Many of us have heard about "The Holocaust", but do we know what it really entailed? Well, here are some facts from history...

1. TIMELINE
The "Holocaust" refers to the period from 30 Jan 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, to 8 May 1945 (V-E Day), the end of World War 2 in Europe.

2. "FINAL SOLUTION"
The term "Final Solution" refers to Germany's plan to murder all Jews in Europe. The term was used at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin on 20 Jan 1942, where German officials discussed its implementation.

3. HOLOCAUST NO OF JEWS KILLED
Statistics indicate total was over 5.86m. Six million is the round figure accepted by most authorities.

4. HOLOCAUST OTHER NON-JEWISH VICTIMS
Approximately 5m non-Jews were also killed. Among those that Nazis and their collaborators murdered and persecuted were: Gypsies, Serbs, Polish intelligentsia, resistance fighters from all the nations, German opponents of Nazism, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, habitual criminals, and the "anti-social," e.g. beggars, vagrants, and hawkers.

5. NAZI PERSECUTION OF JEWS VS OTHERS
Jews were the only group singled out for total annihilation by the Nazis. The only option for Jews to escape the death sentence was to leave Nazi-controlled Europe. Every single Jew was to be killed, according to the Nazis' plan. In the case of other criminals or enemies of the 3rd Reich, their families were usually not held accountable.

6. DEATH CAMPS
A death (or mass murder) camp is a concentration camp with special apparatus specifically designed for systematic murder. Six such camps existed: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka. All were located in Poland.

7. FIRST CAMP
The first concentration camp, Dachau, opened 22 March 1933. The camp's first inmates were primarily political prisoners (e.g. Communists or Social Democrats); habitual criminals; homosexuals; Jehovah's Witnesses; and "anti-socials" (beggars, vagrants, hawkers). Others considered problematic by the Nazis (e.g. Jewish writers and journalists, lawyers, unpopular industrialists, and political officials) were also included.

8. NAZI HATRED OF JEWS
Nazis had a distorted world view which saw history as a racial struggle. They considered Jews a race whose goal was world domination and therefore, an obstruction to Aryan dominance. They believed all of history was a fight between races which should culminate in the triumph of the "superior" Aryan race. Therefore, they considered it their duty to eliminate the Jews, whom they regarded as a threat. Moreover, in their eyes, the Jews' racial origin made them habitual criminals who could never be rehabilitated and were, therefore, hopelessly corrupt and inferior.

9. EFFORTS TO SAVE THE JEWS BEFORE WW2
Various organizations attempted to facilitate emigration of Jews (and non-Jews persecuted as Jews) from Germany. Among the most active were the Jewish Agency for Palestine, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, HICEM, the Central British Fund for German Jewry, the Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden (Reich Representation of German Jews), which represented German Jewry, and other non-Jewish groups such as the League of Nations High Commission for Refugees (Jewish and other) coming from Germany, and the American Friends Service Committee.

10. REASON FOR LOW NO OF REFUGEES BEFORE WW2
The key reason for the relatively low number of refugees leaving Europe prior to World War II was the stringent immigration policies adopted by prospective host countries. In the USA, for example, the number of immigrants was limited to 153,744 per year, divided by country of origin.

11. ADOLF HITLER'S REASON FOR WW2
Hitler's ultimate goal in launching World War II was establishment of an Aryan empire from Germany to the Urals.

12. GERMAN OPPOSITION TO THE NAZIS
Throughout the course of the 3rd Reich, there were different groups who opposed the Nazi regime and certain Nazi policies. They engaged in resistance at different times and with various methods, aims, and scope.

13. JEWISH RESISTANCE EFFORTS
Despite difficult conditions to which Jews were subjected in Nazi-occupied Europe, many engaged in armed resistance against the Nazis. This resistance can be divided into 3 basic types of armed activities: ghetto revolts, resistance in concentration and death camps, and partisan warfare.

14. GERMANY'S WW2 ALLIES VS THE FINAL SOLUTION
Neither the Italians nor Japanese, both of whom were Germany's allies during World War II, cooperated regarding the "Final Solution." Although the Italians did (upon German urging) institute discriminatory legislation against Italian Jews, Mussolini's government refused to participate in the "Final Solution" and consistently refused to deport its Jewish residents. Moreover, in their occupied areas of France, Greece, and Yugoslavia, the Italians protected the Jews and did not allow them to be deported. However, when the Germans overthrew the Badoglio government in 1943, the Jews of Italy, as well as those under Italian protection in occupied areas, were subject to the "Final Solution."

The Japanese were also relatively tolerant toward the Jews in their country as well as in areas which they occupied. Despite pressure by their German allies urging stringent measures against Jews, the Japanese refused to do so. Refugees were allowed to enter Japan until spring 1941, and Jews in Japanese-occupied China were treated well.

15. NUREMBERG WAR-CRIME TRIALS
"Nuremberg Trials" refers to two sets of trials of Nazi war criminals conducted after WW220 . The first trials were held 20 Nov 1945 to 1 Oct 1946, before the International Military Tribunal (IMT), which was made up of representatives of France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. It consisted of the trials of the political, military and economic leaders of the 3rd Reich captured by the Allies.

SOURCE: http://www.museumoftolerance.com/education/teacher-resources/holocaust-resources/36-questions-about-the-holocaust.html