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What was the Holocaust?
The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and destruction of European Jewish
people by the Nazis and their collaborators between the years 1933-1945. While Jews were the primary
target of Nazi hatred, the Nazis also persecuted and murdered Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), homosexuals,
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Poles, and people with disabilities. Six million Jews were murdered in the
Holocaust. Of these 6 million, 1.5 million were children.
Jewish people have lived in Europe for more than 2000 years. Jewish communities existed in Eastern Europe,
Western Europe, and in countries such as Greece and Turkey. These Jewish communities were diverse, varying in
traditions, customs, and language.
In 1933, the Nazi party was elected in Germany; Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor. Hitler and the Nazi party
quickly put into practice their belief that Germans were “racially superior.” Groups that were not “Aryan” (as
defined by the Nazis) were considered weak and a burden to the growth and strengthening of the German/Aryan
peoples. The Jewish people of Germany (less than 1 percent of the population) were not only defined as “inferior,”
but became the primary target for Nazi hatred.
The situation for Jewish people in Germany under the Nazi party worsened. While many Jews searched for ways to
leave the country, others regarded Germany as their home – their families having lived there for centuries.
Restrictions against Jews multiplied in the 1930’s; obtaining the proper paperwork and finding a location to which
to flee became increasingly difficult for Jews.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. The Polish Army was quickly defeated
and the German forces continued on to occupy Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France,
Yugoslavia, and Greece.
In 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union, and between 1941 and 1942 six major killing centers were
established in Poland: Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. These camps
existed only, or primarily, for the purpose of killing people. Other camps – concentration camps and labor camps –
were used for holding people and/or slave labor.
The Germans occupied Hungary in March, 1944. Ghettos were rapidly established and, only one month later,
Hungarian Jews began to be deported. Between April and July of 1944 approximately 444,000 Hungarian Jews
were deported, most to Auschwitz (USHMM). The Hungarian Jews were the last large group to be deported to
Auschwitz. Approximately 825,000 Jews lived in Hungary in 1941; 255,000 survived the war (USHMM).
In January 1945, the Russian armies moved west, overtaking many of the areas that had been occupied by the
Germans. Auschwitz, along with several other camps, was liberated. In May 1945, the war came to an end as the
Allies marched into Germany and Poland and the German army surrendered. Six million of the nine million Jews in
Europe were murdered in what is now called “The Holocaust.”
