Holocaust History

Lesson 2: Legalizing Hate

Germany 1933-1938

Assignment: Read Chapters 3 & 4, "Steps Toward Destruction" and "Steps Toward Destruction," in Holocaust Chronicle.

What specific steps did Hitler take to change the drastic situations in the German economy, society, and government? What was the impact on minorities within Germany?

1933
January 30, 1933
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany. This was done in an attempt to "control" Hitler and the Nazi Party. This means that he is leader of the German Government. However, he is not all-powerful: there are only two other Nazis in his Cabinet; he can only make laws if they are approved by the Reichstag or by the President; and he can be dismissed from power at any time by President Hindenburg.

The Economy
Gross National Product (GNP): 59 billion marks (1932 GNP: 59 Billion marks)
Unemployment: 4.8 million (1932 nearly 6 million)

Society
Law and order
February 27, 1933
Reichstag fire: Blamed on the Communists

February 28, 1933
Claiming that a Communist revolution is imminent the government announces emergency measures and takes away:

• Freedoms of speech, assembly, and the press
• Freedom from invasion of privacy (mail, telephone, telegraph)
• Freedom from house search without warrant

This law gave the Gestapo (the secret police) the power to arrest anyone suspected of resisting the government and to hold them for as long as they wanted without any right to trial or appeal.

This period was portrayed by the Nazis as decisive action being taken against the threat of a Communist revolution.

The removal of these civil liberties provided the legal basis for the laws that followed and the concentration camps.

March 20, 1933
Dachau concentration camp opens; it becomes a "model" for future camps.
4,000 Communist officials are arrested, as are leaders of the Trade Unions.
There is an end to much of the violence on the streets as the Nazis round up and imprison their Communist opponents. However, Nazi thugs continue to beat up Jews.

April 11, 1933
Communists are forced out of the civil service.

May 1933
A new "People's Court" is established to try treason cases. It will work in secret, with no jury and no appeal other than to Hitler himself and has the power to pass the death sentence.

Strength of Government
March 23, 1933
As an emergency measure to prevent a Communist revolution the Reichstag grants Hitler the power for four years to make laws without having to get the approval of the Reichstag. Hitler is portrayed as a strong leader, taking charge in a time of crises.

Hitler was able to claim that he had come to power legally. The Enabling Act effectively gave him dictatorial powers. The vote of 441 to 94 (all these cast by Social Democrats) was not the overwhelming endorsement it appeared: all of the 81 Communists and 26 of the Social Democrats were prevented from attending the meeting, and many others were intimidated into passing the law by the presence of Nazi brown shirts.

May-July
All opposition parties are dissolved and the Nazi Party is declared to be the "sole political party existing in Germany."

The Treatment of Minorities
April 1, 1933
A nation-wide boycott of Jewish-owned business in Germany is carried out as Germans are urged not to buy from Jewish shops.

April 7, 1933
Jewish civil servants, university professors, school teachers, and newspaper editors are fired.

May 10, 1933
Books written by Jews, political opponents of the Nazis, and others that are disapproved of by the Nazis (such Jack London and Helen Keller) are burned during huge public rallies across Germany.

July 14, 1933
Law for the Prevention of Hereditary and Defective Offspring allows the forced sterilization of Sinti and Roma, people with mental and physical disabilities, blacks, and others considered "inferior" or "unfit."
By the end of 1933 the Nazis had expelled Jewish artists, musicians, filmmakers, and writers from guilds set up under Goebbels' Reich Chamber of Culture.

At this point Jews who have lost their jobs are free to seek alternative employment. The vacancies that they left created opportunities for "Aryans." These actions affected a very small proportion of the population. Should this early persecution have been sufficient for the mass of the people publicly to protest, even though progress appeared to be made in other areas of concern: i.e., is economic prosperity more important than individual human rights?

1934
The Economy
GNP: 67 billion marks
Unemployment: 2.7 million

Society
Law and order
Many people are concerned that the Nazis are too violent and too extreme. Some fear that the SA, the Nazi stormtroopers, are beyond Hitler's control and that they will cause a revolution.

June 30, 1934
Night of the Long Knives
Hitler has some 200 leaders of the SA (his own private army) rounded up and shot. This might have indicated to some that Hitler himself wanted to restore law and order, and some Jews who left Germany in 1933 actually returned believing that the worst excesses of Nazi thuggery would end with this action against the SA. But it should have served as a warning--if this is the action Hitler was prepared to take against some of his oldest supporters, what would he do to other opponents?

December 20, 1934
Law Against Malicious Attacks on State and Party
Critical comments about the Nazi Party, its policies or its leaders were punishable by imprisonment. Under this law several thousand people were arrested in the coming years, not for any political action, but simply for telling jokes about the Nazi regime or privately grumbling about even minor aspects of life under the Nazis.

As part of an attempt to create a "national community" the Nazis organized social and leisure events for the German people. In 1934 more than 24,000 events organized by the "Strength Through Joy" movement included concerts, operas, films, stage plays, variety shows, and exhibitions. In the same year more than 2 million people went on cheap trips organized by "Strength Through Joy"; most of these were short trips, but more than 60,000 people went on cruises and nearly 100,000 on hikes in the countryside. Many of these people had never traveled outside their hometown before.

Strength of the Government
August 2, 1934
President Hindenburg dies.
Hitler becomes Head of State as well as leader of the government, and takes the new title "Füehrer."

While Hindenburg was alive, he could have dismissed Hitler constitutionally and would have had the support of the armed forces; after Hindenberg's death, Hitler's position was far more secure.

The Treatment of Minorities
Summer 1934
Gay bars are raided as the Nazi secret police become determined to fight homosexuality.

October-November 1934
The first wave of arrests of homosexuals occurs throughout Germany. Men can be imprisoned not only for their actions, but also for "homosexual intent"--or homosexual feelings.

1935
The Economy
GNP: 74 billion marks
Unemployment: 2.2 million

National Prestige
January
The Saar--a territory Germany lost at the end of the Great War--votes to return to Germany. This region is rich in coal and steel.

March
Hitler introduces conscription and increases the German Army from 100,000 to 500,000 men.
He also reveals the existence of the Luftwaffe (Germany's air force that had been banned after the Great War).
No action is taken by the rest of the world.

June
Hitler wins agreement from Britain that Germany can begin to rebuild its Navy (including submarines).

The Treatment of Minorities
April 1935
Jehovah's Witnesses are banned from all civil service jobs and are arrested throughout Germany. Jehovah's Witnesses were a very small minority: 20,000 out of a total population of 65 million. They refused to enlist or participate in air-raid drills or to give up meetings and attempts to win converts. They also refused to give the Nazi salute or say Heil Hitler.

September 15, 1935
The "Nuremberg Laws," defining German citizenship and making sexual relationships between Jews and "Aryans" illegal, are announced.

• Jews, Sinti and Roma are seen as having "foreign blood" and lose the right to be German citizens. Only citizens are entitled to civil and political rights.
• To protect "German blood and honor" the marriage of Jews and "citizens of German or kindred blood" is forbidden. Sexual relations between these groups is also forbidden and punishable by imprisonment.
• Jews are not allowed to employ women under the age of 45 in their households.
• Jews are not allowed to fly the German flag.

Hitler states that now Jews in Germany have been defined as foreigners and have lost the rights of other German people, the "Jewish question" has been finally and legally settled. In many places signs are put up saying that Jews are not welcome in parks, swimming pools, restaurants, and public buildings.

1936
The Economy
GNP: 83 billion marks
Unemployment: 1.6 million

National Prestige
March 7, 1936
Hitler marches his troops into the Rhineland and the army is welcomed by the local German people.
Even though Hitler has again broken the treaty that ended the Great War, no action is taken by the rest of the world. Overnight Germany becomes far stronger as it can now defend its western border and can no longer be easily invaded by the French.

August 1-16, 1936
Berlin hosts the Summer Olympic Games.
The eyes of the world are focused on Germany and many are impressed by the Nazi regime.

The Treatment of Minorities
July 1936
German Sinti and Roma are arrested and deported to Dachau concentration camp.
The names of all German Sinti and Roma are registered with the authorities as the Nazis issue guidelines "For Fighting the Gypsy Plague."

Protestant and Catholic sports clubs are closed down and replaced with Nazi sports clubs.

Jews are expelled from gymnastic clubs and dropped from the Davis Cup team. Jewish athletes are not allowed to take part in the Olympics. Anti-Jewish signs are removed until the Olympic Games are over. The pace of persecution dies down.

1937
The Economy
GNP: 105 billion marks
Full employment

Society
The "Strength Through Joy" movement organizes nearly 145,000 concerts, stage shows, films, exhibitions, and other leisure activities, more than 22 million sports courses, over 100,000 cruises, one and a half million holidays and nearly 7 million short trips.

National Prestige
March
The Anschluss: Germany unites with Austria.
This was forbidden by the treaty that ended the Great War. However, many Austrians welcome the union, there is no fighting, and no action is taken by the rest of the world.

July
Many Jews want to leave Germany and Austria.
At an international conference in Evian, in France, nearly all of the countries present refuse to increase the number of refugees they are prepared to let into their country. Many Nazis see this as a signal that the outside world does not care what they do to the Jews.

September
Britain, France, and Italy agree that Germany can take part of Czechoslovakia, an area known as the Sudetenland, that contains 3 million German speaking people.

The Treatment of Minorities

• All Jewish wealth exceeding 5,000 marks is registered by the authorities
• All remaining Jewish businesses are registered and marked with the Star of David
• Jewish Doctors are forbidden to treat "Aryan" patients
• Jewish men and women are forced to add "Israel" and "Sara" respectively as their middle names
• Jews must have their passports stamped with the red letter "J"
• 17,000 former Polish Jews living in Germany are forced to return to Poland

November 9-10, 1938
Kristallnacht ("Night of Broken Glass")
Nazis burn synagogues and loot Jewish homes and business in nation-wide riots. Nearly 100 Jews are murdered in this single night. At least 20,000 German and Austrian Jewish men are deported to concentration camps. About 2,500 of these die in the camps over the coming months. Many Jewish women are also jailed.

Following Kristallnacht, the Nazis introduce ever more severe measures:

• Jewish business are closed down
• Jews have to pay a collective fine of 1.25 billion marks and pay for all the damage caused by the riots of Kristallnacht
• All Jewish children are expelled from German schools
• Segregated Jewish schools are created

December 2-3
All Sinti and Roma in the Reich are required to register with the police.

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