Learn about the Holocaust and genocides
The Holocaust is central to Holocaust Memorial Day and we remember the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. We also commemorate the millions more people murdered through the Nazi persecution of other groups and in the more recent genocides recognised by the UK government, and the genocide in Darfur.
The Holocaust was a terrible and defining episode of the twentieth century, which undoubtedly changed the course of history.
After the Holocaust, the international community adopted a legal definition of the crime of ‘genocide’. They wanted to make sure that never again would the crimes of the Holocaust be allowed to happen.
However, in the years following the Holocaust, genocide has continued to be carried out. On Holocaust Memorial Day we remember the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution of other groups and during more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, and the Yazidi genocide.
More recent genocides represent a failure of humanity to learn from the Holocaust and are a reminder for all of us that we must be prepared to guard against genocide happening again in the future.
Click on the links below to learn about what happened during the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides:
