World War II History: The Holocaust in simple terms

History >> World War 2 for Kids What was it? The Holocaust is one of the most terrible events in human history. It occurred during World War II when Hitler was leader of Germany. Six million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis. This included as many as 1 million Jewish children. A Jewish boy and mother being arrested Why did Hitler and the Nazis do it? Hitler hated Jewish people and blamed them for Germany losing World War I. Hitler wrote in his book Mein Kampf that when he became ruler he would rid Germany of all the Jews. Ghettos During World War II when the Nazis would take over a city in Europe they would force all of the Jewish people into one area of town. Concentration Camps All Jewish people were eventually to be brought to concentration camps. Hiding Many Jewish people hid from the Nazis during World War II. Stories and Heroes of the Holocaust There are many stories of Jewish people striving to survive during the Holocaust and the heroes who helped them.

Nazi Party - World War II In 1919, army veteran Adolf Hitler, frustrated by Germany’s defeat in World War, which had left the nation economically depressed and politically unstable, joined a fledgling political organization called the German Workers’ Party. Founded earlier that same year by a small group of men including locksmith Anton Drexler (1884-1942) and journalist Karl Harrer (1890-1926), the party promoted German nationalism and anti-Semitism, and felt that the Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement that ended the war, was extremely unjust to Germany by burdening it with reparations it could never pay. Hitler soon emerged as a charismatic public speaker and began attracting new members with speeches blaming Jews and Marxists for Germany’s problems and espousing extreme nationalism and the concept of an Aryan “master race.” In July 1921, he assumed leadership of the organization, which by then had been renamed the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party.

Primary History - World War 2 Children and World War Two Children were massively affected by World War Two. Nearly two million children were evacuated from their homes at the start of World War Two; children had to endure rationing, gas mask lessons, living with strangers etc. Children accounted for one in ten of the deaths during the Blitz of London from 1940 to 1941. World War Two was the first war when Britain itself was the target of frequent attacks by the enemy. The impact of evacuation on children depended to an extent on which social strata you were in at the time. ‘Operation Pied Piper’ was a huge undertaking. ‘Operation Pied Piper’ planned to move 3.5 million children in three days. With such numbers involved, it was to be expected that some children would have a smooth passage to their reception area while some would not. What impact this had on the children involved was never overly studied at the time as the government simply wanted to herald evacuation as an overwhelming success. MLA Citation/Reference

Primary History - World War 2 - Growing up in wartime Primary History - World War 2 - Children at war