History - Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939 - Persecution of Minorities

Racial ideologies

1. Define eugenics

2. History

3. Used by Nazis

4. Define racial hygiene

5. Used by Nazis

6. Hitler’s views

7. Used by Nazis

8. Anti-Semitism common in Europe

9. Anti-Semitism in Germany

1. Science of selective breeding

2. Popular in Europe from 1880’s, scientists taking ideas from Charles Darwin. Survival of the fittest explained how evolution could be controlled to produce better human beings

3. Applied eugenics to policies, became a school subject, encouraged reproduction in ‘best’ parents and sterilised ‘unsuitable’ parents through medical procedure

4. Selecting best parents from any race, specifically superior Aryans from a specific part of Europe

5. Adopted policies to make Germany as Aryan as possible, idea of pure offspring unspoiled by other racial characteristics taught in schools, Hitler Youth and propaganda

6. Set out in Mein Kampf, claimed there was a hierarchy of races. Herrenvolk (master race) Aryans, Untermenschen (other races) Slavs of Eastern Europe, Lebensunwertes (unworthy of life) Gypsies and Jews

7. Affected who was allowed to be a German citizen

8. Religion, customs and looks made them stand out, Christians hated jews blaming them for the execution of Christ, jealousy that Jews succeeded in finance and business

9. Increased in 1930s. German Nationalists efforts to unite Germany as a single country led to a heightened opposition to Germany’s ‘enemies’. Defeat in WW1, Treaty of Versailles, inflation, economic depression blamed on jews by nationalist politicians. Hitlers bitterness towards jews was given freedom when he came to power in 1933

Treatment of minorities

1. Minority

2. Persecuted why

3. Nazi actions

4. Minority

5. Persecuted why

6. Nazi actions

7. Minority

8. Persecuted why

9. Nazi actions

10. Minority

11. Persecuted why

12. Nazi actions

1. Slavs. Many modern descendants of Slavic origin lived in Germany in 1930s

2. Nazi propaganda and school taught they were Untermenschen, insisted they were from different origin than Aryan Germans and needed to be treated differently

3. Threatened to invade Slav communities and countries in Eastern Europe for Lebensraum (extra living space) for Germans

4. Gypsies (Roma people). Around 26,000 in Germany in 1930s

5. Didn’t work enough or contribute to taxes, spoiled racial purity

6. After 1933, often arrested as social nuisances and sent to concentration camps. 1938, banned from travelling in groups, rounded up put on a a register of gypsies and tested for racial characteristics which meant they would lose their citizenship and social benefits if they failed. 1939, orders given to prepare all gypsies for deportation

7. Homosexuals

8. Lowered moral standards, spoiled racial purity

9. Strengthened laws against homosexuality, 8000 imprisoned in 1938. Released prisoners sent to concentration camps, 5000 died there. Laws encouraged voluntary castration of homosexuals

10. Disabled

11. Burden on society, spoiled racial purity

12. 1933, passed Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring, made it compulsory for the mentally ill, alcoholic, deformed, epileptic, death, blind to be surgically sterilised. 400,000 people by 1939. 1939, T4 Programme, babies with severe mental/physical disabilities to be killed by starvation or lethal drug overdose. Eventually, juveniles up to 17 were included. 5,000 children killed.

Jewish persecution timeline

1. Business

2. Land

3. Leisure

4. Army

5. Citizenship

6. Belongings

7. Identity

8. Attacks

1. 30th March 1933, Nazi party announced from 10am April 1st, official boycott would begin of all Jewish businesses, doctors and lawyers. SA stormtroopers sent to paint Jewish stars or the word ‘Jude’ outside businesses and stand outside with banners discouraging people from going inside. April, banned from government jobs, civil servants and teachers sacked

2. September 1933, banned from inheriting land

3. 1934, some local councils banned Jews from parks and swimming pools

4. May 1935, banned from army

5. 15 September 1935, Nuremberg Laws passed

6. March 1938, had to register all of their possessions, making it easier for government to confiscate

7. March 1938, had to carry identity cards, making it easier for them to be persecuted

8. November 1938, Kristallnacht

Nuremberg Laws

1. Law

2. Stated

3. Law

4. Stated

1. Reich Law on Citizenship

2. Only those of German blood could be German citizens. Jews became German ‘subjects’ and lost the right to vote, to hold government office or German passports

3. Reich Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour

4. Jews forbidden from marrying German citizens and engaging in sexual relations

Kristallnacht

1. Initial incident

2. Goebbels used this

3. Term ‘Kristallnacht’

4. Damage

5. Nazi response

6. Impact on Jews

7. German people’s reaction

8. Desired Nazi portrayal of events

9. Aftermath

1. 8th November 1938, young Polish jew Herschel Grynszpan walked into German embassy in Paris and shot an official, protesting against treatment of his parents who had been deported from Germany to Poland

2. As opportunity to organise anti-Jewish demonstrations (attacks on Jewish property, homes, synagogues)

3. So many windows smashed in, events became known as ‘Crystal Night’ ‘Night of Broken Glass’

4. 100 Jews killed, 20,000 sent to concentration camps, 7,500 businesses and 191 synagogues destroyed

5. Hitler officially blamed Jews for having provoked the attack

6. Government did not permit Jewish property owners to make insurance claims for damage to property and surviving businesses not allowed to re-open under Jewish management, instead pure Germans in charge

7. Many disgusted

8. Hitler and Goebbels didn’t want it seen as the work of Nazis but as a spontaneous act of vengeance by German people.

9. Jews fined 1 billion Reichsmarks as compensation for damage caused, forced into ghettos and evicted from homes