© Boardworks Ltd 2003 1 of 14 How Important Were Nazi Ideas on Race and Religion?

© Boardworks Ltd 20031 of 14

How Important Were Nazi Ideas on Race and Religion?


The Aryan race

“Hitler saw the whole world in racial and biological terms: The ‘Aryans’ were the superior ‘race’ responsible for all civilizations. The Jews conspired to destroy it...” Dr D Ceserani, 1995.

Considering that the Jews in Germany were some of the most successful businessmen, and had helped bolster the German economy, what are the flaws in this argument?


An Aryan nation

Hitler believed that the ‘blue-eyed, white skinned, fair haired people’ made up a ‘master race’. These were referred to as Aryans. In fact, Aryans were an ancient people who lived in the 2nd century BC between Central Asia and Eastern Europe. However, Hitler’s version took hold.

Nazi scientists concocted theories to prove that the Germans were a superior race. The Nazis wanted to establish an ideal race – the Aryan race. SS officers who wanted to marry had to prove pure German blood as far back as 1750. The government gave loans and medals in an attempt to persuade Germans to have more children. Jews, on the other hand, were to be eliminated.


The Aryan ideal – the consequences

The main victims of the Aryan theory were the Jews. Other Germans were told that Jews were inferior. All Germany’s problems were blamed on the Jews. Eventually people began to believe the propaganda.

Children were taught to hate Jews at school. Jewish students were regularly stood in the corner and ridiculed. Eventually, they were banned from attending school.

Nose

Vernier

Size of nose is measured

One of the methods supposed to tell whether or not someone was Jewish was by measuring their facial features, often using a vernier.


Laws to ensure a ‘strong nation’

In June 1933 the Law on Unemployment and Breeding was passed. This forced women back into the home to concentrate on creating a strong race of Germans.

In July 1933 the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Progeny was passed. This led to the forced sterilization of the physically disabled and ‘feeble minded’.

By 1939, groups of doctors, psychiatrists and lawyers had supervised the forced sterilization of 1% of the entire German population. To do this, mass production techniques were used, such as sterilization by X-rays.


Jewish persecution

From 1933, ‘Jews not wanted’ signs were put up throughout Germany in shops, cafes, sports stadiums. In some towns, all Jewish names were scratched off war memorials from World War I.

Within six years, the 2,000-year-old Jewish community was turned into a community of outlaws who would be harassed and persecuted.

Germans who continued to use Jewish shops and services had their names put up on posters under the title “Race Traitor”.

The Star of David (left) has been the symbol of Judaism since the 17th century. The Germans made all Jews wear this yellow symbol whenever they were outside so that they could be easily recognized.


Nazi racist actions and laws

Read the information on the next slide and then classify each of the Nazi actions under the following headings:

Social (to do with living & working conditions)Political (to do with voting, citizenship etc.)Economic (to do with money, jobs etc.)Religious (to do with churches, beliefs etc.).


1933: Jewish teachers and civil servants were sacked.Jews were banned from public places like parks, hotels and cafes.

1935: Jews were not allowed to marry non-Jews.Jews had to wear the ‘Star of David’.Jewish children were expelled from non-Jewish schools. Jews were banned from being German citizens.

1938: 91 Jews were murdered and 20,000 put in concentration camps.

200 Jewish synagogues were burnt.


The Nuremburg Laws 1935

Although attacks against Jewish businesses were damaging Germany’s standing abroad, and threatened economic recovery, party activists continued to demand the removal of Jews from German society.

On 15 September 1935, the Nuremburg Laws were issued. The main points of these were:

Jews were deprived of their German citizenship and their political rights

marriage and sexual relations between Jews and Germans were banned.

What problems would these laws cause for Jews?


Kristallnacht – Night of Broken Glass

The murder of a German diplomat, Ernst von Rath, by a Jew on 7 November 1938 sparked an episode of violent persecution. It started on 10 November with Kristallnacht (Crystal night), so named due to all the glass strewn across German towns and cities.

Nearly 10,000 shops belonging to Jews had there windows smashed, and homes and synagogues went up in flames. Around 100 Jews were murdered and more than 20,000 were sent to concentration camps.


Kristallnacht was an important turning point in the persecution of Jews. After this point, the Nazis took a much more violent attitude toward them.

The Jews were ordered to pay a fine of 1 billion marks. Jewish men and women were forced to get down on their hands and knees and clean the streets with scrubbing brushes. Jewish students were expelled from schools, and by 3 December 1938, all Jewish businesses were closed.


The persecution of German Jews (1933–38)

Nuremburg: 10 August 1938, synagogue destroyed.

Bachenwald

Berlin

Sachsenhausen

Columbia Haus

Braunschweig

Breslau: All Jewish lawyers & judges expelled from law courts, March 1933.

Dachau

Munich: 9 June 1938, synagogue destroyed.

1933–39 Over 280,000 Jews from a total of 525,000 emigrated.

1933 – First anti-Jewish riots, all Jewish shops boycotted

Thuringia – First province to eliminate Jews from all official & professional positions.


The Nazi church

Nazism rejected Christianity as a product of Jewish culture. In 1933, Hitler spoke of stamping out Christianity in Germany, and in 1934 the German Faith Movement was set up. This became the state religion and all those in positions of authority were expected to join. Despite constant propaganda, only 5% of the population was registered as a member of the Nazi Church by 1939.

The German Faith Movement was based on racial values. Its key ideas were to promote the Aryan people and return to the ideas of past Nordic pagan faiths.


An extract from the rules of the Nazi church: “…The National Reich Church demands an immediate stop to the printing and sale of the Bible in Germany.“The National Reich Church will remove from the altars of all churches the Bible, the cross and religious objects.“On the altars there must be nothing but Mein Kampf, and to the left of this a sword..”

Documents

© Boardworks Ltd 2003 1 of 14 How Important Were Nazi Ideas on Race and Religion?