HOLOCAUST QUICK FACTS
- The Holocaust began in January 1933 when Hitler came to power and technically ended on May 8, 1945 (VE Day).
- Between 1933 and 1945, more than 11 million men, women, and children were murdered in the Holocaust. Approximately six million of these were Jews.
- Over 1.1 million children died during the Holocaust.
- Young children were particularly targeted by the Nazis to be murdered during the Holocaust. They posed a unique threat because if they lived, they would grow up to parent a new generation of Jews. Many children suffocated in the crowded cattle cars on the way to the camps. Those who survived were immediately taken to the gas chambers.
- An estimated 1/3 of all Jewish people alive at that time were murdered in the Holocaust.
- The majority of people who were deported to labor and death camps were transported in cattle wagons. These wagons did not have water, food, a toilet, or ventilation. Sometimes there were not enough cars for a major transport, so victims waited at a switching yard, often with standing room only, for several days. The longest transport of the war took 18 days. When the transport doors were open, everyone was already dead
what is the holocaust?
The holocaust was an attempt to get rid of the Jewish people.
Shortly after Adolf Hitler took over power in Germany in 1933 he began to do things to exclude German Jews from economic and social positions. In 1935 the Nazis passed laws which stripped Jews of their German citizenship and took away their livelihood. Life for Jews became increasingly worse until the onset of WWII in 1939, when the Germans began to take away their lives. From that point onwards the Germans began deporting Jews to overcrowded ghettos and concentration camps. Appalling conditions, disease, brutal treatment, exposure to the elements, forced starvation and labour killed thousands.
Shortly after Adolf Hitler took over power in Germany in 1933 he began to do things to exclude German Jews from economic and social positions. In 1935 the Nazis passed laws which stripped Jews of their German citizenship and took away their livelihood. Life for Jews became increasingly worse until the onset of WWII in 1939, when the Germans began to take away their lives. From that point onwards the Germans began deporting Jews to overcrowded ghettos and concentration camps. Appalling conditions, disease, brutal treatment, exposure to the elements, forced starvation and labour killed thousands.