The Holocaust was a tragic mass systematic persecution and murder of six million European Jews by Nazi Germany under the rule of Adolf Hitler. It is one of the most horrific and notable events in history. To honor the lives lost and to teach each new generation of the atrocities, The United Nations General Assembly designated Jan. 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum defines the years of the Holocaust as 1933–1945.
According to the museum, the international holiday date was picked on the anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Auschwitz concentration camp was located on the outskirts of Oświęcim in German-occupied Poland and was established in 1940. Along with the original concentration camp, there was the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center and Auschwitz III or Monowitz concentration camp. According to the museum website, the estimated number of victims within this complex were 1,095,000 million Jews (960,000 died), about 150,000 Non-Jewish Poles (74,000 died), 23,000 Roma (21,000 died), 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war (all were reported dead) and 25,000 other nationalities (10,000 to 15,000 were estimated to have died).
“The Nazis targeted Jews because the Nazis were radically antisemitic,” states the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website. “This means that they were prejudiced against and hated Jews. In fact, antisemitism was a basic tenet of their ideology and at the foundation of their worldview.”
The word antisemitism was defined as prejudice against or hatred towards Jews. Trends following antisemitic individuals included attacking equal civil rights, constitutional democracy, free trade, socialism, finance capitalism and pacifism. For the Nazis, this belief stirred due to their false accusations that Jews were the root of Germany’s social, political and economic problems and due to the blame on Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I.
According to the museum, discrimination began with antisemitic laws including antisemitic propaganda, boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses, organized violence, physical displacement, internment into labor camps and concentration camps, forced labor, and more. These methods eventually led to the “final solution to the Jewish question.”
“The Nazi ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Question” was the deliberate and systematic mass murder of European Jews. It was the last stage of the Holocaust and took place from 1941 to 1945,” states the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website. “At the highest level, Adolf Hitler inspired, ordered, approved, and supported the genocide of Europe’s Jews. However, Hitler did not act alone. Other Nazi leaders included Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, and Adolf Eichmann.”
The vast majority of Jews were killed during the “final solution” and would have their lives taken in horrific ways. By the end of World War II, a total of six million Jews and millions of others were dead. Survivors were to return home or left to live in displaced persons camp until they were able to emigrate to new homes.
“While the Holocaust ended with the war, the legacy of terror and genocide did not,” states the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website. “In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the world has struggled to come to terms with the horrors of the genocide, to remember the victims, and to hold perpetrators responsible. These important efforts remain ongoing.”
Take a moment to honor the lives lost and the survivors who remain affected by this tragedy. To learn more about the Holocaust visit https://www.ushmm.org.