What proof or evidence exists that the Nazi's killed 6 million Jews?

Answer 1

First of the number 6 Million is a median value of several estimates which reach, as far as I am aware of, from 5.9 to 6.5 million. That said, these estimates are arrived at by taking a variety of sources and combining them. The most complete and accurate source was of course the Nazis them selves, both in written documentation as well as witness accounts during the Nürnberg Trials.

There is for instance the so-called Hoefle-Telegram in which a SS-Sturmbannführer Hoefle from Lublin informs Adolf Eichmann the organizer of "Aktion Reinhardt" (Extermination of Polish Jews) that drung 1942 a total of 1,274,166 in four of the eight Extermination Camps.

There is also the witness account of the commandant of the Camp at Auschwitz, who stated during the Nürnberg Trials: "Another improvement we made over Treblinka was that we built our gas chambers to accommodate 2,000 people at one time, whereas at Treblinka their 10 gas chambers only accommodated 200 people each. [...] The prisoners would be marched by one of the doctors who would make spot decisions as they walked by. Those who were fit for work were sent into the Camp. Others were sent immediately to the extermination plants. Children of tender years were invariably exterminated, since by reason of their youth they were unable to work. [...] We were required to carry out these exterminations in secrecy but of course the foul and nauseating stench from the continuous burning of bodies permeated the entire area and all of the people living in the surrounding communities knew that exterminations were going on at Auschwitz."

Then there is the account of SS Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop, who was in charge of the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto and who documented the transport of 300.000 Jews to the Extermination Camp in Treblinka.

Another source are the records and testimony of Adolf Eichmann himself, who oversaw in large parts the transportation to the camps via trains. Yet another source is the Polish census prior to and after the war, indicating that over 3.5 million Jews were "missing" from that country alone.

The list of sources is virtually endless.

A lot of hub hub is made of the supposed impossibility of murdering 6 million Jews in the time the Nazis had. But if you ONLY take the account of Ausschwitz' commandant, that their Gas Chambers held 2,000 persons and multiply this by 365 days and 2 years you already arrive at the number of just above 1.4 million, which are said to have died in this one of eight camps. And again, this is corroborated by the Hoefle Telegram for the year 1942.

I hope this answers your question.

Answer 2

The figure of six million is for the overall Jewish death toll in the Holocaust, not for the number of Jews who were killed in concentration and extermination camps. A very large number of Jews were killed in mass open air shootings by Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units).

Please see the related question.