Why Were Groups Persecuted in Nazi Germany?

• The Nazis aimed at making Germany as ‘strong’ as possible:

  • Policies towards women, children, the Church and culture were all to strengthen the state
  • Their beliefs in eugenics and racial hygiene showed that they also wanted to increase the strength of the ‘German’ population
• What did Nazis believe about race?

  A) selective

  B) breeding

  C) darwin's

  D) evolution

  E) best

  F) reproduce

  G) undesirable

  H) aryan

  I) reproduce

  J) aryans

  K) aryan race

  L) superior

  M) aryan

  
• Different groups and Nazi persecution (1)

  • Roma - there were around 26,000 Roma in Germany in the early 1930s. The Nazis did not believe they worked enough or contributed enough taxes
  • Homosexuals - The Nazis believed that homosexuals lowered moral standards as they could not procreate or be part of a traditional family unit
  • Slavs - The Nazis wanted to invade Slavic countries like Russia to achieve Lebensraum for the German people
• Different groups and Nazi persecution (2)

  • Jewish people - Anti-semitic feelings had been common for centuries across Europe. Anti-semitism was strong in Germany throughout the 1920s and 1930s. They were blamed in part for the surrender of Germany during the First World War and the two economic depressions
  • ‘Asocials’ - The Nazis claimed that certain people were a drain on the German economy and ruined society
  • People with disabilities - The Nazis believed that people with disabilities were a burden on society
• Students struggle to understand how the Nazis viewed Jewish people. Hitler and the NSDAP considered Jewish people as a race, not a religion. A race is a permanent state that you are born in. A religion can be changed if the person desires. Therefore, the Nazis wanted to view Jewish people as a race. This means that no Jewish person could escape persecution, whether they practised Judaism or not.
• • Timeline of persecution against minorities

  A) roma

  B) social nuisances

  C) concentration camps

  D) law

  E) hereditarily

  F) diseases offspring

  G) stronger laws

  H) homosexuality

  I) roma

  J) marrying

  K) germans

  L) roma

  M) special camps

  N) poor living conditions

  O) 4000

  P) imprisoned

  Q) 8000

  R) imprisoned

  S) roma

  T) germans

  U) traveling

  V) groups

  W) citizenship

  X) racial

  Y) characteristics

  Z) remove

  [) roma

  \) 1939

  ]) 400,000

  ^) disabilities

  _) sterilised

  `) programme

  
• Methods of persecution for each group (1)

  • Racial minorities
  • Propaganda to turn the German public against the Jewish and Roma communities
  • Sent to concentration camps and, from 1942, extermination camps
  • Homosexuals
  • Banning of gay organisations
  • The arrests of 100,000 people
  • 10,000 people were sent to concentration camps. They had to wear a pink triangle for identification
• Methods of persecution for each group (2)

  • Physically and mentally disabled
  • Forced sterilisation of 700,000 people
  • The T-4 Programme killed disabled people through carbon monoxide. The Einsatzgruppen developed techniques that the Nazis would use in the Final Solution
  • Public outrage caused the official end of the T-4 Programme in 1941. However, it continued secretly throughout the war. Historians estimate the T-4 Programme killed 250,000 people
• Methods of persecution for each group (3)

  • ‘Asocials’
  • The Gestapo and the SS arrested many ‘asocials’ and sent them to concentration camps. They were forced to wear black triangles for identification
  • Many people died in concentration camps due to exhaustion, beatings and executions
• In four-mark questions, ensure each detail you select is as specific as possible. The worked example above provides dates for and number of casualties from the T-4 Programme
• 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

  A) jewish

  B) doctors

  C) lawyers

  D) boycotted

  E) jewish

  F) services

  G) civil servants

  H) teachers

  I) sacked

  J) inherit land

  K) works

  L) book burnings

  M) working

  N) journalism

  
• 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 of 1935 included two laws that drastically increased the persecution of all Jewish people in German
• The Nuremberg Laws

  A) nuremberg

  B) yellow star

  C) davide

  D) recognisable

  E) jewish

  F) german

  G) vote

  H) jewish

  I) german

  J) jewish

  K) marry

  L) German citizens

  M) jewish

  N) sexual

  O) german

  
• Anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents was considered Jewish, regardless of whether they practised Judaism

  • Many people who had converted to Christianity still faced persecution
• From 1938, Jewish people had to register their possessions and also had to carry identity cards
• Persecution of Jewish people became much worse in November 1938 following an event known as ‘Kristallnacht’ (Night of Broken Glass)
• Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass

  A) polish jewish

  B) German diplomat

  C) Paris

  D) angry

  E) deported

  F) poland

  G) hatred

  H) jewish

  I) police

  J) synagogues

  K) hanover

  L) hometown

  M) died

  N) nationwide attack

  O) jewish

  P) uniforms

  Q) public led

  R) SA

  S) hitler youth

  T) non

  U) uniformed

  V) jewish

  W) 100

  X) 814

  Y) 171

  Z) 191

  
• Jewish people were punished for causing ‘Kristallnacht’

  • They had to pay a combined total of 1 billion marks to repair the damage
  • By 12th November, around 20,000 Jewish people had been sent to concentration camps like Dachau
• 4 mark questions does not require you to explain your answer

  • The Cambridge IGCSE gives you a point for each relevant piece of information that you write in your answer
• All Germans knew how the Nazis were treating Jewish people

  • Acts of violence and discrimination towards Jewish people shocked many Germans
  • They were too scared to help because of groups like the SS and Gestapo
  • Other people took part in acts of persecution, like during the boycotts in 1933 and ‘Kristallnacht’ in 1938
  • Some Germans chose to ignore Jewish persecution
• A flow diagram showing the development of Jewish and non-Jewish persecution during the Second World War

  A) evicted

  B) ghettps

  C) sealed off

  D) town or city

  E) star of david

  F) leave

  G) country

  H) specialist SS

  I) einsatzgruppen

  J) kill

  K) slavs

  L) eastern

  M) europe

  N) wannsee

  O) final

  P) jewish question

  Q) development

  R) extermination

  S) camps

  T) warsaw

  U) ghetto

  V) uprising

  W) failure

  X) treblinka death camp

  Y) 300

  Z) allied

  [) soviet

  \) germany

  ]) death camps

  ^) SS

  _) death marches

  `) die

  a) freezing temperatures

  b) long distances

  c) poor health

  d) 11

  e) million

  f) 6 million

  
• Hitler and Nazis had firm views on race

  • believed that certain groups were inferior
• Method of persecution

  • organisms for gay and lesbians shut down
  • ‘euthnasia progras’ begun in 1939 against people with mental health disorder
  • 5 out of 6 Roma living in Germany in 1939 were killed by the Nazis
  • Asocials were rounded up off streets and sent to concentration camps
• Nazis believed Aryans, white Europeans, were superior and destined to rule - considered Jews and Roma as ‘sub-human’

  • mixed ancestry faced discriminations
  • 1935 - Nuremburg laws enforced racial segregation and persecution
• Eugenics - immoral theory of “racial improvement” and “planned breeding”

  • gained popularity during early 20th
  • believed in the creation of perfect human beings and eliminate social ills through genetics
• Nazi Eugenics

  • wanted to biologically “improve” aryan race
  • Aryans only marry Aryans and raise Aryan children
  • people with mental and physical conditions shouldn’t have children and waste public money
  • under name of racial hygiene
• Most vicious persecution was Nazi treatment of Jewish population in which Antisemitism culminated in slaughter of ‘final solution’
• Antisemitism had deep roots in Europe

  • faced unfair treatment in courts
  • religious beliefs balmed Jews for death of Jesus
  • Nazis propagated hate by saying Jews were financially prosperous
  • Hitler’s personal animosity originated from when he was in Vienna and hated them for economic success and held them responsible for WWII
• Hitler’s ascent to power in 1933 led him to swiftly discriminate against Jews

  • barred from civil services and public sectors
  • SA and SS boycotted Jewish establishments
  • Goebbel’s propaganda infected German society with Anti-Jewish rhetoric
  • Jewish individuals encountered daily discrimination e.g. jobs and service denial and humiliation and segregation in schools
• September 15, 1935 - Nazi regime announced to new laws related to race

  • Reich citizenship laws
  • Law for protection of German blood and German honour
  • The laws become knonwn as Nuremburg laws or Nuremburg race laws - first announced at Nazi party rally in the city of Nuremburg
• Reasons for Nuremburg laws

  • put ideas of race into law which is anti-semitism
  • Jews in Germany threatened the German people and separating Jews can strengthen Germany
  • marriages between Jews and Germans became forbidden
  • defined who was Jewish - laws included Romani and black people
• November 9-10, 1938 - Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against Jewish population in German

  • called Kristallnacht (night of broken glass)
• What groups were sent to Nazi Concentration Camps?

  1. Political prisoners
  2. ‘Undesirables’ such as prostitutes or homosexuals
  3. Ethnic minorities such as the Jews or Romani
• What is the word for subhuman in German?

  Untermensch
• November 9-10, 1938 - Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against Jewish population in German

  • called Kristallnacht (night of broken glass)
  • shattered glass littered the streets after vandalism and destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues and homes
• Key facts:

  • Nazi officials disguised the organizaed nature for porgoms
  • First time Nazi officials made massive amount of Jews specifically because of their race and not any other causes
  • ordered Jewish community to pay one billion up until there had been progressive erosion of the rights but Jews hadn’t been physically treat
  • Jews saw Kristallnacht as turning point, up until the he had use progressive erosion of their right, but Jews hadn’t been physically treated or attacked