The Holocaust was a horrible event in history. Over 11 million people of "inferior races" were killed. Many of these, over 6 million, were Jewish. .
Even before the Holocaust began Jews were thought of as inferior. Anti-Semitism, hatred toward the Jews, has existed since ancient times. In some areas Jews were forced to live in ghettos, pay special taxes, and were not allowed to own land or have certain occupations. .
Kristallnacht, or night of the broken glass, occurred November 9th, 1938. This massive attack on Jews happened due to the assassination of a member of the German Embassy who was killed by a young Jew by the name of Herschel Grynszpan. During the attack synagogues, shops, and other Jewish buildings were burned, destroyed, or robbed. Over 25,000 men were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, and 91 Jews were killed.
When Hitler came to power in 1933 he convinced people that Jews were the source of all that was wrong, he even blamed them for Germany's loss of World War I. Hitler wanted to take over all of Europe and develop a superior Aryan race. The Holocaust began with the invasion of Soviet Union, SS troops rounded up Jews, Gypsies, and Soviet leaders and shot them one at a time. At the Wannassee Conference leaders decided they had to come up with a more systematic way to kill. They developed the idea of slave labor and extermination camps. .
Millions of Jews were sent to the extermination and labor camps. The largest camp was Auschwitz. It was a complex of camps including concentration, extermination, and slave labor camps. More than one million people died there, 90% of them were Jews. .
The people brought to the camp were sorted at their arrival, those able-bodied and healthy went to the concentration or labor camps and the others were sent to gassing chambers where they were killed. Those sent to labor camps had their hair shaved off and arms branded, they lost all their individuality.
