Policy Against Undesirables

Question 1

What beliefs was Nazi racial ideology made up of?

Answer 1

1. Aryans (Herrenvolk) were the superior race because of their intelligence, hard work, and willingness to make sacrifices for their nation
2. Germany lost WWI because of weak people who needed to be removed
3. Mixing with ‘untermenschen’ had contaminated the Aryans. To achieve racial purity, selective breeding and the removal of ‘undesirables’ was needed

Question 2

Who did the ‘undesirables’ consist of?

Answer 2

Covered all ethnicities e.g. Romani people, Slavs, and Jews.

Also included those who were physically and mentally disabled.

Question 3

What was the goal of creating a ‘Volksgemeinschaft’?

Answer 3

To create a society built on the concepts of race and struggle, bringing together traditional German values and a new ideology.

At the centre of this was the idea of a ‘racially pure’ state, excluding those deemed ‘biologically inferior’.

Question 4

What was the history of anti-Semitism before the Nazis took power?

Answer 4

Anti-Semitism wasn’t new, and Jews had been discriminated against even in medieval Europe, being blamed for the Black Death and used as scapegoats when things went wrong.

The rise of right-wing nationalism in the 19th century caused anti-Semitism in Europe.

Some blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat in WWI and for their humiliation in the ToV.

Question 5

Did anti-Semitism play a big role in the Nazi’s rise to power?

Answer 5

Not necessarily - evidence suggests that issues such as unemployment were what drove most people to vote Nazi.

In a 1934 survey in which people were asked why they joined the Nazi party, around 60% did not mention anti-Semitism.

Question 6

What issues did the Nazis have with introducing anti -Semitic legislation?

Answer 6

Although there were some Germans who were receptive to anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda, others found their policies offensive.

There is evidence to show that the Nazis had to tread carefully with their policies to avoid outrage.

There were many radical Nazis who wanted to take immediate action against Jewish people, while party leadership was concerned this would create unrest.

Question 7

Why was there not much anti-Semitic legislation at the start of Hitler’s leadership?

Answer 7

Initially Hitler didn’t issue any directives as he was still consolidating his power and didn’t want to damage his party’s reputation within the country and abroad.

Most of the violence against individual Jews and their property was undertaken by SA members.

Question 8

When was the 1-day boycott of Jewish businesses?

Answer 8

April 1st 1933

Question 9

What happened in the 1-day boycott of Jewish businesses and was it successful?

Answer 9

Members of the SA were positioned outside of shops to persuade people not to use them.

The boycott was not popular and caused bad publicity abroad, so was abandoned.

Question 10

When was the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service?

Answer 10

April 7th 1933

Question 11

What did the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service do and why did Hitler pass it?

Answer 11

Banned Jewish (and any non-Aryan) people from holding civil service jobs such as teachers, professors, judges, and any government jobs.

The law initially exempted anyone who had held a civil service position since August 1st 1914, WWI veterans, and those who had lost family members in the war.

Hitler passed this law to appease radicals after the failure of the 1-day boycott and to create a “national” and “professional” civil service.

Question 12

When were the Nuremberg laws announced?

Answer 12

September 15th 1935 (at the Nuremberg Rally)

Question 13

What were the Nuremberg Laws?

Answer 13

Reich Citizenship Law

Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor

Question 14

What did the Reich Citizenship Law do?

Answer 14

Deprived Jews of German citizenship

The definition of a German citizen was changed to a person “of German or related blood”

Question 15

What did the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor do?

Answer 15

Banned marriage and sexual relations between German citizens and Jewish people.

The Nazis believed that such relationships were dangerous because they led to “mixed race” children, undermining the purity of the German race.

Question 16

What societal changes did the Nuremberg Laws catalyse?

Answer 16

Anti-Semitism was deeper embedded in German society.

Jewish people were often banned from places such as restaurants and swimming pools.

Posters and signs appeared claiming ‘Jews are not wanted here’.

Newspapers such as Der Sturmer were openly anti-Semitic and films such as The Eternal Jew were released.

Question 17

Why was anti-Semitism downplayed/concealed in 1936?

Answer 17

1. Berlin was hosting the 1936 Olympics and the regime wanted to convey a positive impression of Nazi Germany to the rest of the world.
2. Conservatives within the regime such as Schacht argued that anti-Semitic action would have a negative impact on the economy.

Question 18

What anti-Semitic legislation was passed in 1938?

Answer 18

January 5:
The Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names - Forbids Jews from changing their names.

April 26:
The Order for the Disclosure of Jewish Assets - Requires Jews to report all property in excess of 5,000 Reichsmarks.

August 17:
The Executive Order on the Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names - Jews must add “Sarah” or “Israel” to their names

October 5:
The Reich Ministry of the Interior invalidates all German passports held by Jews. Jews must surrender their old passports, which will become valid only after the letter “J” has been stamped on them.

November 12:
The Decree on the Exclusion of Jews from German Economic Life - Closes all Jewish-owned businesses.

November 15:
The Reich Ministry of Education expels all Jewish children from public schools.

and many more…

Question 19

Why did anti-Semitism increase in 1938?

Answer 19

Increasing anti-Semitic action taken throughout 1938.

Party activists demanded more radical action, supported by Goering who wanted to confiscate Jewish assets to help pay for rearmament.

Nationalist feeling within the country was increased by the Anschluss, which gave Germany 150,000 more Jews.

Question 20

When was Kristallnacht?

Answer 20

November 9-10 1938

Question 21

What was Kristallnacht caused by?

Answer 21

The Nazis claimed it was a spontaneous result of the murder of Ernst vom Rath, a German diplomat in Paris, by Herschel Grynszpan, a young Polish Jew.

In reality it could have been coordinated by Goebbels in an effort to win back Hitler’s favour after his affair with a Czech actress.

Question 22

What were the events of Kristallnacht?

Answer 22

Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were destroyed.

Taking part were the SA, SS, and members of the Hitler Youth.

Question 23

What was the aftermath of Kristallnacht?

Answer 23

Over 100 Jews were killed and around 20,000 were sent to concentration camps.

Many German leaders such as Goering criticised the material waste caused and feared that German insurance companies would have to pay for the damages.

The Jewish community was blamed for the riots and imposed a fine of 1 billion Reichsmarks on them. Insurance payouts were confiscated from Jews who had their homes and businesses destroyed, leaving them to pay for the damage themselves.

Question 24

Was Kristallnacht really spontaneous?

Answer 24

No.

Many SA and Hitler Youth units wore civilian clothes to support the fiction that the disturbances were expressions of ‘outraged public reaction.’

Heydrich (head of Security Police) gave out suspiciously specific orders:
- The “spontaneous” rioters were to take no measures endangering non-Jewish German life or property
- They were not to subject foreigners (even Jewish foreigners) to violence
-They were to remove all synagogue archives prior to vandalizing synagogues and other properties of the Jewish communities, and to transfer that archival material to the Security Service

Police officials were told to arrest as many young Jews as jails could hold.

Question 25

Where, when, why and how was the Central Office for Jewish Emigration set up?

Answer 25

Vienna

Following the Anschluss

Established to force Jews to emigrate, the most common destinations being Palestine, Britain, and the USA.

Money from the seizure of Jewish goods was used to fund it.

Question 26

Who headed the Central Office for Jewish Emigration and what did he achieve?

Answer 26

Adolf Eichmann

Under him, around 45,000 Jewish people left within 6 months.

The success of this policy led to the creation of the Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Berlin.

Question 27

When was the Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration established?

Answer 27

January 1939

Question 28

What people did the term ‘asocials’ cover?

Answer 28

Anyone who didn’t belong in the Volksgemeinschaft - didn’t carry out their duty to the national community.

This included alcoholics, criminals, homeless people, prostitutes, homosexuals, those unwilling to work, juvenile delinquents, and Gypsies.

Question 29

How were asocials dealt with?

Answer 29

In 1933 there was a roundup of half a million asocials who were divided into the orderly and disorderly.

The orderly were given work and the disorderly were imprisoned in camps and forced to wear black triangles.

Pressure on the ‘workshy’ increased as unemployment disappeared and thousands were sent to concentration camps where many died.

Question 30

Why did the Nazis discriminate against Gypsies?

Answer 30

They were viewed as outsiders and seen as non-Aryan and workshy.

Question 31

Was discrimination against Gypsies new?

Answer 31

No, there had long been suspicion towards them in many countries, including Weimar Germany, due to their distinctive appearance and lifestyle.

In 1929 the Central Office for the Fight against the Gypsies had been established in Germany.

Question 32

To what extent were Romani people seen as a threat to Nazi Germany?

Answer 32

As there was a relatively small Romani population in Germany at the time, around 30,000, they were not seen as a major threat.

They were, however, victims to radical policy in the late 1930s to prevent them from contaminating the German blood pool.

Question 33

What Nazi policies discriminated against Gypsies?

Answer 33

1935: Gypsies had to comply with the Nuremberg race laws and were banned from marrying or having sexual relations with Germans

1938: Decree for the Struggle against the Gypsy Plague - Gypsies had to register to ensure there was racial separation

1939: With the outbreak of war, 30,000 Gypsies were deported to special sites in Poland

Question 34

Why did homosexuals pose a threat to the national community?

Answer 34

Their behaviour offended traditionally-minded Nazis as they saw it to be against the law of nature.

They threatened Germany’s position in the world by reducing their birth rate.

Question 35

Office founded for tackling threats to the birthrate

Answer 35

The Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexual and Abortion

Created in 1936

Question 36

Was there homosexuality within the regime?

Answer 36

There were around 10 cases a year of homosexuality within the SS.

In 1937 Himmler ordered homosexual SS officers to be sent to concentration camps “where they will be shot while attempting to escape”.

Question 37

What was the punishment for being homosexual?

Answer 37

Between 10,000 and 15,000 homosexuals were arrested and sent to camps where they were forced to wear pink triangles.

Some were castrated and became the objects of medical experiments designed to correct their ‘unnatural feelings’

Question 38

Were lesbians persecuted in the Third Reich?

Answer 38

No - they weren’t seen as a threat to the nation

Question 39

The Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring (“The Sterilisation Law”)

Answer 39

July 14th 1933

Allowed the ‘simple minded,’chronic alcoholics’ and sufferers of schizophrenia, hereditary blindness and deafness to be sterilised.

Question 40

How many men were sterilised from 1934 onwards?

Answer 40

~350,000

Question 41

Law Against Dangerous Habitual Criminals

Answer 41

November 24th 1933

Allows courts to order the indefinite imprisonment of “habitual criminals” if they deem the person dangerous to society. It also provides for the castration of some sex offenders.

Question 42

When was the euthanasia campaign launched?

Answer 42

1939

Question 43

How did the Nazis identify disabled children to sterilise?

Answer 43

August 18, 1939:
Reich Ministry of the Interior circulated a decree requiring all physicians, nurses, and midwives to report newborn infants and children under the age of three who showed signs of severe mental or physical disability.

October 1939:
Public health authorities began to encourage parents of children with disabilities to admit their young children to one of a number of specially designated pediatric clinics throughout Germany and Austria. In reality, the clinics were children’s killing wards.

Question 44

What techniques were used to kill disabled children?

Answer 44

Starvation
By lethal injection
By gas in mobile vans or ‘shower’ gas chambers

Question 45

When did Hitler sign the authorisation for the euthanasia program?

Answer 45

October 1939 (though dated September 1st to make it appear like a wartime measure)

Question 46

How did the Nazis extend the euthanasia program to adults?

Answer 46

Questionnaires were distributed to all public health officials, public and private hospitals, mental institutions, and nursing homes for the chronically ill and aged.

They were asked to identify patients who fitted into the following categories:
The categories of patients were:
- Those suffering from schizophrenia, epilepsy, dementia, encephalitis, and other chronic psychiatric or neurological disorders
- Those not of German or “related” blood
- The criminally insane or those committed on criminal grounds
- Those who had been confined to the institution in question for more than five years

Patients selected for the euthanasia program were removed from their home institutions and transported by bus or by rail to one of the central gassing installations for killing.