Nazi Germany – Hatred Notes - St John Brebeuf

10/17/2013Nazi GermanyHatredDealing with Christian Churches• Big source of possible opposition• Signed an agreement, or Concordat, with CatholicChurch (Pope Pius XI), 1933– Hitler promised not to interfere with Church and itsfaith– Church agreed not to interfere in political matters• Agreement didn’t last long• Catholic Youth League competed with Nazi YouthOrganizations for membership– Hitler banned it• Church schools where then shut down, beginning1936• 1937– Pope Pius XI condemnedNazism as anti-Christian• Priests and nuns werearrested, then sent tolabour camps– Dachau had its own clergybarracks• 2720 priests total (differentdenominations), 314released, 1240 liberated,1034 deaths• Protestant Church thenresisted– Rev. Martin Niemöller and800 other pastors wereimprisonedResistanceFirst they came for the communists, and Idid not speak out—because I was not a communist;Then they came for the socialists,and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;Then they came for the tradeunionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;Then they came for the Jews, andI did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out forme.”― Martin Niemöller1

10/17/2013Blood Purity• Hitler obsessed with ideasregarding “race”• Believed Germans weremembers of a “superior race”– Called Aryans or “The MasterRace”• Aryans were those of NorthernEuropean descent• Ideal Aryan was blonde-haired,blue-eyed, tall, and physicallystrong• Members of Aryan race werecalled “Ubermensch” or “Super-Men”– Anyone of un-pure Aryan bloodwas called “Untermensch” or “Sub-Human”Master Race Ideology• Originated in 19 th c., as racial theory gainedincreasing focus– Hierarchy of races, and cultures degenerate ascultures/races mix.• Bottom of hierarchy were aboriginals and darkerskinned people– Physically and mentally inferior• Southern Europeans were in middle– Dark hair and olive skin showed partial untermenschracial tainting• Aryans were at top (Germans, Swedes,Icelanders, Norwegians, Danes, English, & Dutch)– Would rule world during Nazi’s 1000 Year ReichEugenics• Implemented selectivehuman breeding– Ensure only stronggenetic traits werepassed to next gen.• Mixed marriages wereforbidden• 1933 saw beginning offorced sterilizations– Those consideredphysically and mentallyunfit; ‘congenitally sick’• Roma (Gypsies), andhandicappedindividuals– 300,000 victims total2

10/17/2013Lebensborn Program• Implemented by Hitler in 1932– Lebensborn means “Font/Spring of Life”• Breeding centres and birth houses established• Aryan women recruited to breed with SS soldiers• Men seeking admission into program had to prove:– He was in perfect physical condition– He was racially pure as far back as 1750• Program ended in 1944– In total 42,000 babies were ‘produced’• During war Nazis also kidnapped Aryan women andchildren from conquered countries– 200,000 children from Poland aloneHierarchy within the Master Race• Not every Aryan created equal– Hitler placed huge importance onphysical power• Favour shown to Aryan menwith most powerful physiquesand tallest statures• Men 6ft. 6in. or more were attop of Ubermensch ladder– ‘Hünenmensch’– Closest relatives originalGermanic warrior tribes• Received special medal, theHünenkreuz and were instantlypromoted to SS officer status3

10/17/2013Jews• Not regarded as religious group• Seen as a “poisonous race”, and therefore chief enemyof racial purity– ‘Lived off’ of and weakened all other races• Nazis claimed Jews aimed to:– Prevent construction of national community Nazis desired• Built upon hundreds of years of Christian hostilitytowards Jews– Anti-Semitism was not created by Nazis• Legalization of persecution of Jewish people began in1933– Approx. 500,000 Jews in Germany at that pointNAZI Party Programme• Point 4 of 25 deals with Jews– One of only points that Hitler didn’t discard when hecame to power“None but members of the nation may be citizensof the state. None but those of German blood,whatever their creed, may be members of thenation. No Jew, therefore can be a member of thenation.”• Not everyone took this racial policy seriouslywhen Hitler became a national political figure– Hindenburg, and von Papen miscalculated• Following letters show this (handout)“Jewish-ness”• Identified based on:– Particular shape of skull (craniometry)• Showed mental deficiency– Large hooked nose (“Jewish Nose”)• Unnatural shape• Resulted in Jews inability to speakproperly– Different pronunciation of words– Talk faster than normal• Mental weakness, prone to beinghysterical• This trait also supposedly seen inwomen– Shorter than average height– Short arm length– Below average chest circumference– Darker skin, curly black hair– Morally Deficient• Greedy (obsessed with money)• Underhanded/dishonest4

10/17/2013Phase 1 of Jewish Persecution (ca. 1933-1934)• Focused on exclusion of Jewsfrom public life– Racial segregation• Nazis immediately organised aboycott of Jewish businesses(led by SA)– Germans who ignored boycotthad name published on posters• Jews beaten and storesvandalized by SA• April 1933 – Law for theRestoration of the ProfessionalCivil Service– Non-Aryans no longer allowed topractice law (work as judges andlawyers), or work as civil servants,doctors (state hospitals), teachers(state schools)– Couldn’t work in any publicpositionReactions to Phase 1• Proved to be controversial– Openly opposed by President Hindenburg• Objected to treatment of Jewish WWI veterans– Hitler amended law to get Hindenburg's approval• Hardcore anti-Semites in Nazi Party and SA feltlaws hadn’t gone far enough– Many demanded for tougher policies against Jews• SA officers who beat up Jews and smashedstores demanded immunity fromprosecution/civil action5

10/17/2013Phase 2 – More Extreme Measures (1935-early 1938)• Phase of anti-Semiticrioting began this phaseas well• 15 Sept. 1935, NuremburgLaws were introduced toReichstag– Comprised of 2 new laws– Aimed at define racialidentity and relationshipb/w Jews and AryansNuremburg Law #1The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour– Used to define what classifies a Jew vs. an Aryan– Marriage b/w Jews and Germans were forbidden– Extramarital sexual relations b/w Jews and Germans was forbidden• Juden (‘full blooded’ Jew)– anyone with 3 or 4 grandparents• Deutsche-blutige (‘full blooded’ German)– Anyone with 4 German grandparents• Mischlinge (‘half-breeds’)– 1 st Degree (half-Jew)• A person with 2 Jewish grandparents, who did not belong to Jewish religion, orwas not married to a Jew as of 15 Sept. 1935• Were to be treated like full Jews– 2 nd Degree (quarter-Jew)• Someone with one Jewish grandparent, or an Aryan married to a Jew• Were to be assimilated into the Aryan Nation6

10/17/2013Nuremburg Law #2The Reich Citizenship Law• Only those of German blood were citizens• Jews only recognized as Staatsangehoriger(subjects of the state)– Abolished their citizenship• Results:– Jews no longer permitted to hold public office (gov’t)– Jews working in gov’t were retired at end of 1935– Mischlinge retained citizenship only if practicingChristians (on theory)• officially no one could decide what their position wasPersecution Escalates• Further decrees madethrough 1930’s restrictedand prohibited Jews further• Persecution increased inintensity– Sometime officiallysanctioned, other timessimply overlooked• Jewish businesses facedboycotts and intimidation– Often forced to close/declarebankruptcy– Once closed; sold off cheaplyto Germans• Employers put ‘Aryanclauses’ into contracts tokeep Jews outPersecution Escalates Cont.• By 1938– Jews no longer allowed to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, orjournalists• Racial segregation implemented– Banned from public facilities• Libraries, pools/beaches, parks, and residential areas or businesses in“Aryan zones”• Roads into towns had signs saying, “Jews not wanted here”• Hotels advertised as, “free of Jewish taint.”– Couldn’t claim lottery winnings, collect pensions or insurance– Forbidden to own radios or pets– Jewish names erased from WWI monuments– Excluded from attending school– Couldn’t use state hospitals– Munich – largest synagogue demolished as it was a “traffichazard”7

10/17/2013In Schools• Hatred of Jews taught in schools• Jewish students consistently humiliated in frontof class• Disagreeing with racist ideas heavily discouraged– Here is a short anecdote:• 1934, a Berlin schoolboy interrupted his teacher during anAnti-Semitic lecture• Said, “My daddy says Jews are not damnably vile.”• Dad was the put in prison• Safer to keep quiet, even if you didn’t agree withNazi racial ideologyPhase 3 – Oh, It Keeps Getting Worse (spring1938)• Anti-Jewish riots andprotests began in spring;continued throughsummer and fall• Nov. 7, Ernst von Rathshot dead in Paris– Turned out killer was a Jew• SS launched attach onGerman Jews inretaliation– Kristallnacht (Night ofBroken Glass), 9 Nov. 1938Kristallnacht• So named because of the thousands of windowsbroken• 814 Jewish shops looted• 191 Synagogues burnt• 36 Jews beaten to death– Heydrich commented that these official figures were‘considerably exceeded’• In following week approx. 20,000 Jews had been sentto labour camps• Jews forced the pay for all the damage they had“caused”8

10/17/2013Not Only Jews Targeted• ‘Gypsies’ (Roma and Sinti)– Stereotyped as beggars, thieves, and social parasites (evenbefore Nazi control of Germany)• Because of nomadic lifestyle– 1933 - ‘Gypsies’ mentioned in forced sterilization laws– 1934 – restriction of marriages b/w ‘Gypsies’ and Aryans– Nuremburg Laws were extended to this group in 1936– Movements restricted through introduction of specialcamps– 1938 - Zigeuneraaufraumungswoche, or ‘Gypsy Clean-upWeek’• Beaten, arrested, chased out of country, or detained inconcentration campsNot Only Jews Targeted Cont.• Social Outsiders – branded anti-social or asocial– beggars, gypsies, prostitutes, ‘grumblers’, alcoholics, hooligans, and‘mental cases’ and people who refused to work– Accused of having defective genes• Often sterilized and imprisoned– Homosexual men became a critical threat to very existence of theGerman people; therefore persecuted• “Rhineland Bastards” – children born to Aryan women andFrench-African soldiers stationed in Germany– Forcibly sterilized beginning in 1937• Aug. 1939 – all ‘malformed’ children had to be registered– 5,000 transferred to special ‘children’s departments’ andeuthanised/murdered– Extended to adult psych. Patients• Over 70,000 – mostly killed in gas chambers– This program cancelled in 1941, but patients continued to be killedin large numbers1936 Olympics • Lead up saw easing of attackson Jews– Anti-Jewish posters taken down• Couple of ‘token’ Jewsallowed to compete• Visitors saw no evidence of illtreatment of Jews• Hitler refused to shake handwith a number of African-American winners (JesseOwens, 4 gold medals)– ‘inferior race’ beating Aryans• Olympic committee told himto shake all hands or none– Hitler chose to shake none.• Germany won most medals• 1 st Torch Relay• Introduction of 5 interlockingrings symbol9