The Holocaust was the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The word "Holocaust" comes from the Greek words "holo" which means "whole" and "caust" which means "burning. To the Greeks the Holocaust was a mass burning. To the Germans it was just an act of purification. But to millions of others around the world, it was a mass murder, a genocide (extermination of an entire population).
Holocaust Timeline:
January 1933 - Hitler named chancellor of Germany
March 1933 - The first concentration camp opened
September 1935 - The Nuremberg laws created
November 1938 - Kristallnacht
November 1938 - Jewish kids expelled from schools
May 1940 - The Auschwitz concentration camp opened
January 1942 - Gas chambers were introduced
1943 - Death Camps closed
April 1945 - Hitler commits suicide
May 1945 - The Germans surrender
The Holocaust was the result of anti-semitism in Europe. Anti-semitism is discrimination against Jews. Many people blamed Jews for European problems. Hitler told Germans that purification was the way to end their problems; this meant exterminating the Jewish race. Hitler had Jews and other minorities put into concentration camps (a guarded compound for imprisonment or persecution of Jews). Those that were not sent to concentration camps were deported (expelled from a country) or moved to ghettos (a section of a city where a group of people lived). One of the most remembered events that occurred during the Holocaust was Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass). On this night the windows of many Jewish shops were broken.
During the Holocaust many actions violated the Ten Commandments. Three of the Ten Commandments that were broken were the first, sixth, and eighth. The first commandment says "you shall have other gods before me". This was broken when people put Hitler before God. The sixth commandment says "you shall not kill". Millions of Jews were killed during the Holocaust. The eighth commandment says "you shall not steal". Jews had many possessions stolen or destroyed.
