Holocaust

The Holocaust, or the Shoah, is defined by Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Center, Yad Vashem, as the "sum total of all anti-Jewish actions carried out by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945." Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany systematically killed at least 6 million European Jews, approximately two-thirds of Europe's pre-war Jewish population, during the Holocaust. The Nazi regime also murdered Roma, disabled, homosexuals, Slavs, Jehovah's Witnesses, political opponents and black people. Nazi regime & the rise to power The collapse of Germany's Weimar Republic, founded after the First World War, amid economic strife and political violence, saw the rise of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party) under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Despite a failed putsch in 1923, the Nazi Party became the largest party in Germany in the 1930s and Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 by German President Paul von Hindenburg. Although Hitler had risen to power through democratic means, Nazi Germany pursued a path of institutionalized violence and political suppression, racial propaganda and persecution of non-Aryan minority groups. From April 1933, antisemitic legislation was implemented and Jews boycotted. In 1935, the Nuremberg laws were announced, excluding Jews from German citizenship and marriage with Germans, thereby institutionalizing much of the racism that was held to be important in Nazi ideology. The late 1930s saw intense antisemitic policies implemented by the Nazi regime, culminating in Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) in November 1938, attacks on the Jews of Vienna following the annexation of Austria and mass arrests and deportations. World War II The Second World War began when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Shortly afterwards, German forces began the process of confining Jewish Poles in ghettos. The Nazi occupation of the USSR and eastern Poland led to the murder of many Jews, with those remaining confined to ghettos. The establishment of concentration camps, initially for "undesirables" and political opponents, was built up into a network of hundreds of concentration and extermination camps in German-occupied territory. The first extermination of prisoners at the infamous Auschwitz camp took place in September 1941. Final Solution The "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" was formulated by the Nazi leadership at the January 1942 Wannsee Conference with the goal of the annihilation of the Jewish people. Jews from across Europe were deported en masse to concentration and extermination camps and murdered by an extensive system of gas chambers, death marches and killing squads. Only 10% of Polish Jewry, who numbered over 3 million before the war, survived the Holocaust. Although there is no exact figure for the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, the number of victims was approximately six million. Post-Holocaust The horrors of the Holocaust were only fully understood with the liberation of the camps by Allied soldiers. Refusing or unable to return to their countries of origin, many survivors remained in Displaced Person's camps in Germany, Austria and Italy. The British refused to permit survivors to emigrate to Palestine, and it was therefore only in 1948 that the newly-established State of Israel absorbed many of the displaced survivors. Others made Western countries their new home. Sadly, the number of Holocaust survivors that remain alive and able to recount first-hand their experiences of the horrors of persecution are dwindling all the time. International Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated annually on 27 January. The day remembers the six million Jews murdered and the millions of people killed in Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides across the world.

Archaeologists uncover treasures of Vilnius’ Great Synagogue as Lithuanian Jews dispute its future

Vilnius was a major center of Jewish thought, famed for both its religious tradition and modern secular Jewish culture. It was home to the 18th-century Vilna Gaon, a highly influential sage.

AUGUST 5, 2026|BySHIRA LI BARTOV/JTA

Workers excavate the central floor and bimah of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 22, 2026. (Shira Li Bartov)

German high court rules comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is protected speech

A German appeals court acquitted a woman who compared Israel to Nazi Germany online, ruling that the posts were protected expression and did not meet the legal threshold for incitement.

AUGUST 3, 2026|ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

Palestinian Security Forces, who have been trained under US General Keith Dayton in Jordan, train in the West Bank city of Nablus on August 13, 2009.

Could the Palestinian Authority be planning a Jewish genocide in the West Bank? - opinion

The government might be making the same mistake with the PA as it did with Hamas by believing it is a peace partner rather than an enemy

AUGUST 2, 2026|ByCOOKIE SCHWAEBER-ISSAN

‘HOLOFICTION’ IS made entirely of clips from Holocaust movies, with no dialogue.

What to watch this week: 'Holofiction' shines, Disney's 'Furious' falls short

TV Time: Holofiction opens with clips showing Jews living their lives. There are scenes of family celebrations, and the director’s skill is in matching shots from different movies.

AUGUST 1, 2026|ByHANNAH BROWN

Zohran Mamdani's genocide accusation matters far beyond Israel - opinion

Using "genocide" to describe Israel weakens the term's meaning and fuels hostility toward New York's Jewish community.

JULY 30, 2026ByMICHA DANZIG

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks outside the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx on Friday. The writer asks: Does Mamdani still not understand that anti-Israel rhetoric has generated a sharp spike in antisemitic violence?

The last living Eichmann trial reporter warns antisemitism never died

He watched Eichmann face justice, now he’s one of the last who can tell it

JULY 28, 2026ByLARA SUKSTER MOSHEYOF

The Eichmann trail was held in Jerusalem, Israel, from April 11 to August 14, 1961.

Premium

PJ Library founder Harold Grinspoon still reinventing himself at 97

Nearly a century after witnessing the Holocaust and rising antisemitism, philanthropist Harold Grinspoon reflects on Jewish resilience, legacy, and the future at age 97.

JULY 27, 2026ByPENNY SCHWARTZ/ JTA

Harold Grinspoon, who launched PJ Library to bring Jewish children's books into the homes of Jewish families, reads to a group of pajama-clad kids in an undated photograph.

'A Life of the Mind': New biography reexamines the mind of Hannah Arendt - review

Recently discovered archival material and underutilized sources in German to illuminate her experiences and ideas, about antisemitism and Zionism as well as philosophy.

JULY 26, 2026ByGLENN C. ALTSCHULER

Getting to know Etty Hillesum, the Holocaust diarist starring at the Israel Festival

Hillesum was 27 when she started putting pen to paper, much older than Frank and, hence, her writing relates to a more advanced stage of life and state of consciousness and awareness.

JULY 25, 2026ByBARRY DAVIS

Neta Shpigelman identifies fully with Etty Hillesum, the Holocaust victim heroine of 'The Thinking Heart'

Grieving for the land Down Under - opinion

During the Royal Commission, Jews have shared disturbing reports of Nazi salutes in classrooms, workplace bullying, and children being taunted with offensive slurs.

JULY 25, 2026BySARI NOSSBAUM

At the MCG, the writer's sister and nephew watch a game of footy.

Editor's Notes: Germany’s ‘good Jews’ thought they were safe, New York should pay attention

Nobody has to work anything out anymore. The question is whether a single one of Mamdani's Jewish voters will say they were wrong.

JULY 24, 2026ByZVIKA KLEIN

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an unknown location, in this still image taken from handout video released July 21, 2026.

Debate erupts in Rotterdam over Israeli ambassador's planned speech at Holocaust memorial event

On July 30, Ambassador Vapni is set to speak at Loods 24, the site of a warehouse from which 6,790 Rotterdam Jews were deported to concentration and extermination camps in 1942.

JULY 23, 2026ByMATHILDA HELLER

Newly elected mayor of Rotterdam Carola Schouten attends her swearing-in ceremony at the City Hall of Rotterdam on October 10, 2024.

Remembering Elie Wiesel: A soul on fire and a life dedicated to justice - opinion

Yad Vashem marked the 10th anniversary of Professor Elie Wiesel’s death with a screening of a film on his life and legacy. His death remains a personal and profound loss.

JULY 23, 2026ByIRWIN COTLER

How the international response to October 7 makes the case for Zionism - opinion

The aftermath of October 7 is a chilling reminder that no matter how accommodated or assimilated we believe ourselves to be, some will always see us as “too Jewish” to be accepted.

JULY 23, 2026ByZACHARY MORRIS