campaign against the Jews. The Nazis
killed many in the concentration camps.
Others died while working as slave
laborers. Eventually some 6 million Jews
died in the Holocaust.
By 1944 the war was going badly for
Hitler. Hitler killed himself on April 30,
1945, in Berlin, Germany. Germany
surrendered, and the war in Europe
ended on May 8.
#More to explore
Germany • Holocaust • Nazi Party
•WorldWar II
Hobby
A hobby is a fun activity based on a person’s
interests. Many people practice
hobbies during their time off from work
or studying. Popular hobbies include
drawing, collecting baseball cards, and
buildingWeb sites. A person with a
hobby is called a hobbyist.
Types of Hobbies
Most hobbies involve collecting, creating,
observing nature, or using special
equipment. Many people collect stamps,
coins, seashells, jewelry, or even action
figures. Creative hobbyists enjoy arts
Hobbies can
lead to
careers. A
child who likes
to collect rocks
could one day
become a
geologist.
Stamp collecting is a popular
hobby. Philately is another word
for stamp collecting.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Hobby 65
and crafts—for example, painting, singing,
writing, carving, sewing, or building
models. Hobbies for people who enjoy
nature include bird-watching and gardening.
Photography, ham radio (amateur
radio), and computer programming
are hobbies that require equipment.
Many hobbies are done alone, but
people often form groups or read magazines
based on their hobby. No matter
what the hobby, there is always an
opportunity to learn from it.
History
Before the 1900s most people spent
nearly all their time working and caring
for their families. Only wealthy people
could afford to have hobbies. After the
Industrial Revolution, modern technology
and machines gave people more
spare time, so more people developed
hobbies. In the late 20th century computers
created a whole new class of hobbies.
Many people today spend their
spare time surfing the Internet and playing
video games.
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh was a powerful leader of
Vietnam during a troubled period of
that country’s history. Ho fought to
make Vietnam a united, independent,
and Communist country. After his death
this dream came true.
Early Life
Ho Chi Minh was born on May 19,
1890, in Hoang Tru, Vietnam. His
original name was Nguyen Sinh Cung.
Vietnam was then part of French
Indochina, which was a colony of
France. As a young man, Ho worked as
a seaman and traveled widely.
Career
While living in Paris, France, Ho
became a Communist. Communism is a
political system in which the common
workers are important.
In 1930 he helped organize a Communist
party in Vietnam. The French government
did not want him in Vietnam,
so he lived in other countries. In about
1940 he began to use the name Ho Chi
Minh, which means “he who enlightens.”
In 1945, duringWorldWar II, the Japanese
took Vietnam from the French.
Then the United States defeated Japan.
Ho declared Vietnamese independence
on September 2, 1945. However, the
While he lived
in France,
Ho Chi Minh
was known as
Nguyen Ai
Quoc
(“Nguyen the
Patriot”).
Ho Chi Minh
66 Ho Chi Minh BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
French soon took back control of southern
Vietnam. Ho’s forces finally defeated
the French in 1954. But Vietnam was
then divided into two countries, North
Vietnam and South Vietnam.
Ho was president of North Vietnam. An
anti-Communist was president of South
Vietnam. Ho wanted to reunite the two
halves of Vietnam. Starting in about
1959, he supported a Communist rebellion
in South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese
fought back. This fighting
became known as the VietnamWar.
Death and Legacy
Ho Chi Minh died on September 2,
1969, while the VietnamWar was still
being fought. The Communists won
control of all of Vietnam in 1975. They
then changed the name of South Vietnam’s
capital city from Saigon to Ho
Chi Minh City.
#More to explore
Communism • Vietnam • VietnamWar
Hockey, Ice
Ice hockey is a fast-moving team sport.
It is usually played on an ice surface
called a rink. Hockey players wear ice
skates and move with great speed and
skill across the ice. Two teams of six
players compete to score the most
points, or goals. A team scores when it
moves the puck—a small, hard rubber
disk—into the opponent’s goal. Hockey
is a rough sport, with a great deal of
body contact between the players.
Playing Area and Equipment
A hockey rink is a rectangle with
rounded corners. In international
hockey the rink is 200 feet (61 meters)
long and 98.4 feet (30 meters) wide.
Professional hockey in North America is
played on a narrower rink.
Several boundary lines run across the
width of the rink. Two blue lines divide
the rink into three zones. Between the
Children who live in cold climates often learn to play ice hockey.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Hockey, Ice 67
two blue lines, at the middle of the rink,
is a red center line. At each end of the
rink is a red goal line with a goal cage in
the middle. The cage is 4 feet (1.2
meters) high and 6 feet (1.8 meters)
wide. A net encloses the sides and back.
The ice surface also includes markings
for face-offs. A face-off is used to start or
