Christianity became the main religion of Europe in the 4th century, thus Judaism became hated by everyone on the simple basis that it killed Jesus Christ. This is how Anti-Semitism originated in Europe, and stayed there all the way through to the 20th century. Jewish extermination In Spain in 1400s, Russian pogroms in the 19th century. Hitler picked up this trend and perfected it, spreading anti-Semitic hatred to the rest of the world.
Jewish business and professionalism had been very successful in Germany after 1871 due to German Jews gaining civil rights making jealousy and anti-Semitic hatred increase in Germany especially amongst the white-collar workers. Hence, a popular political policy since 1918 has been anti-Semitic policies. The Jews became the focus for every problem of Weimar Germany, i. e. inflation, unemployment, economic weakness and the treaty of Versailles.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, his anti-Semitic policy/aims were indecisive except he wanted them removed from German society explained in his book, Mein Kampf. There was no direct hint toWards the creation of extermination camps. The evolution of the Final Solution in regards to the Jewish question involved a number of stages.
Between 1933 37, certain government legislations were passed withdrawing civil rights from Jews leading a mass exodus of Jews from Germany. The first Nazi racial law that was passed (April 1933) was the categorising Jews as non-Aryans, stripping Jews from a number of civil rights including the prohibition of working in civil service, the army and other professions. In that same month, Jewish businesses were boycotted with the aim of making the move permanent. However, economic weakness and foreign pressure caused it to last for a single day.
The formalising of Nazi anti-Semitic law was enacted under the Nuremberg Laws on 15 September 1935. Hitler chose the most moderate version of the Nuremberg Laws and wrote up the conditions that made people eligible to be affected by them, which was basically any person with a direct or indirect connection to a Jew. The second major law was For the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which prohibited marriage between Germans and Jews, resulting in the abolishment of Jewish political rights, defining Jews as non-citizens. The Nuremberg Laws made Jews officially second-class citizens.
Due to the Olympic games in Berlin in 1936, Jewish tre atment actually improved because although their anti-Semitic attitudes to the German Jews was known world-wide, actually seeing it would cause the failure of the Second Year Plan, which Hitler believed and therefore, discouraged prejudice toWards the Jews.
There was increasing persecution of the Jews during 1937-39 resulting in Jews being driven out of certain towns that claimed themselves Judenfrei (free of Jews). The Jewish society was isolated from German society, encouraged by most Germans without disapproval. From this point we can see that Nazi treatment of the Jews as a society was worsening, as the German population is appearing to encourage their racial policies. Exemplified by random attacks on Orthodox Jews and verbal and physical attacks by the German community, largely Nazi activists. Thi s was largely common especially in Austria where Jewish hatred was common, when after Anschluss, extremely violent acts against the Jewish population occurred including waves of attacks on Jewish property. By 1938, further Jewish anti-Semitic legislation was passed i.e. Jews were prohibited from being doctors, lawyers or dentists, which meant that Jews were being excluded from German economic life, a crescendo of increasing Discrimination and maltreatment by the Nazis. These anti-Jewish laws meant that open acts of Jewish prejudice resulted in one of the most openly violent acts pre-1939, Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) on 9-10 November 1938. This resulted in the destruction of many Jewish businesses and synagogues and the deaths of over 90 Jews, all spearheaded by Goebbels. Acts like these emphasised the increasing poor treatment of the Jews and by 1939, they had been outcast from all aspects of German life.
The euthanasia programme established in 1939-41, alt hough not aimed at Jews, paved the way toWards the creation of gas chambers constructed for the mass extermination of European Jews. The euthanasia programme was directed toWards the extermination of the racially inferior, or in other words, the mentally ill or physically disabled. It was carried out in secret in 6 mental hospitals without the consent of either the patient or their relatives.
The Nazi expansion into Europe marked the increased abuse of the Jews. Due to the invasion of Poland (1939) and Russia (1941), there was a mass influx of Jews under German rule. Hitler gave the role of dealing with them to Himmler (SS) and Heydrich (SD) both fierce anti-Semites. It was decided that Poland, a country with 2 million Jews would be rounded up and be placed into Ghettos, most notably Warsaw. The Nazis believed that by placing them into these fenced cages many would starve to death or die of natural causes. The conditions were appalling, starvation and disease were rife leading to many uprisings against the Nazis, namely the Warsaw Uprising (1943), which involved an uprising numbering 60,000 and although it was bold and brave it was severely crushed by the SS. People living in these ghettos and other Jews were forced to wear to Star of David so that they could be recognised easier. This degradation and inhumane treatment of the Jews is an example of the ill treatment that they were experiencing under Nazi control. The mass influx of Polish and Russian Jews especially forced the final decision to be made on the Final Solution because the ghettos were becoming inundated with inhabitants that there was not enough space to house them all. A number of ideas were put forWard, e.g. the Madagascar Plan, which would involved the transportation of European Jews to the island of Ma dagascar, where they would be worked as slave labour to death. However, this proved impractical because the British Navy controlled the seas, but the solution would involved the slave labour and extermination. These plans obviously spelled a worsening of treatment for the Jews and by June 1941, Himmler was given the order supposedly by Hitler to begin the construction of gas chambers and crematoria for mass extermination, no official documentation was found of the order. The invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 saw the beginnings of the mass killings and murderous treatment of the Jews. Behind the Nazi advance, 4 action squads (A-D), consisting of SS men, police forces and other ordinary Germans were deployed to begin systematic execution of Russian Jews, called Einsatzgruppen. These extermination squads ca used the deaths of 1.2 million Russian Jews, but this method proved mentally taxing on the men and was not achieving the figures the Nazis wanted. Hence, more emphasis was put into the construction of the gas chambers.
The Wannsee Conference in 1942 meant that the European Jews would receive their worst treatment post-1933. This meeting involved the mapping out of a coherent and efficient programme for the extermination of the 11 million European Jews. By spring 1942, the programme was officially put into practice. Adolf Eichmann controlled this and the co-operation of many civilian services e.g. the booking of trains for the transportation of the Jews and the use of I.G. Farben for the production of Zyklon B. Despite the horrific treatment the Jews were to receive, the Nazis attempted to keep the camps secret from the public and Jews, claiming that they were being resettled to ensure compliance.
At these extermination camps the mass extermination of the Jews and inhumane treatment of them would occur. The gas chambers were disguised as showers surrounded by well-attended gardens. The most renowned was Auschwitz, which averaged the extermination of 6,000 Jews per day. By the end of the War, camps such as Auschwitz (e.g. Chelmno, Treblinka and Belzec) contributed to the deaths of millions of European Jews coming from countries as far as Greece. Himmler described the Holocaust as a glorious page in history, which has never been written and never can be, emphasising that in his eyes this was a great thing that the Nazis were doing, but saying that it could never been written exemplifies the fact that this was horrifying and atrocious treatment of a the Jewish population. From 1933 45, the Jews experienced a crescendo of increasing maltreatment from the Nazi regime resulting in the deaths of 6 million, a page in history that has to be told and understood in order to prevent another catastrophe like this occurring again.
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Author:: Sharon White
Keywords:: NAZI, Jew, Discrimination, War, Germany, Hitler
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