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The Persecution Of European Jews During The Holocaust

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“The systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group.” That’s how The American Heritage Dictionary describes the murder of 6 million European Jews during the Holocaust. The Holocaust is the horrible true story of how one group’s hate turned into one of the darkest periods in world history.

The path leading up to the Holocaust began in 1918, after Germany’s loss in World War I. Following their loss in World War I, Germany’s people were humiliated and angry. They had been blamed for World War I occurring and had had to turn over their weapons, along with having to pay for all of the damage caused in the Great War; and they were thirsty for justice. Germany had also entered a economical depression …show more content…

Ghettos were set up to isolate the Jews from the rest of the population. At least 1,000 ghettos were built in Poland and the Soviet Union alone. These ghettos were “protected” by barbed wire fences and tall brick walls which kept the Jews in. Tens of thousands of western European Jews were deported to these ghettos. The first ghetto, Piotrków Trybunalski, was opened in October 1939. Jews living in the ghettos were ordered to wear badges or armbands of a yellow Star of David and many Jews were demanded that they do forced labor for the German Reich. Jewish councils called the Judenraete were designated by the Nazis to lead everyday life in the ghettos. The ghettos were overcrowded and suffered from disease and starvation, leading to the deaths of thousands of Jews, particularly orphaned children. Food, medicine, weapons, and intelligence were smuggled into the ghettos. The largest ghetto was the Warsaw ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, where more than 400,000 Jews were enclosed in just 1.3 square miles. In 1943, the Warsaw ghetto revolt occurred. In this revolt, Jews held out for almost four weeks even though they were surrounded by German soldiers and police, and weren’t armed very well. This revolt was one among many revolts that took place in ghettos. Jews that managed to escape from the ghettos many times joined the partisans, which were a …show more content…

News of the millions of people that had been slaughtered were the headlines on newspapers all over the world. Photos of the starved dead bodies of Holocaust victims were released for all to see. Trials were held by the Allied countries against Nazi Party officials for “crimes against humanity.” Many of the officers were executed, including some of Hitler’s right-hand men. Many Nazi soldiers were never caught and put on trial, and the search for those tied to doing such barbaric things still continues on today. However, the lead man in this terrible plan escaped. Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, had allegedly committed suicide on April 30, 1945. Germany had been left without a leader, having freshly lost World War II, with the atrocities of what their fascistic government had done exposed. The Germans themselves were speechless and ashamed when they found out the truth of what their Führer (Hitler’s title) and his government had done. Museums, books, and films have been made to help spread the word of the Holocaust. Monuments have been constructed so that we never forget the atrocities that these innocent human beings suffered. But sadly as the years go by, more and more people don’t know about the Holocaust. Even worse, many are pretending like it didn’t happen. But it did happen and eleven million people died because of it. Some victims of the Holocaust, like Anne Frank,

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