The Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust was the systematic, deliberate murder of around six million Jewish people, and millions of others, by the Nazi regime during the war. It was the terrible end point of years of escalating persecution. Roma people, disabled people, political prisoners and others were also murdered. ⚠️ We study it to understand how it was allowed to happen, and to remember those who were killed. Each of the millions was a real person, with a name, a family and a life. Understand it as a deliberate, systematic genocide, and treat it with the seriousness it demands.

From persecution, to genocide

The Holocaust grew out of the persecution of the 1930s and escalated into mass murder during the war. Hold the two together, with care.

Order the escalation into genocide

Put the terrible escalation of the Holocaust into order.

• Before the war, Jewish people are stripped of their rights
• As the war spreads east, they are forced into sealed ghettos
• Killing squads, the Einsatzgruppen, carry out mass shootings
• The regime builds death camps to murder people on an industrial scale
• Around six million Jewish people are murdered

What the Holocaust was

What was the Holocaust?

• The systematic, deliberate mass murder of around six million Jewish people, and millions of others, by the Nazi regime
• An accidental result of the fighting in the war
• A brief, small-scale event affecting few people
• A rumour with no basis in fact

Words for the Holocaust

Five words that let you explain what happened, accurately and with care.

Show that it was deliberate

Three of these show that the Holocaust was deliberate and systematic. Choose the three.

• It was planned by the state
• It was organised across occupied Europe
• It was carried out with careful record-keeping and planning
• It happened purely by accident
• It was a sudden, spontaneous outburst

Deliberate, systematic, and to be remembered

The clearest understanding is that the Holocaust was deliberate and systematic, not spontaneous, and that behind the scale lie millions of individual people. It grew out of years of persecution, then escalated during the war into organised mass murder: the ghettos, the mass shootings, and the death camps built to kill on an industrial scale. It was planned and administered by the state across occupied Europe, above all in the east. To understand it is to see both that it was a deliberate genocide and that each of the millions murdered was a person to be remembered.

Match each part of the Holocaust to what it was

Find the accurate description

A student writes about the Holocaust. Select the ONE sentence that describes it accurately.

• The Holocaust was a deliberate, systematic genocide, planned and carried out by the Nazi state, in which around six million Jewish people were murdered.
• The Holocaust was an accident that no one intended.
• The Holocaust was a small event that affected very few people.
• The Holocaust had no connection to the earlier persecution of Jewish people.

Why we study it, and why we remember

Historians are careful to show that the Holocaust was not a sudden madness but a deliberate process, reached step by step and organised by a modern state. That is a warning worth understanding. They are just as careful to remember that the vast number was made up of individual people. Each one had a name, a family, hopes and a life that was taken. Holding both truths together, that it was deliberate, and that its victims were people, is the heart of studying this topic with the seriousness it demands.

Complete the account of the Holocaust

The systematic murder of around six million Jewish people was the _____. A sealed area where Jewish people were forced to live was a _____. The mobile killing squads were the _____. A camp built for mass murder was a _____. The deliberate attempt to destroy an entire people is _____.

Understand the Holocaust correctly

Which is the soundest understanding of the Holocaust?

• A deliberate, systematic genocide carried out by the Nazi regime, the end point of escalating persecution, in which around six million Jewish people were murdered
• A sudden event with no build-up before it
• An accidental and spontaneous event
• A minor episode of little importance

The methods, and the meaning

A full understanding holds both: what was done, and what it means.

Judge the understanding like an examiner

You are marking three answers about the Holocaust. For each, choose the soundest judgement.

• An answer says the Holocaust happened suddenly, with no build-up. Is that safe?
• An answer says the Holocaust was spontaneous or accidental. Is that safe?
• An answer treats the Holocaust only as a number, with no mention of the people. Is that complete?

Write: how persecution became genocide

How did the Nazi persecution of Jewish people escalate into the Holocaust? Trace the escalation, show that it was deliberate and systematic, and remember its victims. This is written in English and is not auto-marked.

• Start from the persecution before the war
• Explain the ghettos
• Explain the mass shootings by the Einsatzgruppen
• Explain the death camps
• Show it was deliberate, and remember the people murdered