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5 Hitler’s Germany, 1933–1939
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Hitler’s Germany, 1933–1939
In this chapter we will look at the economic problems faced by Weimar Germany that led to the Nazi Party coming to power, led by Adolf Hitler, and the destruction of democracy in Germany. We will also examine the main characteristics of the state.
Adolf Hitler delivering a speech at the Reichstag as the Chancellor of Germany. He addresses the 'Jewish question'.
Useful terms
Anti-Semitism: Hatred of the Jewish people.
Democracy: A political system where governments seek re-election on a regular basis.
The Depression: A period of economic problems characterised by high unemployment and falling industrial production that started with the Wall Street Crash in 1929.
Dictatorship: A state where power rests with one person.
Der Führer: Hitler’s title, which means ‘the leader’.
Fascism: A political system strongly opposed to socialism and communism. Its characteristics include a dictatorship, an end to democracy and very strong nationalism.
Inflation: A period of rising prices. Hyperinflation is when prices rise out of control.
How was the Weimar Republic established?
In 1918, as World War I drew to a close, it was clear that Germany was on the verge of defeat. In early November the Kaiser (emperor), Wilhelm II, abdicated and went into exile in Holland. A republic was proclaimed with the socialist leader Friederich Ebert as chancellor (prime minster). The first act of the new government was to surrender to the Allies on 11 November 1918. ? KEY QUESTION
Why did the Nazis come to power in Germany?
The new republic faced a host of problems:
Over 2.5 million Germans had died in the war and 4 million were wounded.
There were serious economic problems, including rising prices, unemployment and a shortage of food caused by an Allied naval blockade of German ports.
On the left there were many who hoped to see a communist revolution similar to Russia.
On the right, many powerful groups in society, such as army officers and the civil service, were very unhappy that Germany had surrendered. Some were completely hostile and saw the surrender as an act of treason. They called the politicians who had surrendered the November Criminals.
To make matters worse, Germany faced the prospect of a harsh treaty that was being negotiated in
Paris at the time.
In January 1919, the communist Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg began a revolt in Berlin. It seemed as if the worldwide revolution that Lenin had predicted had begun. The new Weimar government crushed the revolt ruthlessly. Despite the Spartacus revolt, the election of January 1919 saw the majority of Germans vote for parties that favoured the new democratic republic. In February 1919 the German parliament met at Weimar to draw up a new constitution.
The new republic became known as Weimar Germany because the new constitution was drawn up in the town. The electoral system was very fair but meant that it was impossible for one single party to gain an overall majority. This led to many coalition governments.
Broadly speaking, there were two main groups of parties.
The ‘Weimar parties’ that supported the new republic included:
The Social Democrats (SPD), who were moderate socialists and until 1932 the most popular party in Germany.
The Centre Party, which represented the interests of Catholics in Germany.
The parties that were opposed to the new republic:
The Communist Party (KPD), which was formed from the
Spartacus League and wanted to see the establishment of a soviet republic similar to the USSR.
The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), which was an extreme nationalist and racist party, nicknamed the Nazis by their political enemies.
The terms of the Treaty of Versailles came as a complete shock to the Germans and it was condemned by all political parties. Many blamed the new republic’s leaders for the humiliation of the treaty.
President Hindenburg (1847–1934) was a WWI general who was elected president in 1925. He disliked Hitler and the Nazis but was persuaded to appoint Hitler as chancellor in 1933.
The main terms of the Treaty of Versailles that the German resented were: The loss of territory to the newly founded state of Poland.
The War Guilt Clause that blamed Germany for the war. As a result, Germany had to pay reparations (compensation) to the Allies.
The military clauses that restricted the size of the German army to 100,000 men. Germany was also not allowed to have tanks or an air force.
The banning of German troops from a region of Germany known as the Rhineland.
The ban on Austria joining with Germany.
One of the reasons for Hitler’s popularity was the constant attacks that he made on the treaty.
Why did Germany suffer hyperinflation in 1923?
Even the strongest opponent of the republic might have grown to accept it if it had provided a decent income for its citizens. However, it suffered two economic failures without equal in German history. The first of these was the hyperinflation of 1923.
In 1921 the German government had been presented with a bill for reparations of £6.6 billion. It could not afford these payments and at the end of 1922 Germany stopped paying the Allies.
The French government reacted quickly and 70,000 French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial heartland of Germany, the Ruhr. They intended to seize the coal and use the goods produced by the factories as compensation for the money owed.
The economic effects of the occupation were catastrophic:
The loss of production in the Ruhr caused a fall in production elsewhere in Germany and unemployment rose from 2% to 23%.
A 100 million mark note. Money became worthless during the hyperinflation.
The amount of money collected in tax collapsed and the government financed its activities through the printing of money – this is the major cause of inflation. Paying the workers in the Ruhr who went on strike further fuelled this inflation.
Hyperinflation followed as prices rose completely out of control. By November they were a staggering one billion times their pre-war levels. The number of noughts on banknotes grew and grew. The highest-value note printed during the inflation was a 500 trillion mark note (500,000,000,000,000). This was the greatest recorded rise in prices in the 20th century.
The rise in prices hit everyone very hard, especially those on fixed incomes such as teachers. People with savings found that their money in the bank was now worthless. Employees collected their wages in shopping baskets or wheelbarrows, as so many banknotes were needed to make up their wages.
In late 1923, the policies of the new chancellor, Gustav Stresemann, helped to transform the fortunes of Weimar. He introduced a new and stable currency, the Rentenmark (soon renamed the Reichsmark), which restored confidence. This ended the hyperinflation and a stable exchange rate was established with the dollar. The French also agreed to end the occupation of the Ruhr. In America, a loan of $800 million was raised to help German economic recovery.
For the next five years, American loans poured into Germany and the economy prospered. In the late 1920s Germany was seen by many as the rival of the US. It was home to some of the biggest companies in Europe, such as the huge electrical company Siemens, the financial giant Deutsche Bank and the car maker Mercedes Benz. Culturally it was famous for its writers, architects and composers, and it had the largest film industry in Europe.
Historians usually see three periods during Weimar Germany:
1919–1923: Post-war chaos characterised by revolts, political assassinations and economic crisis. 1924–1929: The era of Stresemann, or the Golden Years of Weimar, when unemployment fell and the German economy boomed due to US loans. There was little electoral support for extremist parties like the Nazis. 1930–1933: The collapse of Weimar brought on by the impact of the Great Depression, which hit Germany harder than any other developed economy. Unemployment rose to six million and confidence in democracy collapsed. The Nazis grew to be the largest party in Germany. In the election of July 1932, over 50% of Germans voted for the Nazis or the equally anti-democratic Communists.
What was the economic and political impact of the Great Depression on Germany?
For all the outward signs of prosperity, the German economic recovery was based on shaky foundations, as it had largely been financed by loans from the United States. In late October 1929 there was panic selling on the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street reacting to a business crisis in America. This event became known as the Wall Street Crash and had severe economic effects for both the US and Europe, especially Germany.
In the US, unemployment rose quickly and American demand for imports collapsed. American banks saw their losses mount. Loans to Germany ended and the banks started calling in their loans, which had been financing the German economy. In response, German industrial production fell quickly and by 1932 it was 40% less in value than its 1929 level. To make matters worse, a number of banks went out of business in 1931.
By the start of 1933, over six million people, or roughly one worker in three, was unemployed.
Soon many of the unemployed were not receiving unemployment benefits as state governments did not have the money to pay them.
People deserted the democratic parties in droves and turned to either the Communists or the Nazis.
The party that benefited most was the National Socialist German Workers Party, nicknamed the Nazi Party by its enemies. It was led by Adolf Hitler (for more detail on his early career, see page 112). Hitler was strongly influenced by fascism in Italy. Like the Italian ruler Mussolini (the Duce), he took the title of Der Führer – the leader.
His party promised to:
Tear up the Treaty of Versailles and make Germany great again
Unite all German speakers together in one country
Destroy communism and socialism
Set up a dictatorship and replace democracy, which they saw as weak
Smash the ‘power’ of Jews in Germany, since they considered Germans to be the master race, and Jews and Slavs to be racial enemies.
Hitler attempted a revolt in Munich in November 1923 (the Beer Hall Putsch), but it was crushed easily. After a brief spell in prison he found that his party had little support. In the 1928 election the Nazis gained only 2.5% of the vote and 12 seats in the Reichstag. The Nazis would have remained a small extreme group but for the Great Depression. The Nazis made their electoral breakthrough in the election of 1930. They increased their seats in the Reichstag to 107 deputies, while the Communists won 77. The chancellor, Heinrich Brüning, failed completely to tackle the dire economic situation.
Nazi election poster. The text reads ‘We the workers are awake. We vote for National Socialists.’
Given the lack of popular support for his policies, Brüning found it very difficult to get a majority in the Reichstag. He relied on the support of President Hindenburg to get laws passed. The president’s role was important, as he appointed the chancellor and he had emergency powers to approve laws without the support of the Reichstag (Article 48).
The Nazis continued to grow and Hitler’s private army, the Brownshirts, now numbered 400,000 men. Political violence intensified and 155 people were killed in clashes in the largest state, Prussia.
Brüning was replaced by Franz von Papen, who promptly called an election. The July election of 1932 was a resounding victory for the National Socialists, who became the largest party in the Reichstag. They won 37.6% of the vote and 230 seats. Their
Communist enemies got 89 seats. A majority of Germans had voted for non-democratic parties. Political chaos intensified.
Brownshirts marching in 1932. They were viewed as thugs by many Germans, even by some
Another election in November of Hitler’s own supporters. saw the Nazi vote fall by two million and their number of seats to 196. The party was also in serious financial difficulties and it seemed that its march towards power had been halted.
Von Papen had little popular support and he had lost the backing of the army. In December, General Kurt von Schleicher replaced von Papen as chancellor.
Von Papen wanted to return to power and began to plot with other leading politicians. In January they decided to get rid of von Schleicher and to try to get the Nazis into government. Hitler agreed the terms of a coalition government in which he would hold the post of chancellor. Von Papen was able to persuade a reluctant President Hindenburg to agree. On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor by the president. Von Papen was his vice-chancellor. Nazi propaganda called this event the Seizure of Power and it marked the beginning of their rule of Germany.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1 Explain the impact of the Wall Street Crash on Germany.
2 What were the main aims of the Nazi Party?
3 How did the Great Depression benefit the Nazi Party?
4 Give two reasons why the results of the July 1932 election were very significant.
5 Why was President Hindenburg such an important figure after 1930?
6 How was Hitler appointed chancellor?
How did the Nazis establish a totalitarian state in Germany?
?KEY QUESTION
What were the main characteristics of the Nazi state?
Most of Hitler’s first cabinet consisted of non-Nazis. Von Papen and his allies thought that they could control Hitler. They believed that the responsibility that power brought would moderate the Nazi movement. They were wrong. Hitler was not going to allow anyone to place limits on his control of Germany.
At first there were only two Nazi ministers in the cabinet, Wilhelm Frick and Herman Göring. However, through their posts they controlled the police throughout Germany. Göring brought the police in Prussia, Germany’s largest state, under his control. He enrolled the SA (brownshirts) as part-time policeman. The SA unleashed a reign of terror and attacked their political enemies, especially the Communists and Social Democrats. Their newspapers were closed down, their offices raided, their meetings attacked and their members beaten.
On 27 February 1933, a young Dutch Communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, set fire to the Reichstag building. Hitler claimed that the fire was the signal for a Communist revolt. An emergency law, The Decree of the President for the Protection of People and State, was passed. Commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree, it suspended basic human rights and gave the police increased powers to arrest suspects. This law formed the basis of police power in Germany and helped to create a totalitarian state. Waves of arrests followed and over 10,000 Communists were detained. As the prisons were filled to bursting point, cellars and disused warehouses were used to hold suspects. In March the first concentration camp was set up at Dachau near Munich.
Herman Göring (1893–1946) was a leading member of the Nazi Party. A WWI fighter ace, he was seen as a moderate by many – the acceptable face of Nazism. But as historian Richard Evans wrote, ‘the appearance was deceptive; he was as ruthless, as violent and as extreme as any of the leading Nazis.’
Useful terms
Enabling Act: This law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree.
Gestapo: The secret police established in 1933.
Gleichschaltung: Policy of bringing all areas of German society under the control of the party.
Holocaust: The systematic destruction of the Jewish race.
Kristallnacht: Attacks on German Jews in November 1938.
Night of the Long Knives: A purge against the SA (Brownshirts) and other enemies of the regime.
Protective custody: Arrest and imprisonment, usually in a concentration camp of political opponents of the Nazis.
SA – Sturmabteilung (Storm Detachment): Known as the Brownshirts, they were established in 1920.
They were Hitler’s uniformed followers who fought with political opponents during his rise to power.
Its leadership was killed by Hitler in 1934 in an event known as the Night of the Long Knives. After this event, the organisation had little political influence in Nazi Germany.
SS – Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron): This infamous organisation was established as an elite bodyguard for Hitler in 1925. After the Nazis came to power, its role expanded greatly. It controlled the police, the secret police (Gestapo) and the concentration camps. During World War II its armed wing, the Waffen SS, fought alongside the regular German army. The organisation was responsible for carrying out the Holocaust and for other war crimes.
Third Reich: The name the Nazis gave to their state. It means the Third Empire.
Totalitarianism: A system where the government has total control over the lives of citizens. There are no elections and the population is controlled by terror, including a secret police.
Volk: The German people.
Volksgemeinschaft: Nazi ideology that wanted to break down class barriers between Germans and promote a common pride in being members of the German race.
?KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED
Herrenvolk: The master race or Germanic people – often called the Aryan race by the Nazis. Lebensraum: Living space for Germans in Eastern Europe. Reichskirche: Unified Protestant Church that replaced the different regional churches in Germany. The aim was to bring the different protestant churches under Nazi control. It was set up in 1933.
The Reichstag on fire. The Nazis falsely claimed that this was the signal for a Communist revolt.
Elections were held in March 1933 and these saw the Nazis receive 44% of the vote. Hitler then passed a further emergency law called the Enabling Act. This allowed the government (in effect, Hitler) to pass laws without seeking the approval of parliament or the president. Given the background of political and economic chaos, most democratic parties supported the bill. The Act formed the legal basis of the Nazi dictatorship. It was renewed in 1937 and made
permanent in 1943.
The Nazis were now free to carry out their policy of bringing all aspects of German political and social life under the control of the party. The Nazis used the term Gleichschaltung to describe this process. Nazi terror increased, with all political parties targeted, even those that had voted for the Enabling Act. One by one, political parties were banned or dissolved themselves. The Communists were banned on 7 March, the Social Democrats on 21 June. In May, all the trade unions were disbanded, their leaders arrested and their members forced to join the Nazi-controlled German Labour Front. On 14 July 1933, the NSDAP became the sole legal party in Germany. Goebbels noted in his diary, ‘We are the masters of Germany.’
What were the concentration camps?
As we have seen, as soon as the Nazis came to power, they brought the police under their control. A secret police, the Gestapo, was established. It soon acquired a fearsome reputation. Its task was to watch enemies of the regime, such as communists, socialists and Jews. Criticism of the regime could result in arrest or protective custody followed by torture and detention in a concentration camp.
These camps were first set up in 1933 to house political prisoners and ordinary criminals. They were run by the SS. As well as Dachau, other camps included Buchenwald (near Weimar), Flossenburg (in northern Bavaria) and Sachenhausen (near Berlin). Conditions were harsh, with arbitrary and unpredictable violence a feature of everyday life. Prisoners were totally at the mercy of the whims of their SS guards. When World War II broke out, the camp population exploded and a new type of camp, an extermination camp, was set up to eliminate the Jews and other racial enemies of the Nazis.
What was the night of the Long Knives?
The brutality of the regime was reflected in the action Hitler took against his own supporters, the SA (known as the Brownshirts). By the summer of 1934, the SA’s numbers had swollen to two million men. Containing many violent thugs, they were disliked by most Germans and seen as the unacceptable face of the regime.
They were led by Ernst Röhm, a loyal follower of Hitler since the early days of the party. Röhm had many enemies within the Nazi Party. Himmler, Göring and Goebbels were jealous of the power he had and his close relationship with Hitler. They plotted against Röhm, working to convince Hitler that Röhm was planning a revolt against him.
The army was also worried about Röhm. The SA greatly outnumbered the army and Röhm had openly spoken about making the SA the new army of Germany. Such talk alarmed army generals.
Ernst Röhm (1887–1934), who is beside Hitler in the centre of this picture, was the leader of the SA. He was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives.
Hitler was persuaded to take action against the Brownshirt threat. On the night of 29–30 June, units of the SS arrested the leaders of the SA. They were quickly executed. The Nazis took the opportunity to remove other political opponents, such as the former chancellor, Kurt von Schleicher, who was murdered along with his wife. Vice-chancellor von Papen was lucky to survive the purge, but he was removed from his post and appointed ambassador to Austria.
Hitler’s action was popular with Germans. The SA was permanently weakened and the SS, led by Heinrich Himmler, became a far more important organisation. In August, Hindenburg died and Hitler combined the offices of president and chancellor. Hitler was now der Führer, or the leader, with absolute control of Germany.
?KEY QUESTION
What was life like in Nazi Germany?
Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) was the leader of the SS. Originally set up as Hitler’s bodyguard, the SS soon came to dominate many aspects of German life and in the process acquired an infamous reputation.
Economic success
One major factor that contributed to Hitler’s popularity among Germans was the economic prosperity Germany enjoyed in the 1930s. Hitler was aided by the policies of his economics minister, Hjalmar Schacht, who was an internationally respected financial expert. Unemployment, which stood at six million in 1932, had fallen to under one million by 1937. Public work schemes were introduced that saw the construction of dams, autobahns (motorways) and railroads. These projects employed large numbers of people. The Nazis also embarked on a programme of rearmament, leading to a large increase in the production of steel, tanks and planes.
An improving world economy helped, but no other country in the world could boast such an impressive economic performance in the 1930s. The confidence of this new Germany was reflected in the Berlin Olympics of 1936, which were billed as a showpiece of German excellence.
The workers
As we have seen, all trade unions in Germany were banned and replaced by the Nazi-controlled German Labour Front. Working hours were increased and factory workers lost the right to strike. Despite these actions, most workers were grateful to Hitler and the Nazis for ending the economic hardship of the Weimar years. The Nazis knew that the working class had traditionally supported the Social Democrats or the Communists and they worked to gain their support. Nazi propaganda reached out to workers by praising their role in the People’s Community, or Volksgemeinschaft, that they claimed they were creating.
A leisure arm of the German Labour Front was created, called Strength through Joy. It was designed to control how workers spent their spare time and their holidays. For example, it organised affordable holidays for workers in Germany and abroad. Many of them had never taken a holiday outside of their local area. They could now go skiing in the Bavarian Alps or on cruises to the Azores, Canaries or the Norwegian fjords. This organisation was very popular even among opponents of the regime.
Young people
Hitler meets members of the Hitler Youth.
Nazi poster showing a contented and happy Nazi family. The poster was for a yearly charity campaign. The text reads 'Winter relief aid – A People Helps Itself' What does the poster say about the Nazi view of the role of the father and the mother in a family?
Hitler was aware of the importance of indoctrinating the young people of Germany with the Nazi message. Emphasis was placed on the role of boys as the future soldiers of the Reich, while girls were taught the virtues of motherhood.
Schools were instructed to educate their pupils ‘in the spirit of National Socialism’. Teachers were expected to be members of the National Socialist Teachers’ League and by 1936 over 97% were members.
Children were taught to be loyal to Hitler from an early age. After-school activities were also tightly controlled. Boys joined the German Young People at 10 and progressed on to the Hitler Youth at 14. Girls joined the League of Young Girls at 10 and the League of German Maidens at 14. The Hitler Youth quickly became the largest youth organisation in the world. It was similar to a militarised version of the Boy Scouts. There was an emphasis on clean living, competition, teamwork, hiking, sport and so on. There was also training in the use of weapons.
Women
After World War I, women had enjoyed much greater freedoms and many pursued professional careers. The Nazis sought to reverse this new trend. The Nazis had a very traditional view of the role of women. This was summed up in the phrase ‘Kinder, Kirche, Kuche’ (children, church, cooking).
Propaganda stressed that it was a woman’s duty to support her husband and rear children. Large families were encouraged, with medals awarded to women with four children or more. The propaganda poster on the previous page shows this idealised Nazi version of the role of women.
Women were encouraged to leave the workforce and stay at home. University entrance was restricted and promotion became difficult. By 1939 few women were to be found in professional jobs such as medicine. Despite these restrictions, Hitler was a very popular figure among women in Germany.
During World War II the Nazis had to reverse their policies, and by 1944 over half of the industrial workers in Germany were women.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1 How did the Nazis exploit the Reichstag fire?
2 Why was the Enabling Act so important in establishing a dictatorship in Germany?
3 Describe what conditions were like in concentration camps.
4 What was the significance of the Night of the Long Knives?
5 ‘The Nazis placed great stress on controlling the young.’ Do you agree? Support your answer with evidence.
6 What measures were taken in Germany to introduce Nazis’ views on the role of women?
The Churches
About two-thirds of Germans were Protestant, while the rest were Catholic, with a small Jewish minority. Overall church attendance tended to be higher among Catholics than Protestants.
The churches were prepared to work with the new regime and shared the anti-Communist views of the Nazis. Most failed to realise the vast gulf that existed between Nazi policies and Christianity until it was too late.
Hitler knew that for the Nazi Party to fully control German life, he needed to remove the hold the churches had on their flocks. Their role in education and their influence over the young were particular targets.
At the time the Nazis came to power, each region of Germany had its own independent self-governing Protestant church. There were 28 in total. The Nazis wanted to create one unified Protestant church that would be easier to control. In July 1933 the 28 regional Protestant churches were replaced by a single church, or Reichskirche. It was known officially as the German Evangelical Church.
The German Christian Movement became influential within the church. Hitler supported this movement, as he saw it as a means for the Nazis to gain control of the Reichskirche. It called for the removal of the ‘Jewish’ Old Testament from the Bible. Pastors of Jewish origin were removed from the church.
Many pastors within the church were worried about this spread of Nazi influence. The Confessing Church, under the leadership of Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was set up to oppose Nazi policies. This group was banned in 1937 and over 700 pastors were arrested, including Niemöller, who was sent to a concentration camp. Hitler himself lost interest in the German Christian Movement when it became clear that it had failed to replace traditional Christianity.
Given the greater loyalty of Catholics to their church, the Nazis decided to proceed slowly. In 1933 the Catholic Church was willing to work with the new regime and a concordat, or agreement, was signed in July. Freedom of worship and Catholic education in schools were guaranteed and Catholic organisations were to be protected. In exchange, the church promised to withdraw from politics and the Centre Party was disbanded.
However, the Nazis soon broke the concordat:
The Gestapo kept a close eye on former Catholic politicians and monitored the content of sermons. They persecuted the Jesuits, Catholic Action (a religious and social movement) and various other Catholic organisations. Some church property, such as land owned by monasteries, was seized.
Particular pressure was put on Catholic youth groups, which were viewed as rivals to the Hitler Youth.
By 1938 the majority had been banned.
A number of different methods, including intimidation, were used to get parents to stop sending their children to schools run by the church. By 1939 over 10,000 Catholic schools had been closed.
The Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) paid with his life for his opposition to the Nazis. He was executed at the Flossenberg concentration camp in April 1945.
Pope Pius XI was very worried by the Nazi violations of the concordat. In 1937 he condemned the Nazi regime in a papal encyclical (letter) called Mit Brennender Sorge (With Burning Anxiety). The encyclical was smuggled throughout Germany under the eyes of Gestapo agents.
Despite the policies of the Nazis, Hitler’s popularity among Catholics was largely unaffected. He was not personally blamed for many of the measures, which were seen largely to be the work of local Nazi officials.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1 Why did the Nazis want to reduce the power of the churches? Why did Hitler proceed cautiously when taking action against them?
2 What was the purpose of setting up the Reichskirche?
3 What was agreed in the concordat of 1933?
4 Explain some of the measures taken against the Catholic Church.
5 How did the Pope react to Nazi policies?
?KEY QUESTION
What were conditions like for Jews in Germany in the 1930s?
NAZI ANTI-SEMITISM – THREE PHASES
Gradual exclusion from German life – to encourage emigration
Persecution more violent as Jews lose the protection of the law, e.g. Kristallnacht
The destruction of the Jews of Europe – the Holocaust
Why did the Nazis persecute Jewish people in Germany?
While most Germans felt they were better off under the Nazis, there was one group that was definitely not – the Jewish community. In 1933 the Jewish population of Germany numbered over 500,000 out of a total population of 67 million. They were very successful in business and the professions, especially medicine and law. Many of the best professors in German universities were Jewish. They tended to live in the larger towns, with the majority of Jews found in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg or Breslau. On the other hand, 95% of towns and villages had no Jewish population at all.
In Germany, anti-Semitism was traditionally based on three factors:
Jealousy at the economic success of the Jewish community.
The fact that they were not Christian – some held the Jews responsible for the death of Christ.
They were not seen as being true Germans – their loyalty was questioned. Some blamed Jews for
Germany’s defeat in World War I, while others saw communism as controlled by Jews.
The Nazis added a new factor – racial theory. Central to Nazi ideology was the belief in the superiority of the Aryan race, or master race. In German, the term is the Herrenvolk. The Nazi ideal was the tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed Nordic race. The Nazis wanted to purify the German race to achieve this ideal appearance. The main obstacle to this aim was the subhumans, or Untermenschen, who threatened to pollute the Aryan race. They included the Slav races, like the Poles and the Russians, but the main category of subhuman was the Jews. To the Nazis, the Jews were the enemies of the Aryan race. The aim of Nazi policy was to rid Germany of Jews through emigration, but when that failed, the policy changed to mass murder.
How did the Nazis exclude the Jews from German life?
When the Nazis came to power, they passed a series of measures that targeted the Jewish community in Germany:
In April 1933, a boycott of Jewish-owned shops was organised. The same month, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was passed. This law was aimed at all political opponents and all Jews who worked for the government. This law also affected teachers, judges and professors.
In 1935 Jews were banned from the armed forces. Jewish doctors were gradually prevented from working in public hospitals.
In 1933 alone this persecution led to an exodus of over 40,000 Jews from Germany. Many Jewish academics were among this number, including 20 Nobel Prize winners.
The persecution continued across the country. Signs reading ‘Jews not wanted here’ were strung across streets or displayed in the windows of bars, cafés and shops. Jews were banned from swimming pools and public baths. The names of dead Jewish soldiers were removed from war memorials.
At the Nuremberg rally of 1935 a new set of laws were introduced that further worsened matters for Jews. Called the Nuremberg Laws, they made Jews second-class citizens in Germany (see page 69 for more detail). A brief break from persecution came during the 1936 Olympics. All anti-Jewish notices were removed from Berlin in order to create a good impression for foreign visitors, but the persecution resumed afterwards.
On the night of 9–10 November 1938, a violent outburst of anti-Semitism was organised by the propaganda minister, Dr Josef Goebbels. This was in response to the murder of a German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, in Paris. He had been shot by a Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan.
While the police stood by, the SA, SS and Hitler Youth burned down synagogues and Jewish-owned shops. Nearly every synagogue in Germany was attacked and over 7,500 Jewish businesses were damaged. Ninety-one Jews were murdered and many committed suicide. Over 30,000 were arrested and taken to concentration camps, although they were soon released.
Because of the amount of shattered glass, this event became known as Kristallnacht, or ‘the night of broken glass’.
To add insult to injury, the Nazis decided to collectively fine the Jewish community one billion marks for the murder of vom Rath. Göring commented, ‘I must confess I would not like to be a Jew in Germany.’
After Kristallnacht, a number of laws were passed that made Passersby in Berlin observe smashed windows of a it practically impossible for Jews to operate in business. They Jewish shop after Kristallnacht. were banned from owning shops and the transfer of ownership of Jewish businesses to ‘Aryans’ (Germans) increased. The persecution of the Jews was to get much worse during World War II, culminating in the mass murder of the Jews of Europe – an event that became known as the Holocaust.
What happened during the Holocaust?
During World War II the Nazis were unsure what to do with the large Jewish population in areas they had conquered. Hitler decided to kill the Jews under German control. This was known as ‘the final solution to the Jewish question’ (Die Endlosung der Judenfrage). In January 1942 at the Wannsee Conference near Berlin, Nazi officials led by Himmler’s deputy Reinhard Heydrich planned the details of the Final Solution. The Nuremberg Laws served as a basis for determining who was a Jew. Other “racial inferiors” such as Roman gypsies, Poles and Soviet prisoners of war were also to be killed.
Jews were confined to easily controlled ghettos. The most famous was in Warsaw. They were then moved to extermination camps in Eastern Europe such as Auschwitz, Chelmno, Belzec, Treblinka and Majdanek.
The whole process was conducted with industrial efficiency:
On arrival at the camps the old and the young were mainly killed in gas chambers using Zyklon B or carbon monoxide. The gas chambers were disguised as fake shower units so as not to cause mass panic.
The bodies were then burnt in crematoria (ovens) or in open air pits.
The able bodied were worked until they were murdered or died of disease. Some prisoners were also subjected to medical experiments.
It is estimated that up to six million Jews perished during the Holocaust. In all about 60% of the pre-war Jewish population of Europe were killed, including nearly three million Polish Jews. The programme was carried out in great secrecy and was not brought to light until the Russians began to capture the camps in early 1945.
