Final answer:
The Holocaust was a systematic genocide by Nazi Germany against Jews and other minorities, involving tactics like forced segregation, Einsatzgruppen mass shootings, gas chambers, and medical experiments. Millions died in extermination camps, and the Allied discovery of these camps at war's end revealed the horrifying scale of the atrocities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Holocaust represents one of the most heinous genocides in history, conducted by Nazi Germany against the Jewish population and other minority groups across Europe during World War II. The Nazi regime, led by Adolf Hitler, deployed various tactics to implement their ideology of racial purity. Initially, Jews were forcibly segregated into overcrowded ghettos in various cities. The Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads, played a crucial role, conducting mass shootings, particularly in Soviet territories during Operation Barbarossa.
Concentration and death camps were the epicenters of mass murder, where Jews were killed via asphyxiation in gas chambers or by mass shootings. Extermination camps like Auschwitz became synonymous with the systematic killing, where millions were murdered. Apart from these grim methods, other civil rights abuses included forced labor, starvation, and medical experiments on women and children to further Nazi research on fertility and diseases.
Throughout this period, Jews faced deplorable conditions, and by the war's end, approximately six million European Jews had been killed. Allied forces, upon entering German and Polish territory, discovered these camp systems and the harrowing evidence of the systematic extermination campaigns. The Holocaust had a devastating impact on humanity, with its legacy continuing to influence discussions on human rights and collective memory.