The persecution developed in intensity after the outbreak of war in 1939
After defeating Poland the Nazis set about 'Germanising' Poland
This meant transporting Poles from there homes and replacing them with German settlers
Almost 1 in 5 Poles died in the fighting and as a result of racial policies of 1939 - 1945
Polish Jews were rounded up and transported to the major cities
They were herded into sealed areas called Ghettos
The able bodied Jews were used for slave labour but the young, old and sick were left to die from hunger and disease
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Mass Murder
In 1941 Germany invaded the U**R and this was a success at first
However, within weeks the Nazis found themselves in control of 3 million Russian Jews in addition to the Jews they had taken from other captured countries
German forces had orders to round up and shoot the Communist party activists and their Jewish supporters
This was carried out by special ** units called Einsatzgruppen
By autumn 1941 mass shootings were taking place all over occupied Europe
In Germany Jews were ordered to wear the star of David on their clothing to mark them out
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Death Camps
In January 1942 senior Nazis met in Berlin for a conference to discuss what they called the 'Final Solution'
At this conference Himmler the head of the ** and Gestapo was put in charge of the systematic killing of all Jews within Germany and occupied territory
Slave labour and death camps were build at Auschwitz and other places
The old, young and sick were killed immediately
The able bodied were put into slave labour and some were used for medical experiments
6 million Jews, 500,000 European gypsies and countless political prisoners, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals and Russian and Polish prisoners of war were sent to these camps to be worked to death, gassed or shot
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