Racial State Part 3: The Development Of Anti-Semitic Policies Flashcards
What was the Anschluss in 1938?
The Anschluss in 1938 was the invasion of Austria and they became united which was forbidden in the Treaty of Versailles.
How did Europe look before WWI?
Before WWI, Austria-Hungary was the largest political entity in mainland Europe. It spanned from Italy to Ukraine to Transylvania. Eleven major ethno-language groups were scattered across the Empire: Germans, Hungarians, Polish, Czech, Ukrainian, Slovak, Slovene, Croatians, Serbs, Italians and Romanians.
The ethnically German portion of the Empire (based in Austria) has an affinity with German seeing themselves as part of a the same ‘Volk’. Hitler himself was actually Austrian.
It was a dual-monarchy - two monarchies and prime ministers that also had one Emperor.
What was Austria’s opinion towards the potential unification with Germany?
First Austrian Republic: Austria and Germany were banned from unification or alliance under the terms of the treaty of Versailles. This was widely perceived as unfair, and against the principles of “self-determination” laid out under the TOV.
The idea of unification with Germany was very popular in Austria - in fact, more popular than it was in Germany at this time.
Many Austrians voted for pro-unification parties during the 1920s. However, in the 1930s Austria was subjected to a fascist coup while Hitler took power in Germany. This turned many left-wingers away from the idea of Anschluss.
What did the Austrian government do to combat unification?
- The Government went to Mussolini who promised to defend the Austrians against Hitler.
- Hitler offered Mussolini an alliance, after which Mussolini stopped caring about Austrian Independence.
- Hitler told Goebbels in the late summer of 1937 that eventually Austria would have to be taken “by force”.
- Hitler began threatening the Austrian Chancellor, Schuschnigg, to give in to his demands and appoint Nazis in positions of power. Schuschnigg held a referendum into Austrian independence. Hitler encouraged Nazi groups in Austria to agitate for union but the Austrian government banned Nazi demonstrations and called a plebiscite in March 1938 to show that the majority of Austrians were opposed to union.
- Hitler demanded that Schuschnigg hand over the Austrian government. Schuschnigg looked to other nations for support, but they did nothing. He resigned.
Hitler invaded Austria.
How did the invasion of Austria go and what was the impact?
- The “bloodless victory” emboldened the Nazis.
- They felt more confident that the German people would support their foreign policies and domestic policies, and more radical racial policies in the Greater Germany they had created.
- They were more confident that other nations would refrain from interference.
Examples of more radical anti-Jewish policy during 1938
- April 1938: The Decree of Registration of Jewish Property; all Jewish policy valued over 5000 marks was seized. This was the starting point for the Aryanisation of Jewish property. Roughly 40,000 Jewish owned businesses in Germany; a year later only around 8000 had avoided being closed down or ‘Aryanised’.
- Further legislation banned Jews from work as travelling salesman, security guards, travel agents and estate agents - 30,000 Jewish travelling salesmen lost their jobs.
- October 1938: The passports of German Jews had to be stamped with a large J to make them easily recognisable. All Jewish men were to adopt the additional name “Israel” and women “Sarah”.
What happened in the Reichkristallnacht program (The Night of the Broken Glass) in November 1938?
Reichkristallnacht (The Night of the Broken Glass): 9-10th November 1938. Jewish homes and businesses were looted and vandalised, synagogues were set ablaze and thousands of Jews were arrested, beaten up and killed. 91 Jews were murdered and thousands were injured. 20,000-30,000 Jews put in detention. Can be viewed as uncontrolled outpouring of anti-Semitic feeling amongst radical elements of the Nazi movement, partly supported by German public opinion.
The program was orchestrated by Nazi leadership and most of the violence was carried out by SS and SA, who were instructed not to wear uniforms.
The Nazis seized the opportunity of the murder of Ernst vom Rath. vom Rath was a German official murdered by a young Polish Jew.
However, vom Rath’s murder was more of an excuse for violence against Jews than the actual cause.
Goebbels was the chief instigator for the program. He gave instructions that the violence was to look spontaneous, not organised.
The event took place on the 9th of November because this was the anniversary of the Munich Putsch.
Thousands of Jews were injured. There was much looting. The violence was not for gain, but purely destructive.
The police and fire bridges were directed not to intervene, only to stop the fires spreading to other buildings.
The Nazis stated that the program was a spontaneous show of anti-Semitic feeling - “the National Soul has boiled over”.
What happened after the progrom (The Night of Broken Glass)?
In the days after the progrom, Hitler gave Hermann Goering a coordinating role to ‘sort things out’. From this point of view, it might appear that the situation in November 1938 was similar to that of April 1933, when the regime had to reign in the SA boycott.
How did the Night of the Broken Glass 1938 November 9-10 benefit the Nazis?
- Some ordinary citizens joined in the violence.
- The number of Jewish people voluntarily leaving Germany escalated.
- The insurance companies were not allowed to pay compensation to Jewish victims. The ‘Decree of Restoration of the Street Scene’ meant that the Jewish people had to pay 1B in compensation for “disrupting the German economy”.
- The Decree Excluding Jews from German Economic Life was issued on the 12 November and the Aryanisation of Jewish businesses was accelerated.
How did the Night of the Broken Glass 1938 November 9-10 hinder the Nazis?
- Some ordinary citizens joined the violence.
- Many ordinary people were aghast at what was happening. There were reports of citizens saying “Shlimm, Shlimm” (it’s terrible) to each other on the street.
- A official in Berlin claimed he “had not met a German official in any walk of life who did not disapprove to some degree of what had occurred”.
- Goering pronounced “now the gloves are off”.
What was the first method of achieving a Jew free Germany?
The first method was through voluntary emigration. As war approached and the Nazi regime moved to more radical policies, the focus moved to forced emigration. From late 1938 until the autumn of 1941, emigration was seen as the ‘solution to the Jewish problem’ by the Nazi leadership.
What was voluntary emigration?
The Nazi regime allowed for Jewish emigration, but strictly controlled it. In 1933, 37,000 Jews left Germany, including many leading scientists and cultural figures. Overall, 150,000 Jews voluntarily left Germany between March 1933 and November 1938. The situation was confusing by the fact that the Nazis were both encouraging Jews to emigrate and threatening to confiscate some of their assets.
Why was the decision to leave difficult?
For those with skills that were easily transferable to other countries, the decision was easier; the same was true of those who had family members living in another country. The Nazis were also willing to encourage Zionists to emigrate to Palestine, then under British rule. The majority of German Jews were not Zionists and did not choose this option. Most German Jews, especially the older generation, felt thoroughly German and wanted to stay.
What were the problems with emigration?
Making the Reich Jew free through emigration was not easy:
- difficult finding countries willing to accept large numbers, as many countries had begun to raise barriers to limit Jewish immigration
- Palestine could only take a limited number, partly because of British fears of Arab hostility
- Nazi policies were contradictory, pressuring people to emigrate but, at the same time, making it harder for them to do so by stripping their wealth.
After the Night of Broken Glass on 9-10 November 1938, many Jews now desperately sought safe refuge from the obvious dangers they faced in Germany. Jewish parents were particularly keen to get their children out of Germany and to safe countries. For example, 9000 Jewish children were sent to Britain in 1938-39.
What was controlled emigration?
Controlled emigration was a key policy aim of the Nazi regime, not least because it enabled massive economic exploitation. After the Anschluss in March 1938, Reinhard Heydrich used Austria as a laboratory for developing SS policy. The Central Office for Jewish Emigration was set up; 45,000 of Austria’s 180,000 Jews had been forced to emigrate. The illegal seizure of Jewish property was used to fund the emigration of poorer Jews.
The SD set about amalgamating all Jewish organisations into a single ‘Reich Association of the Jews in Germany’. The organisation was modelled on methods used in Austria by the SS emigration expert Adolf Eichmann in 1938. This system suited the Nazis because organisational difficulties had to be dealt with by the Jews themselves.
