Permanent exhibit - Room 4
Racist Policy and the persecution of Jews in Germany 1933-1939
On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor by Reich President Paul von Hindenburg. From the start, National Socialist policy targeted groups in society which did not correspond to the norms of the Volksgemeinschaft (community of german people). As well as eliminating political opponents the NS regime focused on excluding and persecuting the Jewish population. Terror and boycotts were followed by legal and administrative measures. “Aryan clauses” forced Jews out of employment in the civil service. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws banned marriage between Jews and those of “German blood”. These laws stipulated which persons were to be classed as Jews. The period following the November pogrom in 1938 saw a systematic acceleration of the process of eliminating Jews from economy and society. The aim was to force them to emigrate.
With the establishment of the Reich Association of German Jews in September 1933, Jews had their first joint organisation. The Association considered its primary task to be one of self-help. It set up schools and training centres, expanded welfare provision and helped Jews to emigrate.
Only a few countries were willing to take in refugees with no means. On the initiative of the US President Roosevelt an international conference on the refugee situation took place in July 1938 in Evian, France. On this occasion the potential host countries showed unwilling to raise their immigrant quotas.
Once the war had started the leading National Socialists had no qualms about implementing their racist ideas in the most radical way. The sick and handicapped were gassed to death in “euthanasia” institutions.
4.1
Volksgemeinschaft Through Exclusion
The National Socialist Volksgemeinschaft promised both material wealth and social security. Welfare organisations were established to fulfil social policy promises. Political opponents were persecuted and excluded from society. The promotion of the Volksgemeinschaft as a Rassegemeinschaft (racial community) was above all directed against Jews. Numerous regulations banned them from entering public places and events. Children’s books, newspapers and feature films conveyed antisemitic prejudices and stirred up racial hatred.
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Young girls canvas for membership of the Hitler Youth, no date |
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Symbols of the various prisoner groups in 1940-41
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Enthusiastic spectators in front of the Frauenkirche in Nuremberg at an SA and SS parade during the Reich Party Ralley, 1934 |
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Camp commandant Theodor Eicke speaks to prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp, 1933
On 22 March 1933 the SS established the concentration camp at Dachau, north-west of Munich. Camp commander Theodor Eicke developed an organisational structure that served as a model for the system of National Socialist camps throughout the Reich. As Inspector of Concentration Camps, Eicke had five large camps built by 1939: Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Flossenbürg, Mauthausen and the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbrück. |
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Der Stürmer, special edition “Ritual murder”, May 1939
The weekly newspaper Der Stürmer was founded by Julius Streicher in 1923. By 1944 the newspaper had achieved a circulation of 400,000 copies. Public display cases in busy areas also increased its influence. In May 1939 Der Stürmer repeated an allegation of ritual murder from the 15th century which claimed that Jews had murdered Christian children in Regensburg and used their blood for their religious rites. |
Page from a children’s book [Don’t Trust a Fox Near
a Hedge or a Jew who Makes a Pledge], Nuremberg 1936
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“The NS-Volkswohlfahrt (Office for Public Welfare) is responsible for public health, Volksgemeinschaft, child protection, protection of mothers, combating begging and welfare for travelling workers”,
Poster from the National Socialist Office for Public Welfare, no date |
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4.2
Forced out of Public Life
The boycott of 1 April 1933 was the first state-directed measure against the Jewish population. Uniformed SA men positioned themselves in front of Jewish shops, doctors’ surgeries and law firms and prevented clients from entering.
The “Law on the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” of 7 April 1933 was the first law to link political and racial exclusion. Civil servants who opposed the Nazis were sacked and civil servants of “non-Aryan” origin sent into retirement. The provisions of this law were soon extended to further vocational groups.
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Advertising column calling for a boycott of Jewish shops, Berlin, 1 April 1933 |
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Flyer against the boycott produced by Richard Stern, 1 April 1933
Under the heading “To all Germans and comrades from the front!” the former frontline soldier Richard Stern compiled this flyer and had it printed and distributed. “We consider this campaign against all German Jews to defile the memory of the 12,000 German soldiers of Jewish faith who fell at the front. We also view it as an insult to all respectable citizens. We are convinced that the civil courage once demanded by Bismarck still exists in Cologne, as well as German loyalty, which supports the Jews especially at this time.” Richard Stern was arrested during the afternoon but released the same evening. |
4.3 The Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws of 15 September 1935 banned marriage between Jews and those of “German blood”. Sexual relations between members of these groups were classed as a crime of “defiling the race”. These provisions also applied to the Sinti and Roma, who were persecuted as gypsies. These laws formed the basis for innumerable decrees and measures which progressively stripped the Jews of all their rights and the basis for their livelihood. Provisions differentiated between so-called Volljuden (full Jews), Geltungsjuden (persons considered to be Jews) as well as first and second-degree Mischlinge (persons of mixed blood).
Denunciation of “race defilers”,
Norden, July 1935
Eichler, Max: Du bist sofort im
Bilde - Lebendig-anschauliches Reichsbürger-Handbuch. Erfurt: Cramer's Verlag.
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4.4
Jewish Self-Assertion
Jewish organisations reacted to exclusion and persecution with a wide range of self-help measures. The Reich Association of German Jews attempted to represent the interests of the Jewish population to the new powers. Jewish Winter Relief provided the needy with clothing, food and heating materials. There was a huge increase in membership of Zionist organisations. These arranged training courses to prepare the Jews for emigration. Jewish schools provided education for children and teenagers. Jewish sport associations established their own sporting facilities. The Jewish Cultural Association provided job opportunities for artists who had been banned from working.
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Regina Jonas shortly after her ordination in December 1935
Regina Jonas was the first ordained female rabbi in the world. She taught religious studies at Jewish community schools in Berlin, was responsible for pastoral care at social institutions and gave lectures on various theological topics. In November 1942 Regina Jonas was sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto. She was deported to Auschwitz in December 1944, where she was murdered. |
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Agricultural training for Jewish emigrants in Caputh near Potsdam, 1936
Zionist organisations prepared Jews for emigration to Palestine. Hachschara (training) camps taught young Jews agricultural, manual or domestic skills. By the start of the Second World War more than 3,400 teenagers between 15 and 17 had gone to Palestine as part of the Jugend-Alijah (youth emigration to Palestine). |
