What is the Holocaust?
The Holocaust, or Shoah, is the term used to label the fate of the Jews of Europe at the hands of the Nazis during World War Two. It is a broad term used to cover all events involving Europe’s Jews usually between 1933 and 1945, and especially during the six year period between November 1938 (Kristallnacht) and November 1944 (alleged Himmler order to stop the Final Solution program) . Six extermination centers are said to have been established between 1941 and 1943 by the Nazis in Poland for the purpose of killing Jews and “other minorities.” The number of Jews killed by the Nazis during this period is generally estimated to have been six million. A) “The Holocaust” : An all-encompassing neologism used in reference to the (alleged) extermination of European Jews by the Nazis during World War Two.
The Holocaust was the systematic annihilation of six million Jews by the Nazi regime during World War 2. In 1933 approximately nine million Jews lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would be occupied by Germany during the war. By 1945 two out of every three European Jews had been killed. The European Jews were the primary victims of the Holocaust. But Jews were not the only group singled out for persecution by Hitlers Nazi regime. As many as one-half million Gypsies, at least 250,000 mentally or physically disabled persons, and more than three million Soviet prisoners-of-war also fell victim to Nazi genocide. Jehovahs Witnesses, homosexuals, Social Democrats, Communists, partisans, trade unionists, Polish intelligentsia and other undesirables were also victims of the hate and aggression carried out by the Nazis.
