4.3.2

Nazi Racial Policies, 1933-1939

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Policies Towards Undesirables 1933-1945

The Nazis wanted to remove all ‘undesirable’ or ‘impure’ elements from the German Volk.

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Categories

  • Political:
    • Socialists, communists, those who were actively against Nazism.
  • Asocial:
    • Anyone who didn’t ‘fit’ in with Volksgemeinshcaft including: alcoholics, beggars, delinquents, gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, prostitutes, the ‘workshy’.
  • Biological:
    • Non-Aryan races: e.g. Jews, Slavs, Africans, mixed race people, gypsies.
    • The mentally ill, physically handicapped, ‘feebleminded’, people with hereditary disease including epilepsy, Huntington’s chorea.
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Dealing with undesirables

  • Political:
    • Concentration camps, re-education, long term imprisonment, execution.
  • Asocial:
    • Imprisonment, directed to employment, sterilisation, euthanasia, concentration camps, extermination.
  • Biological:
    • Economic persecution (e.g. Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service), social segregation (e.g. marriage laws, ghettoes), violence and intimidation (e.g. Kristallnacht); imprisonment usually leading to death; genocide.
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Policies for asocials

  • Vagrants:
    • In 1933 half a million vagrants were either given work (the orderly) or imprisoned (the disorderly) and marked out by black triangles.
  • Later in the decade thousands were sent to concentration camps where they died. As labour shortages developed their ‘crime’ seemed more serious.
  • Religious sects:
    • Unable to make much impact on Christianity, the Nazis persecuted Minority religious sects.
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Policies for homosexuals

  • 1934: The Gestapo ordered to local police forces to keep lists of homosexuals.
  • 1935: Legal definition of criminal homosexual acts now covered intent or thought.
  • 1936: Reich Central Office for Combatting Homosexuality and Abortion formed.
  • 1937: All homosexual SS officers were sent to concentration camps and shot.
  • 1938: The Gestapo ordered convicted homosexuals be sent to concentration camps.
  • 100,000 men were arrested 1933-45, about half imprisoned, up to 15,000 sent to concentration camps.
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Policies for the Roma (gypsies)

  • Germany’s 30,000 gypsies were not threats unless they ‘infected’ the German blood pool, but their persecution worsened with the radicalisation of the regime.
  • 1938: The Decree for the Struggle against the Gypsy Plague.
  • 1939: Gypsies were sent to camps before being expelled to Poland.
    • 11,000 of the 20,000 gypsies in outfits were gassed.
  • 1940: 2,800 gypsies joined Jews transported to Auschwitz.
  • In 1941-2 gypsies and mixed-race gypsies were included in measures drawn up against Jews.
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Complusory sterilisation and euthanasia

  • The 1933 Law on the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring listed diseases, infirmities and handicaps could be compulsorily sterilised.
  • About 350,000 were sterilised 1933-45. By 1939 the policy included forced ‘euthanasia,’ i.e. murder. These policies were not widely publicised until 1939.
  • 1939: T4 was established to murder disabled children. It was extended to adults.
  • 200,000 were murdered by 1944.

Policies Towards the Jews

Anti-Semitism was central to Nazi ideology. A clear policy developed from 1935 onwards with the Nuremberg Laws.

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Early pressures

  • The leadership responded to pressures from below to keep it under control.
  • 1 April 1933: boycott of Jewish businesses and shops to channel unrest by SA and more radical Nazis wanting NSDAP’s 25 Points enacted.
  • Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service excluded Jews from the civil service.
  • 1935: Nuremberg Laws announced after pressure from Gauleiters and radical NSDAP members wanting 25 Points enacted, including Jews losing citizenship.
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1935 Nuremberg Laws

  • Law for Protection of German Blood and German Honour:
    • Mixed marriages and sexual relations between Jews and Aryans forbidden.
  • Reich Citizenship Law:
    • Deprived Jews of German citizenship.
  • Law for the Protection of Genetic Health:
    • ‘Certificates of fitness to marry’ required, including medical examination.
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Regime radicalisation 1936-1938

  • 1936: Himmler put in charge of Jewish emigration. This was the preferred policy of dealing with the ‘Jewish question’ at the time.
  • September 1937: Hitler made violent speech at Nuremberg attacking Jews. The regime begins to radicalise.
    • Schacht was against anti-Semitic measures due to economic consequences.
    • Goering was more influential in the economy from 1936 (Office of the Four Year Plan).

Reichkristallnacht 1938

Kristallnacht was the first time the Nazis were openly violent towards the Jews. This indicates an escalation in anti-Semitic policies.

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Course of Kristallnacht

  • On 9-10 November there was ‘spontaneous’ uprising of Germans against Jews after the assassination of a German by a Jew in Paris.
  • Jews’ homes, over 7,500 businesses and 267 synagogues were attacked.
  • 91 Jews were murdered across Germany.
  • Hundreds of women were raped.
  • Over 20,000 Jews were arrested and sent to camps.
  • Heydrich ordered synagogue records to be seized.
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Consequences of Kristallnacht

  • The government blamed the Jews for Kristallnacht and charged the community one billion reichsmarks for the damage.
  • After Kristallnacht more anti-Jewish decrees excluded Jews from economic activities (e.g. trades, business, government contracts).
  • Decrees also banned Jews from schools, universities, cinemas and sports.

Jump to other topics

1Political & Governmental Change, 1918-1989

1.1Creation & Collapse of Weimar, 1918-1932

1.1.1Creation of a Republic

1.1.2Strengths & Weaknesses of Weimar Constitution

1.1.3Overcoming Challenges to the Constitution

1.1.4The Great Depression

1.1.5The Collapse of Democracy

1.1.6The Collapse of Democracy 2

1.1.7Hitler Becomes Chancellor

1.2Nazi Dictatorship, 1933-1945

1.2.1Establishing a Dictatorship

1.2.2Consolidating Power

1.2.3Nature of Government

1.2.4Government in Wartime

1.2.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Political & Governmental Change

1.3Return to Democratic Government, 1945-1989

1.3.1Creation of the FRG, 1945-1949

1.3.2Consolidation Under Adenauer

1.3.3Consolidation Under Erhard

1.3.4Maintaining Stability Under Brandt

1.3.5Maintaining Stability Under Schmidt

1.3.6Maintaining Stability Under Kohl

1.3.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Return to Democratic Government

2Opposition, Control & Consent 1918-1989

2.1Opposition to Government, 1918-1989

2.1.1Impact of Versailles

2.1.2Political Extremism & Crises, 1918-1932

2.1.3Opposition & Dissent in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945

2.1.4Political Dissent from the Left, 1949-1989

2.1.5Political Dissent from the Right, 1949-1989

2.1.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Opposition to Government 1918-89

2.2Controlling the People, 1918-1989

2.2.1Attempts to Control Extremism

2.2.2Repression, 1933-1945

2.2.3Censorship & Propaganda, 1933-1945

2.2.4De-Nazification Policies of Western Allies, 1945

2.2.5Constitutional & Legal Response to Extremism, 1949

2.3Popular Support, 1918-1989

2.3.1The Nature of Support for the Weimar Government

2.3.2Support for the Nazi Regime

2.3.3The Nature of Support for Democracy, 1945-1989

2.3.4Top Grade AO2/3 - Controlling the People

3Economic Developments & Policies, 1918-1989

3.1Reacting to Economic Challenges, 1918-1932

3.1.1Economic Crises & Government Response, 1918-1923

3.1.2Economic Loans, 1924-1928

3.1.3Policies for Recovery, 1924-1929

3.1.4The Great Depression

3.1.5Change in Living Standards

3.1.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Reacting to Economic Challenges

3.2Controlling the Economy, 1933-1945

3.2.1Attempting Economic Recovery

3.2.2Creating a Command Economy

3.2.3Change in Living Standards

3.2.4Impact of War

3.2.5Impact of War 2

3.2.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Controlling the Economy

3.3Creating the Social Market Economy, 1945-1989

3.3.1Economic Recovery, 1945-1955

3.3.2The Economic Miracle, 1955-1966

3.3.3Surviving the Recession, 1960-1969

3.3.4The Oil Crisis

3.3.5Integration into the European Economy

3.3.6Change in Living Standards

3.3.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Creating Social Market Economy

4Aspects of Life, 1918-1989

4.1Attitudes Towards Women, 1918-1989

4.1.1Role & Status of Women in the Weimar Republic

4.1.2Impact of Kinder, Küche, Kirche

4.1.3Impact of WW2 on Women

4.1.4Role & Status of Women in the FRG

4.1.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Attitudes Towards Women

4.2Education & Cultural Developments, 1918-1989

4.2.1Education in Weimar

4.2.2Cultural Experimentation in Weimar

4.2.3Education Under the Nazis

4.2.4Nazi Culture

4.2.5Education in the FRG

4.2.6Generational Conflict

4.2.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Education & Cultural Development

4.3Position of Ethnic Minorities, 19189-1989

4.3.1Ethnic Minorities in the Weimar Republic

4.3.2Nazi Racial Policies, 1933-1939

4.3.3Nazi Racial Policies During the War

4.3.4Ethnic Minorities in the FRG

4.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Position of Ethnic Minorities

5Historical Interpretations

5.1Influence of German History

5.1.1Influence of German History

5.2Hitler & Foreign Policy

5.2.1Hitler & Foreign Policy

5.3Contribution of Other Nations to WW2

5.3.1Weak Nations

5.3.2Appeasement

5.3.3The Rise of Fascism

5.4Reasons for Invading Poland

5.4.1Reasons for Invading Poland

5.4.2Top Grade AO2/3 - Historical Interpretation

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Ethnic Minorities in the Weimar Republic

Nazi Racial Policies During the War