The Final Solution

Question 1

What was the significance of the invasion of Poland (1939)?

Answer 1

Nazis gained control of 3 million more Jews; ghettos like Warsaw were set up to segregate Jews.

Question 2

What were Einsatzgruppen?

Answer 2

Nazi mobile killing squads that followed the army into the USSR (from 1941) and murdered Jews via mass shootings.

Question 3

Why was the invasion of the Soviet Union (1941) a turning point?

Answer 3

Mass shootings increased, and ideas of total racial war escalated toward systematic genocide.

Question 4

What was the Final Solution?

Answer 4

The systematic plan to exterminate all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, decided in 1941 and coordinated in 1942.

Question 5

What was the Wannsee Conference (January 1942)?

Answer 5

Nazi officials coordinated logistics for the mass extermination of Jews (e.g., transportation to death camps).

Question 6

Name key extermination camps used in the Final Solution.

Answer 6

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Majdanek, Chelmno.

Question 7

How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust?

Answer 7

Approximately 6 million Jews, along with millions of others including Roma, disabled people, and Slavs.

Question 8

What was the response of the Allies during the Holocaust?

Answer 8

Limited action; some knowledge existed, but military priorities and disbelief meant little was done until liberation.

Question 9

How is the Final Solution remembered today?

Answer 9

As one of history’s worst genocides – remembered through education, memorials, and trials (e.g., Nuremberg Trials).

Question 10

What was the significance of the Nuremberg Trials (1945–46)?

Answer 10

Senior Nazis were tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity – including the orchestration of the Final Solution.