Final answer:
The Nazis targeted not only Jews but also Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, Polish and Soviet civilians, homosexuals, political dissidents, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others in their mass murder campaigns. They were motivated by racial ideology, leading to the killing of millions in ghettos, camps, and via execution squads.
Step-by-step explanation:
The atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II went beyond the Jewish population. In their quest for racial purity based on Nazi ideology, they also sought the mass murder of numerous other groups. Besides the six million European Jews killed in the Holocaust, the Nazis systematically targeted and murdered the Roma (Gypsies), the physically and mentally disabled, Polish and Soviet civilians, homosexuals, political dissidents, including communists, socialists, and trade unionists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others who were deemed racially or socially 'inferior' or politically inconvenient.
The rationale behind this widespread extermination stemmed from the Nazis' belief in a racial hierarchy where those not fitting the Aryan ideal were considered undesirable. This led to the deaths of at least 250,000 Romani, and the systematic killing of disabled individuals through the Euthanasia Program. Slavic populations, especially Poles and Russians, suffered because they were viewed as subhuman by the Nazis. Moreover, people with opposing political views or 'socially unacceptable' behavior, as well as some religious groups, faced severe persecution and murder.
With the implementation of ghettos, concentration camps, gas chambers, and killing squads, the Nazis orchestrated one of the most horrifying genocides in history.