The Holocaust was a genocide that occurred in Europe during World War II. It was the systematic, deliberate extermination of millions of people who were considered to be different from the Nazis—including Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and people with mental or physical disabilities. The Nazis also targeted other groups they considered inferior to them, including Slavs and Poles.
It is estimated that more than six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, although there are no accurate figures for how many died as a result of Nazi persecution. This figure includes three million Jews who were killed in concentration and extermination camps, one million Jews who were killed in ghettos, and two million Jews who were killed in the course of the Nazi regime’s other actions.
The vast majority of those killed were European Jews; however, there were also tens of thousands of Romani people (or Gypsies) murdered by the Nazis during this time period. Additionally, many Roma survivors joined Jewish communities after World War II ended; however, they often faced discrimination from their neighbors because they had previously been persecuted by other countries too (such as Germany).
