The Holocaust
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Holocaust refers to the planned deportation and killing of people by Nazi Germany. 6 million Jews were killed, and many million others the Nazis said were undesirable. Many were rounded up, put in ghettos, forced to work in concentration camps and killed in massive gas chambers.
Some people also think that the Holocaust did not happen, or that it was different. A very common argument is that number of those killed are different (usually lower). Please see Holocaust denial for further reference.
Deaths
The numbers below are not exact, since many of those killed were never registered. Some people argue that the actual numbers were lower. The numbers given below are those most scholars agree on.
- Jews (5.1–6 million killed), including:
- Polish Jews (3-3.5 million)
- Other Poles (1.8–1.9 million killed)
- Political enemies (1-1.5 million killed)
- Gypsies (200,000–800,000 killed),
- Disabled people (200,000–250,000 killed),
- Homosexuals (2200–25,000 killed),
- Jehovah's Witnesses (950-2500 killed)
2 million other civilians were killed with machine guns, by torture, or were hit and beaten until they died. Also many million Soviet prisoners and civilians were killed.
