The Nazi Genocide
The Nazi Genocide, which is often how some people refer to the Holocaust, was one of the most horrible historical events in modern times. In fact, it is known as the black mark on 20th century history, a time when the world was dark and the outlook was bleak for millions of Jews and others who did not meet the criteria for Hitler's "Master Race". The genocide involved the systematic murder of more than 11 million people, which included 6 million Jews and more than 1.1 million children. This event is well-known by almost anyone who has studied basic World History, and is a tragedy for the ages.
Jews weren't the only ones targeted during the Holocaust, although they were the primary target. Hitler and the Nazis also singled out homosexuals, gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, disabled and elderly persons, children, and anyone who resisted the Nazi ideals and way of life. Their plan to get rid of these 'useless' and 'inferior' people was known as the Final Solution, which involved nothing more than shipping people off to camps, where they were tortured, forced into labor, starved, living in squalor, and often killed in mass murders in the gas chambers or at the hands of Nazi leaders and their guns.
It was no secret that many of the Nazi leaders took pride in their work and got some sort of satisfaction from murdering the Jews and other prisoners that were in the camps. A lot of people will argue that there was never any direct order from Hitler to kill all of the people who were murdered at the hands of Nazis, but the simple premise of the Nazi ideology and Hitler's own speeches ultimately alluded to the necessity of this murder, in the eyes of the Nazis. There may have never been an official order to kill the Jews, but it was definitely the plan from the beginning of Hitler's rise to power.
What started off as simple discrimination and alienation of Jews and other 'inferiors' in Germany became one of the biggest cases of genocide in history. With more than 11 million dead at the hands of the Nazis, Germany and Europe would never be the same. The Holocaust went on from 1933 to 1945, when the Allies were finally able to invade and remove Hitler from power. Adolf Hitler committed suicide, as did many other Nazi leaders and party members, but many Nazis were held accountable for their involvement in the Nazi genocide during WWII.