How many Jews died in World War 2?

Answer

The figure for the number of Jews who were killed in the Holocaust (or perished from starvation and disease in ghettos and camps) is agreed by most serious historians of the period and of the Holocaust as somewhere in the range 5.7 milllion to 6.0 million (or even slightly higher).

The figure of six million was originally given by SS-Oberstumbannfuehrer Hoettl in evidence to the Nuremberg Tribunal in 1946. Hoettl had worked closely with Eichmann and was well placed to give an informed estimate.

Later, figures were worked out by comparing pre and post Holocaust figures for the Jewish populations of the relevant countries (Germany, German-occupied countries and Germany's allies), making allowance for survivors, refugees and the small number who managed to hide successfully.

The figures have been checked again and again, and there is little disagreement about the overall total.

1. Many Jews perished in the severely overcrowded ghettos (walled in Jewish areas) established by the Nazis in Polish cities and elsewhere.

2. Many were worked to death on inadequate food.

3. Others were massacred in large-scale open air shootings.

4. Then there were the large numbers who were gassed in the death camps.

Those Jews who were used as forced labour were registered by the Nazis, but no records were kept of those who were killed by gassing on or soon after arrival or of those massacred. For this reason it is difficult to be completely precise about numbers.

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