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Introduction to the Holocaust

By The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
2016

During World War II, the German government, run by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, systematically murdered
about 11 million people. This is what is known as a genocide, or the deliberate killing of a large number of
people from a particular ethnic group with the aim of destroying that group. The majority of Holocaust victims
were Jewish people. As you read, take notes on the different groups that were targeted by the Nazis during the
Holocaust.

[1] The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic,

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state-sponsored persecution and murder of six
million Jews by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime.
Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning “sacrifice
by fire.” The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in
January 1933, believed that Germans were “racially
superior” and that the Jews, deemed “inferior,” were
an alien threat to the so-called German racial
community.

During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities

also targeted other groups because of their perceived
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“racial inferiority”: Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and "Selection of Hungarian Jews at Auschwitz" by Yad
some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and Vashem is in the public domain.
others). Other groups were persecuted on political,
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ideological, and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and
homosexuals.

What was the Holocaust?

In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million. Most European Jews lived in countries that
Nazi Germany would occupy or influence during World War II. By 1945, the Germans and their collaborators
killed nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of the “Final Solution,” the Nazi policy to murder the

1. Persecution (noun) the harassment, oppression, or mistreatment of a group, especially because of race or
religion
2. “Gypsy” is an archaic and derogatory term for someone of Roma/Romani descent. This term is now
considered outdated and offensive.
3. Communists support a political-economic system that seeks to get rid of private property, while socialists
support a system that redistributes wealth and resources.
4. a sect of Christianity that originated in the U.S.

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 Jews of Europe.

Although Jews, whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany, were the primary victims of Nazi racism,
other victims included some 200,000 Roma (Gypsies). At least 200,000 mentally or physically disabled patients,
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mainly Germans, living in institutional settings, were murdered in the so-called Euthanasia Program.

[5] As Nazi tyranny spread across Europe, the Germans and their collaborators persecuted and murdered millions
of other people. Between two and three million Soviet prisoners of war were murdered or died of starvation,
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disease, neglect, or maltreatment. The Germans targeted the non-Jewish Polish intelligentsia for killing, and
deported millions of Polish and Soviet civilians for forced labor in Germany or in occupied Poland, where these
individuals worked and often died under deplorable conditions.

From the earliest years of the Nazi regime, German authorities persecuted homosexuals and others whose
behavior did not match prescribed social norms. German police officials targeted thousands of political
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opponents (including Communists, Socialists, and trade unionists) and religious dissidents (such as Jehovah’s
Witnesses). Many of these individuals died as a result of incarceration and maltreatment.

Administration of the “Final Solution”

In the early years of the Nazi regime, the National Socialist government established concentration camps to
detain real and imagined political and ideological opponents. Increasingly in the years before the outbreak of
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war, SS and police officials incarcerated Jews, Roma, and other victims of ethnic and racial hatred in these
camps.

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To concentrate and monitor the Jewish population as well as to facilitate later deportation of the Jews, the
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Germans and their collaborators created ghettos, transit camps, and forced-labor camps in order to keep
Jews grouped closely together during the war years. The German authorities also established numerous forced-
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labor camps, both in the so-called Greater German Reich and in German-occupied territory, for non-Jews
whose labor the Germans sought to exploit.

Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) and, later,
militarized battalions of Order Police officials, moved behind German lines to carry out mass-murder
operations against Jews, Roma, and Soviet state and Communist Party officials. German SS and police units,
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supported by units of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS, murdered more than a million Jewish men, women,

5. Euthanasia is a method for medically killing someone, often by deadly gas or injection.
6. The intelligentsia refers to the intellectual and educated members of society.
7. Trade unionists support the right of workers to bargain with their employers for fair wages, decent hours,
and safe working conditions.
8. Religious dissidents are people who practice religions that disagree with or branch off from long-
established churches.
9. SS stands for Schutzstaffel, the armed members of Hitler’s Nazi party in Germany.
10. Facilitate (verb) to help with the process of doing something; to make something easier
11. segregated neighborhoods where groups of people are forced to live
12. The German Reich is just another name for Germany, approximately meaning “German Realm.”

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 and children, and hundreds of thousands of others.

[10] Between 1941 and 1944, Nazi German authorities deported millions of Jews from Germany, from occupied
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territories, and from the countries of many of its Axis allies to ghettos and to killing centers, often called
extermination camps, where they were murdered in specially developed gassing facilities.

The End of the Holocaust

In the final months of the war, SS guards moved camp inmates by train or on forced marches, often called
“death marches,” in an attempt to prevent the Allied liberation of large numbers of prisoners. As Allied forces
moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Germany, they began to encounter and liberate
concentration camp prisoners, as well as prisoners en route by forced march from one camp to another. The
marches continued until May 7, 1945, the day the German armed forces surrendered unconditionally to the
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Allies.

For the western Allies, World War II officially ended in Europe on the next day, May 8, while Soviet forces
announced their “Victory Day” on May 9, 1945.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, many of the survivors found shelter in displaced persons (DP) camps
administered by the Allied powers. Between 1948 and 1951, almost 700,000 Jews emigrated to Israel, including
136,000 Jewish displaced persons from Europe. Other Jewish DPs emigrated to the United States and other
nations. The last DP camp closed in 1957.

The crimes committed during the Holocaust devastated most European Jewish communities and eliminated
hundreds of Jewish communities in occupied eastern Europe entirely.

"Introduction to the Holocaust" from The Holocaust Encyclopedia, © 2016, The United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum. Reprinted with permission, all rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

13. a military branch of the Nazi Party

14. In World War II, Germany and its allies were called the Axis Powers.
15. In World War II, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union (Russia) were called
the Allies.

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 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. Which of the following best describes the central idea of the text?
A. Nazi Germany forced people who were not born in the country to leave it.
B. Nazi Germany targeted political objectors to maintain order during World War II.
C. Nazi Germany killed millions of Jews and other targeted groups during the Holocaust.
D. Nazi Germany targeted citizens whom they believed could overthrow them during the
Holocaust.

2. What is the meaning of "deplorable" in paragraph 5?

A. horrible
B. mysterious
C. ordinary
D. uncomfortable

3. How does paragraph 5 contribute to the discussion of the Holocaust in the text?
A. It suggests that Jewish people were not the primary targets of the Holocaust.
B. It provides information about why Jewish people were persecuted during the
Holocaust.
C. It suggests that the world will never know all of the people who were affected by the
Holocaust.
D. It highlights the extent of the Nazi regime's persecution and violence against many
groups of people.

4. PART A: What does the word "concentrate" most closely mean as it is used in paragraph 8?
A. focus
B. gather
C. protect
D. punish

5. PART B: Which phrase from paragraph 8 best supports the answer to Part A?
A. "monitor the Jewish population"
B. "deportation of the Jews"
C. "keep Jews grouped closely together"
D. "numerous forced-labor camps"

6. Over time, groups that were targeted by the Nazi regime were —
A. placed on a ship and sent to America.
B. asked to hide and change their identity.
C. discriminated against and eventually killed.
D. slowly accepted back into society by the Nazi regime.

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7. How does the conclusion contribute to the overall text? (Paragraphs 11-14)
A. It discusses how the Holocaust ended and its lasting effects.
B. It discusses how victims of the Holocaust were able to get justice.
C. It explains why a tragedy like the Holocaust could never happen again.
D. It emphasizes that experts will never have an accurate death toll of the Holocaust.

8. Which of the following describes the author's purpose in the text?

A. to contemplate why the Holocaust occurred
B. to provide a summary of the events of the Holocaust
C. to show how the Holocaust has shaped modern Germany
D. to criticize the United States for not stopping the Holocaust sooner

9. According to the text, what was the relationship between prejudice against Jewish people and the
oppression they suffered during the Holocaust? Cite evidence from the text in your response.

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 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share
your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. The Nazis and people who agreed with them wanted to protect the German community from
"inferior" races. Are there other examples in history or literature in which groups of people
murdered innocent people in the name of "protecting" themselves? How are these examples
similar to or different from the Holocaust?

2. What might have made the Nazis murder, imprison, and oppress certain people? Do you think
those people were really a threat, or could there have been other motivations?

3. In the context of this article, what makes people do bad things? Cite evidence from this text, your
own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.

4. The Holocaust is taught in history classes today so that people will never forget. Although it is not
pleasant to hear about the murder of millions of people because of their religion, race, or beliefs,
educators believe it is important to study. What can we learn from tragedy, and why is it important
to study tragic history?