The Nuremberg Racial Laws
This is a picture of a women sitting on a bench specially
designed for Jews hiding her face from the camera. |
After Hitler has taken over power, he could not just immediately kill all the other races but had to go step by step. To see how far they could go, the Nazis first issued the Nuremberg Laws comprising two separate laws, The Reich Citizenship Law and the Law of the Protection of German Blood and Honor.
"Any marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are herewith forbidden." These laws defined between Aryan and non-Aryan, excluded German Jews from Reich citizenship, and prohibited marriages between Germans or related blood and Jews. The Nuremburg Laws were more effective comparing to laws established before because it clearly segregated Jews from non-Jews. Anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents was considered as full Jews. Before this law, a number of Jews were able to avoid some forms of discriminations. The Jews did suffer devastatingly under these policies. They were restricted in the choice of partner and were treated as rats by the Germans. Since Jews were not considered as humans anymore, they immediately lost all legal rights.
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Although Jews were the primary targets of Nazi racial persecutions, they were not the only group that experienced discriminations. The Nazi believed that their Aryan race is racially superior to other races around them. In the beginning of 1930s, only political opponents and others who were vied as “undesirable” or “enemies to the state” were being arrested. Later, an estimated of 5000 to 15000 homosexuals were also arrested and sent to concentration camps because their actions of not having a child is committing a crime. There was a serious lack of man in Germany due to the heavy casualties WWI caused (United States Holocaust Memorial museum). The Nuremberg Laws, initially only targeted Jews were changed to include the Roma or Gypsies too in 1935. Later in 1938, several thousands of German and Austrian Roma (Gypsies) were imprisoned in special municipal camps because Nazi believed Gypsies are naturally dirty and dangerous. Along with Roma, Afro-Germans also didn’t escape persecutions. Even African-German background children were forced to sterilize. Between 1934 and 1939, about half of the German-Jewish population and more than two-third of Austrian Jews fled and emigrated to countries like United States, Palestine, and elsewhere in Europe. From this we can see that the German Racial Policies were both successful and effective. (Jewish Virtual Library.)
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The Eternal Jew was a famous propaganda film and displayed Jews as corrupted, filthy, dirty, lazy, and ugly animals.
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Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass)
Between 1937 and 1939, Jewish businesses were pushed away from Germany's economic life. In the November of 1938, Kristallnacht an anti-Jewish riot opposing Jewish communities in Germany, Austria, and Sudetenland was organized. Nazi party officials, members of SA, and Hitler Youths went on streets and shattered Jewish shop glasses into pieces. Jewish houses were plundered and their synagogues were burned. The broken glasses on the ground eventually became the name for this event, Kristallnacht, or The Night of Broken Glass. Local police and fire departments were told beforehand to not interfere. As a result to this event, at least 91 Jews were killed during the process, 7,500 Jewish businesses were damaged, and more than 30,000 Jewish males were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. (Crew)
The German official claimed that this action is a response to the assassination of Ernest Von Rath, a German embassy official, by a 17-year-old Polish Jew, Herschell Grynszpan. Reich propaganda minister Goebbels tried to persuade the public that the assassination was part of a larger Jewish conspiracy trying to destroy Germany. In the Nazi newspaper The People’s Observer, Goebbels wrote:
“The questions arise: Where was Grynszpan during the last three months? Who took care of his living expenses? Who gave him the false passport? Who trained him in pistol shooting? There can be no doubt that he was given sanctuary by a Jewish organization, nor that he was systematically prepared for this cynical assassination.” |
Also, the German propaganda described Kristallnacht as a naturally originated public outrage which is misleading because the members of SA and Nazi political officials were the ones that did most of the damages. The Kristallnacht was a huge turning point in National Socialist anti-Semitic policy. The Nazi wanted to use this pogrom to see the world’s reaction and German citizen’s reaction toward Jewish persecutions. However, since little or no people did anything to fight against Hitler or the severe measures, Hitler was able to continue with his ruthless dictatorship without troubles. (Crew)