nazi racial policies persecution of outsiders
Post on 16-Jan-2017
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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.
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