Racism and Persecution

Nazis believed Aryans were the Germans' ancestors.

• Believed Northern Europeans including Germans were part of a Aryan race
• Ideas came from 19th century writers- argued- superior race
• Thought- be identified by measuring shape of head & face
• Non Aryan people did not belong- weakening pure German people
• Wanted removal of non pure people- included Jews and Romani (gypsies)
• 1931- ** started a Race and Settlement office- decide which individuals were pure enough to marry
• 1935- Nuremburg laws- based on idea Jews were biologically different to Germans

A Master Race would need more space.

• Lebensraum- more living space- main reason for the invasion of Eastern Europe
• Volksgemeinschaft- all people would serve the Reich together as a community- greater Germany
• Non-Aryans- could play no part
• Some jews- given passports to leave but not to return

Nazi ideas of a Master Race harmed many people.

• Jews- spolied purity
• Romani- racial threat- 30,000 in Germany
• Many were sent to concentration camps
• Mentally & physically disabled- murdered or sterilised
• 400,000+ people were sterilised
• Mixed race were also targeted & sterilised 
• Homosexuals- sent to concentration camps
• 1936- Himmler (head of **) began the Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion

The Nazis hated the Jews.

• Responsible for Germany's problems

• 1933- Nazis murdered 36 Jews- 35,000+ fled Germany
• 1935- Nuremburg laws- Jew could not vote or marry Germans
• Concentration camps established
• 1938 November- Night of Broken glass- Jewish shops, homes & synagogues attacked
• 1939- increased control- curfew introduced & could no longer own radios
• 1941- made to wear a yellow star, banned from public transport & rations were reduced

1933, Jews fled Germany,

1935, Nuremburg laws were signed,

-concentration camps established-

1938, Kristallnacht showed hate,

1939, control, be home on time,

1941, yellow stars brightly shone.

In 1935 the Nazis passed the Nuremburg laws.

• Stopped Jews being German citizens
• Banned marriage between Jews and Germans
• Banned sexual relationships between Jews and Germans
• Many Jews went into exile

Kristallnacht 1938- The Night of the Broken Glass

• A Jew murdered a German Diplomat in Paris- Novermber 1938
• Rioting- Jewish shops smashed & thousands arrested
• Nazi Propaganda- Jews were bad- should be sent to concentration camps, or humiliated & maltreated in public
• Many believed the camps- work camps & Jews would work there
• Later- Nazis policy became worse- exterminate Jewish Race

There was little German opposition to the persecution.

• Everyone was scared of the ** and the Gestapo
• They were better off after hardship- ignore what they didn't like
• Goebbels' propaganda was effective
• Opponents had been eliminated

The War made Nazi persecution worse.

• After invasions of Poland & Russia- more Jews under Nazi control
• Adolf Eichmann- in charge of dealing with these Jews
• 1940- Jews moved into ghettos- small areas in cities
• 1941- Russia invaded- Special Action Corps followed the army with orders to kill every Jew on sight

The Nazis began the Final Solution in 1942.

• Plan to destroy the Jewish people
• Death camps- Eastern Europe- gas chambers for mass murder
• Mainly jews but others too
• Heinrich Himmler (head of **) was in overall charge
• Some camps in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, Chelmno & Belzec
• End of war- approx. 6 million Jews had been killed

Its hard to understand how this mass murder happened.

• Nazis guards- obeying orders- feared their leaders
• Jews- not regarded as humans by Nazis- didn't mind killing them
• Soldiers hid the truth
• World only discovered horror of death camps as the Allies advanced in 1945

The reaction of the Jewish people.

• Faced death if there was any resistance
• Fled- forests & formed resistance groups- blow up railways lines & attack soldiers
• In ghettos, jewish authorities thought the best was to stay alive was to cooperate & produce goods
• 1943- rebellion Warsaw ghetto- ruthlessly put down
• Some resistance in camps & escapes from Sobibor & Auschwitz
• Reports of horror were smuggled out
• Before end of war- Nazi orders went out to destory camps & evidence- no time

Oppostion was weak under the Nazis.

• People who disagreed- afraid of ** & Gestapo. Also that friends & neighbours would tell on them
• People who voiced opposition- sent to concentration camps
• Opposition within party- Night of the Long Knives
• Anti- Nazi activity- in secret- difficult for groups to work together
• Nazis propaganda- better off with Hitler

The Nazis overcame most resistance.

• Banned communist groups & sent them to concentration camps
• Opposition from religious groups
• Jehovah's Witnesses sent to concentration camps- not supporting
• Some opponents of Reich Church joined together as the Confessing Church
• 6000+ clergy were arrested-  including Martin Niemoller (founder) 
• 1937+ Catholic dissent more widespread when Pope Pius XI sent out a letter protesting at German nationalism & racism- read out in Catholic Churches
• Catholic protestors- successful in reducing Nazi interference with the Church

Not all young people supported the Nazis.

• Edelweiss Pirates- rebellious young people- hard to control- slogan 'Everlasting war on Hitler Youth'
• Some sided with the Allies during war & several were executed
• Swing Kids- liked banned Jazz music- not serious threat- nuisance
• 1943- White Rose- arrested for distributing anti- Nazi leaflets
• Several were executed

Resistance in the army grew during the war.

• When- go badly- some believed Hitler was leading Germany to defeat
• Plots against Hitler from the army offiicers- before war
• More serious plots after German defeats at El Alamein & Stalingrad- 1942
• Claus Von Stauffenberg's- bomb in meeting room- Hitler survived- most of the plotters were executed- 1944