The Holocaust

The Holocaust is the name applied to the systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of various ethnic, religious and political groups during World War II by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. Early elements of the Holocaust include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program, progressing to the later use of killing squads and extermination camps in a massive and centrally-organized effort to murder every possible member of the populations targeted by the Nazis.

Related Topics:
Persecution - Genocide - Ethnic - Religious - Political - World War II - Nazi Germany - Collaborators - Kristallnacht - Pogrom - T-4 Euthanasia Program - Killing squads - Extermination camps - Nazis

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The Jews of Europe were the main victims of the Holocaust in what the Nazis called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". The commonly used figure for the number of Jewish victims is six million, so much so that the phrase "six million" is now almost universally interpreted as referring to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, though mainstream estimates by historians of the exact number range from five million to over six million.

Related Topics:
Jew - Final Solution of the Jewish Question

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In addition to the Jews, the Roma and Sinti were targets of the Holocaust; about 220,000 Sinti and Roma died in the Holocaust (some estimates are as high as 800,000), between a quarter and a half of the European population. Other groups deemed "undesirable", especially Poles, Soviet prisoners of war including Russians and other Slavs, the mentally or physically disabled, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Communists and political dissidents, were also persecuted and murdered.

Related Topics:
Roma - Sinti - Poles - Soviet - Russians - Slavs - Disabled - Homosexuals - Jehovah's Witnesses - Communist - Dissident - Persecuted - Murder

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Taking all these other groups into account, the total death toll rises considerably. Estimates place the total number of Holocaust victims at up to 26 million people, although the number 9 to 11 million is usually held as more reliable.

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