Antisemitism and the Rise of the Nazis

Cult of Personality

• Idealized, heroic image of a leader.

• Unconditional support and adoration from the people.

• Perceptions created through:

  • Propaganda

  • Mass media

  • Acts of patriotism (true or false)

  • Theatrical events

• Common in the 1930s and 1940s with dictators:

  • Benito Mussolini

  • Adolf Hitler

  • Francisco Franco

• Can also be benevolent leaders:

  • Franklin Roosevelt

  • Queen Elizabeth II

Antisemitism

• Hostility, prejudice, or discrimination towards Jewish people.

• Rooted in hatred or dislike of Jews.

• Examples include books with caricatures of Jewish men (bald, big nose, rich).

• Hatred goes back thousands of years, originating in biblical times.

• Existed in the US since the colonial period.

• Between 1880 and 1920, over 3,000,000 Jews migrated to the US from Eastern Europe.

  • This led to a resurgence of antisemitic animosities.

  • Myths about Jewish control of banks and the monetary system resurfaced.

• Jewish people became scapegoats for societal problems.

• Early 1900s: immigration laws aimed at keeping Jewish people out of the country.

• By 1930, Jews made up less than 4% of the US population.

Henry Ford and Antisemitism

• Henry Ford published his own newspaper, the Dearborn Independent.

• Ford believed World War I was started by a secret conspiracy of "international Jews" seeking profit.

• Ford's ideas came from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

• Book written in 1903 in Russia.

• Lays out a vast Jewish conspiracy for world domination.

• Claimed Jews secretly control the media and banking systems.

• The book was a complete fabrication by the Russian government to justify persecution of Jews.

• The Nazis in the 1930s made it required reading in public schools.

• Reprinted in dozens of languages, including English.

• Referenced by white supremacists, radical Islamists, and antisemitic politicians.

The Dearborn Independent

• Henry Ford's newspaper.

• Became one of the biggest selling newspapers in Michigan and the Eastern US.

• Reprinted antisemitic claims from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

• Ford had nearly a million subscribers.

• Adolf Hitler was a fan of Henry Ford.

  • Stated he would put Ford's theories into practice in Germany.

  • Quoted passages from Ford’s newspaper in Mein Kampf.

• By 1929, Ford apologized but the damage was done.

• In 1938, the Nazi government gave Henry Ford the Grand Cross of the German Empire.

The Murder of Mary Phagan and Leo Frank Case

• In April 1913, in Atlanta, Georgia, the body of 13-year-old Mary Phagan was found in a pencil factory.

• Leo Frank, a Jewish factory supervisor from Texas and Cornell graduate, was arrested for the murder.

• Frank was president of the local Jewish organization in Atlanta.

• Despite no evidence, he was convicted based on the testimony of a black janitor (who historians believe was likely the actual killer).

• An African American was not allowed to testify against a white man in court.

• Frank was not considered a white man.

• Frank was convicted and sentenced to die.

• The governor of Georgia commuted Frank's sentence to life in prison.

• An angry white mob broke into the prison, kidnapped Frank, and lynched him.

• Souvenirs were sold, and postcards of the lynching were distributed.

• Thousands of Jewish people fled Georgia and other parts of the South.

• The Leo Frank case led to the formation of the Anti-Defamation League in 1913.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

• Formed in 1913 to fight antisemitism.

• Monitored anti-Jewish groups across The United States.

• They wrote reports to congress, later on even showing connections between these anti Semitic groups and the Nazi government in Germany.

• Forced an apology from Henry Ford in 1927.

• Still exists today with over 25 offices in The United States, Israel, and Europe.

Eugenics

• Belief that only certain humans improve the genetic quality of mankind.

• Superior races must limit the reproduction of inferior races.

• Popular in the US in the 1920s and 1930s.

• Taught in colleges and universities.

• Supported by medical associations and ministers.

• Funded by John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.

Supporters of Eugenics

• Teddy Roosevelt: "Society has no business permitting degenerates to reproduce."

• Alexander Graham Bell: Advocated for stopping marriages and reproduction between deaf people and people that were deemed feeble minded.

• Margaret Sanger: Believed birth control was a way to weed out the unfit and that African Americans are like weeds in a garden that should be plucked out.

• W. E. B. Du Bois: Wanted to divide the African American community into groups and prohibit those he considered to be in the lowest group from breeding.

• Clarence Darrow: Suggested children born with birth defects should be put to death.

• George Bernard Shaw: Said many people need to be put out of existence because they waste other people's time to look after them.

• Doctor Robert Foster Kennedy: In favor of terminating the lives of those hopeless ones who never should have been born.

• Helen Keller: Human life is sacred only when it is of some use to the world.

Sterilization Laws

• By the end of the 1930s, 33 of 48 states had passed laws allowing forced sterilization.

• Over 60,000 Americans were sterilized against their will.

• 31 of these 33 states still have a forced sterilization law on the books in some capacity.

Fascism

• Began in Italy in the early 20th century.

• A far-right, highly nationalistic political ideology.

• Totalitarian - believes in a one-party state that prohibits opposition.

• State has total control of both public and private life.

• Rejects individualism.

• Believes in a natural racial hierarchy.

• Requires a strong military to carry out the will of the state.

• Business and the state must unite as one.

• Opposes socialism, democracy, and communism.

• Italian fascists wanted to return Italy to its previous glory (Roman Empire).

• Economic conditions are very bad in Italy, and the fascists are going to see their opportunity.

• Led by Benito Mussolini.

Mussolini's Rise to Power

• Mussolini helped create the fascist ideology.

• He was short but a good speaker in front of crowds.

• In October 1922, Mussolini and the Blackshirts marched on Rome.

• They demanded the prime minister's resignation.

• The king, Victor Emmanuel III, fearing a military coup, appointed Mussolini as prime minister.

• This was essentially a bloodless coup.

• The king acquiesced, also known as appeasement, which is a temporary solution.

• Winston Churchill: “Those who appease the crocodile are simply the last to be eaten.”

• By 1925, the fascists controlled Italy and all other political parties were outlawed.

• Mussolini became a dictator, titled "il duche" (the leader).

• Fascists created public work projects, improved infrastructure, and built up the military.

• This brought Italy out of the depression before other countries.

Italian Expansion

• Mussolini sought to restore the old Roman Empire.

• In 1928 and 1932, Italy invaded Libya, killing almost 60,000 Libyan civilians, putting them in concentration camps and then attacked the concentration camps from the air with chemical weapons.

• They also took over Albania.

• In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia, massacring civilians and using chemical weapons.

• Emperor Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations.

• The League of Nations had no real power.

• This revealed the League's powerlessness and that Great Britain and France had no stomach for a fight.

• In 1936, Italy entered an alliance with Nazi Germany, the Rome-Berlin axis.

The Weimar Republic

• The democratic government in Germany after World War I (1919-1933).

• Between 1919 and 1923, Germany experienced high unemployment, failed businesses, and hyperinflation.

• In 1922, a loaf of bread cost 160 marks in Germany.

• In 1923, that same loaf of bread cost 200,000,000,000 marks.

• At one point, 1 American dollar could be traded for 4,200,000,000,000.0 marks.

• Their money is worthless.

• Between 1924 and 1929, Germany stabilized and experienced a golden era.

• Culturally, there was a renaissance in art and music.

• Berlin was the movie capital of the world.

• Germany was progressive toward minorities and gays.

The Rise of the Nazis

• The US stock market crashed in 1929, pulling the rest of the world into the depression.

• Germany slipped deeper into the depression.

• In 1930, the Communist Party gained seats in the Reichstag (congress).

• The National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) became the largest party in the country.

• Founded in 1919, originally called the German Workers' Party.

• Preached anticommunism, antisemitism, and the return of Germany to its former glory.

• Adolf Hitler joined the party and became its leader.

• Hitler changed the name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

• The Nazis thought they can do what Mussolini did in Italy.

• In November 1923, Hitler and his supporters marched in Munich in the Beer Hall Pusch and tried to overthrow the German government.

• The crowd didn't wanna hear what they were talking about.

• The police and the German army quickly moved in and put down this coup and arrested everyone.

• The leaders were arrested and charged with treason.

• Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison (appeasement).

• While in prison, he wrote Mein Kampf.

• It sold nearly a million copies by 1933.

• This would also be required reading in schools and in homes once the Nazis take power.

• Hitler was released after a little over a year and went back to rebuilding the Nazi party.

• When the depression hit in 1929, the Nazis blamed capitalists and communists.

Hitler Becomes Chancellor

• In 1932, Hitler ran for president against Paul von Hindenburg.

• Hindenburg won easily.

• Hitler gained 37% of the vote which is the most he or the Nazis will ever gain in German elections.

• A year after this election, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as the chancellor of Germany (appeasement).

• A month after Hitler became chancellor, the Reichstag (congress) burned in a fire.

• Hitler blamed the communist party.

• Historians know that he was hired by the Nazis to start this fire.

• In 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act.

• This gave the chancellor (Hitler) the power to make and enforce laws without parliament (congress).

• The Enabling Act essentially puts all power under the Nazi party control.

Consolidating Power

• Hitler needed to remove two roadblocks to become supreme leader of Germany. Those roadblocks are the brown shirts (SA) which are the thugs of the Nazi party.

  • They are a police group that Hitler helped create in 1921.

• By the mid-1930s, the brown shirts (SA) had become larger than the German army.

  • This group is now more loyal to their leader, Ernst Rohm, than they are to Adolf Hitler.

• From June 30 to July 2, 1934, Hitler carried out the Night of the Long Knives.

• It will be carried out by his other Nazi groups that he's in control of, the Schutzstaffel, the SS, and the other one that I'm not gonna attempt to pronounce, the Gestapo, the secret police. Both of these organizations are under a man named Heinrich Himmler, who is one of Hitler's most devoted deputies.

• During the Night of the Long Knives, the SS and the Gestapo carried out raids against the brown shirts (SA).

• Thousands were executed, tortured, or sent to concentration camps.

• The SS and the Gestapo at this time period are not part of the German government.

• This his own private group to go after what he thinks are his political opponents and to execute them.

• Hitler went on German radio to admit what he did.

• He said it was for the German people, and he would do it again for them.

• Hitler told the German people the SA was full of homosexuals, and they were also communist planning to overthrow the government.

• There were no proof of this, and the German people never asked for it.

• Von Hindenburg, the president, was the second roadblock.

• Hitler will never have complete power as long as Hindenburg is alive.

• In August 1934, the 86-year-old von Hindenburg died of natural causes.

• Hitler declared himself the new president.

• Then immediately merges the offices of president and chancellor into one.

• Gave himself a new title, the leader.

• Hitler does not come to power because the German people elected him

• He also does not come to power through a violent military coup.

• Hitler just snakes his way up through the system as he breaks law after law acquiring more and more power with the German people applauding and supporting him.

Violation of the Treaty of Versailles

• By late 1934, the Nazis and Adolf Hitler were in complete control of Germany.

• Immediately began rebuilding the German military in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.

• The rest of the world didn't do anything when they realized Hitler has violated the treaty.

The Nuremberg Laws

• In 1935, the Nazis passed the Nuremberg Laws, targeting Jews.

• Forbade marriages or sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews.

• Said only those of German blood are citizens.

• Jewish people can only work in government jobs, medicine, law, or teaching.

• They're all fired.

• Germany's top scientists, including Albert Einstein, were Jewish, and they will begin fleeing the country after these laws.

• If you wanted to leave Germany, you could, but there will be a 90% tax on your wealth.

• How dare you hypocrites complain about what I'm doing?

• Hitler patterned these laws after Jim Crow laws in the American South.

• Book burnings began targeting Jewish authors, historians, and scientists.

• Citizens felt empowered to increase harassment and violence toward Jews.

Kristallnacht

• In November 1938, a German diplomat was assassinated in Paris by a Jewish teenager.

• The Nazis used this to drum up more antisemitism and propaganda.

• The SA, SS, Gestapo, and other paramilitary groups carried out Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).

• They carried out violent attacks against Jewish people, homes, hospitals, businesses, schools, and synagogues.

• Hundreds were dead, and over 30,000 sent to concentration camps.

• The government did nothing to prevent/stop it.

• It had the blessing of Adolf Hitler.

• Kristallnacht was a bridge too far for many people in the world.

• The open persecution and violence of German citizens, Jewish citizens, or

• Some people are horrified at what's taking place here at this time. These individuals that feel such a war are never for this party or this man.

• The German citizens don't say something negative about the Nazis or about Adolf Hitler the next day, there's a knock at your door, and there's a Gestapo agent, and you're taken for questioning and maybe likely are never seen again
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• After Kristallnacht, support for the Nazis around the world began to fade, but the world still did nothing to stop them.

Antisemitism in America

• Prior to Kristallnacht, public opinion in America to what was happening in Germany ranged from indifference to outright support.

• Many Americans already had antisemitic tendencies.

• Father Coughlin praised Adolf Hitler and the actions of the Nazis.

• He accused Jews of starting the depression.

• Coughlin published his own magazine, Social Justice, that reprinted chapters from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

• The Nazi party funneled money Coughlin's radio show and magazine.

• The turning point for Coughlin and his popularity occurred after the Nazi's American sentiment.

• Groups in America that were pro Nazi. In 1933, there was a group created called the Friends of New Germany.

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The MS Saint Louis

• In May 1939, the MS Saint Louis left Germany carrying over 900 Jewish passengers escaping Nazi persecution.

• The boat was supposed to go to Cuba, but there was a change in government.

• The new government said we can't be accepting any more people in the US.

• The Roosevelt administration refused permission for the ship to dock.

• The captain even considered running the boat aground on a beach in Florida.

• The coat guards were able to stop the boat from running aground.

• The boat eventually reached Canada, but it also refused them entry because the immigration was also anti-sentic.
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• Out of those returned to Europe, 1/3 of these people ended up dying during the Holocaust.

• The story of the boat became known as "the voyage of the damned."

The 1936 Summer Olympics

• The Nazis hosted the Summer Olympics to show Aryan white supremacy.

• The Olympics would have been a German showcase but Jesse Owens dominated the Olympics and won 4 gold medals, is in the side with this with.
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The Hindenburg Disaster

• In 1937, Germany had a series of zeppelins called technological marvels.

  • Zeppelins are dirigible that has a metal in it to keep the frame.

• The Germans thought that Americans and the rest of the world have fallen behind the superiority of Germany.

• The Graf Zeppelin Hindenburg it flying over New Jersey.

• However approaching, catches fire inside. The catches fire in the. They and, from an

• People start to investigate the events that occurred.

• The Germans were using hydrogen even though it was highly flammable which contributed to the accident.

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