Why the Nazis' Treatment of the Jews Change from 1939-1945
Jewish discrimination was prominent in Germany, and was vastly
spreading to nearby countries. Yet the Nazi treatment of the Jews
immensely changed during the years of World War II.
When Poland was invaded by Germany at the beginning of September,
Britain and France finally realized that Hitler would have to be
stopped. They declared war. Hitler had built up a powerful and
efficient German army. Within weeks, his policy of Blitzkrieg
(lightning war) – attacking quickly and strongly- had enabled him to
sweep across Poland.
Under cover of war, the Nazis dared to carry out acts they could never
have attempted in peacetime. On the day the war started, Hitler gave
an order for the systematic extermination of the mentally disabled.
Many of the people who took part in this ‘euthanasia’ programme for
the gassing of the mentally ill would later transfer to the programme
to exterminate all Jews.
In a speech on 30 January 1939, Hitler told the Reichstag that another
war would mean the “total annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe”.
It seemed clear that Hitler intended to massacre the Jews - but many
historians dispute this. They believe that the Nazis seriously
considered forcing all the Jews to emigrate, or to resettle in a
‘Jewish homeland’, and that the idea of physically exterminating the
Jews only gradually took over as the war went on. At a certain point,
it came to be the most practical solution to the ‘Jewish problem’. If
this is true, why did the Nazi treatment intensify, from cruel
bullying to mass extermination?
The German occupation of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union gave the
Nazis control over millions of Jews. Many of these Jews were poor and
vulnerable, and had not been particularly well integrated into the non
- Jewish society. In Eastern Europe, the Nazis began the genocide –
their large-scale and systematic campaign to destroy all Jews.
The first problem the Nazis encountered was when Germany’s surrounding
countries closed their borders because of the outbreak of war.
...upying Poland in 1939, the policy of forced emigration became untenable for the Nazi regime. It was simply unrealistic to make more than 3 million Polish Jews emigrate. This led to ambitious Nazi plans for a solution to the ’Jewish Question’.” The Nazis wanted to keep their place to themselves, and they disliked the Jews. They tried moving the Jews to another place, but the amount of time it would take was too long. Therefore, they thought of the Final Solution. They sent Jews to concentration camps, where they killed many Jews. They though that this solution would keep their place to themselves, not to share with any other race. This reminds me of the Rwandan Genocide, because both genocides wanted to remove a specific group or race. In the Holocaust, they wanted to remove all Jews, and in the Rwandan Genocide, the Hutus wanted to wipe the whole Tutsis population.
Poland was devastated when German forces invaded their country on September 1, 1939, marking the beginning of World War II. Still suffering from the turmoil of World War I, with Germany left in ruins, Hitler's government dreamt of an immense, new domain of "living space" in Eastern Europe; to acquire German dominance in Europe would call for war in the minds of German leaders (World War II in Europe). The Nazis believed the Germans were racially elite and found the Jews to be inferior to the German population. The Holocaust was the discrimination and the slaughter of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its associates (Introduction to the Holocaust). The Nazis instituted killing centers, also known as “extermination camps” or “death camps,” for being able to resourcefully take part in mass murder (Killing Centers: An Overview).
Kershaw later depicts a comment made by Hitler discussing the dire need to deport German Jews, away from the ‘Procterate,’ calling them “dangerous ‘fifth columnists’” that threatened the integrity of Germany. In 1941, Hitler discusses, more fervently his anger towards the Jews, claiming them to responsible for the deaths caused by the First World War: “this criminal race has the two million dead of the World War on its conscience…don’t anyone tell me we can’t send them into the marshes (Morast)!” (Kershaw 30). These recorded comments illustrate the deep rooted hatred and resentment Hitler held for the Jewish population that proved ultimately dangerous. Though these anti-Semitic remarks and beliefs existed among the entirety of the Nazi Political party, it didn’t become a nationwide prejudice until Hitler established such ideologies through the use of oral performance and
On September 1st, 1939 Germany invaded Poland, which started World War II in Europe. The war between Germany and the Soviet Union was one of the deadliest and largest wars of all mankind. It caused an overall change in Jewish people’s lives because they lost family members, homes, and the reason to live. There was a political shift in climate during that time because of the mass genocide it caused. Germany went from a place where people lived to a huge European power that singled out one race.
As blatantly demonstrated in the past, Hitler had an undeniable hatred for the Jews. There were many forms of intentionalism displayed illustrating this hostility. These actions are believed to be in response to occurrences during World War I. In 1918, Hitler was stricken with mustard gas and partially blinded, while in the Hospital, Hitler was reached with the news of Germany’s withdrawal from the War. The armistice induced Hitler’s fury and lead to his Back Stabbing Theory. The Back Stabbing Myth was, to the anti-Semitic, a theory based on the belief that the German Army could have won World War I, but the civilians (Jews) called off the war; embarrassing the German Military. Soon followed was Hitler’s involvement in politics, h...
The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community. Gypsies, people with mental and physical disabilities, and Poles were also targeted for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons. However, did The Nazis party ever unravel the true intent behind Hitler’s desires to extinguish the inferior race? This question is one of the most difficult to answer. While Hitler made several references to killing Jews, both in his
so, in that period, where Hitler was at the height of his control, 5 -
The Nazi Party, controlled by Adolf Hitler, ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. In 1933, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi government began to take over. Hitler became a very influential speaker and attracted new members to his party by blaming Jews for Germany’s problems and developed a concept of a “master race.” The Nazis believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jewish people were a threat to the German racial community and also targeted other groups because of their “perceived racial inferiority” such as Gypsies, disabled persons, Polish people and Russians as well as many others. In 1938, Jewish people were banned from public places in Germany and many were sent to concentration camps where they were either murdered or forced to work.
Nazi belief, and murder of the Jews a key policy. 2 German laws made by Hitler soon required everyone who had one or more Jewish grandparent to register. Those with one grandparent may have escaped but if you had two grandparents you were sent to a concentration camp and classifed as a Jew. One night symbolizing the begining of mass persecution was Kristallnacht, November 10th, 1938, "the night of broken glass". Jewish stores and houses were attacked, synagogues burned, and many Jews were sent to concentration camps. During this time, there were a few countries that would accept Jews. Hitler launched World War 2 by marching into Poland in 1939. Most of Western Europe then fell into the Führer (Hitler), who had personal command of the troops. Germany invaded the soviet Union in 1941, but Hitler, Crazed with power, had lost his military judgement. His failure to Capture Stalingrad, 1942 - 1943, was the turning point; unable to cope with defeat, he refused to recognize it or negotiate for peace. As the tide of war turned against him, his mass annhiliation of Jews, socialists, gypsies, and others was excelerated. After the Second World War had began in 1939, the Nazi's dropped all restrictions they had previously made towards the systematic murder of all Jews. In countries such as Europe, steps were made for Jews to follow in order to be seperated from the rest of the population. First Jews were required to register, then they were known to the Gestapo. Some families sent their children to live with christian families and live under an assumed identity. Hitler sent The Jews of Poland to live in poverty stricken ghettos where they were exposed to disease and malnutrition. With the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the Nazi policy of murder began to operate with no restrictions. The armies in Russia were followed by an "extermination squad" who shot hundreds of thousands of people, the majority being Jewish. The Nazis had already setup thousands of concentration camps to imprison anyone who imposed them. These now began to operate as factories of death. Auschwitz was the biggest of these death camps, a city of barricks where hundreds of thousands of people starved to death amid indescribable brutality. At it's center stood gas chambers and creamatoria design to take train loads of human beings, gas them and burn them.
Life for the Jews in Germany changed dramatically when Hitler came into power, this happened between 1933 and 1939. It’s due to the rise of the power of the Nazi Party. In Germany, the Jewish people lived peacefully until the fateful day, all life for them has changed. The major effect that Jews faced was Hitler ruling, the Nuremberg laws and Kristallnacht. Also, mentioning what life was like before the Holocaust began.
Jews were constantly persecuted before the Holocaust because they were deemed racially inferior. During the 1930’s, the Nazis sent thousands of Jews to concentration camps. Hitler wanted to
“ Hitler used propaganda and manufacturing enemies such as Jews and five million other people to prepare the country for war.” (Jewish Virtual Library), This piece of evidence shows Hitler’s attempt of genocide toward the Jewish race a...
In 1934, the death of President Hindenburg of Germany removed the last remaining obstacle for Adolf Hitler to assume power. Soon thereafter, he declared himself President and Fuehrer, which means “supreme leader”. That was just the beginning of what would almost 12 years of Jewish persecution in Germany, mainly because of Hitler’s hatred towards the Jews. It is difficult to doubt that Hitler genuinely feared and hated Jews. His whole existence was driven by an obsessive loathing of them (Hart-Davis 14).
law and were forcefully deported to segregated and secure camps for labor, followed by gassing. In total about 16,000 Gypsies died as a result of the Nazis scientific pursuit. Children underwent live experimentation in studies exploring racial immunology, malnutrition, desalination methods, live vaccinations, the effects of nerve gas, and much more. Nazi researches even went as far as studying the effects of inheritance of typhus by infecting pregnant mothers. As a result every mother died after giving birth to a short-lived newborn baby; their placentas did not act as a barrier against the infection as the Nazis had hypothesized.
The Treatment of Jews in Germany in the Years 1933 - 1937 When Hitler became chancellor in 1933, the treatment of the Jewish population in Germany, gradually becoming worse and worse. The worst treatment, however, went to the adults. In April 1933, SS troopers. threw thousands of Jewish shopkeepers, doctors and civil servants out. of their jobs.