The Nazi Persecution of Minorities

Persecution of Minorities

• The Nazis believed in the superiority of the Aryan race and persecuted minorities: Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies, homosexuals and mentally handicapped people
• In families where there was hereditary illnesses, sterilisation was enforced
• Between 1934-1945, 300,000 men and women were sterilised
• A euthanasia programme began in 1939, at least 5,000 severely intellectually disabled babies and children were killed from 1939-1945
• 1939-1941 - 72,000 mentally ill patients were gassed before a public outcry ended the extermination
• Extermination of Gypsies did not cause an outcry, five out of six Gypsies living in Germany in 1939 were killed by the Nazis
• Little or no complaint about 'asocials' - homosexuals, alcoholics, the homeless, prostitutes, criminals and beggars - who were sent to concentration camps
• 
• Pie de imagen: Family of Gypsies living in Germany

Hitler and the Jews

• Anti-Semitism means hatred of the Jewish race
• Throughout European history, Jews had been treated unequally, whether in court or being forced to live in ghettos
• The main reason for hatred of Jews in Nazi Germany was they tended to be well educated and had the highest paying jobs or ran successful shops and businesses
• Hitler had become obsessed with the fact that Jews ran many of the most successful businesses especially department stores
• This offended his ideology of the superiority of the Aryan race
• Hitler also blamed Jewish businessmen and bankers for Germany's defeat in World War One
• As soon as Hitler took power in 1933, he began to mobilise the full power of the state against the Jews
• Jews were immediately banned from the civil service and public services, such as broadcasting and teaching
• SA and SS organised boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses
• 
• Pie de imagen: Jewish businesses were identified by placing a star of David on the outside of the shop

Hitler and the Jews

• Nuremberg Laws:
• In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws took away German citizenship from Jews
• Jews were forbidden from having sexual relations with pure-blooded Germans
• Goebbel's propaganda outlets bombarded the public with anti-Jewish messages
• Jews were often refused jobs
• Shopkeepers refused to serve them
• In schools, Jewish children were often humiliated and then segregated
• These laws paved the way for widespread discrimination against the Jews
• Kristallnacht:
• November 1938 - a young Jew killed a German diplomat in France; the Nazis used this as an excuse to violently react against the Jews
• SS troopers were issued with pickaxes and hammers and the addresses of Jewish businesses
• They smashed up Jewish businesses, 91 Jews were murdered and many synagogues were burned
• 20,000 Jews were taken to concentration camps and thousands fled the country
• This event was known as Kristallnacht ('Night of the Broken Glass')
• The Nazi-controlled press presented this event as a reaction of ordinary Germans against the jews

Why so little Nazi opposition?

• Historians would argue that considering how extreme Nazi policies were, there was remarkably little opposition
• It is important to understand many people approved of the Nazis, in the sense that they made their lives better
• Also, no one would dream of opposing Hitler because of the power he held
• Goebbels and his team ensured that Germany was subject to constant reminders of the glories of the Third Reich and of Hitler
• 
• Pie de imagen: Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945)