History glossary
Holocaust
the Nazi genocide of six million Jews and the persecution and murder of millions of others.
- Category
- Genocide
- Region
- Europe
- Date range
- 1941-1945 as systematic mass murder
What it means
The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of Europe's Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. It also included mass violence against Roma and Sinti people, disabled people, Polish and Soviet civilians, prisoners of war, gay men, political opponents, and others targeted by Nazi rule.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The Holocaust
From legal discrimination to genocide, the Holocaust traces twelve years of escalating persecution that killed six million Jews and millions of others across Nazi-occupied Europe.
Nazi Germany
From Weimar collapse to WWII, Nazi Germany imposed totalitarian rule, expansion, and genocide.
Operation Barbarossa
From Hitler's ideological war in the east to Soviet survival before Moscow, Barbarossa turned expected blitzkrieg into prolonged attritional catastrophe.
The Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia fractured through crisis, nationalism, and war, collapsing violently in the 1990s.
The Second World War
From fragile peace to global war, WWII reshaped the world through conflict, genocide, and new power orders.
