Holocaust

Holocaust THE HOLOCAUST The Holocaust was the destruction of European Jewry by the Nazis through an officially sanctioned, government-ordered, systematic plan of mass annihilation. As many as six million Jews died, almost two-thirds of the Jews of Europe. Although the Holocaust took place during World War II, the war was not the cause of the Holocaust. The war played a role in covering up the genocide of the Jewish people. In 19th century Europe, Jews were classified as an inferior race with specific physical and personality characteristics. Some thinkers believed these traits would disappear if Jews received political and social understanding and could blend into the broader society. Others felt that these traits were genetically passed on and could not be changed. An increasing emphasis on nationalism also highlighted the Jews as a "foreign element," which could contaminate the native stock and culture and potentially dominate the native population economically and politically. This long-standing history provided a reason for the Nazi ideology and program of genocide. Adolph Hitler, who was a charismatic Austrian, rose to power in Germany during the 1920s and early 1930s at a time of social, political, and economic rise. Failing to take power by force in 1923, holocaust, jews, camps, war, victims, gas, nazi, death, told, power, germany, chambers, thousands, sent, jewish, held, german, genocide, europe, camp, baths, world, work, under, trials, traits, trains, today, time, three, survivors, stripped, social, shipped, program