Academic Antisemitism Across Germany
The Nazi party's aims were clear. Adolf Hitler desired to rule Germany turn it into a strong empire. He believed that in order for Germany to be strong, "German" must become a race. Therefore the population must be "truly German". Jews, homosexuals, Slavs, communists and gypsies did not fall into this category. Hitler knew that in order to free Germany of Jews, he must gain support in all aspects of German life, including the academic sector. Many people believed that Jews were taking up too many university spaces, which rightly belonged to "German people". Also, many soldiers believed that "many Jews during the war had not carried out their duty for Germany in a deutsch-volkisch (German-Nationalist) sense’. In 1929, The Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen was the first university in Germany to declare support to Hitler. The official student representative body, the AStA, consisted of numerous bodies, one of which was the ‘National Socialist German Student League’ who believed in the Nazi worldview. At The Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, the NSDStB won ruling majority in the AStA council, later in 1929. Although the group was undoubtedly successful in Erlangen, they struggled to win even 10% of votes in other universities. Another group fighting for a space in the council was the ‘Left-wing Student Group’. It made up mostly of Jews, however did have a few non-Jewish members. However, the group was refused permission to participate in the AStA elections, and was forbid communication between members, causing the group to disband. This ended all left-wing influences at the university. Two members of the group Rudolf Benario and Max Kohn were arrested for fighting for their beliefs and sent to Dachau where Benario was later killed on April 12th 1933, when allegedly attempting to escape.
When the Nazi party gained power, several laws were put into play in April 1933, one of which was the “National Law for the Restoration of the Career Civil Service”. This denounced all Jews from their positions as civil servants, including university staff, allowing "true Germans" positions in the work force that they believed had been stolen by non-Aryan people. Another was the “National Law against the Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities”. This removed huge numbers of Jews from the education system as no more than 5% of the student population as a whole could be non-Aryan. Combined, the laws limited the number of Jews permitted to be in the civil service and education systems. For the section of the population that had been forced in to unemployment by the previous government, the idea of more available jobs appealed to them, resulting in even more support. By November 1938, all German universities were ‘Judenfrei’, meaning "Jew free" (Grady). The methods of teaching also changed, due to the fact that everything must move within the "Nazi Weltanschauung", the Nazi ideology. Universities became institutions revolving around the Weltanschauung and all employees had to become “priests of the Weltanschauung”. All teachers were forced to enter the "Dozentenschaft" and all students into the "National Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund". Science research was longer independent and became restricted by the Nazi Weltanschauung; truths could be found so long as they did not contradict the Nazi ideas. In Economics classes, courses were run studying the negative influence of Jews on national economic life, and that Jews misused the German language. Academic freedom no longer exists under Hitler’s rule and it was a necessity that everything that was done was focused on the well-being of the state (Veit & Grady). The life of the German population gradually became surrounded and revolved around the Weltanschauung in all aspects. As more and more people followed the Nazis, those who didn't were frowned upon and suspected and arrested by the Gestapo for treason. This all added to the totalitarianism of Nazi Germany.