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Key points

  • After World War Two started in September 1939, the Nazis initially moved east, invading Poland, Hungary and the Soviet Union.

  • This brought millions of Jewish people under their control. The Nazis decided to increase their persecution of Jewish people, and eventually resolved to murder them.

  • At the Wannsee Conference, senior Nazis set out how they would implement their plan to commit mass murder.

Video about the Holocaust

A young Jewish girl called Lotte shares her experience of the Holocaust

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Defining the Holocaust

The Holocaust was the murder of approximately six million Jewish men, women and children by Nazi Germany and its during World War Two.

The word 鈥楬olocaust鈥 comes from two Ancient Greek words: 鈥榟olos鈥, which means 鈥榗ompletely鈥, and 鈥榢austos鈥, meaning 鈥榖urnt鈥. The original meaning of this word referred to a religious sacrifice, which the mass murder of Jewish people was not. As a result, many people prefer to use a different term, such as the Hebrew word 鈥楽hoah鈥, which means 鈥榗atastrophe鈥.

The and their collaborators and murdered many other groups of people, too. , and , Black people and mixed race people were targeted because they did not fit within the Nazis鈥 racist idea of a master . This idea had first developed during the 1800s, and was based on the false belief that people from northern and western Europe were racially to groups of people from outside these regions. There is no scientific basis for these beliefs.

The Nazis鈥 false belief in genetic superiority also led to the persecution and murder of people with disabilities. Gay men were targeted for slightly different reasons, mainly because the Nazis believed that they were 鈥榝ailing鈥 in their duty to the creation of the so-called 鈥楢ryan race鈥 by supposedly not having children.

Other groups of people were persecuted because they were political of the Nazi regime. , for instance, refused to accept Nazi rule because of their spiritual beliefs. They were also opposed to war. from the Soviet Union suffered persecution and murder on the basis of their political opposition to Nazi rule, and because they were from eastern Europe, and therefore not part of the so-called 鈥楢ryan race鈥.

All of these groups of people were persecuted in different ways and for different reasons, all of which were rooted in Nazi ideas. There is more information about the persecution of these groups of people in this guide about non-Jewish victims of Nazism.

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Ghettos

A map to show the locations of ghettos across Europe. There are ghettos located in Greater Germany, General Government, the Soviet Union, Hungary and Romania.
Figure caption,
This map shows the locations of some of the ghettos set up by the Nazis. 鈥楪eneral Government鈥 refers to the area of Poland that was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1939.

In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. This started World War Two. There were 3.5 million Jews living in Poland at the time.

The Nazis decided that they would build in towns and cities in Poland, forcing Polish Jews to move into them. The largest ghetto was in Warsaw, which grew to contain over 400,000 Jews. Walls were built around some ghettos, to separate them from the rest of the city or town. If people escaped from the ghetto and were caught, they would be killed.

In the Warsaw Ghetto, Jews were forced to wear a white armband with a blue Star of David printed on it.

Conditions in ghettos were appalling. On average, there were between eight and ten people living in every room. Food rations were deliberately low. On average, people received 1,200 calories a day in 1940, and this later dropped further. Between 1940 and 1942, it is estimated that up to 100,000 people died of starvation in the Warsaw ghetto.

A black and white photograph of Jewish people in the Warsaw ghetto, Poland.
Image caption,
Polish Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, 1940

What was it like to live in the Warsaw ghetto?

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Operation Barbarossa

In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. This was codenamed 鈥極peration Barbarossa鈥.

As the German army advanced east, 3,000 troops, who were split into four units, rounded up groups of Jews and shot them dead. These four units of SS troops were called the . They often acted with the assistance of the , the , the German army and local . It is estimated over 2 million Jews had been murdered in this way by 1944.

Historians have referred to the Nazis鈥 policy of committing mass murder by shooting as the 鈥楬olocaust by bullets鈥.

In September 1941, members of the Einsatzgruppen murdered almost 34,000 Jews over a two-day period at Babyn Yar, also known as Babi Yar, near the city of , in Ukraine. This was one of many sites of the mass murder of Jewish people across Eastern Europe.

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Persecution in the occupied territories

Nazi Germany invaded and occupied many countries across Europe following the outbreak of war. Jews and other groups of people suffered persecution across the continent.

This was often made possible with the collaboration of local police and government organisations. Following their defeat to the German army, France was controlled by the German government. However, at times, French authorities went beyond what they were asked to do by their German occupiers. Marshal Philippe P茅tain, a French general who had fought in World War One, became head of state. His government brought in many antisemitic laws and policies. P茅tain also opened several in France, and his government participated in the murder of Roma people.

In Belgium, in 1940, the Nazi occupiers forced Jewish people to register with the authorities, and introduced laws that discriminated against Jews. By the end of 1940, Jewish people were not allowed take up jobs in several professions. In the Netherlands, the Dutch carried out the Nazis鈥 demand to make a register of Jewish people, in January 1941.

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The Wannsee Conference

In January 1942, a meeting was held at Wannsee, on the outskirts of Berlin. Leading members of the Nazi government and the SS were present. The meeting was chaired by Reinhard Heydrich, who was head of the Reich Security Main Office. Heydrich had helped to organise 鈥楰ristallnacht鈥 and set up the Einsatzgruppen.

At the Wannsee Conference, Heydrich set out the plans for the mass transportation of Jews from across Nazi occupied territory to Eastern Europe, where they would be murdered through forced labour, starvation and disease, or in the gas chambers of newly built . This was referred to as the 鈥楩inal Solution of the Jewish question鈥, which was the phrase that the Nazis used for the Holocaust. The 鈥楩inal Solution鈥 was a decision to set out to murder all Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Extermination camps were built, and from 1942 the Nazis began what they called 鈥榣iquidating the ghettos鈥. This meant that people were taken out of the ghettos and sent to extermination camps.

A photograph of Wannsee House, where the Wannsee Conference took place in January 1942.
Image caption,
Wannsee House, on the outskirts of Berlin, where the Wannsee Conference was held in January 1942
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Extermination camps

Following the Wannsee Conference, the SS began the mass transportation of Jews from ghettos and Nazi occupied territory to extermination camps in Eastern Europe. There were six of these camps:

  • Auschwitz-Birkenau

  • Belzec

  • 颁丑别艂尘苍辞

  • Majdanek

  • Sobibor

  • Treblinka

Gas chambers were built at the camps, where people were murdered. The camps also had crematoriums to burn the bodies, reducing them to ashes. These were constructed with the intention of carrying out the 鈥楩inal Solution鈥, the mass murder of millions of Jewish people.

What was the role of the Nazis鈥 collaborators in transporting Jewish people to extermination camps?

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Auschwitz-Birkenau

The largest death camp was Auschwitz-Birkenau, built near Krak贸w, Poland. Approximately 1 million Jewish people were murdered at Auschwitz.

Like several other concentration and extermination camps, Auschwitz also had a number of sub camps, which were smaller camps attached to the main, larger camp.

Trains delivered people to Auschwitz from all over Nazi-occupied Europe. The trains were overcrowded and many people died on the journey.

On arrival at Auschwitz, people were split into two groups. One was those who were considered healthy enough to work, and the second was made up mainly of elderly people, women and children, who were sent straight to the gas chambers and killed.

Those selected for work were tattooed with a number when they arrived, had their hair shaved and were forced to wear a striped uniform. People were forced to do hard labour in very difficult conditions. When they became too frail to work, they were sent to the gas chambers.

Barracks were made up of wooden bunks. Each room was designed to hold up to 200 people, but often ended up with up to 2,000. People were forced to line up in roll call square every morning and evening to be counted. If the number of prisoners present did not match records, they were made to stand in the square until the missing people were accounted for.

Images of Auschwitz-Birkenau

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 4, A photograph of the entrance to Auschwitz, showing the sign that reads 'Arbeit macht frei' (work sets you free) in German., The entrance to Auschwitz. The sign over the gate reads "Arbeit macht frei" which means "Work sets you free"
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Map - Locations of Nazi persecution and murder

A map to show the locations of concentration camps, extermination camps, sub camps, ghettos and mass murder sites across Europe.
Figure caption,
The Nazis built a huge network of concentration camps, smaller sub camps and extermination camps across Europe
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Jewish resistance

6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. However, Jewish people found many different ways to resist Nazi persecution.Resistance was very common. Not all resistance was violent. For example, against Nazi orders, people in the ghettos established schools, to maintain education and morale.

Janina David, a Jewish child who lived in the Warsaw ghetto, remembered that parents would 鈥榦rganise small groups of children, four or five at a time鈥 we met once or twice a week in somebody鈥檚 room鈥 people learnt foreign languages: Latin, Greek, German, French, English鈥. People in the 艁贸d藕 ghetto, Poland, even established a theatre. It opened in 1941 and mainly staged works written by Jewish artists. When the Nazis banned Jewish people from observing their religious customs, people resisted by continuing to practice their faith. Jews continued to observe religious festivals, such as Passover, and organised prayer groups.

Abraham Zwirek, a young Jewish man who lived in the Plock and Suchedniow ghettos, Poland, noted that 鈥榬eligious customs among Jewish people became very strong, although conducted in a quiet way鈥. In the concentration and extermination camps, people resisted by smuggling messages and information about what was happening to the outside world.

There were also a number of instances of Jewish people using violent and armed resistance against the Nazis, in both the ghettos and the concentration and extermination camps:

  • Warsaw ghetto: In April 1943, Jewish residents of the ghetto ambushed SS officers who were intending to transport Jews to death camps. This was the first civilian uprising anywhere in Nazi-occupied Europe. The resisters threw grenades and at the SS soldiers, and they had support from resistance fighters outside the ghetto. The SS began burning down buildings in the ghetto and the uprising ended on 16 May 1943, with the blowing up of the Great Synagogue in the ghetto. It is estimated the SS had 110 casualties, and up to 13,000 Jews were killed by the SS. A concentration camp was built on the site of the ghetto ruins.

  • Treblinka: In August 1943, inmates at Treblinka seized weapons and set fire to buildings in the camp. Over 300 managed to escape and though many were captured and killed, it is estimated that 70 were not caught, and survived to the end of the war.

What was the Oneg Shabbat archive?

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Liberation of the camps

The first extermination camp to be was Majdanek, in Poland. Soviet troops arrived there in July 1944.

Auschwitz was liberated six months later, in January 1945. When the Nazis realised that Soviet troops were close, the SS tried to move surviving inmates from Auschwitz to the west, on foot. These were called death marches, as many of the inmates were too frail or ill to walk this huge distance.

Jan Hartman, a young Czech Jewish man who was forced onto a death march, remembered it as 鈥榮omething unforgettable: the Polish countryside was under snow, freezing cold, January, the temperature must have gone down to 30 below zero or more, very cold鈥. When they arrived at Auschwitz, Soviet soldiers found 6,000 prisoners still alive.

Video - Survivor testimony

This video contains upsetting scenes. Henri Kichka, a Holocaust survivor, talks about his experience of being sent to Auschwitz.

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Test your knowledge and inference skills

Question 1

Gena Turgel was a Jewish woman who was born in Krak贸w, Poland. She lived in the Krak贸w ghetto before she was sent to Auschwitz in 1944, along with her mother and sister. Turgel and her mother were forced to join a death march, leaving behind her sister, who she never saw again.

Turgel survived the Holocaust, and spent the rest of her life sharing her experience with others. Read the below extract from one of her testimonies, and answer the questions.

鈥楢t Auschwitz-Birkenau, every last remnant of respect and dignity was squeezed out of us. In our loose, insect ridden clothing and with our hair cropped or shaved, we felt completely dehumanised.鈥

  • How does Turgel describe life in Auschwitz?

  • What do you think she means when she says that those sent to Auschwitz were 鈥榙ehumanised鈥?

Question 2

Dawid Sierakowiak lived in the 艁贸d藕 ghetto. He wrote a diary, which is a very useful source for historians who want to find out more about living conditions in the ghettos.

Read the extract below, which is taken from diary entries written in September 1941 and March 1942, and then answer the questions.

鈥楢 transport of deportees arrived in the ghetto 鈥 The sick, children, and old people have been driven to hospitals, orphanages, and homes for the aged, but the rest are lying in empty houses on straw mats provided by the administration or on their own bedding 鈥 Our bread ration has been reduced, and vegetables don鈥檛 arrive anymore. Hunger is ever more terrifying 鈥 At work, food is almost the only topic of conversation (the food we had before the war, naturally).鈥

  • How does Sierakowiak describe the conditions in the 艁贸d藕 ghetto?

  • For the people who lived in the ghetto, what would the consequences of these conditions be?

Question 3

Look at the picture below.

What is happening in this picture?

A black and white photograph of Jewish people from Hungary arriving at Auschwitz.

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The gave advice and guidance during the production of this guide.

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Play the History Detectives game! game

Analyse and evaluate evidence to uncover some of history鈥檚 burning questions in this game.

Play the History Detectives game!
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