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Containers of Zyklon B gas pellets and a gas mask found at Majdanek in Poland after the camp's liberation
Archiwum Akt Nowych
The Holocaust – Greek for 'sacrifice by fire' – was the systematic extermination by the Nazis and their collaborators of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled people, political opponents and others whom they considered 'unfit to live'.
For the most part, these terrible events occurred during World War II, but long before that, Hitler's regime established laws that persecuted targeted groups and eventually led to their mass murder. To achieve this, the Nazis built a network of concentration camps – prisons where people who had not gone through a judicial process were 'concentrated' and, later, exterminated.
At the end of World War II, when the Allies liberated Europe, they were horrified to discover what had been done to the people in the camps and in Nazi-occupied territories. Since then, museums, memorials and regular commemorations have been established in the hope that, by being aware of what the Nazis tried to do, humanity will not repeat it.
This website covers all aspects of the Holocaust, from the historical facts behind anti-Semitism and Nazi persecution to post-war controversies.
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