Nazi policies and events 1933-1939

Jewish population in Germany in 1933 was 505,000 out of total population of 67 million Or 0.75 percent of German population 80% of Jews held German citizenship 70% lived in urban areas 59% lived in the 10 largest German cities Less than 4% of Berlin’s population

A first-grade class at a Jewish school. Cologne, Germany, 1929-1930 Training for emigration to Palestine: a math class at the Caputh Agricultural School. Berlin, Germany, between 1930 and 1939

Jewish athletes at a sports festival in Grunewald stadium Jewish athletes at a sports festival in Grunewald stadium. After Hitler took power, Jews were not allowed to be members of German athletic clubs. Berlin, Germany, 1934 A concert in the Oranienburger Street synagogue organized by the Cultural Society of German Jews. Berlin, Germany, 1938

Book Burning 1933

Book Burning 1933 May 10, 1933 Censorship Joseph Goebbels-Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment & Propaganda Effort to bring German arts & culture in line with Nazi goals “Action against the un- German Spirit” Over 25,000 volumes of “un-German” books by University students Scene during the book burning in Berlin's Opera Square. Berlin, Germany, May 10, 1933

Burning cont In Berlin, 40,000 people gathered to hear Joseph Goebbels “No to decadence and moral corruption!” Goebbels enjoined the crowd. “Yes to decency and morality in family and state! I consign to the flames the writings of Heinrich Mann, Ernst Gläser, Erich Kästner.” Others: Earnest Hemmingway, “All Quiet on the Western Front”, Jack London, Helen Keller Other burnings took place around Germany Also among those works burned were the writings of beloved nineteenth-century German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, who wrote in his 1820-1821 play Almansor the famous admonition, “Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen": "Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people."

Nuremberg Laws 1935 Oral Histories start at 18:00

Between 1933-1939 over 400 laws were passed that restricted all aspects of their public and private lives Examples: “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" of April 7, 1933 - Jewish and "politically unreliable" civil servants and employees were to be excluded from state service April 1933 restricted the number of Jewish students at German schools and universities. Legislation sharply curtailed "Jewish activity" in the medical and legal professions. Subsequent laws and decrees restricted reimbursement of Jewish doctors from public (state) health insurance funds. The city of Berlin forbade Jewish lawyers and notaries to work on legal matters, the mayor of Munich disallowed Jewish doctors from treating non-Jewish patients, and the Bavarian Interior Ministry denied admission of Jewish students to medical school.

Licenses were revoked from Jewish tax consultants; imposed a 1 Licenses were revoked from Jewish tax consultants; imposed a 1.5 percent quota on admission of "non- Aryans" to public schools and universities; fired Jewish civilian workers from the army; and, in early 1934, forbade Jewish actors to perform on the stage or screen. Local governments also issued regulations that affected other spheres of Jewish life: in Saxony, Jews could no longer slaughter animals according to ritual purity requirements, effectively preventing them from obeying Jewish dietary laws

Nuremberg Laws September 1935 Revoked German citizenship from German Jews Prohibited marriage between Germans and Jews Disenfranchised Could not hold public office Defined a Jew as anyone who had 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents, regardless if they belonged to the Jewish religious community or not Included any Jew who had converted to Christianity

Jewish patients were no longer admitted to municipal hospitals in Düsseldorf German court judges could not cite legal commentaries or opinions written by Jewish authors Jewish officers were expelled from the army Jewish university students were not allowed to sit for doctoral exams December 1935, the Reich Propaganda Ministry issued a decree forbidding Jewish soldiers to be named among the dead in World War I memorials

Chart illustrating the Nuremberg laws Chart illustrating the Nuremberg laws. The figures represent Germans, Jews, and Mischlinge. Germany, 1935

Samples of the Nuremberg Race Laws (the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor). Germany, September 15, 1935 Oral histories

Kristallnacht 1938

On the night of October 27, 1938, 18,000 Polish Jews were deported, but were initially refused entry into Poland by the Polish authorities. Caught in between, the Jews were forced to camp out in makeshift shelters. Upon hearing that his family was so trapped, 17 year-old Herschel Grynszpan, a student in Paris, shot the third secretary of the German Embassy, Ernst vom Rath, whom he mistook for the ambassador. This assassination served as a welcome pretext for the German initiation of Kristallnacht Vom Rath died on November 9, 1938, two days after the shooting.

A private Jewish home vandalized during Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass" pogrom). Vienna, Austria, November 10, 1938

Jews arrested after Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass") await deportation to Dachau concentration camp. Baden- Baden, Germany, November 10, 1938

Artifacts Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, a chief instigator of the pogrom, intimated to the convened Nazi 'Old Guard' that 'World Jewry' had conspired to commit the assassination and announced that, "the Führer has decided that … demonstrations should not be prepared or organized by the Party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered." 267 synagogues destroyed throughout Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland SA and Hitler Youth members across the country shattered the shop windows of an estimated 7,500 Jewish-owned commercial establishments, and looted their wares Jewish cemeteries became a particular object of desecration At least 91 Jews died, numerous reports of rapes and suicides 30,000 male Jews deported to Dachau, Buchenwald & Sachenhausen

Aftermath German leaders blamed Kristallnacht on the Jews Reasoning: German insurance companies (not Jewish) would have to pay for the damages The Jews must pay – imposed a fine of one billion Reichmark on the German Jewish community (equal to 400 million US dollars in 1938) Government confiscated all insurance pay-outs to Jews whose businesses & homes were destroyed

Turning Point German education officials expelled Jewish children still attending German schools German Jews lost their right to hold a driver's license or own an automobile legislation fixed restrictions on access to public transport Jews could no longer gain admittance to “German” theaters, movie cinemas, or concert halls German citizens responded to the violence and this legislation with passivity Signaled the Nazi regime that the German citizens were prepared for more radical measures

Destruction of Synagogues on Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, November 9, 1938

Online exhibit