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The Holocaust was the systematic annihilation of six million Jews by
Adolf Hitler and
the Nazis during World War 2. In 1933 approximately nine million Jews
lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would be military occupied by
Germany during the war. By 1945 two out of every three European Jews had
been killed by the Nazis.
But Jews were not the only group singled out for persecution by
Hitler’s Nazi regime. As many as one-half million Gypsies, at least
250,000 mentally or physically disabled persons, and more than three
million Soviet prisoners-of-war also fell victim to Nazi genocide.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Social Democrats, Communists,
partisans, trade unionists, Polish intelligentsia and other undesirables
were also victims of the hate and aggression carried out by the Nazis.
The number of children killed during the Holocaust is not fathomable and
full statistics for the tragic fate of children who died will never be
known. Some estimates range as high as 1.5 million murdered children.
This figure includes more than 1.2 million Jewish children, tens of
thousands of Gypsy children and thousands of institutionalized
handicapped children who were murdered under Nazi rule in Germany and
occupied Europe.
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Holocaust
Deaths
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Country/Region
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Estimate
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Germany
(1938 Borders)
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130,000
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Austria
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65,000
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Belgium
& Luxembourg
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29,000
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Bulgaria
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7,000
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Czechoslovakia
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277,000
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France
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83,000
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Greece
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65,000
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Hungary
& Ukraine
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402,000
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Italy
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8,000
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Netherlands
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106,000
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Norway
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760
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Poland
& USSR
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4,565,000
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Romania
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220,000
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Yugoslavia
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60,000
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TOTAL
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6,017,760
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Source: Nizkor
Project
statistics derived from Yad Vashem and Fleming, Hitler
and the Final Solution.
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The world outside Nazi Europe received numerous press reports in the
1930s about the persecution of Jews. By 1942 the governments of the
United States and Great Britain had confirmed reports about the Final
Solution - Germany's intent to kill all the Jews of Europe. However,
influenced by antisemitism and fear of a massive influx of refugees,
neither country modified their refugee politics. No specific attempts to
stop or slow the genocide were made until mounting pressure eventually
forced the United States to undertake limited rescue efforts in 1944.
In Europe, rampant antisemitism incited citizens of many German-occupied
countries to collaborate with the Nazis in their genocidal policies.
There were, however, individuals and groups in every occupied nation
who, at great personal risk, helped hide those targeted by the Nazis.
One nation, Denmark,
saved most of its Jews in a nighttime rescue operation in 1943 in which
Jews were ferried in fishing boats to safety in neutral Sweden.
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