What Is The Holocaust?
- Regarded as the most horrific incident in human history, Holocaust occurred in 1941 – 1945 during World War 1 when Hitler was the leader of Germany.
- More than 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis at the command of Adolf Hitler.
- Millions of other people that Hitler didn’t like were killed along with the Jews including the Polish people, Catholics, Serbs, and even handicapped people.
- It is believed that more than 17 million innocent people were killed by the Nazis. Anyone who dared to speak out against them was killed by the Nazis which even included homosexuals, and mentally and physically disabled people.
- Hitler hated the Jews and he blamed the Jews to be the true reason why they lost the world war. He believed in the superiority of the German race and wanted to use Darwinism and breeding to create a race of perfect people.
What Are Antisemitism and Holocaust Facts For Kids?
- As soon as he got power in 1933, being the head of the Nazi party, Hitler ordered acts of antisemitism and started his work against the Jews. in 1935, Jews lost their German citizenship and had no rights in the country.
- On November 9, 1938, all the Synagogues were burned all over the country. Hitler organized attacks against Jewish businesses and homes and made sure that they were totally burned down.
- The Nazis arrested thousands of Jews and sent them to concentration camps when the Jews were told that they were being transferred to a better place.
- Jews could no more attend schools or own businesses during World War II. In many areas, the Nazis made all Jews wear badges so they would not blend in with non-Jews. In some cities, the Nazis forced Jews to live in overcrowded areas called ghettos.
Why Did The Holocaust Happen?
- After Germany’s defeat in the first world war, the economy of the country saw a quick downfall, and poverty spread across the country. The unemployment rate was increasing at an alarming rate across the country.
- The Germans of the country believed that they lost the Great War due to the betrayal of the communists and Jews present in Germany.
- Nazi was a political party known for its racism and belief in the superiority of the white Aryan race and the other being inferior.
- This led to the rise of feelings of superiority amongst the Germans and discrimination against the minorities of Europe like the Jews, Africans, Poles, Slavs, disabled people, gay people, communists, and other political dissidents.
- The increase in the support of antisemitism contributed to the holocaust since it involved the idea of Jews being an inferior race and the destruction of other minorities.
- Hitler had gained huge political success during that time which is believed to be one of the primary reasons for the holocaust. He fostered the idea of antisemitism, anticommunism, nationalism, and racism.
How Was The Holocaust Conducted?
- After Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, he tried to impose the Nazi ideology on the everyday life of the Germans to increase the discrimination against Jews and other minorities.
- As soon as Hitler was appointed as chancellor, he started taking action against anyone who didn’t support his ideologies and got them arrested. He wanted to spread fear among the people and propagated hate against the Jews through several means.
- At first, he issued policies against the Jews which banished them from entering schools and certain professions including businesses. The Nuremberg laws stripped the citizenship of all Jewish people in the Nazi state and declared them enemies of the German people.
- Buildings, houses, and shops belonging to the Jews were burned down as per Hitler’s orders and the event was called Kristallnacht, or the night of the broken glass.
- More than 1000 synagogues were destroyed, 7500 shops were looted, 91 Jews were killed and 30,000 of them were arrested.
- After the invasion of Poland and the start of the Second World War, the Nazi state began setting up ghettos to imprison the Jews and other enemies or minorities of the country.
- The Jews and other enemies or minorities of the state were transported in sealed freight trains to various locations in Europe to be worked or beaten to death.
- During the years 1941 and 1942, the Nazis systematically conducted mass shootings and pogroms resulting in the extermination of more than 1.3 million Jews.
What Are Some Important Holocaust Facts For Kids?
- Before the ‘final solution’ was agreed upon, some other solutions were pitched for the Jewish question including the Madagascar plan which involved deporting the Jewish population in the Nazi-occupied regions to the land of Madagascar.
- The other plan included the general plan OST which involved resettling the Jewish population economically and demographically.
- The ghettos that were built to confine all the Jews within barbed wire and guards were dirty, unhygienic, and did not appropriate amount of food to sustain the population. It was very crowded having multiple families share one room.
- There were many Jewish people who had to hide from the Nazis during World War II and also from the non-Jewish families. Sometimes they would pretend to be a part of the family and sometimes they would hide in hidden rooms or in a basement or attic.
- Even though some were able to eventually escape across the border into a free country but there were still tons of people who had to remain hidden in a single room for years.
- The Jewish people were brought into concentration camps after they were told that they were being relocated to a better place. Concentration camps were like prison camps were forced to do hard labor. The weak were quickly killed or died of starvation.
- Some camps even had gas chambers. People were forced to enter the camps where they would later end up dead due to poison gas.
- One of the most terrific holocaust facts for kids is that Shooting the prisoners was considered to be psychologically difficult for the soldier and hence they invented vans that would suffocate prisoners with poisonous gases. This would also not hamper the soldier’s mental stability.
- When the Jews arrived at the camps, they were ordered to strip naked and go into the airtight chambers for a shower.
- Once the people were locked in, Carbon-monoxide or Zyklon B gas was emitted inside the room so that all people would suffocate due to the poisonous gas and die. Then the bodies would be removed and sent to the crematoria to destroy any evidence of mass murder.
