The HolocaustLists about the WWII genocide, also called the Shoah, in which Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany systematically murdered some 11 million people, including Poles, homosexuals, the disabled, and approximately 6 million European Jews.
The Holocaust was a tragic and inhumane event during which an estimated 6 million Jews were killed for their ethnicity and religion. During the course of WWII, many camps were erected to house Jewish people in horrible conditions, mentally and physically torture them, and ultimately execute them in whatever way the Germans saw fit. While millions died directly at the hands of their oppressors, many passed simply because of malnourishment.
Allied forces worked their way across Europe and began liberating these camps in the middle of 1944, which signified the beginning of the end of the war. As the Allies found the camps and intercepted trains full of prisoners, those who were held captive could see that the worst was behind them, and the elation on many of their faces was caught on camera. It's difficult not to get choked up or feel humbled when looking through pictures that capture the moments prisoners were finally set free.
1. Survivors Pose With A Colonel At The Newly Liberated Ohrdruf Camp
Photo: courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
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2. A Young Girl Sleeps With A New Blanket, Pillow, And Stuffed Toy Provided By The British Red Cross
