Hitler+and+the+Jews,+1933+to+1942

Hitler showed early on that he was an enemy of the Jewish people. He believed in the "purity" of what he called the "Aryan" races of northern Europe, including Germans. He believed that Jews, who were not Aryan, were an inferior race.

At first, the Nazis took small steps against the Jewish community. They banned displays of modern art and performances of modern music, claiming that these art forms had been influenced by Jews. Instead, the Nazis promoted traditional German artists and musicians, such as the operatic composer Richard Wagner. School textbooks were changed to portray Jews as evil, so that the youngest of Germans would be exposed to this racist message.


 * Did You Know? **

//Mein Kampf // - a book Hitler wrote while in prison - contained vicious attacks on Jewish people. In the book, he claimed that Jews supported Germany's enemies in World War I, and thus contributed to its defeat.


 * Living Language **

The word //swastika// to describe the symbol adopted by the Nazi Party was first used in the English language in 1932. Originally an Indian word and symbol meaning "good luck," the Nazis turned it into an emblem of hatred and inhumanity. It is now against the law to display the Nazi swastika in Germany.


 * behest **: order


 * The Nuremburg Laws and Kristallnacht **

Things got much worse in 1935, when the Nuremberg Laws came into effect. The Jewish people in Germany could no longer

- attend a university

- teach in any school or university

- marry a person who was not of the Jewish faith

- hold a government job

- be the author of a book

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">- be a lawyer or doctor

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">As shocking as these laws may seem today, other nations remained silent about them. And within Germany most people were too afraid to speak out. Martin Niemoeller was an exception. He started speaking openly against Hitler's policies in 1934. At a church service in 1937 he said this to a packed congregation:

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">We have no more thought of using our own powers to escape the arm of the authorities than had the Apostles of old. [Nor] are we ready to keep silent at man's behest when God commands us to speak.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Three days later he was arrested and sent to prison.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">In November 1938, the Nazis launched a violent attack on German Jews. Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues (places of worship) were attacked all over Germany. The event is known as **//Kristallnacht//**, or "night of the broken glass." Individuals and families were terrorized as Nazi-led mobs beat them up at will. Afterwards, the Nazis forced the Jewish people themselves to clean up the mess, and pay for its disposal.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Here's what happened to one young Jewish man named Kurt Weiss, who lived in Breslau.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">My grandmother woke me up, "Kurt, leave the house, the synagogue is burning, get out of the house." My grandfather already disappeared, he had German friends to hide him. He was gone. We lived close by the synagogue. It was a beautiful building, many meters high, with two domes, and had been newly renovated. So I ran out, but before I ran out, I grabbed my army pass and put it in my pocket. I thought it wouldn't hurt.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">At about 50 meters, I ran into two Gestapo SS men. They stopped me. 'Are you a Jew?' 'What are you talking about,' I replied. I took out my army pass and showed it to them, but not the inside page [which identified him as a Jew].

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">On the street I passed only the smashed stores, a liquor store with everything poured on the street. Everything smashed, a crystal store... <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Kurt Weiss, quoted on [|www.hopesite.ca/remember/history/holocaust_victoria/toc_holocaust_victoria.html]


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Gestapo SS **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">: the German secret police

__ Questions __ __ 1. If you were a Jewish person living in Germany in 1935 when the Nuremberg Laws were brought in, which of these laws do you think would affect you the most? Why? Discuss with a partner. __


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Ghettoes and Concentration Camps **

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">The situation in Germany got steadily worse. In 1939, the Nazis began moving Jews to special areas of cities, called ghettoes. The ghettoes were barricaded from the outside and guarded by soldiers to make sure no one escaped.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">The Nazis also built concentration camps to imprison Jews, Roma (then called gypsies), Communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, mentally ill people, and other groups considered "undesirable." Prisoners were forced to do hard labour. If they grew too weak, they were killed. Among these prisoners was Martin Niemoeller. He spent the years 1938 to 1945 first in the Sachsenhausen and then in the Dachau concentration camps.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Did You Know? **

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Pastor Niemoeller survived the concentration camps and the war. He later became president of the World Council of Churches. Niemoeller died in 1984.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Hitler's Final Solution **

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">In January 1942, the Nazis secretly adopted a new policy. They called it the Final Solution. To carry out their plan, they built six special camps. These camps were designed not to imprison but to kill all the prisoners sent to them. It is estimated that about 6 million Jews and an additional 1 million people in other "undesirable" categories were exterminated at these death camps. This systematic destruction of human life has become known as the **Holocaust**.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">How much of this was known outside Germany before the end of the war is not clear. Jews who managed to get out of Germany and Austria in 1938 and 1939 certainly told tales of terrible suffering and violence. But the Final Solution was not in place until 1942, and very few Jews managed to escape after that time. Nevertheless, many historians find it hard to believe that political leaders outside Germany did not know that Jews there were in very grave trouble.

__ Questions __ __ 2. Why do you think it's important for present and future generations to learn about the Holocaust? What lessons can we learn from this horrific incident that would affect our lives and actions today? __ __ 3. What situations exist in the world today that you feel Canada's leaders should be speaking out about? How could you encourage them to do so? __