Persecution of Minorities

Question 1

What was a central part of Nazi policy?

Answer 1

The creation of a pure German state. This meant treating all non-German groups - Jews in particular - as second-class citizens.

Question 2

What is meant by ‘untermenschen’?

Answer 2

Subhumans - used to refer to Jews and Slavs

Question 3

How did Nazi propaganda portray Jews?

Answer 3

Nazi propaganda portrayed Jews as evil moneylenders.

Question 4

What physical characteristics were ‘Aryan’?

Answer 4

Blonde, blue-eyed, tall, athletic

Question 5

How did Hitler aim to create a master race?

Answer 5

• Selective breeding (e.g. SS men were only allowed to marry Aryan women)
• By destroying the Jews

Question 6

Why was Nazi persecution of Jews initially limited (1933-35)?

Answer 6

Hitler needed to ensure he had the support of majority of the public before passing radical anti-Semitic laws

Question 7

What is meant by anti-Semitic?

Answer 7

Anti-Jewish

Question 8

What examples of anti-Semitic laws were passed in 1933?

Answer 8

• Nazi boycotts of Jewish businesses
• Jews were banned from government jobs
• Jews were banned from inheriting land

Question 9

What examples of anti-Semitic laws were passed in 1935?

Answer 9

• Jews were banned from the army

- Jews were banned from restaurants

Question 10

When were the Nuremberg Laws passed?

Answer 10

15 September 1935

Question 11

What were the two key parts of the Nuremberg Laws?

Answer 11

1) Only those of German blood were considered German citizens. Jews were not allowed to vote, hold government jobs, or have German passports
2) Jews were forbidden from marrying German citizens

Question 12

What examples of anti-Semitic laws were passed in 1938?

Answer 12

• Jews had to register all possessions, making it easier for the govt. to confiscate them
• They had to carry an identity card with a large J (for Jew) stamped on it
• Jewish doctors, dentists and lawyers were forbidden to work for white Aryan Germans
• Jewish children were no longer allowed in German schools

Question 13

When did ‘forced emigration’ begin?

Answer 13

Forced emigration begun in 1939

Question 14

What was the idea behind ‘forced emigration’?

Answer 14

Forced emigration attempted to rid Germany of Jews by forcing them to move abroad. (There was, at one point, an idea to send them to Madagascar.)

Question 15

Which govt. department was in charge of ‘forced emigration’?

Answer 15

The Reich Office for Jewish Emigration - led by Rienhard Heydrich

Question 16

Where were many Jews forced to live from 1939 onwards?

Answer 16

In ghettos - often in Poland following Germany’s invasion in 1939. Jews could be evicted from their rented homes.

Question 17

Which other minorities were persecuted by the Nazis, apart from Jews?

Answer 17

Slavs, Gypsies, Africans, homosexuals, the disabled

Question 18

Under the Nazi regime, how many people with physical or learning disabilities were sterilised?

Answer 18

700,000 people were sterilised (so they could not reproduce and weaken the German bloodline)