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Holocaust
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images, Videos & Interactives
Samuel Bak: Smoke
How Hitler systematically discriminated against Jews
A timeline of the Holocaust. Book burning
A vintage black-and-white image of a young girl writing on a chalkboard.
Nazi-era passport of a German Jew
A vintage black-and-white image shows a group of men in white suits standing in front of a boat.
Kristallnacht
Night of Broken Glass: Nazi persecution of Jews
Blocking the entrance of Jews
For Students
Germany invades Poland, September 1, 1939, using 45 German divisions and aerial attack. By September 20, only Warsaw held out, but final surrender came on September 29.
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Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp
Holocaust summary
Quizzes
U.S. marines raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, in February 1945
World War II Quiz
Louis IX of France (St. Louis), stained glass window of Louis IX during the Crusades. (Unknown location.)
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Prisoners of Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, April 16, 1945, liberated by American troops of the 80th Division. Elie Wiesel (7th from the left on the middle bunk next to the vertical post) World War II Holocaust
What Is the Origin of the Term Holocaust?
Berlin, 1936 - Jesse Owens of the USA in action in the mens 200m at the Summer Olympic Games. Owens won a total of four gold medals.
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Holocaust: Facts & Related Content

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https://www.britannica.com/facts/Holocaust
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News •

Most books pulled from Naval Academy library are back on the shelves in latest DEI turn • May 21, 2025, 6:38 PM ET (AP)
A museum opens at a former factory in the Czech Republic where Oskar Schindler saved 1,200 Jews • May 12, 2025, 11:39 AM ET (AP)
Pentagon directs military to pull library books that address diversity, anti-racism, gender issues • May 9, 2025, 5:44 PM ET (AP)
German Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer dies at age 103 • May 9, 2025, 4:12 PM ET (AP)
Trump dismisses Biden nominees to US Holocaust Memorial Council, including Doug Emhoff • Apr. 29, 2025, 6:05 PM ET (AP)

Facts

Also Known As Shoʾah • Hurban
Date 1933 - 1945
Location Austria • Germany • Hungary • Poland
Context Nazism • resistance • Third Reich • World War II • Holocaust remembrance days

Did You Know?

  • The Nazis confiscated Jewish artifacts and intended to display them in a museum of the extinct people.
  • In 2007, the European Union outlawed Holocaust denial.

Photos and Videos

Samuel Bak: Smoke
Book burning
Nazi-era passport of a German Jew
Kristallnacht
Blocking the entrance of Jews
Roma prisoners
Execution during the Holocaust
Łódź ghetto Judenrat
Einsatzgruppen
Babi Yar monument in Kyiv, Ukraine
How Hitler systematically discriminated against Jews
A vintage black-and-white image of a young girl writing on a chalkboard.
A vintage black-and-white image shows a group of men in white suits standing in front of a boat.
Night of Broken Glass: Nazi persecution of Jews
Listen to holocaust survivors talking about their hesitation to speak about the painful past
See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Timeline

Samuel Bak: Smoke
Holocaust
1933 - 1945
Learn how the Third Reich utilized U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic to destroy Allied supply convoys
Battle of the Atlantic
September 3, 1939 - May 8, 1945
Nazi leaders in Paris
Battle of France
May 10, 1940 - June 25, 1940
Dunkirk evacuation
Dunkirk evacuation
May 26, 1940 - June 4, 1940
North Africa campaigns of World War II
North Africa campaigns
June 1940 - May 13, 1943
the Blitz
Battle of Britain
July 1940 - September 1940
German bombing of London during the Blitz
the Blitz
September 7, 1940 - May 11, 1941
German soldiers during Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
June 22, 1941
Pearl Harbor attack
Pearl Harbor attack
December 7, 1941
Wake Island
Battle of Wake Island
December 8, 1941 - December 23, 1941
U.S. troops advancing on Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, in 1943
Pacific War
December 8, 1941 - September 2, 1945
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March
April 9, 1942
Doolittle Raid
Doolittle Raid
April 18, 1942
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
June 3, 1942 - June 6, 1942
eastern New Guinea, from the 10th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, c. 1902
Kokoda Track Campaign
July 1942 - January 1943
Battle of Guadalcanal
Battle of Guadalcanal
August 1942 - February 1943
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
August 22, 1942 - February 2, 1943
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
April 19, 1943 - May 16, 1943
Allied invasion of Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
July 9, 1943 - August 17, 1943
Italian Campaign, World War II
Italian Campaign
July 9, 1943 - May 2, 1945
Battle of Anzio
Battle of Anzio
January 22, 1944 - June 5, 1944
Normandy Invasion
Normandy Invasion
June 6, 1944 - July 9, 1944
Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
Cowra breakout
August 5, 1944
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf
October 23, 1944 - October 26, 1944
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
December 16, 1944 - January 16, 1945
Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
February 19, 1945 - March 26, 1945
U.S. Marines on Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
April 1, 1945 - June 21, 1945
Battle for Castle Itter
May 5, 1945
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 6, 1945 - August 9, 1945

Key People

Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
American author
Wiesenthal, Simon
Simon Wiesenthal
Jewish human-rights activist
Anne Frank
Anne Frank
German diarist
Edith Stein
Edith Stein
German nun
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
dictator of Germany
Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
German minister
Adolf Eichmann listening to an Israeli court's verdict
Adolf Eichmann
German military official
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
German Nazi leader
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
German Nazi official
Amon Göth
Austrian Nazi officer
Karl Otto Koch
German Nazi commandant
Koch, Ilse
Ilse Koch
German war criminal
Demjanjuk, John
John Demjanjuk
Ukrainian-born automobile worker
Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
German physician
Pister, Hermann
Hermann Pister
German SS officer
Klaus Barbie
Nazi leader
Kaltenbrunner, Ernst
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Austrian Nazi
Rudolf Franz Höss
German Nazi commandant
Josef Kramer
Nazi commander

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Louis IX of France (St. Louis), stained glass window of Louis IX during the Crusades. (Unknown location.)
World Wars
Germany invades Poland, September 1, 1939, using 45 German divisions and aerial attack. By September 20, only Warsaw held out, but final surrender came on September 29.
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U.S. marines raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, in February 1945
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Demystified
Prisoners of Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, April 16, 1945, liberated by American troops of the 80th Division. Elie Wiesel (7th from the left on the middle bunk next to the vertical post) World War II Holocaust
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