Ethnic Minorities Flashcards

1
Q

Volk

A
  • a feeling of superiority of German culture and the idea of a universal mission for the German people
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2
Q

Ethnic minorities under Weimar Government

A
  • depended on where they lived + who they were
  • low-level discrimination like with women
  • lower wages + less likely to be hired against a German
  • elite conservatives - army + landowners - less welcoming vs city-based liberals
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3
Q

Article 113

A
  • stated that groups couldn’t legally be stopped from using their language or preserving their national identity
  • liberal law
  • didn’t control the laws that the Länder made against minorities
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4
Q

Jewish population in Weimar Germany

A
  • only 1% of the German population in 1918
  • only 500k in 1933
  • 1/3 of Jews lived in Berlin - antisemites called it Jew Berlin
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5
Q

Jewish influence

A
  • huge influence on culture and some became politicians
  • 5 Jews held Cabinet posts in the Weimar Republic
  • Walther Rathenau as Foreign Minister in 1922 - assassinated soon after
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6
Q

Anti-Semitic organisations

A
  • some banned by the gov
  • German Peoples Offensive and Defensive Alliance - had 25k members in 1919
  • had approx 170k members by 1923 when it was disbanded
  • believed the Jews had conspired with Allies so Germany lost WWI
  • many joined the Nazi Party
  • some conservative judges were anti-Semitic in their judgments
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7
Q

Jews during the Depression

A
  • public needed someone to blame for the misfortune - Jews were an easy scapegoat
  • Reich Federation of Jewish Front Soldiers set up to fight antisemitism
  • 85k Jewish soldiers had fought in the war + 12k died
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8
Q

Länder response to Gypsies

A
  • gypsies discriminated against as they didn’t pay tax + didn’t work + weren’t involved outside own community
  • no federal legislation against gypsies
  • in 1926 Bavaria passed a series of laws controlling Gypsy movement + aimed to get their children in schools + adults to work - adopted by the state Hesse
  • in 1927 Bavaria said all Gypsies must carry identity cards
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9
Q

Polish minority post-war

A
  • border between Poland + Germany redrawn post-war
  • people left on wrong side of the border - some moved + some stayed
  • in 1925 there were over 200k Polish speakers in Germany
  • 500k people who spoke both Polish + German - often born in Germany + viewed self as German
  • hostility as Poland had fought Germany in the war
  • between 1925-33 approx 30k left
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10
Q

Black People after Ruhr occupation

A
  • met with rising hostility in 1923
  • French army of the occupation in 1923 had black units from the French colonies
  • after *19238 there were approx 500 mixed race kids born - denounced as Germany’s shame
  • Black adults who had lived in Germany pre-occupation found certain areas to be more hostile afterwards
  • musicians + writers more accepted in the cities
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11
Q

Compulsory sterilisation

A
  • 1 January 1934 - Doctors + hospitals had to report those that were unfit to breed to a Hereditary Health Court - decided who to sterilise
  • supposedly for hereditary defects but included Jews + Roma + Sinti Gypsies + Black + Criminals + Mixed Race people**
  • June 1935 - law extended to abortion of the unfit
  • publicised in press + taught at school
  • 400k sterilised between 1934 - 36 - at least 5k women died from procedure
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12
Q

First official boycott of Jewish businesses

A
  • 1 April 1933
  • initially many people didn’t partake - called off after a day
  • SA members began to stand outside businesses to urge people not to enter
  • SA + Hitler organised attacks + boycotts all over Germany = violence escalated
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13
Q

1935 Nuremberg Race Laws

A
  • Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour - forbids mixed marriage + sex between Aryans + Jews
  • Reich Citizenship Law - deprives Jews of German citizenship
  • Law for the Protection of the Genetic Health of the German People - medical exam before marriage - certificates of fitness to allow marriage
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14
Q

Kristallnacht

A
  • began 9 November 1938 - Nazis organised attacks on Jews across Germany
  • over 260 Synagogues burnt + homes and shops looted and attacked
  • over 20k Jews arrested - taken to concentration camps
  • Jews taxed a billion Reichsmark for repairs that didn’t actually take place
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15
Q

Jews try to leave

A
  • Nazis introduce flight tax of 30-50% of wealth for Jews leaving
  • Between 1933-39 over 450k Jews emigrated - didn’t go far enough - those who moved to Netherlands + France were later under Nazi rule again
  • countries began quotas at her than allowing all Jews to come
  • flight tax increased to everything but a suitcase
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16
Q

War = Change of Policy

A
  • 1939 special SS units called Einsatzgruppen set up to murder political opponents + Jews
  • by 1941 Nazis committing mass murder - rounding up and shooting
  • 2 million out of 6 million Jews murdered in Holocaust were Einsatzgruppen victims
17
Q

Ghettos

A
  • the first ghetto was in Piotrkow - set up in October 1939
  • deliberately badly overcrowded + food and medical supplies were low
  • Nazi propaganda said Jews were dirty + lice ridden - Strength Through Joy ran bus trips through ghettos - to dehumanise them
  • electricity + water available for few hours a day
18
Q

Concentration camps

A
  • full of a variety of groups deemed undesirables - people wore patches to show what their crime was
  • dig roads + work on land + factories
  • appealing conditions + lack of food
  • died from starvation + beatings + dysentery + mistreatment
19
Q

The Final Solution

A
  • decided at Conference in Wannsee - 1942 January
  • death camps to be set up - Chelmo + Treblinka + Auschwitz + Belzec + others
  • people would work for a short while then be gassed
20
Q

Economic boom of 50s and 60s for guest workers

A
  • by 1947 approx 10 million refugees + expellees - Germans from places no longer part of Germany
  • unions feared new foreign workers would lead to reduce wages
  • gov guarantee non-Germans the same wages + German preference for jobs
21
Q

Federal Office for Labour Recruitment

A
  • set up in Nuremberg - ran offices in countries where FRG had labour recruitment treaties
  • physical exam to ensure fit to work + signed a year long contract
  • employee provided accommodation - often dormitories near factories + outside town = cut off from communities
  • programme increased after 1961 Berlin Wall
22
Q

Foreign labour programmes

A
  • favoured men 20-40 years old - heavy manual labour - jobs that Germans didn’t want to do
  • between 1961-71 3 million Germans switched from manual to white-collar jobs
  • from 1960 onwards more female workers recruited at request of industries - electronics + hospitality
  • increased number of illegal foreign workers - worked the worst jobs for little pay
23
Q

Guest worker status

A
  • temporary stay - didn’t have rights of citizens - contracts renewed on yearly basis
  • unions helped families adjust but NOT with long term assimilation
  • help from church organisations like Caritas
24
Q

1966 recession impact

A
  • increased hostility to guest workers
  • many landlords refused to rent out to foreigners - forced to live in poor areas
  • recession over quickly BUT sentiment remained
25
Q

1970s impact on guest workers

A
  • guest workers under pressure to leave
  • November 1973 gov put a stop on hiring + banned permits for families already in the country
  • Ford Car Works in Cologne offered voluntary severance packages - many workers accepted with out knowing that LEGALLY workers laid off according to point system
  • 1978 first Federal Commisioner for Foreigners’ Affairs appointed by Schmidt to work for rights of guest workers
  • allowed to apply for unrestricted residence NOT citizenship
26
Q

Education of children of guest workers

A
  • gov policy in BASIC LAW to provide democratic education for all + 1975 guest workers’ children given same benefits as other children
  • attempt to create mixed-learning groupswith mixed classes of Germans + foreigners
  • 200k foreign children in schools by 1983
  • most kids were Muslim with no pre-school education + Koran schools faced hostility
27
Q

Ethnic Associations

A
  • helped newcomers settle in + learn the language + culture
  • some stooped integration into German life
  • Greek associations tried to integrate vs Turks tried to preserve own culture
  • attitude of West Germans hindered assimilation - suspicion about religion + politics