How many and who died in the holocaust

One of the most well-known, if not iconic, facts known about the Holocaust is the number of Jewish victims killed by Nazi Germany up through the end of World War II. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is also this number - six million - that Holocaust deniers aim at when trying to discredit the essential nature of the Holocaust.

Where did the number six million come from? And considering the amount of original research that has been done in recent decades, is it still considered accurate by scholars of the subject? Read more: The Nazis Tolerated Gays. The number seems to have first been mentioned by Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, an Austrian-born official in the Third Reich and a trained historian who served in a number of senior positions in the SS.

In November , Hoettl testified for the prosecution in the Nuremberg trials of accused Nazi war criminals. Later, in the trial in Israel of Adolf Eichmann, he also submitted to a lengthy series of questions from the prosecution, speaking under oath from a courtroom in Austria. On both occasions, he described a conversation he had had with Eichmann, the SS official who had principal responsibility for the logistics of the Jewish genocide, in Budapest in August Such estimates are arrived at by comparing pre-war census data with population estimates made after World War II.

The Germans, though they treated their plan for annihilation of the Jews as a state secret of the highest order, also kept scrupulous records of deportations and gassings, which also serve as a vital source of data. One of the earliest researchers, Raul Hilberg, came up with a figure of 5.

And one of the more authoritative German scholars of the subject, Wolfgang Benz, offered a range of 5. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in , the global Jewish population was around Approximately 9.

The largest Jewish community was in Poland where 3,, Jews, 9. Germany had approximately , Jews that made up less than one percent of its total population. While this myth has endured over time, Adolf Hitler was not Jewish. However, few historians and scholars believe this is true. It is believed that Dr. Was I still alive, still practicing? Bloch… is an Edeljude — a noble Jew. If all Jews were like him, there would be no Jewish question.

Specific claims that Nazi forces were using the fat from Jewish bodies to make soap began to surface in concentration camps as early as August However, scholars believe that these stories were nothing more than rumors as the lack of proof, such as shipping bills, physical evidence from manufacturing plants, or receipts for economic transactions, has never been found, while such evidence is clear for shipments of human hair and gold teeth that were removed.

Himmler wrote:. In view of the large emigration movement of Jews, I do not wonder that such rumors come to circulate in the world. We both know that there is [at] present an increased mortality among the Jews put to work. You have to guarantee to me that the corpses of these deceased Jews are either burned or buried at each location, and that absolutely nothing else can happen with the corpses at any location. Conduct an investigation immediately everywhere whether any kind of misuse [of corpses] has taken place of the sort as listed in point 1, probably strewn about in the world as a lie.

Upon the SS-oath I am to be notified of each misuse of this kind. There is no proof that Danish king Christian X wore a Jewish Star to protest Nazi persecution, even though many throughout Europe believed he did.

In reality, the Nazi occupiers of Denmark never required Danish Jews to wear any kind of identifying badge. Many historians believe the Nazis did this because implementing the Jewish Star badge would not only deepen Danish solidarity but also further Danish discontent toward Nazi ideology.

Nevertheless, King Christian X and much of the Danish people supported their Jewish population and were against German occupation. To show solidarity with his people, Christian would ride on horseback in Copenhagen while scores of Danes would escort their king through the streets to protest Nazi rule. Jews were foreigners and aliens who controlled the economy and culture of Germany and other countries.

Judaism has been an integral part of Western Civilization since the beginning of the Fertile Crescent civilizations circa. Negative stereotypes about Jews became prominent in the late Roman Empire period. The stereotypes stem from the 4 th century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Jews were regularly beaten or killed, driven from their homes, put into ghettos, or pressured to convert to a different religion. Because of these occupations, Jews were identified with money, creating the stereotype of Jewish people being selfish, unethical, and exploitative money grubbers.

Unfortunately, this stereotypical impression of Jews has persisted for hundreds of years. When Hitler and the Nazi power came to power in the s, they combined these traditional stereotypes of Jews with the growing fear of a Jewish presence in mainstream European culture and society, which was occurring throughout the 19 th and into the 20 th century.

Sadly, this thinking permeated throughout the world, from France and the Alfred Dreyfus affair to Russia and Tsar Nicholas II, who wrote about his fears of a Jewish takeover, and in the United States where automobile mogul Henry Ford publicly preached of his distrust of the Jews. While these myths have been thoroughly debunked, many people still preach antisemitic ideology today. Race is a social construction, a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society.

These features include skin color, hair color and texture, eye color, and body shape and size. All these features are inherent in genes and cannot be changed.

Judaism has created a culture that has evolved based on laws and rituals regarding diet, the Sabbath, and customs that can vary from place to place because the Jews live in many parts of the world. Any person can convert to Judaism if they wish to do so. There is much speculation surrounding the death of Adolf Hitler. Since his death on April 30, , theories have ranged that he may have poisoned himself, shot himself, or both.

The fact is there is a lack of physical evidence to determine how exactly Hitler died. Prewar estimates for the latest year available The two institutions also divided the occupied areas slightly differently. Sources : U. Holocaust Memorial Museum ; Yad Vashem. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library. Operation Reinhard. Wannsee Conference. The Wannsee Protocol. Means of Killing.

Concentration Camps. The Einsatzgruppen. Gassing Victims. Zyklon B. Medical Experiments.