📚 Basic Holocaust Study Guide: Comprehensive Edition 🌍

Because I have come into contact with so many researchers who seem to lack essential Holocaust/ Shoah details/ information, I thought a quick set of pointers/ links might prove helpful to our readership in establishing a basic context.

Be advised, this page is NOT intended to provide a comprehensive study resource for the Holocaust/Shoah. This is but a beginning for those who want to establish and begin building an understanding. Sadly, and unbelievably, this is not the only Genocide perpetrated during WW2, nor have Genocides disappeared since WW2.

Should you wish to contribute additional content & ideas to this page, please use our contact page to let us know. We are happy to hear from you.

Key Definitions

• Holocaust/Shoah: The Holocaust refers to the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Shoah (Hebrew for "catastrophe") is the term often preferred by Jews to refer specifically to the genocide of the Jewish people.
• Genocide: The term for mass violence against all groups of victims, including the Jewish people and the millions of others murdered by the Nazis.
• Porajmos: The term used by some Roma and Sinti people to describe the Nazi attempt to annihilate them, sometimes called the "Devouring."

Targeted Groups: Beyond the Primary Victims

While the Jewish people were the primary target for systematic, total annihilation, millions of others were persecuted and killed based on Nazi racial, ideological, and behavioral criteria.

Non-Jewish Victims & Estimated Murdered

The Persecution of Black People in Nazi Germany

While there was no central, systematic program for total murder akin to the "Final Solution" for the Jews, Black people living in Germany and German-occupied territories faced severe persecution:

• Racial Policy: Nazi ideology targeted Black people as "non-Aryans" and a danger to the purity of the German race.
• Forced Sterilization: The Rhineland Bastards—children of German mothers and African French colonial soldiers—were targeted for forced sterilization beginning in 1937, with approximately 385 victims.
• Incarceration and Murder: Black individuals (including German citizens and foreign nationals) were subjected to forced labor, imprisoned in concentration camps (like Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen), and murdered as POWs and civilians.

The International Response & Allied Action

The response of Allied and neutral governments to the persecution and mass murder of Jews and other victims is a critical and complex area of study, often framed by a prioritization of winning the war over specific rescue efforts.

• Early Awareness: By late 1942, Allied leaders were receiving credible, confirmed reports of the mass extermination plan, notably through the Riegner Telegram and reports from the Polish Underground (e.g., Jan Karski).
• Public Condemnation: In December 1942, eleven Allied nations issued a Joint Declaration condemning the "cold-blooded extermination" of the Jews. However, concrete action to stop the killing remained limited.
• Refugee Policy: The Évian Conference (1938) demonstrated the widespread global reluctance, fueled by xenophobia and economic anxieties, to accept Jewish refugees. Restrictive immigration quotas in the US and limits on immigration to Palestine by the UK remained largely in place, effectively trapping many victims.
• The War Refugee Board (WRB): Established by the US in 1944 following pressure and evidence of government inaction (including the Morgenthau Report), the WRB ultimately saved tens of thousands of lives in the final year of the war.
• The Bombing Debate: Debate continues regarding the feasibility and morality of the Allies bombing the rail lines leading to the death camps or the gas chambers themselves. Allied leadership consistently argued that winning the war was the only path to liberation.

Sources and Further Reading

The following online resources were used to compile and enhance this study guide.

I. Targeted Groups: Diversity, Equity, and Persecution

• The Nazi Persecution of Black People in Germany (USHMM): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/afro-germans-during-the-holocaust
• Black people - Holocaust Memorial Day Trust: https://hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/nazi-persecution/black-people/

II. The International Response & Allied Action

• The International Response to the Holocaust (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_response_to_the_holocaust
• Could the Allies Have Stopped the Killing? (USHMM): https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/main/could-the-allies-have-stopped-the-killing-1
• Reactions of the Allies (Yad Vashem): https://wwv.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/microsoft%20word%20-%203868.pdf

III. General & Foundational Resources

• 10 Keys to Understanding Ashkenazi Surnames (Chabad): https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4825070/jewish/10-Keys-to-Understanding-Many-Ashkenazi-Surnames.htm
• Ashkenazi Name the Etymology of the Most Common Jewish Surnames (Slate): https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/01/ashkenazi-names-the-etymology-of-the-most-common-jewish-surnames.html
• The Origins & Meanings of Ashkenazic Last Names (Jewish Currents): https://jewishcurrents.org/the-origins-and-meanings-of-ashkenazic-last-names/
• The Nuremberg Race Laws (USHMM): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nuremberg-race-laws
• Racial Policy of Nazi Germany (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_policy_of_Nazi_Germany
• The German Resistance Memorial Center: https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/home/
• German Resistance (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_resistance_to_Nazism
• German Resistance (Wikia): https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Category:German_Resistance_members
• Groups that Resisted the Nazis (Listverse): https://listverse.com/2013/09/29/10-awesome-groups-of-germans-who-resisted-the-nazis/
• The White Rose Society (WeißeRose Gemeinschaft) (Wikipedia): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weiße_Rose
• Jewish Armed Resistance and Rebellions (Yad Vashem): https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/combat-resistance/jewish-armed-resistance.html
• Armed Jewish Resistance: Partisans (Holocaust Museum): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/armed-jewish-resistance-partisans
• Jewish Resistance: Facts, Omissions, and Distortions (USHMM PDF): https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/Publication_OP_1997-02.pdf
• The Final Solution (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Solution
• The "Final Solution" (Holocaust Encyclopedia): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-final-solution
• What was The Final Solution? (Holocaust Matters): https://www.holocaustmatters.org/what-was-the-final-solution/
• Wannsee Conference (Wannseekonferenz) (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee_Conference
• Wannsee Conference and the "Final Solution" (US Holocaust Museum): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/wannsee-conference-and-the-final-solution
• The Holocaust: Maps (USHMM): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/the-holocaust-maps
• Maps of the Holocaust (PBS): https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/holocaust-maps/
• Jewish Population of Europe Before the Holocaust Map (Jewish Virtual Library): https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-population-of-europe-before-the-holocaust-map
• Collaboration (USHMM): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/collaboration
• Collaboration Outside of Germany (The Holocaust Explained): https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/resistance-responses-collaboration/collaboration-outside-of-germany/
• Nazi collaborator monuments around the world (The Forward): https://forward.com/news/462699/nazi-collaborator-monuments-in-lithuania/
• Holocaust victims (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_victims
• How Many People did the Nazis Murder? (Holocaust Encyclopedia): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution
• What Americans Know About the Holocaust (Pew Research): https://www.pewforum.org/2020/01/22/what-americans-know-about-the-holocaust/
• Survey finds ‘shocking’ lack of Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Gen Z (NBC News): https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/survey-finds-shocking-lack-holocaust-knowledge-among-millennials-gen-z-n1240031

Credits and Licensing

Compiled by Mark Rabideau, Opa & Professional Genealogist.

All materials licensed: CC BY-ND 4.0 by eirenicon llc.