Night

Jews prior to WWII

• Around 9 million Jews lived all over
Europe
• Jews in Eastern Europe usually lived in
predominately Jewish villages and towns
(shtetls)
– Spoke Yiddish
– Kept their own culture
• Jews in Western Europe tended to adopt
the culture of their neighbors (assimilated)
 Prior to WWII
• Anti-Semitism was prevalent throughout
Europe
– Pogroms routinely disrupted their lives
– Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, was
the most famous of these
 During WWII
• By December of 1941, Adolf Hitler decided
to exterminate all European Jews
• By the end of the war, nearly 6 million
Jews had been killed
• Poland saw 90% of Jewish population
murdered by Germans
 During WWII
• Jews originally forced into Ghettos in large
cities
• From there, they would be transported to a
Concentration Camp to either work or be
killed
 Journal
• These images make me feel…