Article
Browse an alphabetical list of articles about the Holocaust and World War II. Learn more about topics such as the Nazi rise to power, how and why the Holocaust happened, life in Nazi camps and ghettos, and the postwar trials.
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Paragraph 175 and the Nazi Campaign against Homosexuality
ArticleParagraph 175 was a German statute that criminalized sexual relations between men. The Nazis revised Paragraph 175 in 1935 to make it broader and harsher.
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Paris
ArticleWhen the Germans invaded France in May 1940, about 175,000 Jews resided or had found refuge in Paris. Many initially left the city, only to return after the armistice was signed in June and Paris became the seat of the German military administration. The majority of Parisian Jews lived in the 4th, 11th, 18th, and 20th districts. By late September 1940, a German census registered 150,000 Jews in Paris, including 64,000 foreigners. The persecution of Jews in Paris began in October 1941, when the Nazis…
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Partisan Groups in the Parczew Forests
ArticleA Project of the Miles Lerman Center An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Jews fought in partisan groups based in the forests of eastern Europe. In Poland, Jews were generally excluded from partisan groups because of antisemitic and anti-Communist attitudes. While Soviet partisan units were sometimes receptive to Jewish fighters, the formation of a stronger Soviet and Polish resistance in 1943 was too late for the vast majority of Jews in eastern Europe killed in mass shootings and gassings. The Jewish…
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Paul Klee
ArticlePaul Klee was a German-Swiss painter and graphic artist who taught at the Bauhaus. His art was targeted in the Nazi book burnings and “Degenerate Art” exhibition.
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Paul von Hindenburg
ArticleField Marshal Paul von Hindenburg was a German general who gained ren...
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Pearl Harbor
ArticleJapan’s aerial attack on Pearl Harbor changed many Americans' attitudes toward involvement in WWII. Learn more about the events, facts, and background info.
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Perpetrators
ArticleThe SS, a Nazi paramilitary led by Heinrich Himmler, played the central role in carrying out the “Final Solution,” the plan to murder the Jews of Europe. But, the SS did not work alone. They relied upon other German institutions and professionals.
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Gay Men under the Nazi Regime
ArticleThe Nazi regime carried out a campaign against male homosexuality and persecuted gay men between 1933 and 1945.
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Persecution of Roma (Gypsies) in Prewar Germany, 1933–1939
ArticleBeginning in 1933, the Nazis persecuted Roma (often pejoratively called “Gypsies”) based on underlying prejudices and racism. Learn how this harassment escalated to genocide.
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Personal Stories: Jewish Partisans
ArticleBrowse a series of short biographies from the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation.
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Peter Bergson
ArticleZionist and activist Peter H. Bergson advocated in the United States for the establishment of...
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Plaszow
ArticleThe Plaszow camp was established in 1942 under the authority of the SS and police leaders in Krakow (Cracow). It was initially a forced-labor camp for Jews. The original site of the camp included two Jewish cemeteries. From time to time the SS enlarged the camp. It reached its maximum size in 1944, the same year that it became a concentration camp. Until that time, most of the camp guards were Ukrainian police auxiliaries chosen from among Soviet soldiers in German prisoner-of-war camps and trained at the…
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Plight of Jewish Children
ArticleDuring the Holocaust, some children went into hiding to escape Nazi persecution. They faced constant fear, dilemmas, and danger.
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Pogroms
ArticleBackground Pogroms Pogrom is a Russian word meaning “to wreak havoc, to demolish violently.” Historically, the term refers to violent attacks by local non-Jewish populations on Jews in the Russian Empire and in other countries. The first such incident to be labeled a pogrom is believed to be anti-Jewish rioting in Odessa in 1821. As a descriptive term, “pogrom” came into common usage with extensive anti-Jewish riots that swept the southern and western provinces of the Russian Empire in…
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Poking Pine City Displaced Persons Camp
ArticleAfter WWII, many Holocaust survivors, unable to return to their homes, lived in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy. Read about Poking Pine City DP camp.
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Poland in 1945
ArticleContinental Europe emerged from German domination in 1945 both shattered and transformed. Learn about the changes in Poland’s boundaries following WWII.
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The Police in the Weimar Republic
ArticleAmong the most important duties of the police in any society are the maintenance of public ord...
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Polish Jewish Refugees in Lithuania, 1939–40
ArticleBackground The outbreak of war in Poland in September 1939 trapped nearly three and a half million Jews in German- and Soviet-occupied territories. In late 1940 and early 1941, just months before the Germans began to kill Jews on a mass scale, one group of about 2,100 Polish Jews found a safe haven. Few of these refugees could have reached safety without the tireless efforts of many individuals. Several Jewish organizations and Jewish communities along the way provided funds and other help. But the most…
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Polish Jewish Refugees in Lithuania: Unexpected Rescue, 1940–41
ArticleThe outbreak of war in Poland in September 1939 trapped nearly three and a half million Jews in German- and Soviet-occupied territories. In late 1940 and early 1941, just months before the Germans began to implement the mass killings of Jews, one group of about 2,100 Polish Jews found a safe haven. Few of these refugees could have reached safety without the tireless efforts of many individuals. Several Jewish organizations and Jewish communities along the way provided funds and other help. The most…
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Polish Jewish Refugees in the Shanghai Ghetto, 1941–1945
ArticleBackground The outbreak of war in Poland in September 1939 trapped nearly three and a half million Jews in German- and Soviet-occupied territories. In late 1940 and early 1941, just months before the Germans began to systematically kill Jews in large numbers, one group of about 2,100 Polish Jews found a safe haven. Few of these refugees could have reached safety without the tireless efforts of many individuals. Several Jewish organizations and Jewish communities along the way provided funds and other…
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Polish Jews in Lithuania: Escape to Japan
ArticleBackground The German attack on Poland in September 1939 trapped nearly 3.5 million Jews in German- and Soviet-occupied territories. In late 1940 and early 1941, just months before the Germans initiated the mass murder of Jews in the Soviet Union, some 2,100 Polish Jews found temporary safe haven in Lithuania. Few of these refugees could have reached permanent safety without the tireless efforts of many individuals. Several Jewish organizations and Jewish communities along the way provided funds and…
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Polish Refugees in Iran during World War II
ArticleBackground On September 1, 1939, German forces invaded Poland and defeated the Polish Army within weeks. Most of the westernmost Polish territory was annexed directly to the Reich; the remainder of the areas conceded to Germany by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Germany became the so-called General Government (Generalgouvernement), administered by the German occupiers. In accordance with the Pact’s secret protocols, the Soviet Union annexed most of eastern Poland after…
