[pro-player]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdk0qcsUvNU[/pro-player]
What Does Holocaust Mean?
- The Holocaust began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and ended in 1945 when the Nazis were defeated by the Allied powers.
- The term “Holocaust,” originally from the Greek word “holokauston” which means “sacrifice by fire,” refers to the Nazi’s persecution and planned slaughter of the Jewish people. The Hebrew word “Shoah,” which means “devastation, ruin, or waste,” is also used for this genocide.
- In addition to Jews, the Nazis targeted Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the disabled for persecution. Anyone who resisted the Nazis was sent to forced labor or murdered.
- The term “Nazi” is an acronym for “Nationalsozialistishe Deutsche Arbeiterpartei” (“National Socialist German Worker’s Party”).
- The Nazis used the term “the Final Solution” to refer to their plan to murder the Jewish people.
The Big Numbers
- It is estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. Six million of these were Jews.
- The Nazis killed approximately two-thirds of all Jews living in Europe.
- An estimated 1.1 million children were murdered
http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/a/holocaustfacts.htm
