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The start of the Holocaust
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. -
Gaining control
in 1939. Prewar and wartime territorial expansion eventually brought millions more Jewish people under German control. -
Ghettos
German officials first created ghettos -
Poland attack
Nazi Germany began World War II by attacking Poland. -
invasion
world war II began with the German invasion of Poland -
"Final solution"
Though many Jews were killed before the "Final Solution" -
Mass shooting
German units began to carry out mass shootings of local Jews. At first, these units targeted Jewish men of military age -
Jewish communities
They had started massacring entire Jewish communities. These massacres were often conducted in broad daylight and in full view and earshot of local residents. -
aftermath
a result of annexations, invasions, occupations, and alliances Nazi Germany controlled most of Europe and parts of North Africa. -
Liquidation
Germans and their allies and collaborators murdered ghetto residents masse and dissolved ghetto administrative structures. They called this process “liquidation.” It was part of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” -
How it ended
when the major Allied Powers (Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union) defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. As Allied forces moved across Europe in a series of offensives, they overran concentration camps.