(The Shoah)
Its origins were in Germany in January 1933, when the Nazis took power. It ended with the surrender of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II in May 1945. The period of Nazi control of Germany saw increasingly negative actions against Jews in the territories under Nazi Germany's control — an ever-expanding area as Adolf Hitler's military successes conquered more and more countries and their populations. Under Nazi Germany, millions of European Jews lived in agony and fear, and some 6 million were tortured and killed. This was part of a systematic attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. After World War II, large portions of the remaining Jewish populations immigrated (see ALIYA) to Israel. Israel remembers the Holocaust each year on the 27th day of Nisan of the Jewish calendar—known as Yom Ha'shoah. The Holocaust continues to have a major effect on Israel's collective psychology and on virtually every aspect of Israeli politics and security and foreign policy.
Historical Dictionary of Israel. Bernard Reich David H. Goldberg. Edited by Jon Woronoff..