THE HOLOCAUST IN EUROPE
behavioral grounds, among them
The Holocaust was the systematic,
state-sponsored persecution and
murder of six million Jews by the
Nazi regime and its allies and
collaborators. Holocaust is a word of
Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by
fire." The Nazis, who came to power
in Germany in January 1933,
believed that Germans were "racially
superior" and that the Jews, deemed
"inferior," were an alien threat to the
so-called German racial community.
During the Nazi era, German
authorities also targeted other groups
because of their perceived racial and
biological inferiority: Roma
(Gypsies), people with disabilities,
Soviet prisoners of war, and Black
people. Other groups were persecuted
on political, ideological, and
LITHUANIA
Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, and homosexuals.
Nazi Germany and its allies deported
Jews from areas under their control to
killing centers. Poison gas was the
primary means of murder at these
camps. Nearly 2.7 million Jews were
murdered at the five killing centers:
Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka,
and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Prisoners
also staffed infirmaries, kitchens, and
served various other functions within
the camp. Living conditions were
harsh and extreme but varied greatly
from camp to camp and also changed
over time.
THE HOLOCAUST IN
The first phase of the Holocaust in
Lithuania took place in the summer
and autumn of 1941, when about
77,000 Jews were killed and the
number of Jews in major cities.
The ghetto period started in the
autumn of 1941, and Jews living in
them were gradually exterminated.
In the summer of 1944, the Germans
retreating from Lithuania brought the
last Jews living in ghettos with them
– most of who died in concentration
camps in Germany, Estonia, and
Poland. There were a handful of
those in Lithuania who survived by
hiding in ghetto basements or with
the help of others who risked their
lives to extend a helping hand.