Explanation:
During the Holocaust, the Nazis murdered an estimated six million Jews. These were Jews from across Europe who spoke different languages and had different cultures. Some of them were wealthy and some of them were poor. Some were assimilated and some were Orthodox. What they did have in common was that all of them had at least one Jewish grandparent, which was how the Nazis defined who was Jewish.
The Nazis forced Jews out of their homes, crowded them into ghettos, and then deported them to either a concentration or a death camp. Most died of starvation, disease, overwork, shooting, or gas. After death, their bodies were either dumped into a mass grave or cremated.
Never in the history of the world had there been such a large-scale, systematic genocide as that conducted by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Estimating the Holocaust Murders
Because of the vast numbers of Jews murdered, no one is absolutely sure how many died in each camp, but there are good estimates of deaths by the camp. The same is true about estimates per country.
There is no single wartime document that estimates the number of Jewish deaths during the Holocaust. Between 1942 and 1943, the Nazis did attempt to compile statistics for their final solution. One copy of that record was captured by the U.S. Army in 1945. By late 1943, however, the German and Axis authorities recognized they were losing the war and had no time to continue counting. Instead, they ramped up the number of deaths and began destroying existing records and evidence of previous mass murders. Total estimates used today are based on postwar studies and research of the existing data.
New Estimates
A study published in 2013 by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, based on a painstaking evaluation of available documents and investigation of 42,000 camps and ghettos, identified that the total number of deaths was almost double the numbers generated shortly after the war.
In addition to at least 7 million Jews killed, the Axis killed around 5.7 million non-Jewish Soviet citizens, around 3 million non-Jewish Soviet prisoners of war, 300,000 Serb citizens, around 250,000 people with disabilities living in institutions, and around 300,000 Roma (Gypsies). Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and German political opponents account for at least another 100,000 people. Estimates of the total number of people who died in the Holocaust now range between 15 and 20 million.
Jews Killed in the Holocaust by Country
The following chart shows the estimated number of Jews killed during the Holocaust by country. Notice that Poland by far lost the largest number (three million), with Russia having lost the second most (one million). The third highest losses were from Hungary (550,000).
Notice also that despite the smaller numbers in Slovakia and Greece, for example, they still lost an estimated 80 and 87 percent, respectively, of their pre-war Jewish populations.
The totals for all countries show that an estimated 58 percent of all Jews in Europe were killed during the Holocaust.
The following figures are estimates based on census reports, captured German and Axis archived records, and postwar investigations. These are the numbers according to the latest investigations by The U.S. Museum of the Holocaust.
Country
Pre-war Jewish Population
Estimated Murdered
Albania200unknown
Austria185,00065,500
Belgium90,00025,000
Bulgaria50,000unknown
Czechoslovakia709,000590,000
Denmark7,50080
Estonia4,5001,000
France315,00074,000
Germany237,000165,000
Greece72,00069,000
Hungary825,000560,000
Italy100,0008,000
Latvia93,50070,000
Lithuania153,000130,000
Luxembourg4,0001,200
Netherlands140,000100,000
Norway1,800760
Poland3,350,0003,000,000
Romania1,070,000480,000
Soviet Union3,030,0001,340,000
Yugoslavia203,500164,500
Total:10,641,8006,844,040
Sources
Dawidowicz, Lucy S. "The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945." Paperback, Reissue edition, Bantam, March 1, 1986.
"Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution." Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, February 4, 2019, Washington, DC.
Edelheit, Abraham. "History of the Holocaust: A Handbook and Dictionary." 1st Edition, Kindle Edition, Routledge, October 9, 2018.
Gutman, Israel (editor). "Encyclopedia of the Holocaust." Hardcover, 1st edition, Macmillan Pub. Co, 1990.
Hilberg, Raul. "The Destruction of European Jews." Student One Volume Edition, Paperback, 1st Ed. edition, Holmes & Meier, September 1, 1985.
"Jewish Losses During the Holocaust: By Country." Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, March 27, 2019, Washington, DC.
Megargee, Geoffrey (editor). "The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945, Volume I: Early Camps, Youth Camps, and Concentration Camps and ... Administration Main Office." Elie Wiesel (Foreward), Kindle Edition, Indiana University Press, May 22, 2009.
