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Holocaust definition
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The Holocaust (capitalized) is the state‑sponsored, systematic persecution and mass murder of approximately six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between about 1933 and 1945, carried out as part of the regime’s racial and ideological program to annihilate the Jewish people. It is also widely recognized as genocide.
Key points
- Perpetrators: Nazi Germany and collaborators across occupied Europe; policies and actions were driven by Nazi ideology and decisions by German leaders.
- Victims: Primarily Jews (about six million). Other targeted groups included Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, Polish and other Slavic civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, political opponents, and others—bringing total non-Jewish victims to several million.
- Methods and venues: discrimination and exclusion, forced relocation to ghettos, mass shootings (e.g., Einsatzgruppen), deportation to and systematic killing in concentration and extermination camps (e.g., Auschwitz‑Birkenau, Treblinka), forced labor, starvation, medical experiments, and other brutal measures.
- Timing and scope: escalated from persecution and dispossession in the 1930s to industrialized mass murder during World War II, especially 1941–1945, across German‑occupied Europe.
- Terminology: “Holocaust” comes from a Greek word meaning “sacrifice by fire.” Many prefer the Hebrew term Shoah (meaning “catastrophe”) when referring specifically to the Jewish genocide.
If you want, I can provide a brief timeline, list of major camps and killing operations, primary sources, survivor accounts, or references for further reading.
Key points
- Perpetrators: Nazi Germany and collaborators across occupied Europe; policies and actions were driven by Nazi ideology and decisions by German leaders.
- Victims: Primarily Jews (about six million). Other targeted groups included Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, Polish and other Slavic civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, political opponents, and others—bringing total non-Jewish victims to several million.
- Methods and venues: discrimination and exclusion, forced relocation to ghettos, mass shootings (e.g., Einsatzgruppen), deportation to and systematic killing in concentration and extermination camps (e.g., Auschwitz‑Birkenau, Treblinka), forced labor, starvation, medical experiments, and other brutal measures.
- Timing and scope: escalated from persecution and dispossession in the 1930s to industrialized mass murder during World War II, especially 1941–1945, across German‑occupied Europe.
- Terminology: “Holocaust” comes from a Greek word meaning “sacrifice by fire.” Many prefer the Hebrew term Shoah (meaning “catastrophe”) when referring specifically to the Jewish genocide.
If you want, I can provide a brief timeline, list of major camps and killing operations, primary sources, survivor accounts, or references for further reading.
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