The Holocaust occurred in the broader context of World War II. World War II was the largest and most destructive conflict in history. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime envisioned a vast, new empire of "living space" (Lebensraum) for Germans in eastern Europe by the removal of existing populations. The Nazi goal to strengthen the German “master race” resulted in the persecution and murder of Jews and many others.
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![Map titled "Jewish Executions Carried Out by Einsatzgruppen A" [LCID: 200509wu]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/4912b059-5630-4ec5-b3c8-172fe908f148.jpg)
![Illustration from an antisemitic children's primer. [LCID: 10640c]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/4c6348d1-d3e6-4be3-aae5-b12761f4f20a.jpg)
![At a rally, members of the Hitler Youth parade in the formation of a swastika to honor the Unknown Soldier. [LCID: 85513]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/cdadf487-50d7-4b0c-a912-ce6d9001f52a.jpg)
![Women survivors huddled in a prisoner barracks shortly after Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz camp. [LCID: 31450b]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/8fdec1b8-47fa-40f1-9a27-06e7262bad5e.jpg)
