Volksgemeinschaft
- Created by: Charlotte Dodd
- Created on: 04-05-14 18:15
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- Volksgemeinschaft - treatment of 'outsiders'
- Certain groups were excluded from the 'people's community'
- The mentally ill, asocials, homosexuals, ethinic minorities and the Jews
- Mentally ill
- The Nazis wanted a racially pure community, and to protect the existing 'pure blood stock' of Germany. The government decided to prevent those with incurable illnesses from having children.
- The policy of Euthanasia were carried out in secret on children with congenital deformities from 1938 onwards and was soon extended to adults.
- It was stopped for a while because of public outcry (the bishop of Munster spoke out against it in August 1941) but it was started again later
- Asocials
- The Nazis believed that criminal and asocial behaviour such as alcholism and prostitution were determined by genetic factors. They were enemies of society in the eyes of the Nazi. Anyone with these perceived disorders had to be sterilized
- The law of November 1933 against dangerous Habitual criminals introduced the principle of compulsory castration for certain types of sexual offenders. Increasing punishments and the treatment of people in prisons and concentration camps were determined by biological, or, racial, criteria.
- The Nazis believed that criminal and asocial behaviour such as alcholism and prostitution were determined by genetic factors. They were enemies of society in the eyes of the Nazi. Anyone with these perceived disorders had to be sterilized
- Homosexuals
- To the Nazis, homosexuality was degenerate and a threat to the Aryan race, as it discouraged the birth of Children. With the Murder of Rohm, a homosexual, homophobia massively increased in the Nazi party
- A special department was created in the Gestapo for dealing with homosexuals, and in 1935 much tougher laws against it were announced. Raids and arrests were coordinated by a new Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and abortion. During the Third Reich over 50,000 homosexual men were arrested, 2/3 of whom were imprisoned
- To the Nazis, homosexuality was degenerate and a threat to the Aryan race, as it discouraged the birth of Children. With the Murder of Rohm, a homosexual, homophobia massively increased in the Nazi party
- Ethnic minorities
- The concept of the Aryan race was automatically prejudiced against racial minorities. In particular, the Nazis hated the Sinti and the Roma (Gypsies) because they were mixed race and so apparently more likely to have asocial qualities.
- In 1937, the sterilisation programme was extended to apply to the small number of mixed race Afro-German children living in Germany. In September 1939 Himm;er ordered the deportation of the 30,000 gypsies in the Reich to specially designated sites Poland.. By 1945 only a few hundred had escaped being sent to Aushwitz
- The concept of the Aryan race was automatically prejudiced against racial minorities. In particular, the Nazis hated the Sinti and the Roma (Gypsies) because they were mixed race and so apparently more likely to have asocial qualities.
- Why did the Nazis persecute the Jews? The Nazis thought that the Jews were plotting, on a worldwide scale, the destruction of Germany and the German people
- They felt the Jews were behind communism, which they also hated. In their minds, many Nazis thought that the Jews epitomised the opposite of the 'true german'
- Many Nazis thought the Jews were to blame for the surrendering og Germany and the Treaty of Versailles
- The Jews for most Nazis had attained the statutes of mythological demons on whom they focused their anxiety's about the modern world. They were views as an 'alien, secluded race in the middle of german life'
- General feeling that they had grown too powerful
- Certain groups were excluded from the 'people's community'
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