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The Holocaust : 86 Years Later

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THE HOLOCAUST: 70 YEARS LATER

Sacrifice by fire. The Greek definition of the word Holocaust still serves as a haunting reminder of the tragic campaign waged by the Nazis during World War II, and their “systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder” of six million Jews and others who didn’t fit the specific vision or “perfect race.”
Adolf Hitler, the known anti-Semitic Nazi leader, viewed the Jews as an inferior race and threat to what he viewed as racial purity. Under the guise of the war, Hitler’s solution revolved around mass killing centers constructed within the concentration camps of occupied Poland. One man’s orchestrated views and beliefs became a living nightmare for millions.
According to author Doris L. Bergen, “approximately 95 percent of the Jews killed between 1939 and 1945 lived outside Germany’s prewar borders. The Nazis used the war as a cover and excuse for the acts of murder. In the minds of Hitler and his associates, the only thing that could save Germany from collapse was the total removal of Jews and Jewish influence.
Prior to the Jews, the first large-scale killings under the “Euthanasia Program” targeted the mentally and physically disabled. And during the attacks of Jews, European Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Communists, Socialists, Afro-Germans, poles, Christian church leaders and many more unwanted people were attacked and persecuted.
ORIGINS
Doris L. Bergen writes that “antipathy toward Jews in Europe dated back much further

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