The Holocaust, sometimes called The Shoah (Hebrew השואה), was when Nazi Germany killed people in a planned and forced way during World War II. Six million Jews were killed, as well as millions of others that the Nazis said were bad (e.g., Gypsies, Homosexuals, Communists). [1] Many were rounded up, put in ghettos, forced to work in concentration camps and then killed in big gas chambers.
Deaths
The numbers below are not known entirely because many of those killed were never written down. The numbers given below are those most thinkers agree on.
- Jews (5.1–6 million killed), including:
- Polish Jews (3-3.5 million)
- Other Poles (1.8–1.9 million killed)
- Political enemies (1-1.5 million killed)
- Gypsies (200,000–800,000 killed),
- Disabled people (200,000–250,000 killed),
- Homosexuals (22,000–25,000 killed),
- Jehovah's Witnesses (950-2500 killed)
Led by Adolf Hitler, the Nazis lead an unprecedented mass slaying of millions of Jews. Jews were forced to wear the golden Star Of David on any highly noticeable part of their upper body. Jews were rounded up by the thousands and crammed into trains that took them to concentration camps as well as death camps. Most of the Jews killed in the Holocaust were not German; they were from Poland or the Soviet Union.
Millions of Jews were murdered by the usage of gas chambers (used to suffocate hundreds of people at a time in packed rooms) and ovens where Jews were burned alive. Others were sent to dig giant holes in the ground where, after days of hard work, they were shot, buried, and burned in a mass grave. Others were shot, beaten, or stabbed to death. Still others were trampled by other Jews in merciless marches from one camp to another.
Two million other civilians were killed with machine guns, torture, or were beaten until they died. Many Soviet prisoners of war and civilians were killed.
Holocaust denial
Some people say this did not happen at all, or they say that it is described wrongly. This is known as Holocaust denial. However, almost all historians agree that there is much evidence that the Holocaust happened.[2] In some countries in Europe, it is against the law to say that the Holocaust never happened.[3]
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