Hitler+and+the+Jews+(and+others!)

Hitler and the Jews, 1933 to 1942
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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.

Maggiacomo Fact 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.

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

- be a lawyer or doctor

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:

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.

Three days later he was arrested and sent to prison.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">In November 1938, the Nazis launched a violent attack on German Jews. Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues (places of worship <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">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: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Here's what happened to one young Jewish man named Kurt Weiss, who lived in Breslau.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">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: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">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: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">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="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Kurt Weiss, quoted on www.hopesite.ca/remember/history/holocaust_victoria/toc_holocaust_victoria.html

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Watch HERE for a Jewish man's account of what it was like to live through Kristallnacht... <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">media type="youtube" key="PeZ-FjuSNGM" height="390" width="480"

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Gestapo SS: the German secret police

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Questions 1
<span style="background-color: #dddada; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">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?

<span style="background-color: #dddada; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">2. Imagine you were a Jewish person living in Germany in the late 1930's. What would you have done? Explain your actions and reasons thoroughly.

<span style="background-color: #dddada; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">3. Think back to what we learned about "scapegoating". Do you think the Nazis were successful in using the Jews as scapegoats by 1935? What evidence do you have?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Ghettoes and Concentration Camps
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">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: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">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: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Hitler's Final Solution
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">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: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">The killing was mostly done through the gas chambers, where people would be killed with poison gas. The Nazis were careful record keepers who kept track of all of their murders. They used IBM counting machines to do it, and drank Fanta pop while they worked (with profits making their way back to Coca-Cola!). The world is a complex place!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">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. There is some fairly strong evidence that the allies knew that certain train lines were used to transport the Jews and other victims to the death camps. Why weren't these train lines bombed? We'll probably never know the whole truth, which is why we must guard against anything like this happening again. The tragedy is that it HAS happened again, in Rwanda, Sudan, East Timor and the Congo.

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<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Questions 2
<span style="background-color: #dddada; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">4. 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?

<span style="background-color: #dddada; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">5. 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?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">The Nazi's Other Victims
<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">The number of Jews killed is shocking, over six million, one of the worst atrocities ever to have been committed on a people. It defies our imagination in its horror. This can sometimes make us forget that there were other victims of the Nazis. The Roma, a group of nomadic people that have lived throughout Europe for centuries, were rounded up and killed with the Jews. The number killed was as high as half a million. The Nazis also killed disabled people, union members, homosexuals and many others deemed to be "subhuman". The Roma have continued to suffer. In 1948 the Jews were given their own state, Israel. The Roma continue to be stateless and largely persecuted. There are those who feel that, because the Roma have darker skin and are not considered to be "European", they were never dealt with fairly after the holocaust.