Jews in prewar Germany

Life in Europe Before the Holocaust In 1933 the largest Jewish populations were concentrated in eastern Europe Many of the Jews of eastern Europe lived in predominantly Jewish towns or villages, called shtetls.  the Jews in western Europe made up much less of the population and tended to adopt the culture of their non-Jewish neighbors. 

Anti-Semitism Antisemitism is a starting place for trying to understand the tragedy that would befall countless numbers of people during the Holocaust. In European societies where the population was primarily Christian, Jews found themselves increasingly isolated as outsiders.

Voyage of the St. Louis The St. Louis was a German ocean liner that helped people escaped Nazi terror. In May 1939, 937 passengers, mostly Jewish refugees, left Hamburg, Germany, en route to Cuba. All passengers had landing certificates to let people enter Cuba. When the St. Louis reached the port of Havana, the president of Cuba refused to honor the documents. After the St. Louis left the Havana Port, it sailed to the coast of Florida so the passengers could see the lights of Miami. The U.S. did not allow the St. Louis to dock and had to turn back to Europe.

Voyage of the St. Louis Cont. Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and England admitted the passengers. Eventually, Germany invaded these countries. They took hundreds of passengers that disembarked Belgium, France, and the Netherlands were taken in by the Nazis in their “Final Solution.” Belgium took 214 passengers. France took 224 passengers. The Netherlands took 181 passengers. Great Britain took the most passengers, which was 287 people.

Locating the Victims In 1939, The German Government conducted a census of all persons living in Germany. Census takers recorded each person’s age, sex, residence, profession, religion, etc. They also listed the person’s race by tracing it through their grandparents. This information was later punched into coded cards. The cards were sorted and counted by the Hollerith machine, which was a early version of the modern computer. The Hollerith was invented in 1884 by a German-American engineer, Herman Hollerith. This Machine was used in America and in some European governments to process data. The information from the 1939 census helped Nazi official Adolf Eichmann to create the Jewish Registry, containing detailed information on all Jews living in Germany. It also tracked information in Austria and Sudetenland. Nazi racial ideology and policies did not stop at Germany's borders. Several tools were used to track down the Jews.

The "Night of Broken Glass" On the night of November 9, 1938, violence against Jews broke out across the Reich. It appeared to be unplanned, set off by Germans' anger over the assassination of a German official in Paris at the hands of a Jewish teenager. German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and other Nazis carefully organized the pogroms. In two days, over 250 synagogues were burned, over 7,000 Jewish businesses were trashed and looted, dozens of Jewish people were killed, and Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes were looted while police and fire brigades stood by.

OCTOBER 28, 1938 GERMANY EXPELS POLISH JEWS About 17,000 Polish Jews are expelled by Germany and forced across the border with Poland. Poland refuses to allow the Jews to enter. Most of the deportees are stranded in the no- man's-land between Germany and Poland near the town of Zbaszyn. Among the deportees are the parents of Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew living in Paris, France.

NOVEMBER 7, 1938 GERMAN DIPLOMAT SHOT IN PARIS Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew living in Paris, shoots Ernst vom Rath, a diplomat attached to the German embassy in Paris. Grynszpan apparently acts out of despair over the fate of his parents, who are trapped along with other Polish Jewish deportees in a no-man’s- land between Germany and Poland. The Nazis use the shooting to fan antisemitic fervor, claiming that Grynszpan did not act alone, but was part of a wider Jewish conspiracy against Germany.

The Evian Conference Between 1933 and 1941 the Nazis aimed to make Germany judenrein (cleansed of Jews) by making life so difficult for them that they would be forced to leave the country. By 1938, about 150,000 German Jews, one in four, had already fled the country. After Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, however, an additional 185,000 Jews were brought under Nazi rule. Many Jews were unable to find countries willing to take them in.

JULY 6-15 1938 REFUGEE CONFERENCE IN EVIAN Delegates from 32 countries and representatives from relief organizations meet in Evian-les-Bains, a spa town in France, to discuss the German-Jewish refugees. The United States encourages all countries to find a long-term solution to the problem. However, the United States and other countries are unwilling to ease their immigration restrictions. Most countries fear that an increase of refugees will cause further economic hardships. The conference ends a week later.

FEBRUARY 9, 1939 LIMITED REFUGEE BILL PROPOSED IN US CONGRESS The Wagner-Rogers refugee aid bill is introduced in the United States Senate by Senator Robert F. Wagner (D-New York). This bill calls for the admission to the United States of 20,000 German refugee children under the age of 14 over the next two years, in addition to immigration normally permitted. The bill will be introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Edith Nourse Rogers (R-Massachusetts) five days later Charity organizations across the country publicize the plight of German refugee children in an attempt to gain support for the bill.

Boycott of Jewish Businesses Jewish-owned department stores in German cities are attacked in an attempt to segregate Jews from the rest of society on March 1, 1933. On April 1, 1933, the Nazis carried out the first nationwide, planned action against Jews: a boycott of Jewish businesses. On April 7, 1933, the Nazi government enacts the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.

Boycott on Jewish Businesses Cont. Nazi spokesmen claimed the boycott was an act of revenge against both German Jews and foreigners who had criticized the Nazi regime. The Star of David was painted in yellow and black across thousands of doors and windows of businesses owned by Jews. The nationwide boycott was not very successful and lasted just a day.

Work Cited http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000768 9 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000769 1 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000769 3 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000769 5 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000769 7 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000769 8 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000770 1 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000770 3