Anti-Semitism is unconditional hate or prejudice against Jews due to either their cultural, religious, and/or ethnic background. Anti-Semitism has been around long before the Holocaust was even an idea. Its history dates back to ancient times where the Jewish revolted against the Roman Empire for religious and righteous reasons. Persecutions also took place against Jews during the Middle Ages where they would either be forced to convert or slaughtered. Anti-Semitism grew for centuries before reaching big history—the Holocaust.
The Holocaust was the largest genocide against Jewish people during World War II under Adolf Hitler. It also included discrimination and potential slaughter to those who opposed the Nazi movement, the disabled, homosexuals, Africans, Poles, Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, and political or religious opponents. The genocide was carried out in stages starting with discrimination and abuse. That then led to separation into the ghettos then transports to concentration camps where millions would be dehumanized, tortured, and murdered. Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Nazi party believed that Jews were unworthy people and were just a burden to the world. They viewed them as parasites to the superior Aryan race, so they must be exterminated.
Concentration camps played a major role in the Holocaust. Majority of the suffering and killing took place there. Auschwitz, located in Southern Poland, was considered the largest and most feared extermination camp of all. Prisoners would go through routinely selections to determine whether they will go to the right (work) or go to the left (immediate death). The elderly, ill, and young children would typically be placed to the left. They were unaware of what these directions meant at first, so some would go to the left to be with their loved ones (usually mothers who do not want to lose their children). The ones who go left would be led to the gas chambers convinced that they would be going through disinfection (shower), but to only discover that they were trapped helplessly with cheap toxic gas flowing from the "shower heads". Their deaths were not quick and those who were still alive by the end would still be shoved into the crematory. The others would be put through hard labor and be tormented by soldiers. They were constantly starving-- the only food they got was a small bowl of soup and a bit of bread. They would be shot at or critically punished for the smallest reasons. An estimated 1.1 million prisoners were killed with only 7,000 being liberated once the Soviet forces arrived in Auschwitz.
Before extermination and concentration camps were liberated, prisoners would be forced to go on “death marches” where they would march for miles in the freezing cold with no food or water to another camp. If one were to slow down or fall, they would be shot and killed immediately.
After the camps were liberated, members of the Nazi party were hunted down and executed. Many committed suicide or simply ran off. Today, there are a handful of people who deny the Holocaust despite the mass amounts of proof.
Yeah. I know this is really.. basic and not so in-depth information, but that was the point. So... the end.
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