World War I ended in 1918.
Germany lost the war.  
The Germans were upset and angry. 
The people had no money, no work, and no hopes.

The red color marks the location
of  present-day Germany.

And that is how Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany.


At a time of hopelessness, he offered the German people hope.

He also offered them an excuse for their failure. 

Hitler said that their failures were not their fault. 

He picked the Jewish people to blame for all their problems.

From 1933 until 1945 anti-Semitism was the law in Germany
and in any country that Germany conquered.

Hitler's slogan was...    "The Jews Are Our Misfortune."

Hitler and his Nazi party designed a plan to end 
"The Jewish Problem."

Here was the plan:
1.  Embarrass the Jews.
2.  Send the Jews away--expel them.
3.  Take citizenship away from the Jews.
4.  Boycott Jewish businesses.
5.  Do not allow Jews to work at their jobs or professions.
6.  Forbid Jewish children from attending schools.
7.  Force all Jews to wear a yellow star when they are out in public.

Many Jews fled. 
But others could never have predicted 
what would happen to them. 
So they stayed.
 

8.  Violence against Jews and Jewish property began, and increased.
Synagogues and Jewish businesses were destroyed in one period of 2 days, called "Kristallnacht",  because of all the broken glass left on the German streets.
9.  Jews were forced into ghettos and concentration camps.
10.  Finally, Jews were killed in large numbers.

Ghettos were fenced and guarded sections of large cities 
where Jews were forced to live in crowded and unclean conditions.
Concentration camps were prison towns.
You did not have to commit a crime to go there.
You just had to be Jewish.
And that is where you would die or be sent to your death.

  Today, it is hard to believe what happened less than 70 years ago. 
But we must keep the horrible memories and images of the Holocaust alive
so that this type of tragedy can never happen again...to any group of people!

And that is why Holocaust Remembrance Day was created. 
It usually occurs in April,
but this special day of remembrance is based on the Jewish calendar. 
It is on this day that we honor the memory of six million Jewish people who died,
and the brave non-Jews who risked their lives
to save their Jewish friends and neighbors.

Click here for frequently asked questions about Anne Frank and the Holocaust.