Nazi Germany and the Holocaust

Social Darwinism

  • Herbert Spencer, an Englishman, developed Social Darwinism by applying Charles Darwin's evolution theories to human society.
  • Darwin's research showed species evolve; only the strongest survive in competitive environments.
  • Spencer believed some humans are biologically superior, with the 'fit' at the top and the 'unfit' at the bottom.
  • He argued the strong should thrive at the expense of the weak, known as 'survival of the fittest'.
  • Spencer saw human society constantly evolving, with the fittest dominating.
  • Social Darwinism differs greatly from Darwinism, despite sharing a name and concepts.
  • It led to a social hierarchy, with white, wealthy, and powerful groups at the top and marginalized groups, like poor people, black people and Jews, at the bottom.
  • This appealed to the rich and powerful as it justified social inequalities.
  • It supported the idea that technologically advanced nations had the moral right to conquer and 'civilize' others.
  • Social Darwinism seemed to justify imperialism, colonialism, racism, and poverty.
  • By the 20th century, with expanding knowledge, Social Darwinism was discredited.
  • The interpretation of Social Darwinism varied by country.

Eugenics

  • Eugenics means 'good in birth' and involves improving human or animal species.

Positive Eugenics

  • Positive eugenics encourages reproduction among those with superior inheritable traits and intelligence to improve the human race.

Francis Galton

  • The theory of eugenics came from Social Darwinism, categorizing people into stronger and weaker groups.

Negative Eugenics and Selective Breeding

  • Negative eugenics discourages reproduction by people with genetic defects or those considered inferior to prevent racial degeneration.
  • Some societies promoted sterilization, abortion, and contraception for the 'unfit' while encouraging the 'fit' to have children.
  • Nazi Germany enthusiastically supported negative eugenics, sterilizing about a quarter of a million people and murdering over 70,000 in mental hospitals, plus millions more due to race or religion.

Hitler's Consolidation of Power (1933-1934)

  • The Great Depression of 1929 led to a global economic crisis, severely affecting Germany.
  • The Weimar Republic failed to resolve Germany's economic problems, leading many Germans to turn to the Nazi Party.
  • In 1933, the Nazi Party won the largest share (43%) in a democratic election, and Hitler became Chancellor.
  • Hitler and the Nazi Party consolidated power, turning Germany into a totalitarian dictatorship known as the Third Reich.
  • The Nazi Party was the only political party allowed; others were banned.
  • Hitler became all-powerful.
  • Steps to consolidate Nazi power included:
    • The Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, granting Hitler dictatorial powers.
    • The German army swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler personally.
    • Nazi propaganda, led by Joseph Goebbels, controlled public opinion.
    • The Gestapo, led by Heinrich Himmler, eliminated opposition.
    • The Schutzstaffel (SS), also led by Himmler, enforced Nazi racial beliefs and ran concentration camps.
    • When Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler combined the titles of Chancellor and President, becoming Der Führer (leader).

Nazi Racial Ideology

Pillars of Nazi Ideology

  • The rejection of individual rights in favor of totalitarian state power.
  • Belief in the superiority of a 'pure Aryan' (German) race to create a racially pure society.

Nazi Belief in Aryan Superiority

  • Nazi racial policies stemmed from Social Darwinism and scientific racism.
  • The Nazis aimed to create a thousand-year Reich populated only by 'pure Aryans'.
  • Aryans were considered superior, while Jews and other groups were deemed inferior.
  • Racial propaganda portrayed Jews negatively, paving the way for the Holocaust.

Nazi Views of Jews

  • The Nazi Party declared that only persons of German blood could be citizens.
  • They forbade 'mixed marriages' between Aryans and 'Untermenschen' to maintain Aryan purity.
  • Hitler blamed Jews for Germany's misfortunes, viewing them as the greatest threat.
  • Nazi ideology demonized Jews, portraying them as destroyers of civilization, criminals, aliens, parasites, and the incarnation of evil.

Nazi Ideas Drawn from Eugenics

Nazi Ideas Drawn from Eugenics in the USA

  • Hitler based his ideas for a 'perfect German master race' on eugenics theories in the USA.
  • The Nazis sought to eliminate anyone with any mental or physical disability/disorder.
  • The Nazis took the practice of eugenics to the very extreme, unlike the United States which practiced sterilisations of black women and isolation of the mentally and physically challenged, the Nazis decided to kill those they considered inferior ultimately promoting a strong, powerful German Nation.

Nazi Ideas Drawn from Colonial Anthropologists in Namibia

  • German South-West Africa was used by German anthropologist, Dr. Eugene Fischer as a field laboratory to create pseudo-scientific ideas of race. He undertook very flawed experiments to prove that physical features are related to intelligence and moral behaviour.
  • The German colonial anthropologist's work combined Galton's eugenics and the ideas of Aryan supremacy.
  • The Germans changed the word 'eugenics' to 'Rassenhygiene' or 'race hygiene'.

Creation of a Racial State in Germany

Anti-Semitism in Germany

  • Nazis built on a strong tradition of European anti-Semitism.
  • In 1933, there were 500,000 Jews in Germany who considered themselves German, but the Nazis discriminated against them.
  • Nazi racial policies led to the Holocaust, the genocide of six million Jews.

Denial of Rights to Jews

  • Initially, persecution was not well-organized, but a propaganda campaign fostered hatred of Jews.

Defining the German Nation in Relation to 'the Other'

  • Nazi German nationalism was exclusive; only Aryans belonged in the German nation.
  • The Nazis considered non-Aryans as impure sub-humans who did not deserve to live.

Applying Racial and Eugenics Laws: Purifying the Nation

Euthanasia

  • Hitler's euthanasia program aimed to kill people he considered unfit.
  • Disabled children were the first targets, killed with large doses of sedatives.
  • Adults were killed in the T4 Action Programme, initially with lethal injections, then mass gassing with carbon monoxide.
  • About 70,000 people were killed.

Groups Targeted by the Nazis

  • The Nazis established concentration camps in 1933 for political opponents and later used them to imprison targeted groups.

Racial Groups Targeted

  • The Nazis targeted Jews, Gypsies (Roma and Sinti), and dark-skinned Germans.
  • Black children were forcibly sterilised or disappeared into Nazi camps.
  • Gypsies were sterilised and prohibited from marrying 'Aryan' Germans.
  • Nearly a quarter million Sinti and Roma died at the hands of the Nazis.

Opposition Groups Targeted

  • Communists, socialists, social democrats, and trade union leaders were targeted.
Anti-Social Elements
  • The Nazis also targeted anti-social elements such as homosexuals and criminals.
  • Homosexuals were sent to prisons and concentration camps, where many died.
Jehovah's Witnesses
  • Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted for refusing to join the army or give the Nazi salute.
  • Many were sent to prisons and concentration camps.

From Persecution to Mass Murder: The Final Solution

  • In November 1938, Kristallnacht marked a turning point in the persecution of Jews.

1938: Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass)

  • Nazi thugs destroyed Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues.
  • Over 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps, and 91 were killed.

1939: Outbreak of World War Two

  • German Jews were placed under curfew and their radios were confiscated.
  • Jews in German-occupied Poland were resettled into ghettos.
  • Einsatzgruppen murdered thousands of Jews.

1941: Invasion of the USSR

  • The Einsatzgruppen shot over 500,000 Soviet Jews.

1942-45: From Murder to Genocide

  • Mass deportation of Jews to concentration camps in eastern Europe began.
1942: Wannsee Conference
  • Nazi leaders decided on the 'final solution': the extermination of the Jewish race.
  • Death camps were built, largely in Poland, where Jews were worked to death or gassed.
  • Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

The Creation of Labor and Extermination Camps

  • Mass murder of the Jews was implemented with disregard for political and economic consequences.
  • Jews in labor camps and ghettos were killed, although they were a cheap labor force.
  • Trains were used to transport Jews to death camps, despite needing them for the war effort.

Choices That the German People Made Under Nazism

  • People in Nazi Germany reacted to racism and oppression in four ways: perpetration, witnessing, resistance, or rescue.

Oskar Schindler: A Perpetrator and a Rescuer

  • Oskar Schindler, a Nazi Party member, profited from Jewish slave labor but later saved over 1000 Jews.

What Turns a Bystander Into Either a Perpetrator or a Rescuer?

  • People could either resist Nazism, or do nothing.
  • Factors that influenced these actions were fear of punishment, acceptance of Nazi propaganda, or ignorance of the atrocities.

Choices People Could Make: Exile, Accommodation, or Defiance

  • Hitler and the German Catholic Church agreed not to interfere with each other.

  • Protestant 'German Christians' expelled church members with Jewish ancestry.

  • The 'Confessing Church', led by Pastor Martin Niemöller, opposed these views.

Exile

  • Many Jews escaped from Nazi control before World War Two.

Defiance

  • Defiance was dangerous, but many people defied the Nazi state.
  • Some smuggled Jews out of Germany or joined underground armed forces.
  • Sympathetic non-Jews helped Jews at personal risk.
  • Anne Frank hid with the help of Miep Gies but was eventually betrayed and died in a concentration camp.
  • The White Rose Resistance Movement spoke out against Nazism but was arrested and sentenced to death.