How and why did Nazi Germany carry out the genocide of Europe's Jews?
Topic 8.9 The Holocaust: the Nazi genocide of European Jews and other targeted groups, its roots in fascist ideology and antisemitism, how it was carried out, and its place in modern history.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 8.9, on the Holocaust: how Nazi antisemitism and racial ideology escalated from persecution to genocide, the industrialized mass murder of six million Jews and millions of other victims, and the significance of the Holocaust as the central atrocity of the 20th century.
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What this topic is asking
Topic 8.9 asks you to explain the Holocaust: the Nazi genocide of European Jews and other targeted groups, its roots in fascist ideology and antisemitism, how it was carried out, and its significance in modern history. The College Board treats the Holocaust with the seriousness it demands, as the central atrocity of the 20th century.
The roots of the Holocaust
The escalation to genocide
Industrialized mass murder
The Holocaust was a crime of the modern state.
Why it mattered
The Holocaust is the central atrocity of the 20th century and a turning point in human history. It stands as the ultimate warning of where racism, totalitarianism, and the machinery of the modern state can lead, the logical extreme of the racial nationalism that runs from Social Darwinism (Topic 7.4) through fascism (Topic 8.6). It reshaped the postwar world: it drove the development of the concept of genocide and of international human rights, influenced the founding of the United Nations and later the State of Israel, and remains a permanent reference point for moral and historical reflection.
Try this
Q1. What was the Holocaust, and roughly how many Jews were murdered? [Recall]
- Cue. The systematic, state-organized Nazi genocide of European Jews, about six million, along with millions of other targeted victims, carried out between 1933 and 1945.
Q2. Explain how Nazi ideology and the Second World War together produced the Holocaust. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Nazi racial ideology and antisemitism cast Jews as an enemy to be eliminated, and the cover and opportunity of the war and the conquest of eastern Europe allowed persecution to escalate into the industrialized mass murder of millions in death camps.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP 2019 (style)3 marksBriefly describe ONE root of the Holocaust. Briefly explain ONE way the Nazis carried out the genocide. Briefly explain ONE reason the Holocaust is seen as a turning point in modern history.Show worked answer →
A Short Answer Question (SAQ), 3 points, one per task.
A. Describe: Nazi racial ideology and antisemitism, building on older European prejudice and the racial thinking of Social Darwinism.
B. How it was carried out: persecution escalated to ghettos, mass shootings, and then industrialized murder in death camps.
C. Why it is a turning point: the systematic, state-organized genocide of millions shocked the conscience of humanity and reshaped how the world thinks about human rights.
Markers want a root, a method, and the significance.
AP 2021 (style)6 marksEvaluate the extent to which the Holocaust grew out of the ideology and conditions of the Nazi regime.Show worked answer →
A Long Essay Question (LEQ), scored on the 6-point causation rubric.
Thesis (1): "The Holocaust grew directly out of Nazi racial ideology and antisemitism, escalated by the conditions of total war and occupation into industrialized genocide."
Contextualization (1): the rise of fascism, racial thinking, and the Second World War.
Evidence (2): Nazi antisemitism and the move from persecution to extermination; the role of war and conquest; the machinery of the death camps.
Analysis (2): argue ideology was the root and war the accelerant, then add complexity by noting the bureaucratic and industrial nature of the killing.
Related dot points
- Topic 8.6 Fascism and Totalitarianism: the rise of fascist and totalitarian regimes between the wars (Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's USSR), their ideologies, and how they built total control over society.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 8.6, on fascism and totalitarianism: the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin, the ideology of fascism (ultranationalism, the leader, the enemy), and how totalitarian regimes used propaganda, terror, and the party to build total control over society.
- Topic 8.8 World War II: the causes, course, and total nature of the Second World War in Europe, from Nazi aggression to Allied victory, and its transformation of Europe and the world.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 8.8, on the Second World War in Europe: how Nazi aggression and the failure of appeasement led to war, the course from German conquest to Allied victory, the total and genocidal nature of the conflict, and how it left Europe devastated and divided between two superpowers.
- Topic 7.4 Darwinism and Social Darwinism: Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and how it was applied, as Social Darwinism, to justify competition, inequality, racism, and imperialism.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 7.4, on Darwinism and Social Darwinism: Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, its impact on science and religion, and how Social Darwinists misapplied survival of the fittest to society to justify economic inequality, racism, nationalism, and imperialism.
- Topic 7.2 Nationalism: the idea of the nation, its romantic and liberal roots, and how it became the dominant political force of the 19th century, uniting some peoples and dividing others.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 7.2, on 19th-century nationalism: the idea that peoples sharing a language, culture, and history should form their own nation-state, its romantic and liberal roots, and how it both unified peoples (Italy, Germany) and threatened the multinational empires.
- Topic 8.11 Continuity and Change in an Age of Global Conflict: applying the historical reasoning skill of continuity and change over time to the era of the world wars, revolution, and totalitarianism.
A focused answer to AP European History Topic 8.11, the continuity-and-change reasoning skill applied to Unit 8: what the age of the world wars and totalitarianism changed (Europe's global power, democracy, the role of the state) and what persisted, and how to structure a continuity-and-change LEQ or DBQ.
Sources & how we know this
- AP European History Course and Exam Description — College Board (2020)