Race

• Nazi ideas and the racial policy

  • Like many people across Europe at this time, Hitler and the Nazis believed that humans were divided into races and that some races were superior to others
  • They claimed that Germans belonged to a 'master race' they called 'Aryans' - and that they were the rightful rulers of Europe
  • The Nazis felt that this 'superior' race of Germans needed to remain 'pure' and not mix with other races
  • They also believed that other people in German society - such as disabled people and gay people - 'weakened' the nation
• Nazi racism and hatred

  • The Nazis were obsessed with the idea of the 'superiority' of the Aryan race and said that Germans had the right to dominate what they thought of as 'inferior' races, such as Jews, Roma and Sinti, Slavs and black people
  • Hitler himself said that 'the strong must dominate and not blend with the weak'
  • He did not want the Aryan race to mix with the so-called 'inferior' racial groups, so the Nazis began to persecute, and later murder them
  • Over half a million Roma and Sinti, and over six million Jews from all over Europe were killed by the Nazis in the years up to 1945
• The persecution of Jews

  • Hitler had an obsessive hatred of Jewish people, and as soon as he came to power the Nazis began to discriminate against them
  • When war broke out in 1939, the persecution became even worse
  • For example, Jews were forced to live in areas known as ghettos, and to work in labour camps
  • Hundreds of thousand of Jews were also murdered by mobile execution squads
  • Later in the war, they were sent to specially built death camps, where they were worked to death or murdered by poison gas
• Persecution of 'undesirables' - racial groups

  • The Nazis felt that anyone who did not fit their vision of a perfect Aryan, which included a willingness to work hard for Germany, was 'undesirable'
  • This meant 'inferior' racial groups, but also others
  • The Nazi's believed Germany would be a stronger nation without these 'undesirables'
  • As a result, many people were sent to concentration camps, including Jewish people, people from other 'inferior' racial groups, gay people, criminals, prostitiutes, Jehovah's Witnesses, political opponents, pacifists and homeless people
• Persecution of 'undesirables' - disabled people

  • People with physical disabilities or learning disabilities were also targets because Hitler claimed they damaged the 'purity' of the German race
  • This was linked to the Nazi beliefs in eugenics
  • They thought that by preventing anyone with a physical disability or learning disability from having children, they would 'improve' the human race
  • Around 400,000 people with hereditary illnesses were made to have operations to sterilise them; and over 200,000 people with physical or learning disabilities were killed
• Timeline of Jewish oppression 1933-1936

  • March 1933 - All Jewish lawyers and judges sacked
  • April 1933 - All Jews banned from any sports clubs. All Jewish teachers sacked
  • September 1933 - 'Race studies' introduced in German schools
  • January 1934 - All Jewish shops marked with a yellow star of David. Soldiers to stand outside shops turning people away
  • September 1935 - Jews have their German citizenship removed and are not allowed to vote. Marriages between Jews and non-Jews banned. These were known as the Nuremberg Laws
  • January 1936 - No Jew allowed to own any electrical equipment, bicycles, typewriters or music records
• Timeline of Jewish oppression 1938-1939

  • July 1938 - Jewish doctors sacked
  • August 1938 - Male Jews must add the name 'Israel' and female Jews must add the name 'Sara' to their first names
  • November 1938 - Jewish children banned from German schools. Jewish homes, synagogues and businesses attacked all over Germany and Austria. About 100 Jews killed and 20,000 sent to concentration camps. Known as Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass
  • December 1938 - Jewish and non-Jewish children forbidden to play together. Jews banned from using swimming pools
  • April 1939 - Jews can be evicted from their homes for no reason
  • September 1939 - Jews no longer allowed out of their homes between 8:00 pm and 6:00 am