war was over before most of them saw combat.
Other than Hong Kong, Canada had little to do with the war against Japan.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Hiroshima (August 6, 1945)
The plane carrying the bomb (nicknamed ‘Fat Man’) was called the Enola Gay. People were turned instantly into vapor
Radioactive rain fell. Hundreds of thousands would die from the fallout.
Nagasaki (August 9, 1945)
Bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ was dropped here.

On August 15, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan would surrender to the Allies. The war was over.

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