Antisemitism and Anti-Jewish Decrees Tosha Tillotson, Regional Education Corps Director of Education, Central Valley Holocaust Educators’ Network Sacramento, California

antisemitism: prejudice against or hatred of Jews.

Berlin 1936 Opening of the Olympic Games In 1933, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's fragile democracy into a one-party dictatorship. Police rounded up thousands of political opponents, detaining them without trial in concentration camps. The Nazi regime also put into practice racial policies that aimed to "purify" and strengthen the Germanic "Aryan" population. A relentless campaign began to exclude Germany's one-half million Jews from all aspects of German life. For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler camouflaged his antisemitic and expansionist agenda while Berlin hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Hoping to impress the many foreign visitors who were in Germany for the games, Hitler authorized a brief relaxation in anti-Jewish activities (including even the removal of signs barring Jews from public places). The games were a resounding propaganda success for the Nazis. They presented foreign spectators with the image of a peaceful and tolerant Germany. Here, Hitler formally opens the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. Inaugurating a new Olympic ritual, a lone runner arrived bearing a torch carried by relay from the site of the ancient Games in Olympia, Greece. — National Archives - Film

An anti-Jewish sign posted on a street in Germany reads, "Jews are not wanted here." [Photograph #64416]

A dog lies on a park bench which is marked "Nur fuer Arier A dog lies on a park bench which is marked "Nur fuer Arier!" [Only for Aryans] [Photograph #63705]

Copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion France 1920 (left) Germany 1920 (right) Automaker Henry Ford’s Dearborn Independent publishes the International Jew, effectively an Americanized version of the Protocols. This version has been translated into more than a dozen languages. “Radio Priest” Father Charles E. Coughlin serializes the Protocols in his newspaper, Social Justice. He claimed that the Protocols is genuine.

Protocols Timeline http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/en/timeline/

Antisemitic isolationist publication. United States, date uncertain. — National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia

Religious Antisemitism

Racial Antisemitism Propaganda slide entitled "The Jew a Bastard," illustrating different racial types, and characterizing Jews as a "bastard" race. [Photograph #49813]

Der Sturmer Antisemitic Propaganda Propaganda slide entitled "The Jew a Bastard," illustrating different racial types, and characterizing Jews as a "bastard" race. [Photograph #49813]

Personal Testimony: Abraham Lewent Abraham Lewent Born: 1924, Warsaw, Poland Describes performing forced labor in Warsaw and increased Polish antisemitism [Interview: 1989]

Personal Testimony: Bella Jakubowicz Tovey Bella Jakubowicz Tovey Born: 1926, Sosnowiec, Poland Describes antisemitic remarks made as she was marched into the Graeben camp [Interview: 1990] Bella was the oldest of four children born to a Jewish family in Sosnowiec. Her father owned a knitting factory. After the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, they took over the factory. The family's furniture was given to a German woman. Bella was forced to work in a factory in the Sosnowiec ghetto in 1941. At the end of 1942 the family was deported to the Bedzin ghetto. Bella was deported to the Graeben subcamp of Gross-Rosen in 1943 and to Bergen-Belsen in 1944. She was liberated in April 1945. — US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections

Anti-Jewish Legislation Teacher Explains the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935

Nuremberg Laws 1935 Jews were redefined as second class citizens. Only a people of 'German blood’ could be a German citizen. Jews were redefined as second class citizens. People with one or two Jewish grandparents were considered to be Mischlinge - of mixed race. Although Mischlinges were the subject of some debate initially, ultimately anyone with even a single Jewish grandparent was at risk under the Nuremberg Laws.

TIMOTHY HURSLEY TIMOTHY HURSLEY