The Holocaust was the systematic\npersecution and mass murder of European Jewry during World War II by Nazi\nGermany. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\n

The Holocaust was based on Nazi ideology,\nwhich proclaimed the Nordic Aryan race to be a superior race, embodied in the\nGerman people. The Jews were seen as the antithesis of the Aryan race and,\ntherefore, the eternal enemy. This ideology was used as the justification for\nthe systematic repression and physical annihilation of Jewish people. Nazi\nideology was also the foundation for the persecution and mass-murder of\nEuropean Roma, as well as the repression of politically or socially defined\ngroups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \t\n

From 1933 on, when the National Socialists\ncame to power in Germany, they began to implement their political and\nideological aims in Germany. Jews were segregated from the non-Jewish\npopulation, their political, social and economical rights curtailed.\nState-sponsored violence against Jews culminated in a pogrom in November of\n1938 (often referred to as \u201cCrystal Night\u201d). In this period, Nazi policy aimed\nat forcing Jews to leave Germany. However, it was difficult to find countries\nwhich would admit them. But the majority of German Jews and, after 1938,\nAustrian Jews managed to emigrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \t\n

The outbreak of World War II on 1 September\n1939 allowed Nazi Germany to extend its discriminatory policies to large Jewish\nminorities of the occupied territories in Eastern Europe, including legislation\nrequiring the wearing of a \u201cYellow Star\u201d; which two years later was introduced\nin Germany proper. In Poland, Jews became subject to mass murder, expulsion and\ndeportation. The beginning of the war between Germany and the USSR in the summer\nof 1941 marked a further radicalisation of the policy against Jews and their\nsystematic annihilation. The Jewish population of all of Europe was the final\ntarget of the Nazis. This is apparent in the protocol of the Wannsee Conference\nin January of 1942, which was held to organize cooperation between various\nGerman government authorities concerning the annihilation of Jews. In many\ncountries the genocide developed in stages \u2013 from segregation of the Jewish\npopulation, expropriation of their property, ghettoisation and finally,\ndeportation to extermination camps, which had been established by the General\nGouvernement in a part of occupied Polish territory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During 1942, labour shortages led to a\nshift in German policies. While the aim to destroy the Jewish population\nremained, their labour capacity needed to be exploited before their extermination\nto support the war effort. To this end, selections of stronger and weaker\ninmates were conducted in camps; the latter were designated for annihilation at\nonce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \t\n

During World War II, an estimated\n5.5 \u2013 6 million Jews fell victim to the Nazi regime. After the defeat\nof Germany these crimes became public. The extent and brutality of the\nHolocaust continues to shock the world to this day and has had a considerable\nimpact on post-war international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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