4.4 - The persecution of minorities

Nazi Racial Beliefs — Eugenics & Racial Hygiene

Nazis believed the Aryan race (tall, blond, blue-eyed) was superior. Eugenics = selective breeding to produce "better" humans. Racial hygiene = only Aryans should reproduce. "Gypsies", Jews and Slavs seen as Untermenschen (sub-humans). Used to justify all persecution of minorities.

Persecution of Other Minorities

'Gypsies' (Roma): arrested from 1933, forced into camps from 1936, banned from travelling 1938, ordered for deportation 1939. Homosexuals: laws strengthened 1935 — 8,000 imprisoned by 1938, 5,000 died in concentration camps. Disabled: 400,000 forcibly sterilised by 1939. T4 Programme (1939): over 5,000 disabled children killed.

Persecution of Jews — Early Steps (1933–34)

Cause: Hitler's longstanding anti-Semitism + Jews used as scapegoat for Germany's problems. | Event: April 1933 — boycott of Jewish shops, Jews banned from government jobs. September 1933 — banned from inheriting land. May 1935 — banned from army. Local councils banned Jews from parks and pools. | Consequence: Jews increasingly excluded from German life.

The Nuremberg Laws (1935)

Cause: Nazis wanted to formally strip Jews of citizenship and prevent "racial mixing." | Event: 15 September 1935 — two laws passed: Jews were no longer German citizens (just "subjects"), banned from marrying or having relations with German citizens. | Consequence: Jews legally made second-class people. Persecution became state policy backed by law.

Kristallnacht — Night of Broken Glass (9–10 November 1938)

Cause: A Jewish teenager shot a German diplomat in Paris — Goebbels used this as an excuse to launch a nationwide attack on Jews. | Event: SA, SS and Hitler Youth attacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues. 814 shops, 171 homes and 191 synagogues destroyed. ~100 Jews killed, 20,000 arrested and sent to concentration camps. Jews fined 1 billion marks for the damage. | Consequence: Showed persecution was escalating dangerously. Many foreign countries condemned it, but few Germans protested.