How Did Hitler Persecuted Jews

Over the course of six years, from 1933 to 1938, countless number of innocent Jews were heavily subjected to extreme degrees of discrimination by the anti-Semitic Nazis. Although, there were many different methods that Nazis used to persecute Jewish people, some methods were more effective than others and thus were utilized more extensively. This essay will focus on the psychological, political and physical persecutions from the events of rise of Nazism, Nazi propaganda, Nuremberg Laws and, finally, Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass).
To begin, Nazis politically persecuted Jews after the rise of the Nazi Party. The Nazi Party took control of the German government on January 30, 1933. When Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor, he removed individual freedoms
and introduced a Volk Community (Volksgemeinschaft) - this unified the community, however, it was very bias towards Jews. On February 28, 1933, the Reichstag Fire Decree permitted the loss of basic civil rights, which subjected Jews to bias legislation. As we see in source 1, the Fire Reichstag Decree was issued by President Paul Von Hindenburg to imprison anyone who was considered an enemy of the Nazi and the state. This meant that Jewish people fell under that category and were incarcerated. Later on April 1933, with the law of civil service Nazis implicitly removed Jews from government organization and positions associated with the law and economy. As shown in source 2, Hitler managed to convince Paul von Hindenburg to sign the enabling act which meant that the Reichstag collapsed and the Nazi Party didn’t need approval to take action. By mid-July, Germany became a dictatorship ruled by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. This allowed Hitler to take Anti-Semitic actions against the Jews. With his power, he introduced the Reich Ministry of Public enlightenment and propaganda to give Jews a bad reputation, created Dachau Concentration camp to isolate the Jews from society and organized a boycott directed at Jewish businesses and professionals.
Furthermore, the Nationalist Socialist Workers Party psychologically persecuted Jews through extensive utilization of propaganda.
Early 1933, Hitler introduced the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and appointed Joseph Goebbels the position. Joseph Goebbels’s aim was to successfully inform and convince the general public of Nazi ideology through different forms of communication such as films, books, radio and etc. The main themes of Nazi Propaganda included Jews being subhuman with ‘Aryans’ being the elite race, Jews being associated with crime and evil in society and Jews being the enemy of the country. These themes were very negative and bias against Jews. As we see source 3, the illustration from a children’s book has a headlines which translates to “Jews are our misfortune" and "How the Jew cheats”. By using this anti-Semitic Propaganda in children’s books, it indoctrinated kids from a young age to hate Jewish people. Also, in source 4, Jewish people are portrayed as a gross and evil looking creature taking over the world. As a result, the Nazi Propaganda not only publicly humiliated and ridiculed but also imbedded a strong sense of hatred in the non-Jewish Germans against
Jews.
Additionally, Nazis politically persecuted Jews by institutionalizing their anti-Semitic ideologies through the Nuremberg Laws. The laws were signed at the annual party rally in Nuremberg, Germany on September 15, 1935. The two major laws were that it was forbidden for Jews to marry or have sexual relations with someone of ‘German or German-related blood’ and they were excluded from the Reich citizenship law. The instructional chart, as we see in source 5, helped bureaucrats at that time to differentiate between an Aryan, Jew and Mischlinge (a person of mixed race). The Nuremberg Race Law stated a Jewish person as someone who had three or four Jewish grandparents, regardless if the person considered themselves as a Jew or not. This meant that people who were legally identified as Jewish were not only stripped of their citizenship but also lost most political rights such as rights to vote and hold public office. Also, job opportunities narrowed because some professions such as being a lawyer became forbidden for Jewish people. As shown in source 6, the red tag in the 1939 Hotel Reicshof flyer informed Jewish guests that they weren’t allowed go at the bar, reception rooms or restaurant. After the Nuremberg Laws were introduced Jews were completely excluded from public places in Germany. As a result, the loss of basic rights made life difficult and hard for Jewish people in Germany.
Not long after, the horrific event of Kristallnacht took place, where Nazis physically persecuted the Jews. This anti-Semitic pogrom took place on November 9 and 10 in all of Germany, Austria and regions of Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. The trigger was when German Diplomat, Ernst Vom Rath, was assassinated by a 17 year old Polish Jew on the 7th of November. In response to his assassination, the Minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, made a speech in Nazi function in Munich. He stated, “"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." This was the government’s way of encouraging the general public to attack Jewish people and their properties without any punishment. After his speech he gathered all the regional Party leaders and gave strict instructions to their local offices. Then telegrams were issued to stations of the SA leaders and State Police in different regions pertaining to the riots. It stated that they should arrest as many young Jewish men as possible and the ‘spontaneous’ riots must not be intervened. As shown in source 7, the Zerrennerstrasse synagogue was eradicated by the rioters. Also, the Hitler Youth and SA units all over Germany and in many German occupied territories helped destroy Jewish homes and businesses while wearing civilian clothing as a disguise. In the end more than 7,500 Jewish businesses were completely eradicated, over 90 people were killed and, about 30, 000 young Jewish men were taken to concentration camps and more than 1,000 of Jewish synagogues were annihilated. Also, as shown in newspaper in source 8, the Jewish people were fined $400 million for damages caused during November 9 and 10. As a result, Jewish businesses stopped, Jewish people lost most of their money and were intimidated by the Nazi party.
To reiterate, through the long and harsh six years from 1933 to 1938, Nazis persistently persecuted innocent Jewish people psychologically, physically and politically through the events of rise of the Nazi Party, Nazi propaganda, Nuremberg Laws and the Kristallnacht.