Racial Policies & Persecution

Untermenschen

Nazi term for "sub-humans" (Jews, Roma, Slavs).

Herrenvolk

The "Master Race" (Aryans).

The boycott of Jewish shops

1st April 1933 (largely unsuccessful but a sign of things to come).

The Nuremberg Laws (1935)

Stripped Jews of citizenship and banned marriage with non-Jews.

Definition of a Jew

Someone with three or four Jewish grandparents.

Kristallnacht (9-10 Nov 1938)

"Night of Broken Glass"; state-sponsored riots against Jews.

Trigger for Kristallnacht

Murder of Ernst vom Rath by a Polish Jew in Paris.

Results of Kristallnacht

91 Jews killed, 30,000 arrested, 7,500 businesses destroyed.

The "Fine"

Jews were forced to pay 1 billion marks for the damage caused during Kristallnacht.

Euthanasia (T4 Program)

Secret killing of the mentally/physically disabled (labeled "life unworthy of life").

Ghettoization

Forcing Jews into walled-off areas of cities (began in Poland, 1939).

The "J" stamp

From 1938, Jewish passports were stamped with a red "J."

Untermenschen Categories

Jews, Roma (Gypsies), Slavs, and "asocials" (alcoholics, homeless).

Sterilization of "Rhineland Bastards"

Children of Black French soldiers and German women were forcibly sterilized.

Anti-Semitic Children's Books

The Poisonous Mushroom taught kids how to "recognize" Jews.

Professional Bans (1933)

Jews were banned from the Civil Service, teaching, and law.

The Reich Citizenship Law

Only those of "German or kindred blood" could be citizens; Jews became "subjects."

Law for the Protection of German Blood

Banned marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Aryans.

The "Israel" and "Sara" Names

By 1938, Jews had to add these middle names to their ID cards if they didn't have "Jewish" names.

Banning from Public Spaces

Jews were gradually banned from swimming pools, parks, and cinemas.

Shop Signs

"Jews not wanted here" signs became common in German villages.

The Evian Conference (1938)

An international meeting where most countries (including the US/UK) refused to take more Jewish refugees.

Kindertransport

A program that allowed 10,000 Jewish children to escape to Britain.

Reinhard Heydrich

Tasked after Kristallnacht with speeding up the emigration of Jews.

Confiscation of Wealth

After 1938, Jewish property over 5,000 marks had to be registered and was often seized.

Persecution of the Mentally Ill

The "T4" program used carbon monoxide gas to kill patients in "nursing homes."

Homosexuality

Seen as a threat to the "birth rate"; 100,000 were arrested, many sent to camps.

The "Vagrants" Law

Homeless people were sent to "workhouses" or camps to be "cured" of their idleness.

The Star of David

Note: Jews in Germany weren't forced to wear the yellow star in public until 1941 (after the GCSE Unit 4 timeframe ends).

Jewish Schools

By 1938, Jewish children were banned from all German state schools.

Persecution of Slavs

Nazis believed they should be "serfs" (slaves) for the German Master Race.

The ultimate goal (1939)

At this stage, the goal was "Judenrein" (a Germany free of Jews) through forced emigration, not yet the mass extermination of the "Final Solution."