Answer: The “Holocaust” refers to the period from January 30, 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, to May 8, 1945 (V-E Day), the end of the war in Europe.
2. How many Jews were murdered during the Holocaust?Answer: While it is impossible to ascertain the exact number of Jewish victims, statistics indicate that the total was in excess of 5.5 million and 6 million is the round figure accepted by most authorities.
3. How many non-Jewish civilians died in the European theater during World War II?Answer: It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of victims as the Germans and their collaborators in many countries killed political prisoners, Russian POWs, Gypsies, Serbs, Polish intelligentsia, resistance fighters from all the nations, the handicapped, German opponents of Nazism, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and even habitual criminals as well as what the Nazis called the “anti-social:” eg.. beggars, vagrants, and prostitutes. Approximately 35 million civilians died if we are to include those killed in by deprivation, disease, indiscriminate bombing and collateral damage, while the death toll of troops in uniform was some 20 million.
4. Which Jewish communities suffered losses during the Holocaust?Answer: Every Jewish community in occupied Europe suffered losses during the Holocaust. The Jewish communities in North Africa were also persecuted, but few Jews were deported from these countries to the death camps. Allied victories in November 1942 prevented the implementation of plans for systematic murder in those countries.
5. How many Jews were murdered in each country and what percentage of the pre-war Jewish population?Answer: (Source: Encyclopedia of the Holocaust)
Austria 50,000—27.0% (many fled before 1939)
Italy 7,680—17.3%
Belgium 28,900—44.0%
Latvia 71,500—78.1%
Bohemia/Moravia 78,150—66.1%
Lithuania 143,000—85.1%
Bulgaria 0—0.0%
Luxembourg 1,950—55.7%
Denmark 60—0.7%
Netherlands 100,000—71.4%
Estonia 2,000—44.4%
Norway 762—44.8%
Finland 7—0.3%
Poland 3,000,000—90.9%
France 77,320—22.1%
Romania 287,000—47.1%
Germany 141,500—25.0% (many fled before 1939)
Slovakia 71,000—79.8%
Greece 67,000—86.6%
Soviet Union 1,100,000—36.4%
Hungary 569,000—69.0%
Yugoslavia 63,300—81.2%
