Nazi racial policies

Question 1

What were the aims of Nazi racial policies?

Answer 1

To achieve a ‘racially pure’ state
Exclude those seen to be racially inferior or sub-human
Isolate German Jewry from German society

Question 2

Why did some Germans agree with racial policies?

Answer 2

Anti-Semitic beliefs, thought Jews deserved legal discrimination
Receptive to Nazi Propaganda that mixing with sub-humans had weakened the German race
Blamed Jews for loss of ww1, + Nazis told them that Jews were making vast profits while ordinary hardworking Germans were struggling with the Depression
Scapegoat

Question 3

What happened in 1933-34?

Answer 3

Jews forced out of jobs in law, civil service, teaching, dentistry, journalism + farming
Jews banned from sports clubs
April Boycott

Question 4

What happened of the 1st April?

April Boycott

Answer 4

One day boycott on Jewish businesses
members of SA positioned outside shops to persuade people not to use them
Unpopular + caused bad publicity abroad

Question 4

What happened of the 1st April?

April Boycott

Answer 4

One day boycott on Jewish businesses
members of SA positioned outside shops to persuade people not to use them
Unpopular + caused bad publicity abroad

Question 5

What did the Nuremburg Laws do?

Answer 5

1935

removed the citizenship rights of Jews

Question 6

What happened in 1935-Nuremburg Laws?

Answer 6

Reich Citizenship Law - Jews no longer citizens of Germany, lost their right to vote
‘Law for the Protection of Germany Blood and honour’= Jews no longer allowed to marry Aryans nor have sexual relations with them
Mixed marriages between Jews and Aryans no longer valid

Question 7

Why did the policy temporary come to a halt in 1936?

Answer 7

Berlin hosted 1936 Olympic games, wanted to avoid international condemnation + appear a united Germany

Ministers argued that anti-Semitic action would have detrimental impact on the economy

Question 8

When did action against Jews resume?

Answer 8

1938, on a far greater scale
Party activists demanded more radical action
Aided by Goring, wanted to confiscate Jewish assets + use them to pay for rearmament

Question 9

What happened in 1939?

Answer 9

Kristallnacht

New policy that forced emigration

Question 10

What was Kristallnacht? (Night of Broken Glass)

Answer 10

9th-10th Nov 1939
one night of violence across Germany and Austria.
91 Jews murdered, synagogues were burned, shop windows smashed
20,000 Jewish men were rounded up and sent to concentration camps

Question 11

What was the forced emigration policy 1939?

Answer 11

Jews forced to emigrate
Under Adolf Eichmann 45,000 left within 6 months
Another office was set up
Estimated that half of the Jewish population had left before the War

Question 12

What comments did Hitler make that made his intentions towards the Jews clear?

Answer 12

In 1939 he told the Czech foreign minister that he would “destroy the Jews”

Question 13

What other groups were persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 13

Gypsies
Homosexuals
Asocials
The disabled
Non-Jewish racial minorites

Question 14

Why did the Nazis view homosexuality as dangerous?

Answer 14

Viewed it as dangerous to their ideology + their plans to increase Germany’s birth rate

Question 15

How were homosexuals persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 15

Gestapo took action against them
The ‘Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion’ was created
Around 50,000 gay men were arrested

Question 16

What was the Sterilisation Law 1933?

Answer 16

The Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring, allowed the mentally and hereditarily ill seen as ‘unworthy of life’ to be sterilised
350,000 men were sterilised

Question 17

How were Asocials persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 17

Many were sterilised to prevent them from passing these ‘defects’ onto future generations

The law against Dangerous and Habitual Criminals in 1933 resulted in compulsory castration for sexual offenders

Question 18

How were the disabled persecuted by Nazis?

Answer 18

Many were sterilised to ensure future generations would be of pure blood

The T4 programme between 1938-39 meant over 5000 children with disabilities were euthanised

Question 19

How were gypsies persecuted by the Nazis?

Answer 19

Sterilised them to prevent them having children as they considered them to be mixed race
Many were deported from 1939 onwards and later sent to death camps along with with foreigners from newly occupied areas
1935 They had to comply with Nuremburg race laws and were banned from marrying or having relations with Germans.
1938 Decree for the Struggle against the Gypsy Plague – they had to register to ensure there was racial separation.