Holocaust Facts
The Holocaust is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the Nazi regime in Germany led by Adolf Hitler. It is one of most gruesome and dark times in the history of mankind. Today’s post will cover several facts about the Holocaust.
Fact #1 - The Holocaust began with Hitler’s rise to power in January of 1933 and ended on VE (Victory over Europe) Day May 8, 1945.
Before Jews were exterminated, Nazi Germany started by marking them with symbols. A “J” on their passport or a star on their sleeve. In 1939, Hitler said the war would be the “annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.”
Fact #2 - Statistics now show that two out of every three European Jews had died during the Holocaust by 1945.
Statistics show that there were approximately 9 million Jewish people in Europe before the war. 66% of them were killed. That is just an alarming number. Can you imagine sitting in a classroom or at your office and someone coming in the door and killing off 2 out of every 3 people for no reason? It’s impossible to know what they went through.
Fact #3 - While Jews were Nazi Germany’s primary target for this ‘ethnic cleansing’, gypsies, physically disabled people and Polish nationals also came under the purview of the Holocaust.
Approximate numbers show 500,000 Serbs, 2 million Polish, 500,000 Roma, and another 100,000 mentally ill were killed by Nazis during the Holocaust. And these are just a portion of the population that were targeted. Dozens of ethnic groups were devastated.
Fact #4 - Auschwitz was the largest of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps.
Some Nazis testified that up to 3 million people had died at Auschwitz, however the The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum has revised this figure to 1.1 million. I’ve seen programs on TV that show survivors revisiting Auschwitz and retelling their stories. It is horrific what they went through.
Fact #5 - Oskar Schindler was a Sudeten German industrialist credited with saving almost 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.
Schindler persuaded the Nazis to allow him to move Jews from concentration camps to work in his factories, thus saving them from certain death.
