Nazi racial policies: persecution of Jews

and other ‘outsiders’

To achieve a Master Race, the Nazis persecuted numerous

groups, including:

• Mentally ill/disabled

• Asocials

• Homosexuals

• Gypsies

• Minority religions

• The Jews

Mentally ill/disabled

In July 1933, the Nazis introduced the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily

Diseased Offspring.

This introduced forced sterilisation for people suffering from problems such as epilepsy,

depression and alcoholism. 350,000 people were sterilised.

“Sterilisation is liberation, not punishment”

The Nazis eventually extended their actions into euthanasia.

From 1939, doctors and nurses were to report any children under

three affected by conditions including Down’s Syndrome.

The children were then killed under the Action T4 programme. Parents were often threatened to

get their agreement for this. 1938 poster saying that this person costs Germany 60,000RM over his life.

Asocials

Asocials were people that did not fit in to the expected norms of

society. This included people who refused to work, or other groups such as prostitutes or beggars.

They were sent to labour camps – being forced to wear a Black

Triangle – and eventually sterilised and murdered.

Homosexuals

Homosexuals were seen as asocial. Large numbers were

sent to prison camps and forced to wear a Pink Triangle.

Many homosexual men were castrated or forced to undergo

experiments to ‘cure’ them. Homosexual members of the SS

were shot.

Gypsies

Gypsies had faced prejudice in Germany since before Nazi rule

and at first they were not a major target for the Nazis.

However by 1939 they started to be sent to prison camps, where large numbers were

gassed to death. Around 500,000 died under Nazi rule.

Minority religions

The Nazis struggled to control the mainstream churches due

to many Germans’ personal religious beliefs.

Small religious groups could be targeted though. Jehovah’s

Witnesses refused to joined the army and so entire families

were arrested and killed.

The Jews

Obviously the group most commonly associated with Nazi

persecution is the Jews.

Anti-Semitism was prominent in Germany and Europe since before

the Nazis took power. Many Germans believed that Germany’s WW1 defeat and 1920s problems

were caused by Jews.

There were numerous steps taken to at first isolate and

then exterminate Jews.

Initial laws focused on Jews ostracising the Jews from

society, forcing many to leave Germany. Eventually this became the Holocaust,

although this did not begin until during World War Two.

Numerous steps were taken in 1933 after the Nazis first took

power in Germany.

In April a boycott of Jewish shops started, although lasted only one day. Further actions that year banned Jews from working in the Civil Service (with some exceptions) and

from owning farms.

By 1935 there were unofficial attacks taking place on Jews. As a

result in September 1935 the Nazis passed the so-called

Nuremburg Laws:

• Marriage and sex was banned between Jews and Aryans

• Jews were stripped of German citizenship

• Aryan genetic tests started

From 1936, the Nazis actively began encouraging Jewish

emigration, although eventually only allowed this on

payment of high taxes.

After Anschluss with Austria in March 1938, there were 150,000 more Jews within

Germany’s control. They were also forced to emigrate.

1938 saw various extreme actions to hurt Jewish people. A

variety of laws were passed:

• Jewish lawyers and doctors could not have Aryan clients

• Jews must add Sarah (women) or Israel (men) to their names

• Jews could not own businesses

• Jews banned from schools

November 1938 saw the infamous Kristallnacht (Night

of the Broken Glass).

The Nazis unofficially organised attacks on Jewish

homes, businesses and synagogues. 91 Jews were

killed and 20,000 sent to prison camps, and Jews were even

forced to pay fines for damage.

By the time that World War Two started in September

1939, the Jews had no rights in Germany.

Hitler openly referred to the “extermination” of the Jews,

Jews were being forced to move into ghettos and the euthanasia programme

started in October 1939.

Historians disagree on whether Hitler planned the Holocaust. Although there was no official

order given, it fitted in with Hitler’s rhetoric.

The killing was officially kept secret from Germans. However

at least 100,000 Germans were involved, and others are

likely to have known.

Historians’ views

• Lisa Pine: Once in power Hitler’s intense personal hatred of the Jews “became central to state policy”.

• Richard J Evans: From September 1935 anti-Semitism became “a principle governing private as well as public life”.

• David Cesarani: Anti-Jew policies – especially the Holocaust – were probably not planned and instead the result of chaotic, especially after the outbreak of World War Two.

• Jill Stephenson: National community was all about race.