https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/burning-of-the-synagogue-in-oberramstadt
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
holocaust encyclopediaburningsynagogue
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/tags/en/tag/women
From perpetrators and victims to leaders and rescuers, women embodied many roles during the Holocaust and World War II. As victims, women were often uniquely...
holocaust encyclopediawomen
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/tags/en/tag/concentration-camps
During the Holocaust (1933-1945), the Nazis established more than 44,000 camps and incarceration sites (including ghettos). These included concentration camps,...
concentration campsholocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution
Behind the number of victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution are people whose hopes and dreams were destroyed. Learn about the toll of Nazi policies.
many peopleholocaust encyclopedianazismurder
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/artifact/desecrated-torah-scrolls
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
holocaust encyclopediatorahscrolls
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/adolf-hitler
Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, aimed to eliminate Europe's Jews and other perceived enemies of Nazi Germany. Learn more.
adolf hitlerholocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ravensbrueck
Learn about conditions and the treatment of prisoners in Ravensbrück, the largest concentration camp for women in the German Reich.
holocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/tags/en/tag/anti-jewish-legislation
The Nazi German government used laws to persecute Jewish people in Germany and German-occupied Europe. Anti-Jewish legislation (also called antisemitic...
holocaust encyclopediaantijewishlegislation
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/westerbork
The Westerbork transit camp, located in the German-occupied Netherlands, served as a temporary collection point for Jews in the Netherlands before deportation.
holocaust encyclopediawesterbork
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/sobibor
To carry out the mass murder of Europe's Jews, the Nazis established killing centers that used assembly-line methods of murder. Sobibor was among these...
holocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/gestapo
The Gestapo was Nazi Germany’s infamous political police force. It enforced Nazism’s radical impulses and perpetrated crimes against targeted groups. Learn...
holocaust encyclopediagestapo
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/what-groups-of-people-did-the-nazis-target?parent=en%2F3298
Jews were the primary targets for mass murder by the Nazis and their collaborators. Nazi policies also led to the brutalization and persecution of millions of...
holocaust encyclopediagroupspeoplenazistarget
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ghettos
Ghettos separating Jews from the rest of the population were part of the Nazi plan to destroy Europe's Jews. Read about ghettoization during the Holocaust.
holocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/locating-the-victims
The Germans and their collaborators used paper records and local knowledge to identify Jews to be rounded up or killed during the Holocaust.
holocaust encyclopediavictims
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/concentration-camp-system-in-depth
The Nazi regime's extensive camp system included concentration camps, forced-labor camps, prisoner-of-war camps, transit camps, and killing centers.
concentration campholocaust encyclopediasystemdepth
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kristallnacht
On November 9–10, 1938, the Nazi regime coordinated an antisemitic riot, called Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, or the November pogrom. Learn more.
holocaust encyclopediakristallnacht
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/landing/en/id-cards
The Holocaust was the state-sponsored systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jews by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. Start learning today.
holocaust encyclopediaidentificationcards
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/tags/en/tag/anti-nazi-opposition
After the Nazi rise to power, both Jews and non-Jews began resistance efforts in an attempt to both stop the spread and minimize the consequences of Nazism....
holocaust encyclopediaantinaziopposition
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/reinhard-heydrich-in-depth
Reinhard Heydrich, Reich Security Main Office chief, was one of the main architects of the “Final Solution," the Nazi plan to murder the Jews of Europe.
holocaust encyclopediareinharddepth
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/gleichschaltung-coordinating-the-nazi-state
Gleichschaltung is the German term applied to the Nazification of all aspects of German society following the Nazi rise to power in 1933.
holocaust encyclopedianazistate
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/france
Learn about France during the Holocaust and WWII, the liberation of France, postwar trials, and the legacy of Vichy France’s collaboration with Nazi Germany.
holocaust encyclopediafrance
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/gurs
In 1939, the French government established the Gurs camp. Learn more about the history of the camp before and after the German invasion of France.
holocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/remains-of-the-boerneplatz-synagogue
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
holocaust encyclopediaremainssynagogue
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/rescue-and-resistance?parent=en%2F11184
While some European Jews survived the Holocaust by hiding or escaping, others were rescued by non-Jews. Learn more about these acts of resistance.
holocaust encyclopediarescueresistance
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/women-during-the-holocaust
Under the Nazis, Jewish and other “non-Aryan” women were often subjected to brutal persecution. Learn more about the plight of women during the Holocaust.
holocaust encyclopediawomen
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/1933-1938/revision-of-paragraph-175
June 28, 1935. On this date, the German government revised Paragraphs 175 and 175a, facilitating the persecution of gay men and men accused of homosexuality.
holocaust encyclopediarevisionparagraph
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/reich-security-main-office-rsha
The Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), created by Heinrich Himmler, brutally coordinated and perpetrated many aspects of the Holocaust.
main officeholocaust encyclopediareichsecurity
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-persecution-of-jehovahs-witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses were subjected to intense persecution under the Nazi regime. Read more to learn why and how the Nazi regime targeted them.
holocaust encyclopedianazipersecutionjehovahwitnesses
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/grafeneck-1
The Grafeneck T4 Center was the first centralized killing center to be established by German authorities within the context of the Nazi “euthanasia,” or...
holocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss-and-police
During World War II, SS and police leaders played a key role in the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. Learn how Himmler combined the SS and police to create a...
holocaust encyclopediasspolice
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/white-rose
The White Rose, led by students including Hans and Sophie Scholl, was an anti-Nazi group during WWII. Its members spread leaflets denouncing the regime.
holocaust encyclopediawhiteroseoppositionmovement
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/mauthausen
The Mauthausen concentration camp was established following the Nazi incorporation of Austria in 1938. Learn about the harsh conditions in the camp.
holocaust encyclopediamauthausen
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-europe
Germany started World War II in Europe on September 1, 1939, by invading Poland. War would continue until 1945. Learn more about WWII and genocide in Europe.
world war iiholocaust encyclopediaeurope
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/italy
Italy was home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in Europe. It was also a member of the Axis alliance with Nazi Germany. Learn about Italy during WWII...
holocaust encyclopediaitaly
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-medical-experiments
German physicians conducted inhumane experiments on prisoners in the camps during the Holocaust. Learn more about Nazi medical experiments during WW2.
holocaust encyclopedianazimedicalexperiments
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-rule?parent=en%2F11184
After they rose to power in 1933, Hitler and the Nazis eliminated democratic freedoms and took control of all aspects of public life in Germany. Learn more.
holocaust encyclopedianazirule
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/beer-hall-putsch-munich-putsch
On November 8–9, 1923, Hitler and the Nazi Party led an attempt to overthrow the German government. This attempted coup came to be called the Beer Hall...
holocaust encyclopediabeerhallputschmunich
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/theresienstadt
The Theresienstadt camp/ghetto served multiple purposes during its existence from 1941-45 and had an important propaganda function for the Germans. Learn more.
holocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/an-overview-of-the-holocaust-topics-to-teach
Recommended resources, topics, context, rationale, and critical thinking questions if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust.
overviewholocausttopicsteachencyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/international-military-tribunal-at-nuremberg
The International Military Tribunal (IMT) opened in Nuremberg within months of Germany’s surrender. Learn about the judges, defendants, charges, and legacies.
holocaust encyclopediainternationalmilitarytribunalnuremberg
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/axis-powers-in-world-war-ii
The three principal partners in the Axis alliance were Germany, Italy, and Japan. Learn more about the Axis powers in WW2.
world war iiholocaust encyclopediaaxisalliance
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-sicherheitsdienst-sd
The Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service, SD) was a Nazi intelligence agency. Ideologically radical and part of the SS, it was a key perpetrator of the...
holocaust encyclopediasd
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/as-the-synagogue-in-oberramstadt-burns-during-kristallnacht-the-night-of-broken-glass-firefighters-instead-save-a-nearby-house
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
holocaust encyclopediasynagogueburnskristallnacht
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/oral-history/ruth-meyerowitz-describes-her-memories-of-the-auschwitz-crematoria
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
ruthdescribesmemoriesauschwitzholocaust
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/1938-key-dates
Explore a timeline of key events in the history of Nazi Germany during 1938.
key datesholocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lesbians-under-the-nazi-regime?series=182
Beginning in 1933, the Nazi regime harassed and destroyed lesbian communities and networks that had developed during the Weimar Republic.
third reichholocaust encyclopedialesbians
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/tags/en/tag/euthanasia-program
“Euthanasia” literally means “good death.” During the Nazi era, however, the “Euthanasia Program” referenced the killing program that targeted both...
holocaust encyclopediaeuthanasiaprogram
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/bialystok
Overview of the Soviet and German occupations of Bialystok, the establishment of a ghetto there, deportations, uprising, and liberation.
holocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/euthanasia-program
The Nazi Euthanasia Program, codenamed Aktion "T4," was the systematic murder of institutionalized people with disabilities. Read about Nazi...
holocaust encyclopediaeuthanasiaprogramaktion
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/anti-jewish-legislation-in-prewar-germany
Nazi anti-Jewish laws began stripping Jews of rights and property from the start of Hitler’s dictatorship. Learn about antisemitic laws in prewar Germany.
holocaust encyclopediaantijewishlegislationgermany
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-camps
Learn about the camps established by Nazi Germany. The Nazi regime imprisoned millions of people for many reasons during the Holocaust and World War II.
holocaust encyclopedianazicamps
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/view-of-the-old-synagogue-in-aachen-after-its-destruction-on-kristallnacht
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
holocaust encyclopediaruinsoldsynagogueaachen
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-persecution-of-soviet-prisoners-of-war
Nazi Germany waged a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union. This included brutally treating Soviet POWs and murdering them on a mass scale. Learn more.
holocaust encyclopedianazipersecutionsovietprisoners
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/desecration-of-objects-from-the-zeven-synagogue
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
holocaust encyclopediaobjectssynagogue
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-depth
Germany started World War II in Europe on September 1, 1939, by invading Poland. War would continue until 1945. Learn more about key events in the history of...
world war iiholocaust encyclopediadepth
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/le-chambon-sur-lignon
From 1940 to 1944, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and neighboring villages provided shelter to some 5,000 people, among them Jews fleeing persecution.
holocaust encyclopedialesurlignon
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/genocide-of-european-roma-gypsies-1939-1945
Learn about the history of discrimination against Roma in Europe and how the Nazi regime committed genocide against European Roma during WWII.
holocaust encyclopediagenocideeuropeanromagypsies
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/gas-chamber-at-majdanek
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
holocaust encyclopediagaschamber
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/gassing-operations-photographs?parent=en%2F4537
The Nazis used gas vans and gas chambers as a method of systematic mass murder. They first experimented with the use of lethal poison gas in the so-called...
holocaust encyclopediaoperationsphotographs
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/tags/en/tag/final-solution
The term “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was a euphemism used by Nazi Germany’s leaders. It referred to the mass murder of Europe’s Jews in the...
final solutionholocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-life-in-europe-before-the-holocaust?series=32
Jews have lived across Europe for centuries. Learn more about European Jewish life and culture before the Holocaust.
jewish lifeholocaust encyclopediaeurope
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jews-in-prewar-germany?series=32
Jewish people have lived in Germany since the Middle Ages. Learn more about Jewish life, identity, and culture in Germany before the Nazis came to power.
holocaust encyclopediajewsgermanynazis
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/forced-labor-an-overview?series=97
Forced labor played a crucial role in the wartime German economy. Many forced laborers died as the result of brutal treatment, disease, and starvation.
holocaust encyclopediaforcedlaboroverview
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/childrens-aid-society-oeuvre-de-secours-aux-enfants
During WWII, the Children’s Aid Society (OSE) operated 14 children's homes throughout France to save Jewish children from internment and deportation to...
childrenaidsocietyoeuvrede
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-evian-conference?series=32
Learn more about the July 1938 Evian Conference and American and international responses to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution.
holocaust encyclopediaevianconferencejuly
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is the most widely distributed antisemitic publication of modern times. Although repeatedly discredited, it continues to...
antisemiticconspiracyprotocolselderszion
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/bernburg-t4-facility
Bernburg was the fifth of six centralized killing centers established by German authorities within the context of the Nazi “euthanasia,” or T4, program.
holocaust encyclopediabernburgfacility
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/treblinka
Treblinka was one of three killing centers in Operation Reinhard, the SS plan to murder almost two million Jews living in the German-administered territory of...
holocaust encyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/women-during-the-holocaust-photographs?parent=en%2F3298
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
womenholocaustphotographsencyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-rise-to-power
The Nazi Party was one of a number of right-wing extremist political groups that emerged in Germany following World War I. Learn about the Nazi rise to power.
adolf hitlernazirisepowerholocaust
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/voyage-of-the-st-louis-1?series=32
The voyage of the St. Louis, a German ocean liner, dramatically highlights the difficulties faced by many people trying to escape Nazi terror. Learn more.
st louisholocaust encyclopediavoyage
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-racism-an-overview?series=121
Learn more about Nazi racism and racial antisemitism. These prejudices were at the core of Nazi ideology, policies, and practices. They led to murder on a mass...
holocaust encyclopediaracismoverview
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hitler-youth-2
The Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls were developed as Nazi Party youth groups to indoctrinate children and youth in Nazi ideology and policy.
holocaust encyclopediahitleryouth
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism?series=121
The word antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews. The Holocaust is history’s most extreme example of antisemitism. Learn more.
holocaust encyclopediaantisemitism
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/children-during-the-holocaust?series=121
Children were especially vulnerable to Nazi persecution. Learn more about the fates of Jewish and non-Jewish children.
holocaust encyclopediachildren
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/austria
Learn about the German annexation of Austria, the establishment of Nazi camps, Kristallnacht, and deportations from Austria during the Holocaust.
holocaust encyclopediaaustria
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-holocaust-in-hungary
Learn more about the history of the Holocaust in Hungary.
holocausthungaryencyclopedia
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/vienna
Nazi Germany annexed Austria in March 1938. Learn about Austria’s capital, Vienna, which at the time was home to a large and vibrant Jewish community.
holocaust encyclopediavienna
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/burning-of-the-ceremonial-hall-at-the-jewish-cemetery-in-graz
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia
burningceremonialhalljewishcemetery
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hermann-goering
Brief overview of the charges against Hermann Göring, highest ranking Nazi official tried during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
holocaust encyclopediahermann
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/gross-rosen
Learn about the Gross-Rosen camp, including its establishment, prisoner population, subcamps, forced labor, and liberation.
holocaust encyclopediagrossrosen