The History

Why we should know the history

Whoever saves one life saves the world entire, and whoever kills one life kills the world entire.

— paraphrased from the Talmud

Following this sentiment, there is not one history to be told but six million histories to be told. Although this is impossible we should be aware that regardless of the multitude of stories and perspectives that exist they must always be told with a common, truthful narrative. Sometimes fiction, however well-intentioned, can cloud the reality especially when we don't have full access to the facts.

The purpose of this resource is to enable students to understand the important histories, critically analyse available information and start thinking about researching history so that they can separate the difference between a 'good story' and the real story.

What was the Holocaust?

The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum defines the years of the Holocaust as 1933–1945. The Holocaust era began in January 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. It ended in May 1945, when the Allied Powers defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. The Holocaust is also sometimes referred to as “the Shoah,” the Hebrew word for “catastrophe.”

When they came to power in Germany, the Nazis did not immediately start to carry out mass murder. However, they quickly began using the government to target and exclude Jews from German society. Among other antisemitic measures, the Nazi German regime enacted discriminatory laws and organized violence targeting Germany’s Jews. The Nazi persecution of Jews became increasingly radical between 1933 and 1945. This radicalization culminated in a plan that Nazi leaders referred to as the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” The “Final Solution” was the organized and systematic mass murder of European Jews. The Nazi German regime implemented this genocide between 1941 and 1945. (1)