Jewish People in Nazi Germany (AQA GCSE History): Revision Note

The Treatment of Jewish People - Summary

To establish a Third Reich, Hitler and the Nazis focused on creating a strong and ‘pure’ society that followed Nazi beliefs.

Germany in the 1930s was home to multiple minority groups. Many of these minorities considered themselves to be German. However, the Nazis believed in a hierarchy of races with the Aryan race at the top. Policy soon became directed towards the persecution of minorities.

Jewish people faced increased discrimination and persecution throughout the 1930s in Germany. Beginning with the boycotts of 1933, the Nazis soon stripped away the German citizenship of thousands of Jewish people through the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Following 'Kristallnacht' in 1938, Jewish communities were no longer safe in Germany. The Nazis sent them to ghettos and extermination camps. This only increased in the Second World War, where German expansion eastwards increased the number of Jews in Nazi-occupied territory.

While many German citizens disliked what was happening to Jewish communities and other minorities, the use of censorship and the secret police reduced the level of opposition.

Nazi beliefs about race

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

• Their beliefs in eugenics and racial hygiene affected all policies towards:

  • women

  • youth

  • the Church

  • workers

What are eugenics and racial hygiene?

• Hitler outlined his belief in a racial hierarchy in his book, Mein Kampf. Hitler stated that:

  • Aryans were the superior race - blonde, blue-eyed and athletic

  • other white Western races were respected, but lower than Aryans

  • races of Eastern Europe like Slavs were seen as Untermenschen (sub-humans)

  • the Nazis believed that homosexuals lowered moral standards as they could not procreate or be part of a traditional family unit

  • the Nazis believed that people with disabilities were a burden on society

  • Jewish people and Roma were considered unworthy of life

How were minorities treated in Nazi Germany before the Second World War?

Anti-Semitism in Germany

• Anti-Semitism is the hatred of Jewish people

• Anti-Semitic feelings had been common for centuries across many European countries:

  • some Christians blamed them for the execution of Jesus Christ

  • Jewish people were blamed for starting the Black Death by poisoning water wells

  • many people were jealous of Jewish people for their success in business and finance

• 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

    • Some of the politicians who signed the armistice were Jewish

  • A myth existed that many communists were Jewish

    • Many Germans feared communism and, as a result, feared the Jewish community

  • Germany’s failings during hyperinflation and the Great Depression were often blamed on Jewish people

  • Many people - including Hitler - had been influenced by speakers like Karl Lueger, who spoke about the dangers of Jewish people

Policies against Jewish people

• 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

Persecution of Jewish people before the Second World War

The Nuremberg Laws, 1935

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

• 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

'Kristallnacht'

• Persecution of Jewish people became much worse in November 1938 following an event known as ‘Kristallnacht’ (Night of Broken Glass)

• Jewish people were punished for causing ‘Kristallnacht’:

  • they had to pay a combined total of 1 billion marks to repair the damage

  • by 12 November, around 20,000 Jewish people were sent to concentration camps like Dachau

What was the Final Solution?

• When the Second World War began, the Nazis increased the persecution of Jewish people

  • Invading countries like Poland increased the number of Jewish people under Nazi rule

• The Nazis developed different strategies to persecute Jewish people

The Wannsee Conference, January 1942

• Key Nazi officials met at Wannsee to discuss the 'Jewish question'

  • They wanted a more efficient way to deal with Jewish people under Nazi control

    • Techniques such as ghettos took housing and resources away from German citizens

    • Einsatzgruppen were limited to how many Jewish people they could kill at once

  • They wanted a technique that could be rolled out to destroy the global Jewish population

• Reinhard Heydrich and Rudolf Hess agreed upon a 'Final Solution' that:

  • all Jewish people in Nazi-controlled territory must be killed

  • the Nazis would begin to build extermination camps (death camps)

    • Six camps were built. The largest of these camps was Auschwitz

    • Railway networks were built to transport Jewish people from ghettos to the extermination camps

    • Each camp had gas chambers, disguised as shower blocks

    • The camps contained large crematoriums to burn the bodies of those killed

  • Heinrich Himmler was selected to oversee the Final Solution

The Holocaust

• The Final Solution resulted in the transportation of millions of Jewish people to extermination camps across Europe

  • Many Jewish people died within days of arriving at the death camps, either by the gas chambers or disease

  • Other Jewish people were forced to work in the death camps, doing roles such as:

    • removing the bodies from the gas chambers

    • operating the crematoriums

    • cleaning toilets

• The Holocaust is the name given to the systematic murder of approximately six million Jewish people by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War

• Jewish people were not the only victims of extermination camps

  • Other minorities contribute to another six million deaths in Nazi extermination camps

  • Other minorities also taken to extermination camps included:

    • Roma and Sinti gypsies

    • Slavs

    • disabled people

    • Homosexuals

    • political prisoners

Jewish resistance

• There are many incidents of small and large-scale acts of resistance by Jewish people during the Holocaust

Small acts of Jewish resistance

• Blowing up railway lines to prevent the transportation of Jewish people to extermination camps

• Keeping records of the Nazis' actions so they could not be denied later

• Escaping from ghettos during their liquidation

The Warsaw Uprising, 1943

• Began on 19th April 1943 when Nazi soldiers attempted to transport the survivors of the ghettos to extermination camps

• Around 700 Jewish people fought with the Nazi soldiers

  • They used guerrilla warfare tactics

• The uprising lasted 41 days

• The uprising failed because:

  • the Nazis heavily outnumbered the Jewish people. They had:

    • 2,000 soldiers

    • artillery

    • tanks

  • the Jewish fighters were poorly equipped and had little military training

The Treblinka Uprising, 1943

• Treblinka was one of the Nazi extermination camps built after the Wannsee Conference

• The uprising happened on 2nd August 1943

• Around 1,000 Jewish people in the camp:

  • captured weapons

  • set fire to buildings

  • ran towards the main gate

• Several hundred Jewish people escaped from Treblinka

  • Around half were found and killed by the Nazis

• The Treblinka extermination camp was closed shortly after the revolt