WHEN the Soviet troops pursuing the retreating Nazis through Poland came to a camp outside the town of Auschwitz, they had no idea of the nightmare they were about to step into.
Upon opening the gates, the horrors they discovered shocked even the most battle-hardened veterans of the Red Army. The soldiers had stumbled upon Adolf Hitler’s notorious death camps – or worse, extermination camps. It was Jan 27, 1945, exactly 76 years ago.
The Holocaust is defined as the period of time during the Second World War when millions were murdered for only one reason – their identities.
The German Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler, was responsible for the mass murders of millions of Jews, Roma (or Romani gypsies), Slavs and people with disabilities.
In addition, the Nazis also persecuted and imprisoned groups they considered a threat to their rule, with political opponents and critics rounded up routinely.
Up to 11 million people were brutally killed during this mad act of genocide, with more than half of them being Jews.
But who were the Nazis and how did they come to power?
The Nazis were one of many political groups that sprang up after Germany lost the First World War.
For starting the war, Germany was made to pay reparations to the victors and this forced the country into economic chaos.
The Nazis grew popular during this time by promising to turn Germany’s fortunes around, and by scapegoating minorities for Germany’s defeat and issues.
Their ideology was rooted in racism as they believed Germans were part of a superior race called the Aryans, who were entitled to rule the world.
They also believed that Jews, Roma, black people and many other ethnic minorities were inferior to them.
Most of their hatred was targeted at the Jews, however, whom they held responsible for supposedly betraying Germany during the war.
Hitler and the Nazis took power in 1933, imposing Nazi values on all facets of German life through propaganda and persecution.
It became illegal to joke about the Nazis, jazz music was banned, only books approved by the Nazis could be published and portraits of Hitler had to be hung everywhere.
Even children were indoctrinated by the Nazi education system, with boys being trained to be “patriotic soldiers” while girls were relegated to the role of producing the next generation of Germans.
Discriminatory laws were introduced that snatched away the rights of Jewish citizens, banning them from certain places and from certain careers.
The events of Nov 7, 1938, were a sign of things to come.
In what was called “Kristallnacht” or Night of the Broken Glass, Nazis rampaged through Jewish districts, looting and killing.
Jews and other groups the Nazis despised were carted off to concentration camps which were at first, work camps, but soon gained an even more sinister purpose.
Believing that Germany was destined to rule the world, the Nazis invaded Poland on Sept 1, 1939, starting the Second World War.
As more and more of Europe fell under Nazi control, the Jewish population of Europe began to suffer mercilessly.
They were often roughly rounded up and forced to live in designated zones called ghettos, which were often cramped and unsanitary. They also had no food.
While Jews were dying left and right in these appalling conditions, the Nazis sought a way to kill them and other undesirables more efficiently.
In what became known as “The Final Solution”, the Nazis settled on building extermination camps specially designed to kill people in their thousands in a single day.
Camps were established primarily in occupied Eastern Europe, and between 1941 and 1945, people were killed on an unprecedented scale.
Millions were sent to their deaths in the camps, where they would either be literally worked to death or killed outright, many in gas chambers.
Rather disturbingly, many people apart from the Nazis knew what was going on, but few said anything.
Racists unsurprisingly supported it, but most people chose to callously ignore the suffering of the people who had once been their colleagues and neighbours. Still, there were a precious few who risked their lives to help save many others from horrifying deaths.
For all their conviction about being the superior race, the Nazis soon found that declaring war on the whole world was a foolish, suicidal move.
As Soviet, British, American and other Allied troops pursued the Nazis back to Berlin, they discovered the camps and the atrocities that took place in them.
Desperate to cover up their crimes, the Nazis tried to destroy the evidence by dismantling the camps and killing any remaining prisoners through death marches.
But because of the sheer scale of their crimes, it was impossible to hide the horrors they had perpetrated.
Even as camps were liberated, the hardships of the survivors continued as many were ill from years of mistreatment; with thousands dying.
Those who made their way back home often found strangers living in their old homes, leaving them with nowhere to go.
Hitler escaped justice as he committed suicide while Soviet troops battled through the streets of a ruined Berlin.
Still, in the years that followed, important Nazi figures were prosecuted for their involvement in the genocide. As late as 2020, former Nazi concentration camp guards were still being identified and charged for their crimes.
Not everyone faced justice though, as many Nazis went into hiding or died before they could be caught.
The Holocaust remains a haunting reminder of just how cruel human beings can be to one another and what conditions can lead to such barbarities.
Unfortunately, genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Sudan have since taken place, suggesting that people have short memories.
Jan 27 is recognised as Holocaust Memorial Day, and it remembers not only Holocaust victims, but also victims of all other genocides.
It is important to remember that peace is only possible through acceptance of other people, and that those who spread the message of hatred must be condemned without hesitance.
As the late author and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel wrote, “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”