Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of genocide; starvation; systematic, state-sponsored violence and persecution; and antisemitism perpetrated by Germany and its collaborators during the Holocaust.

Antisemitism is defined as hatred of or prejudice against Jewish people. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which comprises 31 member states including the US, adopted a non-legally binding definition of antisemitism on May 26, 2016. The IHRA encourages governments to use its definition. Antisemitism has existed for thousands of years. There has been a rise of antisemitism in recent years both in the US and around the world. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has educational materials on the history and background of antisemitism.

Auschwitz was the largest complex operated by Nazi Germany in Poland. In contrast to other Nazi murder centers, Auschwitz included both concentration or labor camps and a death camp. The main camp was built in 1940 and was referred to as “Auschwitz I.” Constructed in 1941, Auschwitz-Birkenau, or Auschwitz II, housed the gas chambers and crematoria. It was located around two miles from the main camp. There were also a number of subcamps where SS officers used Jewish people as slave labor. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, over 1.