1933-1939
 Jews were the primary target
 German authorities also targeted other groups because
of their perceived “racial inferiority”: Gypsies, the
disabled, and some of the Slavic peoples (Poles,
Russians, and others)
 Other groups were persecuted on political, ideological,
and behavioural grounds, among them Communists,
Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals
 The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in 1933,
believed that Germans were “racially superior” and
that the Jews, deemed “inferior” were an alien threat to
the so-called German racial community
 the persecution and segregation of the Jews was
implemented in stages
 from 1933 until 1939, more than 400 decrees and
regulations
 Excluded Jews from organizations, professions and
other aspects of public life
 A boycott of Jewish
shops and businesses
by the Nazis, April 1,
1933
Don’t buy from Jews; Shop at German Stores!
Public notice, issued by the Central Committee
for the Defence against Jewish Atrocities and the
[Jewish] Boycott, instructing Germans to protect
themselves against the Jews by boycotting Jewish
businesses and Jewish professionals on April 1,
1933
Jews are not desired here!
 German laws restricting the number of Jewish
students at German schools and universities.
View of Nuernberger Tor,
one of the entrances to the
University of Erlangen, on
top of which a banner has
been placed stating that
Jews are not desired here.
Below it hangs a Nazi party
recruitment banner.
 The expulsion of Jews from certain jobs
Letter notifying Dr. Susanne Engelmann
that she has been dismissed from her
teaching position in compliance with the
Civil Service Law of April 7, 1933
-expelled from the civil
service
-doctors
-lawyers
During the interwar period Susanne
served as the principal of a large public
high school for girls in Berlin until her
dismissal as a "non-Aryan" in April
1933
 At their annual party rally held in Nuremberg in
September 1935, the Nazi leaders announced new laws
that discriminated against Jews
 These laws deprived them of most political rights.
Jews had no right to vote and could not hold public
office
 Jews deprived right to citizenship
 All Germans with at least two Jewish grandparents lost
their German citizenship.
 Prohibited sexual
relations and
intermarriage between
Jews and “persons of
German or related
blood”
 Marriage between
Germans and Jews
became illegal
Nazi propaganda poster advertising a special issue of
“Der Stuermer” on “Rassenschande” [race pollution].
The poster warns of interracial relationships,
justifying and explaining the Nuremberg laws.
 Many cities forbid Jews
entry into their cities,
posting signs
proclaiming themselves
“Free of Jews”
A sign posted
in front of a
fence that
reads: “Jews are
not wanted
here. Jews are
our
misfortune.”
A young man on a
motorcycle gazes up
at a sign on a
telephone pole that
reads, “Jews are not
welcome here.”
A decorative sign in a public park
reads: “Citizens protect your public
spaces. Keep your dogs on a leash.
The yellow benches are for Jews (in
accordance with the Reich’s law) for
their free use.”
 Nazi regime actually
toned down much of its
public anti-Jewish
activities for the
Olympic Games
 some of the signs saying
“Jews Unwelcome” were
removed from public
places
 Hitler did not want the
Games transferred to
another country.
German citizens
saluting Adolf Hitler
at the opening of the
11th Olympiad in
Berlin.
 State-organized anti-Jewish riots on the night of
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November9-10, 1938
Violent attack on Jews and Jewish property in
Germany
Some 1400 synagogues were partially or totally
destroyed
Name given because of the number of shop windows
that were shattered
Many Jews wounded, about 100 Jews murdered
Some 30,000 Jews arrested
Local residents watch as flames
consume the synagogue in
Opava, set on fire during
Kristallnacht
View of the old synagogue in
Aachen after its destruction
on Kristallnacht
Germans pass by
the broken shop
window of a
Jewish-owned
business that was
destroyed during
Kristallnacht.
 907 German Jews with visas for Cuba left Hamburg aboard the ship, S.S. St.
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Louis on May 15, 1939
Reached Havana, Cuba on May 27, but Cuban government refused to let the
refugees enter country
Panama, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Paraguay all denied the ship permission
to land
The Americans sent their cost guard ships to escort the St. Louis away from
American coast
Many influential Canadians sent PM MacKenzie King telegrams asking him to
let Jews in to Canada
Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe was opposed to letting them in
Immigration Minister F.C. Blair said the refugees were not qualified under
Canadian immigration law and that “No country could open its doors wide
enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who want to
leave Europe; the line must be drawn somewhere”
Jews went to Ottawa to ask how many Jews Canada would take in and the
answer was “None is too many.”
The St. Louis was forced to return to Europe
Many of the Jews on that ship were later caught by the Nazis and murdered in
the Holocaust
 Nazis continued to enforce measures that physically
isolated and segregated Jews from their fellow
Germans
 Jews were barred from all public schools and
universities, as well as from cinemas, theatres, and
sports facilities. In many cities, Jews were forbidden to
enter designated “Aryan” zones.
 more radical persecution of Jews.