Minority groups in Nazi Germany Flashcards
What is eugenics?
The science of selective breeding
On whose ideas were eugenics based?
Charles Darwin
How did the Nazis use eugenics to try to produce ‘better’ human beings?
Selecting the ‘best’ parents (e.g. members of the SS; Aryans) to create the best child possible
How were ‘unsuitable’ parents prevented from reproducing?
They were sterilised
What was the idea of ‘racial hygiene’ taught in schools and communicated through Nazi propaganda?
The idea that Aryan Germans should only reproduce with other Aryans to make their offspring ‘pure’ Aryan
What did Hitler say about the Aryan race in Mein Kampf?
It was the superior race (Herrenvolk)
What did Hitler say about the Slavs in Mein Kampf?
They were sub-human (Untermenschen)
What did Hitler say about the Roma and Sinti people and the Jewish people in Mein Kampf?
They were ‘unworthy of life’ (Lebensumwertes)
Give THREE reasons why antisemitism was common in Europe before the Nazis
1) Their religion, customs and looks made Jewish people stand out as ‘different’
2) Some Christians blamed Jewish people for the execution of Christ
3) Some Jewish people were very successful in finance and business, creating jealousy towards them
Give THREE events between 1918 and 1933 which were blamed on Jewish people in Germany
1) The Treaty of Versailles
2) Hyperinflation in 1923
3) The Great Depression of 1929-33
Who were Slavs?
Ancient tribes of people who migrated into Europe from the East, found in Eastern Europe and Germany
What did the Nazis teach about Slavs?
They were sub-human and needed to be treated differently to Aryan Germans
Why did the Nazis want to invade Slav countries?
They wanted Lebensraum (extra living space) for German people
How many Roma and Sinti Germans were there in the early 1930s?
26,000
What did the Nazis believe about the Roma and Sinti people?
They did not work enough or contribute enough taxes
They posed a threat to Germany’s racial hygiene
What made the Roma and Sinti people different to other Germans?
They lived a nomadic lifestyle
What happened to Roma and Sinti people in Germany from 1933?
They were arrested as social nuisances and sent to concentration camps
What happened to Roma and Sinti people in Germany from 1936?
They were sent to their own special camps
What happened to Roma and Sinti people in Germany from 1938?
They were banned from travelling in groups, put on a register and tested for racial characteristics (if they failed, they lost their German citizenship)
What happened to Roma and Sinti people in Germany from 1939?
They were forcibly deported
What did the Nazis believe about LGBTQ+ people?
They spoiled the purity of the German race, and they threatened Germany’s place in the world by reducing the birth rate
How did Paragraph 175 (1935) affect LGBTQ+ people in Germany?
It banned sexual relations between men
How many men were imprisoned for homosexuality in:
1934
1936
1938
1934: 766
1936: 4,000
1938: 8,000
What did Himmler order to happen to gay SS officers in 1937?
They should be sent to concentration camps “where they will be shot while attempting to escape”
Give TWO things that happened to gay men at concentration camps
1) Forced to wear a pink triangle
2) Subjected to ‘conversion therapy’ experiments
What did the Nazis believe about people with disabilities?
They were a burden on society and weakened racial purity
What did the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring (1933) do?
Compulsory sterilisation of the mentally ill, alcoholics, deformed, epileptic, deaf and blind (could not reproduce)
How many people were sterilised under the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring by 1939?
400,000
What was the T4 Programme, introduced by the Nazis in 1939?
The killing of babies with severe mental or physical disabilities, by starvation or lethal overdose of drugs
How many children with disabilities were killed under the T4 Programme?
5,000
