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Geography of the Holocaust

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Holocaust Nazi camps ghettos World War II

The Holocaust (1933–1945) was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The Holocaust era began in January 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. It ended in May 1945, when the Allied Powers defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. 

The Holocaust was a German initiative that took place throughout German- and Axis-controlled Europe. It affected nearly all of Europe’s Jewish population, which in 1933 numbered 9 million people. By the end of the war, 6 million Jews and millions of other victims were dead.

German prewar territorial gains

German prewar territorial gains [LCID: ger71030]

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European rail system, 1939

European rail system, 1939 [LCID: eur69090]

The European rail network played a crucial role in the implementation of the “Final Solution.” Jews from Germany and German-occupied Europe were deported by rail to killing centers in occupied Poland, where they were killed. The Germans attempted to disguise their intentions, referring to deportations as "resettlement to the east." The victims were told they were to be taken to labor camps, but in reality, from 1942 onward, deportation meant transit to killing centers for most Jews. Deportations on this scale required the coordination of numerous German government ministries, including the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the Transport Ministry, and the Foreign Office. The RSHA coordinated and directed the deportations; the Transport Ministry organized train schedules; and the Foreign Office negotiated with German-allied states to hand over their Jews.

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German conquests in Europe, 1939-1942

German conquests in Europe, 1939-1942 [LCID: eur86810]

In World War II, Germany sought to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns in Europe. Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years. Germany defeated and occupied Poland (attacked in September 1939), Denmark (April 1940), Norway (April 1940), Belgium (May 1940), the Netherlands (May 1940), Luxembourg (May 1940), France (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941), and Greece (April 1941). Yet Germany did not defeat Great Britain, which was protected from German ground attack by the English Channel and the Royal Navy. On June 22, 1941, German forces suddenly invaded the Soviet Union. But Germany proved unable to defeat the Soviet Union, which together with Great Britain and the United States turned the tide of battle and ultimately defeated Germany in May 1945.

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Major ghettos in occupied Europe

Major ghettos in occupied Europe [LCID: eur74910]

During the Holocaust, the Nazis and their allies imprisoned Jewish people in ghettos. Ghettos were areas of cities or towns where authorities forced Jews to live under miserable conditions separated from the non-Jewish population.

In total, the Nazis and their allies (including Hungary and Romania) established more than 1,300 ghettos. Most of these ghettos were located in German-occupied Poland, the German-occupied Baltic states, and the occupied Soviet Union. Additionally, the Germans created the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (the occupied Czech lands) and several ghettos in Salonika (Thessaloniki) in German-occupied Greece. There were no ghettos in western Europe. 

Ghettos were a key means of isolating, controlling, and ultimately murdering millions of Jews.

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Einsatzgruppen massacres in eastern Europe

Einsatzgruppen massacres in eastern Europe [LCID: eur73960]

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German administration of Europe, 1944

German administration of Europe, 1944 [LCID: eur66010]

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Major Nazi camps in Europe, January 1944

Major Nazi camps in Europe, January 1944 [LCID: eur72160]

Throughout German-occupied Europe, the Germans arrested those who resisted their domination and those they judged to be racially inferior or politically unacceptable. People arrested for resisting German rule were mostly sent to forced-labor or concentration camps. The Germans deported Jews from all over occupied Europe to killing centers in occupied Poland, where they were systematically murdered. Transit camps such as Westerbork, Gurs, Mechelen, and Drancy in western Europe and internment camps like Bolzano and Fossoli di Carpi in Italy were used as collection centers for Jews, who were then deported by rail to the killing centers. According to SS reports, there were more than 700,000 prisoners registered in the concentration camps in January 1945.

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Major death marches and evacuations, 1944-1945

Major death marches and evacuations, 1944-1945 [LCID: gge72100]

In January 1945, the Third Reich stood on the verge of military defeat. As Allied forces approached Nazi camps, the SS organized death marches of concentration camp inmates, in part to keep large numbers of concentration camp prisoners from falling into Allied hands. The term "death march" was probably coined by concentration camp prisoners. It referred to forced marches of concentration camp prisoners over long distances under heavy guard and extremely harsh conditions. During death marches, SS guards brutally mistreated the prisoners and killed many. The largest death marches were launched from Auschwitz and Stutthof.

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Liberation of major Nazi camps, 1944-1945

Liberation of major Nazi camps, 1944-1945 [LCID: gge72080]

As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives on Germany, they began to encounter and liberate concentration camp prisoners, many of whom had survived death marches into the interior of Germany. Soviet forces were the first to approach a major Nazi camp, reaching the Majdanek camp near Lublin, Poland, in July 1944. Surprised by the rapid Soviet advance, the Germans attempted to demolish the camp in an effort to hide the evidence of mass murder. The Soviets also liberated major Nazi camps at Auschwitz, Stutthof, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbrück. US forces liberated the Buchenwald, Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenbürg, Dachau, and Mauthausen camps. British forces liberated camps in northern Germany, including Neuengamme and Bergen-Belsen.

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Major camps for Jewish displaced persons, 1945-1946

Major camps for Jewish displaced persons, 1945-1946 [LCID: ger78150]

Following World War II, several hundred thousand Jewish survivors remained in camps for displaced persons. The Allies established such camps in Allied-occupied Germany, Austria, and Italy for refugees waiting to leave Europe. Most Jewish DPs preferred to emigrate to Palestine but many also sought entry into the United States. They decided to remain in the DP camps until they could leave Europe. At the end of 1946 the number of Jewish DPs was estimated at 250,000, of whom 185,000 were in Germany, 45,000 in Austria, and 20,000 in Italy. Most of the Jewish DPs were refugees from Poland, many of whom had fled the Germans into the interior of the Soviet Union during the war. Other Jewish DPs came from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

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Last Edited: Oct 18, 2021

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