On January 20, 1942, a meeting of high-level Nazi officials representing the SS and police, the party, and various government ministries took place at a villa on the Wannsee near Berlin. What later became known as the “Wannsee Conference” was convened by Head of the Security Police and the Security Service of the SS Reinhard Heydrich. At the meeting, Heydrich and others discussed coordination of efforts for the implementation of the the genocidal plan for the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.”
Refers to the government of unoccupied France during World War II from 1940 to 1944. The Vichy regime led by Marshal Philippe Pétain was established after France's defeat by Nazi Germany in July 1940 and named after the city of Vichy where it was based. Vichy France was known for its authoritarian policies and anti-Semitic laws. Despite officially remaining neutral, the Vichy regime actively collaborated with the Nazi occupiers, facilitating the deportation and murder of some 77,000 Jews living in France.
A peace treaty presented to the defeated Germany following World War I. The terms of the treaty imposed severe measures on Germany including significant loss of territory and demilitarization. The treaty further demanded that Germany take sole responsibility for World War I and extracted enormous reparations—payments for war damages—from the German government.
One of three killing centers established under Operation “Reinhard.” Treblinka was built in summer 1942 and operated until fall 1943 in the Warsaw District of the Generalgouvernement. During that time, an estimated 925,000 Jews as well as an unknown number of other prisoners were murdered there in gas chambers using carbon monoxide gas from diesel engines.
A Jewish ghetto and concentration camp located in the Czech city of Terezin. Established in November 1941, Theresienstadt was used as a labor camp and a transit camp for Jews deported to killing centers and other camps to the East. Theresienstadt became known as a “model ghetto” and was used in Nazi propaganda. In 1944, the International Red Cross was permitted to visit Theresienstadt, which had been “beautified” to hide Nazi crimes.
