What Was the Holocaust?
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning “sacrifice by fire.” The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jews, deemed “inferior,” were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.
Resources
In depth
Articles, documents, film footage, survivor testimony, maps, music, and personal stories.
Explore the Holocaust EncyclopediaTimeline
Browse a timeline of major events of the Holocaust and World War II. Covers events from before 1933, 1933–1938, 1939–1941, 1942–1945, and after 1945.
Browse the full timelineNew Film Resource
The Path to Nazi Genocide, a 38-minute film, examines the Nazis’ rise to and consolidation of power in Germany.
Watch the FilmWhy Remember the Holocaust?
Videos and Resources
Why do we as a nation commemorate the Holocaust through the annual Days of Remembrance?
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