Jewish people practice the religion of Judaism, one of the world's oldest major religions. It predates Christianity by over 1,000 years. Jews have often been persecuted throughout history. For centuries, Jewish families were forced to live in only certain areas. They were only allowed to work in certain professions, and they were often turned into scapegoats, being wrongfully blamed for many social problems. In the Middle Ages, Jewish people were even expelled from entire countries in Europe, like England and France.
In the 17th century, Jewish people were allowed back into the countries that had driven them away hundreds of years earlier. This does not mean that Jews were accepted across Europe. They were still treated poorly, shunned, and blamed for many problems in society. And there were lots of problems in 1930s Germany. Millions of Germans were jobless. Many of the people that had jobs still couldn't afford food or basic necessities. Of course, Jewish people did not cause Germany's problems, but they became scapegoats once again.
When Hitler came to power, he claimed to have the solutions to Germany's problems. One of his solutions was to take land from other countries. He started by invading Poland in 1939.

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