The Second World War was especially barbaric in Eastern Europe. More than 8 million Russian soldiers perished and 3 million non-Jewish Polish citizens were killed (in addition to the 3 million Jewish Poles). According to the National Socialist ideology Slavic people were Untermenschen (inferior people), just good enough to carry out forced labour. During the war the nazis primarily hunted down Jews and gypsies (Sinti and Roma), but other population groups were also persecuted and suffered greatly. Starting in 1935, approximately 10,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were deported from Germany to concentration camps; a quarter of them did not survive. Homosexuality was also suppressed in nazi Germany. Approximately 50,000 male homosexuals were sentenced to prison; five thousand were taken to camps even after serving their sentence. Mentally and physically disabled persons and other people who according to the nazis did not meet the nazi standards for the Aryan race suffered a lot both before and during the war. Starting in 1934, between 300,000 and 400,000 of them (approximately 0.5% of the German population) were forced to undergo sterilisation. An estimate of 200,000 people were murdered as part of what was euphemistically called an Euthanasia programme. As early as December 1939, the Nazis began to murder handicapped people by gassing.
Personal story: Deliana Rademakers