The Holocaust (jan 1, 1933 – may 1, 1945)

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The Holocaust was the mass murder of 6 million Jewish people under the Nazi regime and its supporters from 1933, when the Nazis came to power, until 1945. This tragic event occurred during World War II and targeted numerous groups of people, including not only Jews but also millions of others, such as Polish civilians and Soviet prisoners of war. It stands as one of the most devastating and well-known genocides in history, placed all-through out Europe.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party, rose to power in Germany. The Nazi Party promoted ideas of nationalism, racism, and the scapegoating of groups, particularly Jews, whom they viewed as a race rather than a religion. Their goal was to eliminate those deemed racially or politically inferior.

After Hitler seized control of Germany, he enacted many oppressive laws. For instance, in 1935, he implemented the Nuremberg Laws, which aimed at socially excluding Jews. These laws stripped Jews of German citizenship and prohibited marriages between Jews and non-Jews. Many businesses owned by Jewish individuals were boycotted or attacked, making it increasingly difficult for Jewish families to survive.

The Nazis intensified their assault on Jews by forcing them into ghettos, concentration camps, and death camps. Living conditions in the ghettos, such as those in Warsaw and elsewhere in Poland, were dire, characterized by starvation, disease, and violence. The concentration and death camps were designed to subject victims to extreme suffering through forced labor, starvation, medical "experiments," and physical abuse.

In addition to the horrors within the camps, the Nazis invaded other areas with Jewish populations. In 1941, they invaded the Soviet Union, where they deployed groups known as Einsatzgruppen to massacre Jewish communities through mass shootings.

Before establishing the camps, the Nazis devised the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" in 1942, a plan aimed at exterminating the entire Jewish population. By 1945, Allied forces liberated Europe, defeating Nazi Germany and bringing an end to their reign in May of that year.

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