The holocaust
The Holocaust was the mass murder of more than six million European Jews, as well as members of other persecuted groups, which included the disabled, Gypsies, and homosexuals by the Nazis. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, one of their main beliefs was that Germans were racially superior, while other groups, such as Jews, were an inferior alien race.
Because a large part of the Jewish population lived in the countries that would soon become invaded by Nazi Germany, about two thirds of Europe’s Jewish community were killed in Hitler’s Final Solution, which was his plan to annihilate all Jews. The persecution and segregation of Jews increased over time, and soon “anti-Jewish legislation, economic boycotts, and violence aimed to systematically isolate Jews from society and drive them out (ushmm.org).” Ironically, these policies made it nearly impossible for Jews to flee Europe and centered discriminatory violence onto them.
In the midst of the escalation of anti-Semitism, the National Socialist government created ghettos, which were enclosed districts in cities. The Nazis forced Jewish residents into these areas, where starvation and death were common. From here, they either worked in local mines or factories, or were deported to concentration camps or death facilities.
Those who found themselves to be deported to concentration camps were expected to work or die. In these camps, millions of Jews were gassed, shot, and brutally murdered. These camps continued to be a death site and imprisonment for millions of Jews until they were liberated around the end of World War II (1945).
Because a large part of the Jewish population lived in the countries that would soon become invaded by Nazi Germany, about two thirds of Europe’s Jewish community were killed in Hitler’s Final Solution, which was his plan to annihilate all Jews. The persecution and segregation of Jews increased over time, and soon “anti-Jewish legislation, economic boycotts, and violence aimed to systematically isolate Jews from society and drive them out (ushmm.org).” Ironically, these policies made it nearly impossible for Jews to flee Europe and centered discriminatory violence onto them.
In the midst of the escalation of anti-Semitism, the National Socialist government created ghettos, which were enclosed districts in cities. The Nazis forced Jewish residents into these areas, where starvation and death were common. From here, they either worked in local mines or factories, or were deported to concentration camps or death facilities.
Those who found themselves to be deported to concentration camps were expected to work or die. In these camps, millions of Jews were gassed, shot, and brutally murdered. These camps continued to be a death site and imprisonment for millions of Jews until they were liberated around the end of World War II (1945).