We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.
![Onlookers in front of the Reichstag (German parliament) building after its virtual destruction by fire. [LCID: 75102]](https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20240225020953/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/2672236d-c077-427f-bb9d-46c6b3e687b9.jpg)
Featured Article
The Reichstag Fire
On February 27, 1933, the German parliament (Reichstag) building burned down. The Nazi leadership and its coalition partners used the fire to claim that Communists were planning a violent uprising. They claimed that emergency legislation was needed to prevent this. The resulting act, commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree, abolished a number of constitutional protections and paved the way for Nazi dictatorship.
Must Reads
-
![Jews from Subcarpathian Rus get off the deportation train and assemble on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. May 1944.]()
Article
Introduction to the Holocaust -
![Illustration from an antisemitic children's primer. [LCID: 10640c]]()
Article
Antisemitism -
![Onlookers in front of the Reichstag (German parliament) building after its virtual destruction by fire. [LCID: 75102]]()
Article
The Reichstag Fire -
![German publication on multiracial children in the Rhineland]()
Article
The Nazi Persecution of Black People in Germany -
![Portrait of Sgt. Leon Bass, a member of the all African American 183rd Army Unit]()
Article
African Americans in Nazi Germany -
![Athletes Jesse Owens of the United States (right) and Lutz Long of Germany at the Olympic stadium. [LCID: 43338]]()
Article
The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936: African American Voices and "Jim Crow" America -
![Adolf Hitler arriving at the fourth Nazi Party Congress. [LCID: 09668]]()
Article
Nazi Party Platform -
![Women survivors huddled in a prisoner barracks shortly after Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz camp. [LCID: 31450b]]()
Article
Auschwitz -
![Chief Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz presents evidence during the Einsatzgruppen Trial. [LCID: 09918]]()
Article
How Many People did the Nazis Murder?
![Illustration from an antisemitic children's primer. [LCID: 10640c]](https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20240225020953/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/4c6348d1-d3e6-4be3-aae5-b12761f4f20a.jpg)
![Athletes Jesse Owens of the United States (right) and Lutz Long of Germany at the Olympic stadium. [LCID: 43338]](https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20240225020953/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/d854b69f-615e-4818-b9f5-b5fd0e949c73.jpg)
![Adolf Hitler arriving at the fourth Nazi Party Congress. [LCID: 09668]](https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20240225020953/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/b44d1b1c-d9d6-42f1-97f5-b240dee26453.jpg)
![Chief Prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz presents evidence during the Einsatzgruppen Trial. [LCID: 09918]](https://webcf.waybackmachine.org/web/20240225020953/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/b8542ad8-3e73-4b7c-a368-2dcbc971fa85.jpg)
Explore the Encyclopedia
ID Cards
Learn more about personal experiences during the Holocaust
Timeline of Events
Explore a timeline of events that occurred before, during, and after the Holocaust.
Discussion Questions
How and why was the Holocaust possible?