The persecution of Jewish people in Europe prior to the rise of the Nazis in the early 1930s was not a historical anomaly. Severe persecution of Jewish people has occurred periodically over the millennia; this pattern resulted in certain, more accepting regions becoming home to a higher percentage of Jewish citizens. In Eastern Europe prior to WWII, Poland had the largest Jewish population (3,000,000), followed by the Soviet Union with 2,500,000, about two-thirds of whom lived in Ukraine. Germany had more than 560,000 Jewish residents and former Czechoslovakia, which shared a border with Germany, had 375,000 Jewish citizens.

As is frequently the case with the rise of totalitarian leaders who choose a group to demonize, Adolph Hitler and the Nazis chose to blame the Jewish people for all the woes of German society. This prejudicial practice and attitude against Jewish people is called antisemitism. The Nazis’ persecution of the Jewish people allowed them to polarize society, solidify their power, and completely control their nation. The Nazis systematically incited hatred against all Jewish people, ultimately resulting in the infamous “Kristallnacht” attack on Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues in Berlin on November 9, 1938.

Germany instigated WWII by following its occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 with the invasion of Poland in 1939.