Persecution of minorities

• Nazi beliefs on certain groups

  • Hitler and the Nazis had firm views on race
  • They believed that certain groups were inferior and were a threat to the purity of the Aryan race
  • There were many groups who were targeted for persecution, including Slavs (Eastern Europeans), gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled - but none more so than the Jews.
• Nazi racial beliefs

  • The Nazis’ racial philosophy taught that Aryans were the master race and that some races were ‘untermensch’ (sub-human)
  • Many Nazi scientists at this time believed in eugenics, the idea that people with disabilities or social problems were degenerates whose genes needed to be eliminated from the human bloodline
  • The Nazis pursued eugenics policies vigorously
• What the Nazis did to persecute minorities

  • Sterilisation - To keep the Aryan race pure, many groups were stopped from reproducing. The disabled and deaf, were sterilised, as were people with hereditary diseases
  • Euthanasia - Between 1939-1941 over 100,000 disabled Germans were killed in secret, without their families consent. Victims were often gassed
  • Concentration camps - Homosexuals, prostitutes, Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, alcoholics, pacifists, beggars, hooligans and criminals were rounded up and sent away to camps. During WW2 85% of Germany's gypsies died in camps
• How persecution changed

  • The group most heavily targeted for persecution by the Nazis were the Jews of Germany
  • The outbreak of World War Two brought the horror of mass killings and the Final Solution
  • But the period 1933 saw a gradual increase in persecution, reaching a turning point during Kristallnacht in November 1938
• What the persecution of Jews was like in 1933 (Summary - Jobs)

  • Nazis organised a boycott of Jewish businesses.
  • Books by Jewish authors were publicly burnt.
  • Jewish civil servants, lawyers and teachers were sacked.
  • Race science lessons were introduced, teaching that Jews were sub-human.
• What the persecution of Jews was like in 1935 (Summary - Rights)

  • The Nuremberg Laws formalised anti-Semitism into the Nazi state by: 
  • Stripping Jews of German citizenship.
  • Outlawing marriage and sexual relations between Jews and Germans.
  • Taking away from Jews all civil and political rights
• What the persecution of Jews was like in 1938 (Summary - Opportunities and Name)

  • Jews could not be doctors.
  • Jews had to add the name Israel (men) or Sarah (women) to their name.
  • Jewish children were forbidden to go to school.
  • Kristallnacht - 9 November. The SS organised attacks on Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues in retaliation for the assassination of the German ambassador to France by a Jew
• Jewish response to persecution

  • Many Jews saw the events of Kristallnacht as a turning point
  • Up until then there had been a progressive erosion of their rights but Jews had not been physically threatened or attacked
  • When their businesses and homes were destroyed and their synagogues were burnt down, many concluded that their time in Germany was up
  • Those who were able to fled and a scheme to evacuate Jewish children to Britain, called the Kindertransport, began.
• What was the persecution of Jews like in 1939

  • Jews were forbidden to own a business, or even a radio.  
  • By the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, the Jews were stateless, their employment options in Germany were severely restricted and they feared for their safety