The victims of the Holocaust
There were many different victims of the Holocaust. While the most memorable group is the Jewish community living in Europe, others were involved in the largest case of genocide in modern history. These included gypsies, homosexuals, children, the disabled, the elderly, communists, socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses and other religious groups, and Slavic people. The reason for persecution stemmed from many ideals, including racial inferiority, political ideology, behavioral issues, religion, sexuality, gender, and more. The goal was to create a 'Master Race' that could restore Germany as a world power after their embarrassing surrender in World War I.
The Nazis believed that Jews were the 'problem' of Germany, and they created the Final Solution as an answer to that problem. Adolf Hitler and the Nazis used propaganda to convince people that Jews were the problem and that they needed to be 'handled' so that they could carry out their plan with little resistance and as much support as possible. The disabled were initially murdered in various institutions as part of the 'Euthanasia Program', which basically meant they were set to be killed because they had no use or value to society and in the eyes of the Nazis, were simply extra mouths to feed.
As time went on, people were forced from their homes, imprisoned, kept in squalor and faced with disease, exposure, and starvation. Most of these were Jews, but the others listed above were affected as well. Eventually, as the Nazi plan became more organized, camps were built. These camps were for political prisoners, forced labor, general imprisonment, medical experimentation, and ultimately, extermination. Most people know these as concentration camps, but that was actually only one type of camp that existed. There were also labor camps, prisoner of war camps, and extermination (death) camps.
At the height of the Nazi genocide, as many as 6,000 Jews were systematically murdered in the gas chambers every single day at Auschwitz, one of the largest death camps in the Nazi territory. By 1944, the Allies had started invading Nazi-occupied countries and liberating camps. As a result, the Nazis attempted to destroy camps like Auschwitz and disappear before being captured. The Allies prevailed, taking over Germany in 1945 and liberating more than 200,000 prisoners that had not yet been killed. By this point, however, more than 11 million people had been killed at the hands of the Nazis. This event is a black mark on 20th century history, and there is plenty of information about the various victims of the Holocaust that can educate people who want to know more.