The Holocaust

Holocaust

The systematic, government-endorsed persecution and murder of Jews during World War II, led by Adolf Hitler.

Antisemitism

Hostility, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews.

Eugenics

A movement aimed at improving the human population through controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.

Mein Kampf

A book written by Adolf Hitler outlining his ideology, including antisemitism and expansionist goals.

Compulsory sterilization

A policy enacted by the Nazis that allowed for the forced sterilization of individuals deemed unfit to reproduce.

Ghettos

Sections of cities where Jews were forcibly isolated from the rest of the population during the Holocaust.

Kristallnacht

A wave of violence against Jewish synagogues, businesses, and homes in November 1938, organized by the Nazis.

Concentration camps

Facilities used by the Nazis for the imprisonment, forced labor, and extermination of Jews and other targeted groups.

Einsatzgruppen

Mobile killing squads responsible for mass shootings of Jews and other groups during the Holocaust.

Final Solution

The Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people, formalized in January 1942.

Israel

The Jewish state established in 1948, partly as a response to the Holocaust.

Genocide

The deliberate attempt to wipe out a religious, racial, or ethnic group.

Babi Yar

A site in Ukraine where more than 33,000 Jews were executed by Nazis in September 1941.

Shoah

The Hebrew term for the Holocaust, meaning 'catastrophe'.

Lebensraum

A Nazi term meaning 'living space', referring to Hitler's expansionist policies.

Mass shootings

The mass execution of Jews conducted by Nazis, particularly during the early phases of the Holocaust.