Treatment of ethnic minorities in Weimar (4)

Question 1

General treatment of ethnic minorities

Answer 1

• Varied depending on their location and who they were - generally accepted with some low-levels of discrimination (similar to women).
• Elite, conservative groups (landowners and the army) were less welcoming compared to city-based liberals.
• Received lower wages and less likely to be employed than a ‘German man’.
• Article 113 = groups that spoke a different language could not legally be stopped or preserving their national identity by how they ran their schools and daily lives = not always implemented and didn’t control laws made by the Lander against minorities.

Question 2

Attitudes to Jews - statistics regarding population

Answer 2

• 1% of the population in 1918 and the falling birth rate meant only 0.76% in 1933.
• Majority lived in the cities (66.8%) and 1/3 lived in Berlin - anti-semites dubbed it Jew Berlin.

Question 3

Attitudes to Jews

Answer 3

• Huge influence culturally and politically:
• Five Jews held cabinet posts, including Walther Rathenau (Foreign Minister in 1922) who signed the Rapallo Treaty - led to criticisms of the govt. Assassinated shortly after his appointment and this led to the government banning some of these anti-Semitic organisations.
• Some conservative judges were anti-Semitic and anti-Communist - they made racist remarks with their judgements.

Question 4

Example of one of the most aggressive anti-Semitic organisations

Answer 4

• German Peoples Offensive and Defensive Alliance.
• Membership was 25,000 in 1919 and 170,000 when it disbanded in 1923; many joined the Nazi Party after.
• Stated the Jews had conspired with the Allies and lost Germany the War.

Question 5

Attitudes to Jews as a result of the depression

Answer 5

• Worsened as people became more desperate and wanted a scapegoat.
• Jewish organisations (e.g Reich Federation of Jewish Front Soldiers), were set up to fight anti-Semitism = stressed Jewish involvement fighting for Germany in WW1 (85,000 fought and 12,000 died).
• As the depression worsened, an increasing number of people turned to extremists parties on left and right - many were anti-Semitic.

Question 6

Attitudes to Gypsies

Answer 6

• Discriminated against, despite Article 113, largely because they moved about and didn’t contribute to the country by working, paying taxes or being involved with life outside the community.
• No federal legislation against Gypsies, there were several Lander (Prussia and Bavaria) that passed laws to control them.

Question 7

Examples of laws against Gypsies

Answer 7

+ 1926 = Bavaria passed a series of laws trying to control Gypsy movement and to get their children into schools and adults into work.

• Various other states, such as Hesse, adopted these laws or made their own legislation.

+ 1927 = Bavaria said all Gypsies should carry around identity cards.

Question 8

Attitudes for those who moved during the redrawing of the Germany-Poland border

Answer 8

• As some were left on the wrong side, some moved and some stayed because they didn’t wish to leave their homes.
• 1925 = over 200,000 Polish speakers in Germany and 500,000 who spoke both languages (more integrated) often born in Germany.
• Significant hostility to Poles because they had fought Germany in the war, and between 1925-1933, about 30K left.

Question 9

Attitudes to black minorities

Answer 9

• One visible minority met with rising hostility after 1923 because the French army took over the Ruhr had black units from French colonies.
• From 1923, 500 mixed race children were born because of the arrival of these troops were denounced as ‘Germany’s shame’.
• Black adults who lived in Germany before 1923 found that some areas became more hostile post-occupation, though musicians and writers were accepted in the cities.