I've noticed that a lot of people my age don't know anything about the Holocaust, or worse, even make jokes about it. I decided to write a thread about why the Holocaust was the worst crime in history and why you can't compare it with other crimes. Short but necessary 1/14

The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during the Nazi regime in Germany. Nazi Germany systematically murdered 6 million Jews, which accounted for over 65% of the total European Jewish population. Jews use the world "Shoah", which is Hebrew for "catastrophe". 2/14

Jews were discriminated against in Europe for centuries, often for religious reasons. In the Middle Ages, they were often forced to live in ghettos, blamed for the death of Jesus, or even blamed for the plague epidemic. 3/14

However, it got worse in the 19th century and with the rise of racially inspired ideologies.People began to claim that Jewish people were part of a different "race" and not part of their nation. After World War I, the fascist party of Germany blamed the Jews for loosing WW1. 4/14

Between 1933 - 1939, the Nazi regime made life almost impossible for Jewish people. They were massively discriminated and humiliated in public. Jews were excluded from schools, could no longer work in their professions, were not allowed to keep pets, etc. 5/14

With the beginning of WW2 the Nazis started to force Jews to live in certain areas. Polish Jews had to live in ghettos without medicine or enough to eat and were not allowed to leave them. They also had to perform forced labor. 6/14

It is not certain exactly when Hitler decided to kill the entire European Jewish population, but he probably made the decision in 1941. In January 1942, the Nazis officially decided to murder 11 million Jews. 7/14

The first plans to build extermination camps were already formed in 1941. Those camps had only one goal: Kill people. In 1942 Jewish from all over Europe were transported to Auschwitz. 8/14

Auschwitz was both a labour camp and an extermination camp. The Jewish were selected according to their age and health. Those who were not fit enough to work were gassed immediately. The others had to do forced labour under barbaric conditions. 9/14

The work was extremly heard. Hygiene was poor, they had little food and got often mistreated and abused. Many of them died from exhaustion or diseases. "Extermination through labor"
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The main perpetrators were the Nazis, but with the support and help of thousands of Germans who were often anti-Semitic, looking for advantage or both. Everyone noticed the progressive discrimination or disappearance of neighbors. People who say they didn't notice are lying 11/14

Many younger people are not interested in the Holocaust for reasons such as "I didn't do anything wrong and it wasn't my fault." But we forget that it is our responsibility to prevent these crimes in the future and to keep the memory of the victims alive 12/14

I have noticed a growing anti-Semitism in society and that scares me. The Holocaust was not even 100 years ago and people already deny it or think it is irrelevant. You don't have to be a fan of the Israeli government, but denying the Holocaust is a crime. 13/14

In many German schools, a visit to one of the extermination camps is part of the educational program. In my opinion, this should be mandatory for every school in Europe. We should never forget what happened to the European Jews. 14/14