81st Anniversary of the start of WWII
Today, 1 September, marks 81 years since the start of WWII in 1939.
The war officially began when Germany invaded Poland and two days later the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany. Before the start of the war, the Nazis had already begun perpetrating acts of hatred against the Jews of Germany and other victim groups. About half of the German Jewish population had already fled Germany as refugees to other nations.
Poland was home to the largest Jewish population in Europe and with Germany’s invasion, over 3 million Polish Jews were now in the hands of the Nazis. Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis would commit the greatest crime in history under the veil of war.
Image – German forces and Polish civilians on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland. The city burns in the background folllowing the German military assault.
Image courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
81st Anniversary of the start of WWII
Today, 1 September, marks 81 years since the start of WWII in 1939.
The war officially began when Germany invaded Poland and two days later the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany. Before the start of the war, the Nazis had already begun perpetrating acts of hatred against the Jews of Germany and other victim groups. About half of the German Jewish population had already fled Germany as refugees to other nations.
Poland was home to the largest Jewish population in Europe and with Germany’s invasion, over 3 million Polish Jews were now in the hands of the Nazis. Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis would commit the greatest crime in history under the veil of war.
Image – German forces and Polish civilians on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland. The city burns in the background folllowing the German military assault.
Image courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum