While all of this is happening: The Development of Nazi Racial Policy

While all of this is happening:The Development of Nazi Racial Policy This is Difficult to UnderstandThe Final Solution that led to the Holocaust has to be seen in context of the war it was not an event independent from the warHitlers ideological crusade was against Judeo Bolshevism a combination of what he saw as two evils he had to fight. The war had to be directed at the Soviet Union because they were the center of Judeo Bolshevismtwo birds, one tankRemember that racism is not based on logicJewish PopulationsJewish population of Germany was over 505,000 in 1933German population total was approximately 67 million in 1933Jews made up less than 0.75% of the German populationThere were millions of Jews living in countries like Poland and the Soviet Union at this timeNazis Come To PowerHitler and the Nazis came to power with 1/3 of the voteA core idea of the Nazi Party by this point was Anti-SemitismHitler focused on eliminating the influence of the Jews and getting them out of GermanyMost Germans were not drawn to this aspect of the Nazis, but were instead drawn to the Nazi promise of fixing the economy1933-1935 Increase in Racial PolicyDuring 1933, the Nazis began focusing on racial policySet up a boycott of Jewish businesses in GermanyThis was quickly called off because it was unpopular at home and abroad1935: Jews are banned from serving in the military

Nazi storm troopers block the entrance to a Jewish-owned store in Berlin. Their signs read: "Germans, defend yourselves against the Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy only at German shops!" and "Germans, defend yourselves, buy only at German shops!From: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-boycott.htm1933-1935 Consolidating Nazi PowerMomentum was soon lost in anti-Jewish policyMost of the harassment of Jews at this time was on the local level No initiative from the national regime until:1935 Nuremberg LawsWould eliminate Jews as citizens of GermanyWere subjects insteadProhibited Jews from marrying non-Jews1935-1938 Encouraging Jewish EmigrationAnti-Jewish policy momentum was lost again after the Nuremberg LawsNo consistent policyNazi Policy was to encourage Jews to leaveEntjudung de-JewificationJews could easily leave, but couldnt really take much with them

1937-1938: Limitations on Jewish OccupationsIn 1937 Jews were banned from certain professions like practicing medicine or being accountantsIn 1938 a variety of laws eventually banned Jews from owning any businessesThey also had to register all of their wealth and property with the governmentKristallnachtNovember 9-10, 1938 Night of Broken GlassFirst mass orchestrated violence against Jews by Nazi Government in Germany (Reichskristallnacht)KristallnachtSet up by Goebbels in response to the assassination of a German diplomat by a Polish JewAccording to Wikipedia: In a coordinated attack on Jewish people and their property, 91 Jews were murdered and 25,000 to 30,000 were arrested and placed in concentration camps. 267 synagogues were destroyed and thousands of homes and businesses were ransackedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KristallnachtGerman Jews are then fined 1 billion DM for Kristallnacht related damages

Clockwise from top left: NYT claims that Goebbels stopped the violence; burning synagogue; Jewish prisoners at Buchenwald; evidence of violenceJanuary 30, 1939 Nazi Reichstag Speech by HitlerOn 6thanniversary of Hitler coming to power:"In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance only the Jewish race that received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and with it that of the whole nation, and that I would then among other things settle the Jewish problem. Their laughter was uproarious, but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevizing of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!" Adolf Hitler - January 30, 1939SchutzstaffelMeans Protection SquadronWas originally a small group of Hitlers bodyguardsSS was led by Heinrich Himmler (T) and his Lieutenant Reinhard Heydrich(B)Himmler became responsible for Nazi racial policy in 1939 delegated this to HeydrichWere eventually responsible for figuring out the Final Solution

SchutzstaffelAs the Nazis grew in power and after the SA had been purged, the SS became a branch in the Nazi government. The SS was different from other organizations in that it was loyal to Hitler instead of the Nazi PartyThe SS was organized in two main groups:General SS (Allgemeine-SS)Military SS (Waffen SS)

SS Runic FlagSS Totenkopf (Deaths Head) InsigniaAfter WWII BeginsPoland was invaded September 1, 1939. There were over 3 million Jews living in Poland.September 19, 1939 Heydrich wrote: The Jewish Question in Occupied TerritoriesWanted to expel non-Aryans from occupied territories so Germans could settle thereAll of the undesirables were supposed to be moved to the Government General of Poland (created October 12, 1939)Would become a dumping ground for Jews and othersJews would be moved to concentration centers (ghettoes in urban areas)Not the final aim, but an intermediate stepThese should be located near rail lines for later transportThe Yellow StarAfter the Germans invaded Poland, the Germans tried to find ways to indentify the Jews. After September 1, 1941 all Jews over age 6 were required to wear the Star of David with the word Jude on it within the Reich and Czechoslovakia

Above: the Judenstern or Jewish Star for Germany; Below: for Vichy France - Juif

Jews in the Lodz Ghetto with the JudensternLogisticsEinsatzgruppen (Special Operation Units): SS special forces groups that were sent to round up or kill JewsAbout 1 million people were forced into the ghettoes in the Government General of PolandIn the Fall of 1939 Jews from Austria and Czechoslovakia were deported to the Government GeneralOctober 1940 Jews were being deported from Western Europe to the Gov. Gen.Problems with Heydrichs PlanThe Wehrmacht (Army) command was horrified by the brutality of the Einsatzgruppen who moved in directly behind the troopsGovernment General of Poland was becoming an unmanageable dumping groundSome ghettoes had hundreds of thousands of people in them

Execution of Poles by Einsatzgruppen October 1939The Final SolutionWould be decided on in 1941 early 1942We will discuss this later in the war