nazi policies towards the jews; 1933-37 Flashcards
When did the Nazis impose a boycott of Jewish shops and businesses in Germany?
April 1st 1933.
How did Hitler validate his action of boycotting Jewish shops?
Because it was his retaliation against Jews in Germany and abroad who had called for a boycott of German goods.
How did Goebbels help the impact of the boycott?
He organised an intensive propaganda campaign to maximise impact, carried out by gangs of SA members.
How did the SA impact the boycott?
They marked out which places of business were to be targeted and stood menacingly outside to deter anyone from going inside.
Who were the main targets of the Jewish boycott?
Shops, doctors and lawyers.
What was happening to many Jewish lawyers in the streets during the boycott?
Many were attacked and stripped of their legal robes.
Why didn’t the boycott have undeniable success?
It was unclear of what was a Jewish business and what wasn’t. Many were half-Jewish or half-German in ownership. Some were controlled by foreign creditors or German banks.
As well as this, many Germans defiantly used Jewish stores to show disapproval of the Nazis.
How long did the Jewish boycott last?
Only one day, but the SA had hoped it would last indefinitely.
What did the boycott seem to show at the time?
An unleashing of Nazi violence in an aggressive new dictatorship, flaunting its power just a week after the passing of the Enabling Act.
What was the reality of what the boycott was like for Hitler?
He was not enthusiastic about a ‘revolution from below’ bringing chaos in Germany. He was also anxious about keeping the SA under control and was genuinely concerned about adverse reactions from conservative allies in Germany + foreign public opinion.
Why might have Hitler let the boycott go ahead?
Only as a limited, grudging concession to the radical activists.
His main aim was to avoid instability whilst carrying out his legal revolution.
Why was Hitler willing to allow considerable degree of Nazi intimidation?
It was a useful expression of spontaneous public anger in which only his new government could satisfy.
What civil service law did the Nazis introduce in April 1933?
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.
What did the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service do?
Required Jews to be dismissed from the Civil Service.
Why was the implementation of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service not as straight forward as the Nazis had hoped?
There was no objective, scientific definition of who was racially Jewish according to physical characteristics or blood group.
Who were considered ‘non-Aryan’ under the 1933 Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service?
If either of their parents or either of their grandparents were Jewish.
What exemption did President Hindenburg insist under the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service? How long was this kept in place?
For all German Jews who had served in the First World War and those whose fathers had been killed in the war.
Up until Hindenburg’s death in 1934.
Why did the exemption amendment to the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service lessen the law’s impact?
Because it applied to up to 2/3 of Jews in the Civil Service.
What devastating impacts did the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service have upon middle class Jews?
It had economic and psychological impact, contributing to the increasing levels of Jewish emigration.
How many Jews left Germany in 1933?
37000.
Why were similar laws to the Civil Service Law introduced for other professions difficult to implement as well?
There were also exemptions for those who fought in WW1 and partly because Jews in medicine, law and education were numerous and well-established.
It was not feasible to remove them all at once.
How much of Germany’s legal profession did Jews take up?
16%.
How many of the non-Aryan lawyers were able to keep practicing in 1933 after regulations were put in place?
60%.
What did the regime do to try and close loopholes for lawyers to continue working?
By introducing stricter regulations over time, making exclusion of Jewish lawyers a very gradual process.
What percentage of German doctors were Jewish?
10%.
What were Jewish doctors described as in Nazi propaganda?
A danger to German society.
What did some local authorities start doing to Jewish doctors?
Removing them from their posts.
What was included in anti-semetic propaganda against Jewish doctors?
Stories about inappropriate and malicious actions supposedly carried out by Jewish doctors.
What did local initiatives force the Nazis to do regarding Jewish doctors?
They pushed them along, with the regime announcing a ban on Jewish doctors in April 1933.
Who were Jewish doctors only allowed to treat after 1933 regulations? Was this implemented?
They were only allowed to treat Jewish patients, but many continued normal practice for several years.
What did the April 1933 law against Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities do?
Restricted the number of Jewish children who could attend state schools and universities.
How was the Law against Overcrowding of German Schools promoted to the German population?
On the basis that Aryan students would receive more resources and attention, instead of being waste on pupils who’d grow to be ‘enemies’ of Germany.
What did Nazis stress about educated Jews?
That an educated Jew was a greater threat to Germany than an uneducated Jew.
Were all Jewish children forced out of State schools after the 1933 Law?
No, the process wasn’t complete until 1938. Children could also attend private education and Jewish schools.
What issue did Jewish schools have?
They struggled to find funding and maintaining academic standards.
What did the Reich Press Law in October 1933 do?
Applied strict censorship and the closing down of publications they disliked.
It silenced the large number of Jewish journalists and editors many of which were forced to leave the country.
Why were many anti-Semites in the Nazi movement restless by 1935?
They believed Nazi persecution of the Jews had not gone far enough. They pushed for Hitler to move faster and they became the driving force behind demands for anti-Jewish legislation.
What did Hitler announce at the Nuremberg Party Rally in 1935?
That the Communist International had declared war on Nazism and it was time to ‘deal once and for all with Jewish-Bolshevism’.
What laws were introduced on September 15th 1935?
The Nuremberg Laws.
What were the Nuremberg Laws 1935?
- The Reich Citizenship Law meant that someone could be a German citizen only if they had pure German blood. Non-Aryans were considered subjects and had fewer rights than citizens
- Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour outlawed marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans. Made illegal for German citizens to marry Jews. Also illegal for Jews to have sexual relations with a German citizen
What were the Nuremberg Laws later extended to cover?
Almost any physical contact between Jews and Aryans became illegal, with only an allegation being enough for a conviction.
How were Aryan women being pressured into leaving their Jewish husbands?
On grounds that men who lost their jobs through anti-Semitic legislation would be a burden on their partners.
What happened to many Jewish men who were convicted under the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour?
They were often re-arrested by the Gestapo after release and sent to concentration camps.
What did the First Supplementary Decree on the Reich Citizenship Law of November 1935 do?
Defined what constituted a ‘full Jew’.
Someone who had 3 Jewish grandparents, or had 2 Jewish grandparents and married to a Jew were a ‘full Jew’.
Mischlinge were ‘half Jews’ and had both Aryan and Jewish ancestry.
Why was the Law on Reich Citizenship hard to interpret?
In many cases Jews or their Jewish parents had converted to Christianity, confusing the legal classifications and were often inconsistent.
What did many non-practicing Jews try to do?
Attempt to prove their Aryan ancestry, some acquiring falsified documents on the black market.
What difference in discrimination was there between ‘full Jews’ and ‘half Jews’?
Some companies would not employ Jews but mischlinge were able to continue relatively normal lives and could even serve in the lower ranks of the military.
What does evidence show about anti-Jewish signs in almost all areas of public life?
That most were displayed to keep Nazi officials happy rather than to stop Jews from using establishments.
What were some Jews who were embarrassed by overt discrimination reluctant to do?
Break off from family doctors they’d relied on for years, or were appalled to see literary classes seen as Jewish purged from the local library.
What happened when Nazi activists in Leipzig demanded removal of a statue of great composer Felix Mendelssohn?
Even the local party boss drew the line and blocked the proposal.
How did most people oppose the Nazis?
Outright opposition to discrimination was rare, but most people who were unhappy about discrimination retreated into internal exile.
