Abstract

World War II brought a hecatomb to the world both on an unprecedented scale and with the use of unprecedented methods and technologies. According to estimates, between 70 and 85 million people died as a result of hostilities, more than 60% of whom were civilians. The world became a place of unheard-of crimes and persecution on the basis of one’s ethnicity, political leanings, religion, sexual orientation and inborn cognitive and physical disabilities, culminating in the genocide of Jews, Roma, Slavs, Chinese (beginning with the Nanking Massacre in 1937) and members of other nations. The genocide perpetrated during the Second World War (especially that committed by the Third Reich) was usually characterized by meticulous (socioeconomic, logistic and legal) planning on an industrial scale, combined with the development of the techniques and technology used to commit the murders. This unspeakable tragedy culminated in the use of two atomic bombs in the attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result, around 200,000 people died, two cities were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people – both from the generation that lived through the attack and from subsequent generations – would be affected by the ensuing radiation.