The word Holocaust comes from the amalgamation of two Greek words ultimately meaning whole and burnt, and is most commonly used to describe the genocidal acts of the German Nazi government of 1933 to 1945 against the European Jewish community amongst other groups. Ultimately ending in the murder of some six million Jewish civilians and countless more of many other nationalities and groups, the Holocaust was one of the most shocking, heartless and callous acts of any government in the history of the world.
Initially, when the Nazi government, led by Adolf Hitler, came into power in 1933, legislation was introduced to intentionally remove some specific groups of people from civil society, with the most prominent group being the Jews. Later on, the prisoners captured under this new legislation were sent to concentration camps and used as slave labor until they died from exhaustion or disease. After World War II broke out in 1939, prisoners were either executed immediately in mass shootings or transported to extermination camps where they were tortured, experimented on and eventually murdered in horrific ways.
This cruel act against humanity, or at least the repercussions of it, have quite simply changed the way the world works in many ways. Thankfully, it is extremely unlikely that anything like this could happen in the modern age without the international community recognizing it and coming to the aid of the oppressed. The understanding of the mechanics and methodology of this genocidal undertaking has ultimately brought about changes in international resolutions and laws to try to prevent such atrocities happening again.
Although immediately after the end of World War II immigration controls across Europe became more rigidly enforced due to the will of many displaced persons to relocate from their native countries, the Holocaust has actually helped in changing international laws to help political refugees to gain asylum in some countries around the world. Additionally, the recognition of the scientific experimentation that the Nazi Party carried out on prisoners sent to the extermination camps has brought about the introduction of ethical informed consent as a prerequisite for the scientific testing and experimentation on human subjects.
The Nuremburg trials that were held after the end of World War II to bring to justice a large number of the instigators of the atrocities of the war, including twenty two of the most important captured leaders of Nazi Germany. Although the trials did come under some criticisms to their legitimacy, the fact that they took place meant that in the future, criminal trials could be established so that government officers and significant political figures who are party to the committing of crimes against humanity can be held accountable at internationally supported tribunals.
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