The Holocaust

Historical eventJuly 311941

The Holocaust

The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring authorised SS officer Reinhard Heydrich to handle preparations for the "Final Solution of the Jewish question".

Everything on July 31Original source

In context

When
Thursday, July 31 194185 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1940s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1941.

What happened

The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered around six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, approximately two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were committed primarily through mass shootings across Eastern Europe and poison gas chambers in extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor,

July 31 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1941The Holocaust
  2. 2002Hamas
  3. 2006Fidel Castro
  4. 2007The Troubles
  5. 2007Operation Banner
  6. 2008East Coast Jets Flight 81
  7. 20122012 India blackouts
  8. 2012Michael Phelps
  9. 20142014 Kaohsiung gas explosions
  10. 20202020 Alaska mid-air collision
  11. 2020De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver

Also in 1941

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  • January 3World War IISecond World War: As part of Operation Compass, Australian and United Kingdom forces attacked Italian forces at the Battle of Bardia in E…
  • August 14Dominion of NewfoundlandAfter a secret meeting in Newfoundland, British prime minister Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (both pictured)…
  • September 3Deportation of Soviet Germans (1941–1942)The mass expulsion of Soviet Germans from the Volga German ASSR began.
  • December 10World War IISecond World War: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers ea…
  • June 8World War IIWorld War II: The Allies commenced the Syria–Lebanon campaign against Vichy French possessions in the Levant.
  • May 1Citizen KaneCitizen Kane, a widely acclaimed film by actor and director Orson Welles, premiered.

Everything we record for 1941 →

Sources

Cite this page

“The Holocaust”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/the-holocaust-1941-july-31, accessed October 26, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did The Holocaust happen?

July 31 1941 — 85 years ago, on a Thursday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

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