Lithuania

As part of the Holocaust, the Germans murdered about 90% of Jews in Lithuania. Read more about the tragic experience of Lithuanian Jews during World War II.

Estonia

Between 1940 and 1944, Estonia was occupied by the Soviets and then by the Germans. These occupations had a dramatic impact on Jews in Estonia. Learn more.

Roma (Gypsies) in Prewar Europe

For centuries, Roma (labeled “Gypsies”) were scorned across Europe. Read more about Romani peoples, including the Sinti, and their lives in Europe.

Fred Deutsch describes some of the risks involved in hiding

Fred was born in Czechoslovakia in a town near the Polish border. Fred and his family were forced by the Germans to relocate east to a town bordering Slovakia. At the end of 1942, they escaped from the town and went into hiding. The family hid in bunkers in the forest until the end of the war. They moved every few weeks to avoid detection by the Germans or Slovak authorities. While the family was in hiding, Fred's grandfather made arrangements for Fred to attend school under an assumed name and religion. A…

Latvia

Between 1940 and 1944, Latvia was occupied by the Soviets and then by the Germans. These occupations had grave consequences for Jews in Latvia. Learn more.

President Obama's Remarks at Buchenwald

President Barack Obama visited Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany on June 5, 2009. In a speech at the site, he repudiated Holocaust denial. Browse transcript.

Trawniki

From July 1941-May 1944, the SS camp at Trawniki had several purposes. It is best known as the training site for auxiliary police guards used in Nazi killing centers. Learn more.

Kurt Gerstein

German SS officer Kurt Gerstein was assigned to the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS. He was called upon to assist in the implementation of the "Final Solution." Gerstein witnessed atrocities at the Belzec and Treblinka killing centers. He tried to inform foreign diplomats, Vatican officials, and members of the political resistance within Germany about Nazi German atrocities. While in Allied custody after the war, Gerstein wrote a report documenting the atrocities he had witnessed. 

Science as Salvation: Weimar Eugenics, 1919–1933

Eugenics was a scientific movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Supporters of eugenics claimed that it offered biological solutions to social problems.

Commissar Order

The Commissar Order was issued by the German Armed Forces High Command on June 6, 1941. It ordered soldiers to shoot Soviet Communist Party officials taken prisoner.

Pearl Harbor

Japan's aerial attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, changed many Americans' attitudes toward involvement in WWII. The US immediately declared war on Japan.

Jan Karski

An underground courier for the Polish government-in-exile, Jan Karski was one of the first to deliver eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to Allied leaders.

Vicki Baum

Vicki Baum was a bestselling author who embraced the ideals of liberation for women. Her works were burned during the Nazi book burnings of 1933. Learn more.

How and why did ordinary people across Europe contribute to the persecution of their Jewish neighbors?

Many Europeans witnessed acts of persecution, including violence against Jews and, later, deportations. While few were aware of the full extent of the Nazi "Final Solution," this history poses difficult and fundamental questions about human behavi...

How did different goals and political systems shape racism in Nazi Germany and the United States?

This discussion question focuses on the history of racial antisemitism in Germany and its relationship to racism in the United States.

How did the United States government and American people respond to Nazism?

Consideration of American responses to Nazism during the 1930s and 1940s raises questions about the responsibility to intervene in response to persecution or genocide in another country.

How did the Nazis and their collaborators implement the Holocaust?

When Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler became German chancellor on January 30, 1933, no step-by-step blueprint for the genocide of Jews as a “race” existed. After the outbreak of World War II, millions of Jews came und...

What conditions, ideologies, and ideas made the Holocaust possible?

The leaders of Nazi Germany, a modern, educated society, aimed to destroy millions of men, women, and children because of their Jewish identity. Understanding this process may help us to better understand the condit...

How did postwar trials shape approaches to international justice?

The aftermath of the Holocaust raised questions about the search for justice in the wake of mass atrocity and genocide. The World War II Allied powers provided a major, highly public model for establishing internati...

How did the shared foundational element of eugenics contribute to the growth of racism in Europe and the United States?

Learn more about the shared foundational element of eugenics on the history of racial antisemitism in Germany and racism in the United States

How did leaders, diplomats, and citizens around the world respond to the events of the Holocaust?

Explore this question to learn about the responses of leaders and citizens

What does war make possible?

Persecution of Jews and other targeted groups was already government policy in Germany once the Nazis were in power in 1933. But following the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, war provided the opportunity and motivation for more ext...

How did German professionals and civil leaders contribute to the persecution of Jews and other groups?

How involved in the Holocaust were German professionals and civil leaders? What were some of the motivations and pressures that led to a wide range of behavior? What indeed was the range of behavior, from complying to perpetrating?Explore t...

What were some similarities between racism in Nazi Germany and in the United States, 1920s-1940s?

Learn about some aspects that are similar and some that are different in the history of racial antisemitism in Germany and racism in the United States.

Jewish Aid and Rescue

Jewish groups worldwide helped rescue thousands during the Holocaust. Read more about efforts to save Jews from Nazi persecution and death.

What have we learned about the risk factors and warning signs of genocide?

The study of the Holocaust raises questions about how the world can recognize and respond to indications that a country is at risk for genocide or mass atrocity. While each genocide is unique, in most places where genocide occurs, there are common...

Which organizations and individuals aided and protected Jews from persecution between 1933 and 1945?

Explore this question to learn about the motivations and challenges of those who aided Jews

Norway

Germany invaded Norway on April 9, 1940. Read more about this invasion, the collaborator Vidkun Quisling, and the tragic fate of Norway’s Jews.

Documentation on the Persecution of Roma (Gypsies)

Roma (Gypsies) were persecuted in Europe before and during World War II. This history is well documented in archives throughout Europe and the United States. Learn more.

Nazi Racism: An Overview

Learn more about Nazi racism and racial antisemitism. These prejudices were at the core of Nazi ideology, policies, and practices. They led to murder on a mass scale.

Gassing Operations

The Nazis used poisonous gas to murder millions of people in gas vans or stationary gas chambers. The vast majority of those killed by gassing were Jews.

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was created at a 44-nation conference at the White House on November 9, 1943. Its mission was to provide economic assistance to European nations after World War II and to repatriate and assist the refugees who would come under Allied control. The US government funded close to half of UNRRA's budget. The organization was subject to the authority of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) in Europe and was…

UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide

January 12, 1951. On this date, the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide entered into force.

UN Security Council Creates ICTY

May 25, 1993. On this date, the United Nations Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ITCY).

US Ratifies Genocide Convention

November 5, 1988. On this date, the US ratified the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

Judge Thomas Buergenthal and members of the United Nations Human Rights Committee

Judge Thomas Buergenthal (top row, fifth from left) and other members of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. 1995.

Rwanda: The First Conviction for Genocide

The first conviction for the crime of genocide came after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when Jean-Paul Akayesu was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Benjamin (Beryl) Ferencz describes collecting evidence

Ben was born in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in Romania. When he was an infant, his family moved to the United States. Ben attended Harvard University, where he studied criminal law. Ben graduated from Harvard University Law School in 1943. He joined a US anti-aircraft artillery battalion that was training in preparation for an Allied invasion of western Europe. At the end of World War II in Europe, Ben was transferred to the war crimes investigation branch of the US Army. He…

Benjamin (Beryl) Ferencz describes collecting evidence against alleged war criminals

Ben was born in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in Romania. When he was an infant, his family moved to the United States. Ben attended Harvard University, where he studied criminal law. Ben graduated from Harvard University Law School in 1943. He joined a US anti-aircraft artillery battalion that was training in preparation for an Allied invasion of western Europe. At the end of World War II in Europe, Ben was transferred to the war crimes investigation branch of the US Army. He…

Benjamin (Beryl) Ferencz describes collecting evidence of death marches

Ben was born in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in Romania. When he was an infant, his family moved to the United States. Ben attended Harvard University, where he studied criminal law. Ben graduated from Harvard University Law School in 1943. He joined a US anti-aircraft artillery battalion that was training in preparation for an Allied invasion of western Europe. At the end of World War II in Europe, Ben was transferred to the war crimes investigation branch of the US Army. He…

First Conviction for Genocide

September 2, 1998. On this date, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda found Jean-Paul Akayesu guily of genocide and crimes against humanity.

ICT for Rwanda Established

November 8, 1994. On this date, the United Nations established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ITCR) in Arusha, Tanzania.

International Criminal Court

July 17, 1998. On this date, the Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court, a permanent judicial body to try genocide and war crimes.

The UN Diplomatic Conference on the establishment of an International Criminal Court

The United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court opened a five week session on June 15, 1998, in Rome, Italy.

Combating Holocaust Denial: Evidence of the Holocaust presented at Nuremberg

At the Nuremberg trials, Allied prosecutors submitted documentation left by the Nazi state itself. This evidence is a lasting refutation of attempts to deny the Holocaust.

Benjamin (Beryl) Ferencz describes evidence collected at the Mauthausen camp

Ben was born in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in Romania. When he was an infant, his family moved to the United States. Ben attended Harvard University, where he studied criminal law. Ben graduated from Harvard University Law School in 1943. He joined a US anti-aircraft artillery battalion that was training in preparation for an Allied invasion of western Europe. At the end of World War II in Europe, Ben was transferred to the war crimes investigation branch of the US Army. He…

Benjamin (Beryl) Ferencz describes taking testimony from witnesses while collecting evidence of war crimes

Ben was born in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in Romania. When he was an infant, his family moved to the United States. Ben attended Harvard University, where he studied criminal law. Ben graduated from Harvard University Law School in 1943. He joined a US anti-aircraft artillery battalion that was training in preparation for an Allied invasion of western Europe. At the end of World War II in Europe, Ben was transferred to the war crimes investigation branch of the US Army. He…

Drexel Sprecher describes German documentation that could be used as evidence

Drexel Sprecher was educated at the University of Wisconsin, the London School of Economics, and at the Harvard School of Law before receiving a position at the US Government's Labor Board in 1938. He enlisted in the American military after the United States declared war on Germany, and was posted to London. After the war, Sprecher served as a prosecutor of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials.

Chief Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz presents evidence during the Einsatzgruppen Trial

Chief Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz presents evidence during the Einsatzgruppen Trial, Case #9 of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings. Ferencz is flanked by German defense lawyers Dr. Friedrich Bergold (right, counsel for Ernst Biberstein) and Dr. Rudolf Aschenauer (left, counsel for Otto Ohlendorf), who are protesting the introduction of certain documents as evidence.

Combating Holocaust Denial: Evidence of the Holocaust presented at Nuremberg - Historical Film Footage