<< Previous | Displaying results 201-250 of 372 for "victims" | Next >>
Antisemitism: hostility toward or hatred of Jews as a religious or ethnic group, often accompanied by social, economic, or political discrimination. Appellplatz: German word for roll call square where prisoners were forced to assemble. Aryan: Term used in Nazi Germany to refer to non-Jewish and non-Roma (Gypsy) Caucasians. Northern Europeans with especially "Nordic" features such as blonde hair and blue eyes were considered by so-called race scientists to be the most superior of Aryans, members of a…
A variety of non-Jewish groups and individuals resisted the Nazi regime, both in Germany and in German-occupied territory. Learn more.
Hitler's political opponents were the first victims of systematic Nazi persecution. They were incarcerated without trial and under conditions of great cruelty.
Explore a timeline of key events during 1944 in the history of Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust.
What is the difference between a “concentration camp” and a “killing center”? Learn about the history of these terms and what they meant in the context of Nazi oppression and murder.
Explore a timeline of key events in the history of the Sobibor killing center in the General Government, the German-administered territory of occupied Poland.
Klaus Barbie, chief of the Gestapo in Lyon, France, was nicknamed the "Butcher of Lyon" for his brutal actions towards Jews and members of the French Resistance.
October 15, 1941. On this date, Heinrich Himmler tasks SS Gen. Odilo Globocnik with implementing "Operation Reinhard."
Recommended resources, topics, context, rationale, and critical thinking questions if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust.
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…
German Einsatzgruppen operated in German-occupied territories in eastern Europe during World War II. This rare footage shows a unit during a massacre in Liepaja, Latvia. The film was taken, contrary to orders, by a German soldier. Before the war, the Jewish population of Liepaja stood at more than 7,000 residents. Einsatzgruppen shot almost the entire Jewish population of the town. When the Soviet army liberated the city in 1945, just 20 to 30 Jews remained. Einsatzgruppen carried out various security…
Clandestine photograph of a Polish political prisoner and medical experiment victim in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Prisoners in the Ravensbrück concentration camp took several clandestine photographs as evidence of the medical experiments conducted on them. The camp was the site of bone-grafting experiments and experiments to test newly developed sulfa drugs.Pictured here, Bogumila Jasuik was chosen as one of the 74 "rabbits" for medical experimentation. German doctors experimented…
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…
At the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in January 1942, the SS (the elite guard of the Nazi state) and representatives of German government ministries estimated that the "Final Solution," the Nazi plan to kill the Jews of Europe, would involve 11 million European Jews, including those from non-occupied countries such as Ireland, Sweden, Turkey, and Great Britain. Jews from Germany and German-occupied Europe were deported by rail to the killing centers in occupied Poland, where they were killed. The Germans…
The public hanging of three members of the Communist underground on Karl Marx Street in Minsk. One of the victims wears a large placard around his neck that reads "We are partisans and have shot at German soldiers."This execution was one of four carried out in Minsk on October 26, 1941, by German troops with the 707th Infantry Division. Altogether, 12 members of the Communist underground were publicly hanged in four groups of three near a yeast-making factory. This is believed to be the first public…
Photograph from a series taken by a guard in the Soviet prisoner-of-war camp of Belzen bei Bergen, and numbered in Roman numerals by the American officer, Lt. van Otten. The camp held approximately 10,000 POWs, most of whom came from Fallingbostel, 10 km away. When they fell ill, they were marched to Belsen. At Belsen, they were starved, often given only a soup made of field beets. This photo shows Soviet POWs assembled at the camp. Germany, 1941–45. Second only to the Jews, Soviet prisoners of war…
Auschwitz was the largest camp established by the Germans. It was a complex of camps, including a concentration, extermination, and forced-labor camp. It was located at the town of Oswiecim near the prewar German-Polish border in Eastern Upper Silesia, an area annexed to Germany in 1939. Auschwitz I was the main camp and the first camp established at Oswiecim. Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was the killing center at Auschwitz. Trains arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau almost daily with transports of Jews from…
Difficult debates took place within ghettos about whether and how to resist under the most adverse conditions. Read a rare account from the Lokacze ghetto.
The European rail network played a crucial role in the implementation of the Final Solution. Millions were deported by rail to killing centers and other sites.
During the Holocaust, some children went into hiding to escape Nazi persecution. They faced constant fear, dilemmas, and danger.
At the beginning of WWII, people with mental or physical disabilities were targeted for murder in what the Nazis called the T-4, or "euthanasia," program.
Jews have lived across Europe for centuries. Learn more about European Jewish life and culture before the Holocaust.
The Wannsee Conference was a high-level meeting of Nazi Party and German State officials to coordinate “the Final Solution of the Jewish Question.” Learn more.
Adolf Hitler's Nazi aimed to purify the genetic makeup of the German population through measures known as racial hygiene or eugenics.
Before the Nazi rise to power, the countries of Europe had varied and vibrant Jewish communities. By 1945, two out of every three European Jews had been killed.
By the process of "Aryanization" in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, Jewish-owned businesses and property were transferred to non-Jews. Learn more.
January 22, 1944. On this date, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9417 creating the War Refugee Board.
March 22, 1933. On this date, the SS established the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.
The Armenian genocide (1915–1916) is sometimes called the first genocide of the twentieth century.
The 82nd Airborne Division participated in major WWII campaigns and is recognized for liberating the Wöbbelin subcamp of Neuengamme in 1945.
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.
In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed as many as 8,000 Bosniaks from Srebrenica. It was the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust.
View an animated map showing key events in the history of World War II and the Holocaust.
Jews were the primary targets for mass murder by the Nazis and their collaborators. Nazi policies also led to the brutalization and persecution of millions of others.
Judge Thomas Buergenthal was one of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 17. Judge Buergenthal devoted his life to international and human rights law. He served as chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience; was named the Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University Law School; and served for a decade as the American judge at…
The Nazis occupied Zdziecioł (Zhetel), Poland in 1941. Learn more about the city and ghetto during World War II.
Learn about some of the origins of Holocaust denial, including the euphemistic language the Nazis used to describe their policies and actions.
In 1940, the Nazis established Lublin (Majdanek) concentration camp in Lublin, Poland. Learn more about camp conditions.
The Order Police (Ordnungspolizei, Orpo) were Nazi Germany’s uniformed police forces. They became perpetrators of horrific crimes and played a significant role in the Holocaust.
Rachel, born Rachel Karpus, was born to a Jewish family in the northeastern Polish city of Vilna. At the age of 16, Rachel married Reuven Galperin, a typesetter for a Jewish newspaper in the city, and the couple subsequently had 16 children. Only nine of the children lived to the 1930s. 1933-39: In addition to caring for her children, Rachel also operated a small grocery on Nowigorod Street. In 1938 Rachel's husband died. One year later, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and 17 days after that…
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.
Young people's diaries capture some of the most heartbreaking experiences of the Holocaust. Learn about the diary and experiences of David Sierakowiak.
After the trial of major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, the United States held a series of other war crimes trials at Nuremberg during the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings.The ninth trial of these proceedings, before an American military tribunal, focused on members of the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) who had been assigned to kill Jews and other people behind the eastern front. This footage shows US Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, chief prosecutor for…
Theresia Seibel, born in 1921, was a member of the Sinti froup (Sinti and Roma are two main groups that make up the Romani, or Gypsy, ethnic minority). Theresia joined Germany’s Wuerzburg Stadttheater at age 16, performing as a singer and dancer. In 1941, she defied Gestapo orders to be sterilized and was three months pregnant with twins by the time she was called in for the procedure. She was allowed to continue the pregnancy on the condition that the babies would be given at birth to the clinic…
The SS was the elite guard of the Nazi regime and became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany. Learn about its role in carrying out Nazi policies.
Anne Frank is among the most well-known of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust. Discover who Anne Frank was and what happened to her.
The liberation of concentration camps toward the end of the Holocaust revealed unspeakable conditions. Learn about liberators and what they confronted.
Resistance comes in many forms, both violent and non-violent, collective and individual. Learn more about Jewish resistance to Nazi oppression.
In April 1945, US troops encountered a barn on the outskirts of Gardelegen where the SS and its accomplices had massacred over 1,000 concentration camp prisoners.
During the Holocaust, Jews were forced into ghettos with terrible living conditions, overcrowding, and starvation. Learn more about life in the Lodz ghetto.
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.