* Germany (1942-1945). At the height of its power, Germany controlled territory in countries with extensive pre-war Jewish populations: Germany and Austria (240,000 Jews), Poland (3,300,000), the Baltic nations (253,000), Slovakia (90,000), Greece (70,000), the Netherlands (140,000), Hungary (650,000), Soviet States (1,875,000), Belgium (65,000), Yugoslavia (43,000), Romania (600,000), Norway (2,173), France (350,000), Bulgaria (64,000), Italy (40,000), Luxembourg (5,000), Russian SFSR (975,000), Denmark (8,000). Of the 8,861,800 Jews living in these countries, 5,933,900 (67%) were murdered, often with the willful collaboration of these countries’ citizens.

I am aware of so many catastrophes I have not included, some of which I will now mention in a phrase or two simply to emphasize the breadth and depth of catastrophe as a human possibility.

* The Nazi Eugenics, between 1939 and 1941, 80,000 to 100,000 mentally ill adults in institutions, 5,000 children in institutions, and 1,000 Jews in institutions were killed.

* The Polish genocide. In preparation for the occupation of Poland, an anti-intelligentsia action resulted in the murder of 100,000 Polish citizens. The goal was to complete the Germanization of western regions of Poland before being settled by pure Aryans.

* Genocide of the Slavic population in the Soviet Union. As central to their plan (lebensraum) of expansion eastward and creating a New Order in Europe, the Nazis set about purifying their new territory by enslaving, expelling, and destroying the Slavic peoples of Europe whom they considered racially inferior and non-Aryan. The death toll in areas occupied by Germany was estimated at 13.7 million.