The Holocaust
The word holocaust is derived from the Ancient Greek which means to slaughter/ sacrifice on a massive scale, especially by fire. However since 1945 it has a different definition; the mass murder of Jews and other racial minorities under the German Nazi regime. During the period of 1933- 1945 6 million Jews were killed, and about 5 million other racial minorities including Gypsies and Slavic people, as well as political minorities including Communists, Socialist and homosexuals.
The holocaust was systematic and consisted of a plan called: “The Final Solution”, which was a detailed plan to exterminate all the Jews in Europe. The “Final solution” was implemented in stages. After the Nazi rise to power, Nazi forced racism, boycotts of Jewish prisoners and anti Jewish laws created a separation between the Jews and the “Ariyan” majority of Germany.
The Nazis built ghettos to house the Jews until they were ready to begin with the killing. They deported Jewish people to this ghettos under the false information that they were in temporary living areas and we 're going to be resettled somewhere else. Conditions in the ghettos was horrendous, overcrowding was part of life and typically three families had to share one apartment that
…show more content…
So after the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, Nazis began deporting the Jewish people to extermination camps designed for the sole purpose of killing. In the camps the Jewish people were put into a gas chamber designed as a shower. Then the Nazis dropped Zyklon B gas and within 15 minutes all the people inside were killed. The bodies were then burned in massive crematoriums that in the largest camp ( Auschwitz-Birkenau) could burn up to 8000 people a