Judaism · Communities & events
The Holocaust devastates Jewish life in Europe
1933–1945 CE
Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators persecuted and murdered six million European Jews. Discrimination and exclusion escalated into genocide during the Second World War. The Holocaust destroyed communities, families, and institutions whose cultural and religious lives had developed over centuries.
Why it matters
This catastrophe is essential context for modern Jewish memory and community history; it cannot be reduced to a stage in the transmission of scripture.
About the date
USHMM’s periodization includes persecution; systematic mass murder intensified in 1941–1945.