Holocaust Victims

Hitler FAQ

Who were the Nazis?
Nazi is a short term for the National Socialist German Workers Party, a right-wing political party formed in 1919 primarily by unemployed German veterans of World War 1. Adolf Hitler became head of the party in 1921, and under his leadership the party eventually became a powerful political force in German elections by the early 1930's. The Nazi party ideology was largely based on nationalism and racism. They promoted Germany as superior to all other nations and promised to restore it to greatness, while championing a scientific theory of racism, in which the Aryan (German) people were racially superior to all others. In 1933, Hitler assumed power in Germany and he ended German democracy and severely restricted basic rights, such as freedom of speech, press, and assembly. He established a brutal dictatorship through a reign of terror.

Who did the Nazis define as Jews?
Immediately following the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, the Nazis issued the official definition of a Jew. According to German law, anyone with three Jewish grandparents was a Jew, as was anyone with two Jewish grandparents. In addition, anyone married to a Jewish person or who had one Jewish parent was also considered a Jew in the eyes of the law.

How did Hitler take over Europe?
How did a naturally lazy, friendless, minimally educated homeless man take over Europe? And how did such an advanced society allow itself to be seduced and then destroyed by its own capacity for senseless barbarity? The Germans in the thirties were seduced by the glittering success of Hitler in creating jobs, generating a vibrant economy and restoring Germany's military might. William Shirer, who was on the scene in Germany during these critical years, candidly sums up the mood of the country at this juncture: "Not many Germans lost sleep over the arrests of a few thousand pastors and priests or over the quarreling of the various Protestant sects .." It was this apathy and moral indifference in Germany that empowered Hitler and fueled his military juggernaut that was poised to roll inexorably over Europe.

Why did Hitler hate the Jews?
Holocaust happened because Hitler and the Nazis were racist. They believed the German people were a 'master race', who were superior to others. They even created a league table of 'races' with the Aryans at the top and with Jews, Gypsies and black people at the bottom. These 'inferior' people were seen as a threat to the purity and strength of the German nation. When the Nazis came to power they persecuted these people, took away their human rights and eventually decided that they should be exterminated.

How did Adolf Hitler die?
With Germany lying in ruins after six devastating years of war, and with defeat imminent, Hitler decided to take his own life. Early on the morning on April 29, 1945, in a civil ceremony in his bunker, Hitler married his mistress of many years, Eva Braun. The next day at a little after 3:30 p.m., they bit into thin glass vials of cyanide. As he did so, Hitler also shot himself in the head with a 7.65 mm Walther pistol. The handful of remaining Nazi faithfuls trooped uneasily into his underground study, surveyed his still-warm remains-slouched on a couch, with blood trickling from the sagging lower jaw, and a gunshot wound in the right temple-and sniffed the bitter-almonds smell hanging in the air. Wrapped in a gray army blanket, he was carried up to the shell-blasted Chancellery garden. Gasoline was slopped over him in a reeking crater and ignited while his staff hurriedly saluted and backed down into the shelter.

How was SS Reichsführer Himmler captured?
Heinrich Himmler fled Berlin after the German surrender on May 21, 1945 in the disguise of a discharged Gestapo agent with moustache shaved and wearing an eye patch, but unbeknownst to him, the Allies had set a warrant out for the immediate arrest of any member who worked in an association that shared affiliation with his name. After being captured by the Allies, Heinrich Himmler committed suicide by biting a vial of cyanide that he had hidden in his mouth.The doctors attempted to remove the poison from his stomach by causing him to vomit, but with no success. After a 12-minute long death throws, he died. Three days later, the British buried anonymously his remains somewhere in a forest near Lüneburg.