Germany at War and the Holocaust 1939–1945

The Second World War and the Holocaust represent the catastrophic culmination of Nazi ideology and the most destructive period in European history. The key questions are: why did Germany initially succeed and then fail militarily? How and why did persecution escalate into systematic genocide? And how far were ordinary Germans complicit?

Key Definition: The Holocaust (Shoah) refers to the systematic, state-sponsored murder of approximately six million European Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1941 and 1945, alongside the persecution and murder of millions of others including Roma, disabled people, Slavic civilians, Soviet POWs, and political opponents.

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The Course of the War

Early Victories: Blitzkrieg (1939–1941)