Why were groups Persecuted in Nazi Germany

• The Treatment of Minorities - Summary

  To establish a Third Reich, Hitler focused on creating a strong and ‘pure’ society that followed Nazi beliefs.

  Germany in the 1930s was home to multiple minority groups. Many of these minorities considered themselves to be German. However, the Nazis believed in a hierarchy of races with the Aryan race at the top. Policy soon became directed towards the persecution of other minorities. The Nazis wanted to ensure that they did not reproduce or intervene with Hitler’s vision for Germany. Homosexuals and people with disabilities were also targeted.
• The Treatment of Minorities - Summary

  Jewish people faced increased discrimination and persecution throughout the 1930s in Germany. Beginning with the boycotts of 1933, the Nazis soon stripped away the German citizenship of thousands of Jewish people through the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Following 'Kristallnacht' in 1938, Jewish communities were no longer safe in Germany. The Nazis sent them to ghettos and extermination camps. This only increased in the Second World War, where German expansion eastwards increased the number of Jews in Nazi-occupied territory.
• Kristallnacht


  Night of Broken Glass, where Jewish communities and businesses were attacked on 9-10 November 1938
• Ghettos


  A walled-off section of a town or city where Jewish people were forced to live in
• What did the Nazis believe about race

  Eugenics (idea that, through selective breeding, we can breed a "perfect" human species):

  • The science of selective breeding made popular by Darwin’s theory of evolution)
  • They encouraged the ‘best’ Germans to reproduce+prevented those considered ‘undesirable’

  Racial Hygiene (idea a race can be kept pure by not allowing people considered inferior to have children):

  • Idea that Aryan Germans should only reproduce with other Aryans
  • Believed the Aryan race was superior to all others.
  • Wanted to make Germany as Aryan as possible
• The Aryan Race and Eugenics- Mein Kampf

  • In Mein Kampf, Hitler stated about a racial hierarchy:
  • Aryans were the superior race - blonde, blue-eyed and athletic
  • Hitler blamed Germany’s defeat in the First World War on the ‘pollution’ of the Aryan race
  • Other white Western races were respected, but lower than Aryans
  • Races of Eastern Europe like Slavs were seen as Untermenschen (sub-humans)
  • Hitler considered Jewish people and Black people as the lowest races
• persecuted groups


  Roma:

  • 26,000 Roma were in Germany in 1930s. Nazis didn’t believe they worked enough or contribute to taxes

  Homosexuals

  • Nazis believed homosexuals lowered moral standards as they couldn’t be part of a traditional family unit

  Jewish people

  • Anti-semitic feelings were common for centuries in Europe and was strong in Germany throughout 1920+30s. They were blamed in part for the surrender of Germany during WW1+the 2 economic depressions

  People with disabilities

  • Nazis believed they were societal burdens
• How Nazis Persecuted Minorities


  Racial minorities:

  • Propaganda to turn German public against Jewish+Roma communities
  • Sent to concentration+extermination camps

  Homosexuals:

  • gay organisations banned
  • 100,000 people arrested
  • 10,000 people sent to conc camps. They wore a pink triangle for identification

  disabled

  • Forced sterilisation (making them unable to have kids) of 700,000 people
  • T-4 Programme killed disabled people through carbon monoxide.
  • Public outrage caused official end of T-4 Programme in 1941. However, it continued secretly throughout the war. Programme killed 250,000 people
• Anti-Semitism and the Persecution of Jewish People- background

  • There were only 437,000 Jewish people in Germany by 1933, less than 1% of the population
  • When Hitler became chancellor in 1933, persecution against Jewish people began immediately
• timeline of Jewish persecution in 1933


  March

  • Nazi party announced Jewish businesses+professions eg doctors would be boycotted+people urged to not use Jewish services

  April

  • Jewish civil servants+teacher sacked

  May

  • Jewish works destroyed during the book burnings

  September

  • Jewish people couldn’t inherit land

  October

  • Jewish people forbidden working in journalism
• Anti-Semitism and the Persecution of Jewish People

  • The Nazis used propaganda and censorship to target Jewish culture
  • Children were taught in schools:
  • How to identify Jewish people 
  • That Jewish people were Lebensunwertes (unworthy of life)
  • More restrictions on Jewish people followed:
  • From 1934, some councils banned them from parks and swimming pools
  • From 1935, Jewish people could not join the army
• The Nuremberg Laws, 1935


  The Reich Law on Citizenship:

  • Jewish people lost their German passport+ couldn’t vote
  • Jewish people lost German citizenship
  • Required to wear a yellow star of David to make them identifiable

  The Reich Law for the protection of German blood and honour

  • Jewish people couldn’t have sexual relations with German citizens
  • Jewish people couldn’t marry German citizens
• Background of ‘Kristallnacht’

  • Persecution of Jewish people worsened in Nov 1938 following ‘Kristallnacht’ (Night of Broken Glass):
  • Jewish people were punished for causing ‘Kristallnacht’
  • had to pay 1 billion marks to repair damage
  • By 12th November, 20,000 Jewish people had been sent to concentration camps
• The Events of ‘Kristallnacht’

  7th Nov 1938

  Grynszpan, a 17 year old Polish Jewish shot Ernst vom Rath, a German diplomat, in paris

  • he was angry as his family had been deported to Poland

  8th Nov 1938

  Goebbels used attack to stir up hatred of Jewish people, + ordered police to attack synagogues in Hanover

  • Hanover was Grynszpan’s hometown

  9 Nov 1938

  vom rath died in hospital, prompting Hitler+Goebbels to plan a nationwide attack on Jewish people

  9-10 Nov 1938

  Groups of SA, Hitler Youth+Non-Uniformed gangs attacked communities

  • 100 people killed
  • 191 synagogues destroyed
• How Germans Reacted to Jewish Persecution by 1939

  • All Germans knew how Nazis treated Jewish people
  • Acts of violence+discrimination towards Jewish people shocked many Germans
  • They were too scared to help as of groups like the SS and Gestapo
  • Other people took part in acts of persecution, eg during boycotts +‘Kristallnacht’
  • Some Germans ignored Jewish persecution
• Persecution in WW2


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