The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of about six million Jews by Nazi Germany, its allies and collaborators. Study escalating persecution, different routes to mass murder, surviving evidence, resistance and rescue. Other groups also suffered Nazi persecution and murder.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe how Nazi anti-Jewish persecution escalated into wartime mass murder, without assuming that every victim followed the same route
- Say roughly how many Jewish people were murdered and name other groups that were targeted
- Name a kind of evidence historians work from, such as survivor testimony, camp records, or the perpetrators' own paperwork
- Give one example of resistance or of rescue
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The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of about six million Jews by Nazi Germany, its allies and collaborators. It was genocide: an attempt to destroy the Jewish people. Antisemitism means prejudice or hatred directed at Jews. Nazi racial claims were false. Jewish people were targeted because the regime classified them as Jewish, not because of any wrongdoing.
The Nazis took power in Germany in 1933. Propaganda, boycotts and laws excluded Jews from public life. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 removed Jews' citizenship rights. After war began in Europe in 1939, Nazi occupation placed millions more Jews under their control. Many were forced into ghettos, confined areas of towns and cities. Escalation varied by place; not every victim followed the same route.
Jews were murdered in mass shootings, especially in occupied eastern Europe, and in killing centres reached through deportation. Starvation, forced labour and camp conditions also killed many. Not every victim passed through a ghetto or killing centre. Nazi Germany also persecuted and murdered Roma and disabled people, and persecuted political opponents. Different groups did not all face identical policies.
Evidence includes survivor testimony, diaries, photographs, official documents and surviving sites. The Nazis destroyed many records, but extensive evidence remains. Historians check who made each source, when, why and what it can show. They compare relevant details and investigate differences. Agreement can support a conclusion. A survivor's account does not need a matching official record to count as evidence.
Resistance included armed ghetto uprisings, partisan fighting, secret record keeping and efforts to sustain community life. Rescue included hiding Jews or helping them escape, often at risk of severe punishment or death. Some people resisted or helped, but threats, resources and opportunities differed. Victims faced force, deception and extreme danger. Responsibility for the crimes lies with those who committed and helped carry them out.
Public laws, exclusion and violence showed escalating persecution. They were warning signs, not an exact timetable of later crimes. Recognising danger did not mean knowing every later decision or having the ability to stop it. When judging actions, examine a person's role, knowledge and circumstances. Do not assume that everyone faced the same choices.
Wartime conquest put more Jews under Nazi control, expanding the reach of persecution and mass murder. Some Jews were murdered in shootings near their homes without deportation to a killing centre. Others were deported, and forced labour and starvation also killed people. These were different routes. Evidence of one different route challenges a claim that every victim passed through the same stages.
Nazi persecution escalated into the murder of about six million Jews. Extensive evidence survives. Resistance and rescue occurred under dangerous and unequal conditions.
Original lesson, questions, diagrams and flashcards written for this learning dataset.
Original readings and flashcards written for this learning dataset. Video links: The Holocaust, from Khan Academy, and The movement that inspired the Holocaust - Alexandra Minna Stern and Natalie Lira, from TED-Ed. Rights to the videos remain with their creators.
More to read
A chronology is not one route for every victim
The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of about six million Jews by Nazi Germany, its allies and collaborators. Antisemitic policies targeted people classified as Jewish. The victims were not responsible for the prejudice or crimes directed against them.
Persecution began before the Second World War. Nazi rule began in Germany in 1933. Propaganda, boycotts and laws excluded Jews from public life. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 removed citizenship rights. Wartime occupation then brought millions more Jews under Nazi control.
A chronology helps explain escalation, but it can hide differences if we turn it into one route for everyone. Many Jews were confined in ghettos. Many were murdered in shootings, including near their homes. Others were deported to killing centres. Starvation, forced labour and camp conditions also caused deaths. Passing through every one of these settings was not necessary for a person to become a victim.
Nazi crimes also targeted other groups. Roma and disabled people suffered persecution and murder, and political opponents were persecuted. The policies and experiences differed. The estimate of six million refers to Jewish victims, not a combined total for every group.
Recognising danger without assuming the outcome
When studying persecution, separate what was visible at the time from what became known later. Public exclusion, attacks and the removal of rights showed danger to Jews under Nazi rule. These actions were warning signs. They were not an exact timetable telling every observer what would happen next.
Persecution can also be supported by ideas falsely presented as science. Eugenics claimed that controlling reproduction could improve a population by favouring supposedly desirable inherited traits. Such claims were used to justify coercion and discrimination. Nazi policies used false ideas about inherited human worth to persecute disabled people and other groups. Calling an idea scientific did not make it true.
Recognising a danger and being able to stop it are different matters. Force, fear and restrictions could limit action. Resources and opportunities were unequal. Those limits do not excuse perpetrators or make victims responsible for the crimes.
Historical explanations of genocide and failed prevention need evidence about particular decisions and circumstances. A single rule about government, neighbours or international action cannot explain every case. Investigate who acted, what they knew and how their actions affected others.
Investigating actions and responsibility
People acted in different ways during the Holocaust. Some organised or carried out crimes, and others helped persecution and murder. Rescue included hiding Jews and helping them escape. Resistance included armed uprisings, partisan fighting, secret record keeping and efforts to sustain community life.
These descriptions identify actions to investigate, not equal choices available to everyone. Ask about a person's role, knowledge, resources and threats. Evidence that one person provided shelter does not establish that everyone else could do the same. Victims were not responsible for the crimes committed against them.
Sources also have different limits. A transport order records an instruction; it may not describe everything that later happened. A diary can record one person's experience without speaking for every passenger. Photographs show a particular view, and surviving sites preserve physical evidence.
Historians examine each source before comparing relevant details. Agreement may support a conclusion. Differences need investigation rather than automatic rejection of one source. A personal account remains evidence even when no matching official record survives, and an official document is not automatically complete.
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