Changes in the Life of Jews in Nazi Germany

Changes in the life of Jews in Nazi Germany in the years 1933-1945

The Nazis anathematize the Jews. From a long time ago the Jews were not liked by the people of Europe and in the reign of the Nazis this became much worse. The Nazis officials were given strict orders to exterminate as many Jews as possible. The Nazis wanted to remove the whole of Jewish community. They wanted to eradicate every single Jew in the whole world. The Jews had to face a really hard time during the period of 1933 to 1945.

The Nazis believed that Aryan race was the superior race and Jews were the inferior race. And thus Anti-Semitism started on a large scale. After coming to power on 30 January 1933, the Nazi leadership decided to stage an economic boycott on April 1933 against the Jews of Germany targeting Jewish businesses and professionals. And over the next year the Anti-Jewish propaganda increased on a very large scale day by day. On May 1935 the Jews were forbidden from joining the German Armed Forces. Later on the same year in September the Nuremburg Laws was passed which made the life of the Jews miserable. The Nuremberg Laws were anti-Semitic laws that took away civil rights citizenship from German Jews. They also forbade sex and marriage between Jews and non-Jews. In the years 1935 and 1936 the persecution of Jews increased on a large scale. But during the Berlin Olympics in 1936 Anti-Semitism posters and banners were taken down because Hitler did not want the whole world to know what was going on in Germany at that point of time. In the year 1937 Hitler mentioned his hate towards the Jews in front of the public. And then more Jewish businesses were confiscated and more Jewish professionals were sacked. The year 1938 was the year when the segregation towards the Jews increased on a very high scale. In April every Jew had to register his/her property which made it very easy to be confiscated by the Nazis. In the month of June and July Jewish doctors and lawyers were forbidden to treat the Aryans or any German. In October every Jewish person had to stamp a “J” on their passports to mark them as Jews. But the worst day for the Jews since the time Nazis came into power was the “Kristallnacht” or as it is otherwise known “The Night of the Broken Glass” when the SS soldiers and some civilians attacked Jewish Synagogues, homes and shops. The attack left the streets covered with broken glass because of which it is called the “Night of the Broken Glass. It is an estimate that 91 Jews were killed and later 30,000 Jews were attested and were sent to concentration camps. And since then till the end of the Nazi era Jews faced numerous amounts of problems. On the 12th of November 1938 the Nazis “fined” the Jews one billion Reich marks for the damage of the Kristallnacht which was simply not fair. Just after 3 days of that the Jewish pupils were only allowed to go to Jewish schools. In the month of December the same year all the remaining Jewish businesses were confiscated.
Then next year in January all the Jews had to add new first names- Sarah for women and Israel for men. The Reich office for Jewish Emigration was established to promote emigration by “every possible means”.
On 12th March 1939 the first mass arrests of Jews took place and nearly 30,000 Jewish men and boys were sent to concentration camps. With the onset of war the mistreatment of the Jews increased. The same year these rules were issued against the Jews, they were no longer allowed to go outdoors after 8pm in summers and 9pm in winters, forced labour decree issued for Polish Jews from the age of 14 to 60. It was followed by Yellow Star of David which had to be worn by every Polish Jew over the age of 10 and numerous of other laws which made the life of Jews worse. In January, 1940 there was a quote posted in Der Stürmer which cleared that what was going to happen to Jews “The time is near when a machine will go into motion which is going to prepare a grave for the world's criminal - Judah - from which there will be no resurrection." Day after day the condition of the Jews became worse and by January 1942 mass killing of Jews at the Auschwitz concentration camps started and Jews from all around in Europe were sent to concentration camps. On the 2nd of July even The New York Times reported “over 1,000,000 Jews have already been killed by Nazis”. By the end of 1942 there was a huge reduction in food rations for Jews in Nazi Germany.

On May 19, 1943 - Nazis declare Berlin to be Judenfrei (cleansed of Jews). Day after day new concentration camps were set up all over Nazi Germany and Jews were deported there. But as the time passed the Russians started invading several parts of Nazi Germany and the death rate slowed down a bit. Finally on the 27th of Jan. 1945 Russian troops reached Auschwitz where an estimate of 1,500,000 Jews was killed. Within some days the Nazi Empire collapsed and the concentration camps were closed down. By the end it’s an estimate that about 5.9 million Jews were killed.
In the end I would just like to say that the things through which the Jews went though was very unfair and sad. It was one of the worst cases of segregation and I hope that no other ethnic group will go through this in the future.
-Gautam Rath
10th-N
History Essay