Victims and survivors Young children were the main victims because Hitler had a theory that once the children grow up as parents they form a new generation of Jews. Infants were taken away from their mothers to see how long they could survive without being fed or nurtured. Many died during the cattle ride to the camps, those who survived were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Over 1.1 million children perished during the Holocaust. A total of six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. During the time of the Holocaust, Hitler introduced the "Nuremberg Law", which made it illegal to marry any Jew or have any sort of relationship with that particular group. Hitler also stripped them of their citizenship and civil rights. The only way the Jews were capable of being spared was if their grandparents had converted to Christianity before January 18, 1871. Besides the Jews, many groups were also killed. For example, approximately 500,000 other people were victimized.