The Holocaust did not suddenly happen. The foundations for what would happen in places like Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor were laid at the start of the Nazi's rule in 1933. It is important to look at the development of the Nazi policy towards the Jews in order to see how the Holocaust came about. The key events and legislations are listed below.
1933
Within only a few weeks of coming to power, Hitler's campaign announced new legislation set to exclude Jews from the life of Germany. Laws were passed banning Jews from working in professional capacities; schools were established exclusively for Jewish children and quotas limited their entry into Universities. They could neither join the army nor participate in the artistic life of the country.
On the 10th May, 1933, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, organised a public burning of all non-German literature. Any book written by a Jew, by those seen to be opponents to the Nazi ideology, were consigned to the flames.
Whilst this legal process developed, the SS and SA were on the streets, persuading the German public not to shop at Jewish establishments.
1935
This slow process increased in tempo in 1935. Following a gigantic rally of the Nazi Party in Nuremberg, laws were passed which removed the right of Jews to be citizens of Germany. They had effectively become non-people.
Look at the source documents which give details of the Nuremberg laws.
- In what ways does this law extend the persecution of the Jews which had been developed in 1933?
- Summarise the ways in which the Nuremberg laws would affect Jews in Germany.
- In what ways would it further remove Jews from German social and economic life?
NUREMBERG LAW FOR THE PROTECTION OF GERMAN BLOOD AND GERMAN HONOUR, SEPTEMBER 15, 1935
Moved by the understanding that purity of the German Blood is the essential condition for the continued existence of the German people, and inspired by the inflexible determination to ensure the existence of the German Nation for all times, the Reichstag has unanimously adopted the following Law, which is promulgated herewith:
§ 1
1) Marriages between Jews and subjects of the state of German or related blood are forbidden. Marriages nevertheless concluded are invalid, even if conducted abroad to circumvent this law.
2) Annulment proceedings can be initiated only by the State Prosecutor.
§ 2
Extramarital intercourse between Jews and subjects of the state of German or related blood is forbidden.
§ 3
Jews may not employ in their households female subjects of the state of German or related blood who are under 45 years old.
§ 4
1) Jews are forbidden to fly the Reich or National flag or to display the Reich colours.
2) They are, on the other hand, permitted to display the Jewish colours. The exercise of this right is protected by the State.
§ 5
1) Any person who violates the prohibition under § 1 will be punished by a prison sentence with hard labour.
2) A male who violates the prohibition under § 2 will be punished with a prison sentence with or without hard labour.
3) Any person violating the provisions under § § 3 or 4 will be punished with a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine, or with one or the other of these penalties.
§ 6
The Reich Minister of the Interior, in co-ordination with the Deputy of the Führer and the Reich Minister of Justice, will issue the Legal and Administrative regulations required to implement and complete this Law.
§ 7 The Law takes effect on the day following promulgation except for § 3, which goes into force on January 1, 1936.Nuremberg, September 15, 1935 at the Reich Party Congress of Freedom
In 1938 further laws were introduced which removed citizenship from any Jews who was from Polish descent. Several thousand Jews were taken to the Polish border but were refused entry into Poland. Herschl Grynszpan, a Jewish émigré in Paris, as a protest at the treatment of German Jews shot and killed a Nazi diplomat in Paris.
This was the excuse that the Nazis had been waiting for. Shortly after the assassination, a night of violence was launched across Germany - synagogues and Jewish shops were attacked, destroyed and burnt down and Jews were beaten and murdered. Ninety Jews were killed and thousands put into concentration camps. Also the Jews were made to pay for the damagae which had been caused to their houses and shops. The night, November 9/10 November 1938, became known as Kristallnacht - the night of the shattered glass.
Look at the source documents below:
- How do these two laws try to put the blame for Kristallnacht onto the Jews?
- In what ways do you think that these laws can be seen to pave the way for the Holocaust which was to follow four years later?
- How do the two laws disguise what actually happened?
- In what ways could the conclusions of the Evian Conference be seen as giving Hitler the chance to further develop his anti-Semitic policies?
EXTRACTS FROM THE REGULATION FOR THE ELIMINATION OF THE JEWS FROM THE ECONOMIC LIFE OF GERMANY, NOVEMBER 12 1938
On the basis of the regulation for the implementation of the Four Year Plan of October 18 1936, (Reichsgesetzblatt, I, p 887), the following is decreed:
I .
* From January 1, 1939, Jews are forbidden to operate retail stores, mail-order houses, or sales agencies, or to carry on a trade [craft] independently.
* They are further forbidden, from the same day on, to offer for sale goods or services, to advertise these, or to accept orders of all sorts, fairs or exhibitions.
* Jewish trade enterprises (Third Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law of June 14, 1938 -- Reichsgesetzblatt, I, p 627) which violate this decree will be closed by police.II
1. From January 1, 1939, a Jew can no longer be the head of an enterprise within the meaning of the Law of January 20, 1934, for the Regulation of National Work.
2. Where a Jew is employed in an executive position in a commercial enterprise he may be given notice to leave in six weeks. At the expiration of the term of the notice all claims of the employee based on his contract, especially those concerning pension and compensation rights, become invalid.Berlin, November 12, 1938
EXTRACT OF THE REGULATION FOR THE PAYMENT OF AN EXPIATION FINE BY JEWS WHO ARE GERMAN SUBJECTS, NOVEMBER 12, 1938
The hostile attitude of Jewry toward the German People and Reich, which does not even shrink from cowardly murder, calls for determined resistance and severe expiation. Based on the Decree of October 18, 1936, for the Implementation of the Four Year Plan I therefore order the following:
The totality of Jews who are German subjects will pay a Kontribution (fine) of 1,000,000,000 (one billion) Reichmarks to the German Reich.Berlin, November 12 1938
In July 1938, thirty two Government representatives from around the world gathered in Evian in France to discuss the plight of Jewish refugees. Most countries rejected the possibility of accepting any greater number of Jewish refugees than the number which were already being accepted into the various countries. None of the countries attending the conference questioned the right of Germany to treat any of its citizens in the way that it wished. As the Jews were the main citizens to be maltreated, the conference seemed to give Hitler the right to continue to persecute Jews as he wished.
Look at the two sources below:
- As Hitler's speech preceded the Evian Conference, why do you think that the delegates from around the world did not pay serious attention to the threats of Hitler?
- Why did these countries not want to take in additional Jewish refugees?
- What do the comments of the Australian delegate say about atitudes towards Jews around the world?
"Since we have no racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one."
Australian delegate, Evian Conference.
"I can only hope and expect that the other world, which has such deep sympathy for these criminals, will at least be generous enough to convert this sympathy into practical aid. We, on our part, are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries, for all I care, even on luxury ships"
Adolph Hitler March 1938
From 1938 onwards, it was obvious to Jews that they should leave Germany as soon as possible. The stage of expulsion had started. Although half of the Jews left Germany before 1941, over half a million remained, at the mercy of Hitler and the Nazis.
1939
The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 directly precipitated the Second World War. The millions of Jews who had fled to Poland to escape the Nazis now suddenly came under Germany's control. Over three million Jews lived in Poland and for them and for the other Jews of Europe the nightmare of the Holocaust was fast approaching.
The Nazi's first act in Poland, the setting for the film 'Schindler's List', was to round up all Jews and send them into ghettos. These were small areas of towns which were sealed off and allocated to the Jews. Life within the ghetto was intolerable, with its overcrowding, hunger and disease. Despite this, many Jews survived, thinking and hoping that their suffering must one day cease.
