persecution, racial policy's and the holocaust

• what was the Nazi persecution of minorities?


  The persecution of minorities was the deliberate attack on certain minority groups, or 'undesirable people', such as Jews, Roma (gypsies) or homosexuals. They believed these 'undesirable people' were inferior and persecution escalated over time.
• Why did Nazis persecute minorities?


  - Believed Aryans were superior racial group

  - Hitler's personal hatred; whilst unemployed in Vienna he thought Jewish businessmen were prospering; Mein Kampf

  - Challenged Nazi ideals; e.g. homosexuals threatened views on family life

  - Jews blamed for defeat in WWI
• Why did the Nazis persecute the Jews?

  - Hated them racially

  - Blamed them for war
• Why did Nazis persecute slavs?


  -believed they were inferior

  -wanted to expand Germany into eastern Europe
• why did Nazis persecute disabled people?


  -believed they weakened Germany

  -believed they were "undesirables"

  -believed they did not contribute to society
• When did the Nazi persecution of disabled people begin?


  -1933 to 1945
• how were disabled people persecuted under the Nazis?


  -350000 disabled people forcibly sterilised

  -1939 Nazis began to kill them

  -200,000 were murdered in specially built "nursing homes"

  -many subjected to medical experiments
• what was the early Nazi policy against Jewish shops?


  -Jan 1934

  -shops had to be marked with a yellow star of David

  -soldiers stood outside shops turning people away
• what was the early Nazi policy against Jewish children in school?


  -Jewish children forced out of school

  -eugenics introduced in schools
• what were the early Nazi policy against Jewish people working?


  -march 1933

  -all Jewish teachers , lawyers ,doctors etc were sacked
• What were the Nuremburg laws of 1935?


  They were laws that deprived German Jews of citizenship and prohibited marriage between Jews and other Germans
• why were the Nuremburg laws passed?


  -so Nazis could remove the rights of Jews as citizens in Germany

  -Easier to prosecute as no longer had any legal protection
• What was Kristillnacht?


  -november 1938

  -SA and ordinary Germanys attacked Jewish shops, homes and synagogues.

  - approximately 100 Jews were murdered

  - 20,000 Jewish were sent to concentration camps.
• How did the persecution of Jews intensify when ww2 broke out?


  -All Jews in the countries Germany had invaded were forced to live in concentration camps or ghettos.

  -execution squads shot or gassed jews
• What was the final solution?


  Holocaust
• why did Kristallnacht happen?


  - German man, was shot in the German embassy in Paris by a Polish Jew

  Nazis used this event as an excuse to attack the Jews.
• what happened during Kristallnacht


  Gangs of Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues.
• why was the Kristallnacht significant?

  It showed an escalation in violence and discrimination against Jews.
• Who oversaw the Final Solution?

  Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS
• How many deathcamps did the Nazis build?


  -6
• How many jews were killed in the holocaust?

  6 million