The Holocaust \{ The Holocaust was a period of time during World War Il when Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany and the head of the Nazi party, murdered approximately seventeen million people. Hitler and the Nazis targeted Jewish people, Polish people, Catholics, Serbs, and the handicapped, including children. Hitler blamed the Jewish people for Germany losing World War |. He also believed in the superiority of the Aryan race, a term used to describe people of Indo-European ancestry. Hitler wanted to use the principles of genelic inheritance described by Darwin fo create a "superior" race of people. In his book Mein Kampf (My Fight), Hitler said that when he became ruler of Germany, he would get tid of all the Jewish people, along with everyone else who he thought was inferior or damaged in any way. Hitler began to carry out his plans when he became Chancellor of German. He passed laws taking away the rights of the Jewish people. On November 9, 1938, he organized a mass attack on the homes and businesses of Jewish people, many of which were vandalized or set on fire. This was known as the “Night of Broken Glass," or Kristalinacht. ‘As World War Il unfolded in Europe, Nazis taking over a city would crowd alll of the Jewish people into a part of town known as the ghetto. The ghetto was surrounded by a fence and guarded by soldiers. Food, water, and medicine was limited. Eventually, all Jewish people were taken to concentration camps. These were like prison camps where people did hard labor. Anyone unable to work was killed, Many people also died in concentration camps of illness or starvation. Many Jewish people tried to hide from the Nazis, and many non-Jewish families risked their lives to help them. Some of those who hid were ultimately able to escape, but many hid for years, and were sometimes caught. @www.€asyTeacherWorksheets.com