Why did the status and position of Jews in Europe worsen in the years 1933 to 1945?

Hitler rigged the educational system and Jew Hatred was taught in schools. Jewish children were picked on and embarrassed in class. By doing this, Hitler wanted to indoctrinate the children. He did this by convincing them to be anti-Semitic when they were young and vulnerable before they were mature enough to develop their own ideas. This was another way to rid Germany of Jewish people and convince German civilians they were the "master race" and above Jewish people.

The Nazis tried to keep their anti-Semitic campaign reasonable so they wouldn't be accused of being brutal. They did this by using propaganda to support their claims. Goebbels did everything he could to spread Jew hatred. He used posters, cartoons, film clips, radio programs and placards to spread anti-Semitism in Germany. This was done to make the everyday man think that it was natural to hate Jewish people.

The propaganda continued and the pictures printed of Jewish people were of orthodox Jews that were more recognisable. By 1935, life was intolerable for German Jews and they were under constant threat of abuse, terror and isolation. In September 1935 the status and position of Jews in Germany took a drastic turn for the worst. This is because the Nuremberg laws were passed. This stripped Jewish people of all their rights as German citizens. The Nuremberg laws also forced Jewish men to add "Israel" to their first names and forced women to add " Sara" to their first names. This was done to make the Jewish people seem different and put them apart from the rest. Another of the Nuremberg laws was that if a Jewish woman had sex with a German man, she would be sent to a concentration camp. By doing this, the Nazis were treating Jews as animals, and this made it easier for the Nazis to persecute them.

The situation worsened following the end of the Olympics in 1937, because as international press left, "Jews not wanted signs" returned. The SS increasingly became involved in policymaking, and took a more calculated approach than the SA and began systematically confiscating Jewish property.

Germany began rearming in 1937-38, and Hitler became contemptuous about international opinion, on rearmament and discrimination of Jews. The "conservative guard" was eradicated as Schact was sacked, and Hindenberg was dead, Hitler was no longer constrained. Anschluss euphoria swept Germany in 1938 and there was heightened vigour to anti-Semitism, the persecution of Austrian Jews began as they were, for example, made to scrub the streets.

On 7th November 1938 a Polish Jewish boy of 17 shot a German diplomat in Paris. This angered Hitler and the pogrom was orchestrated, 'Kristallnacht' meaning "the night of the broken glass" took place on 9th November 1938. 10,000 Jewish businesses were vandalised and their contents looted; this marked transformation from discrimination to large-scale violence. Jews were blamed for the destruction and were made to pay a fine totalling 1billion marks, and the government confiscated insurance money. Jews were excluded from economic life and not permitted in any public places. This isolated the Jewish people and further lowered their status and position.

On the verge of war in 1939, Hitler blamed Jews. He claimed that, "If the Jews start a war the Jewish race will be annihilated in Europe". During the course of the war the position of Jews in German occupied countries worsened.

Immediately 3million Polish Jews came under persecution, and as war made it impossible to remove Jews by emigration, Hitler rammed Jews into ghettos in Eastern Poland. Jews were concentrated enabling maximum exploitation, and many died due to "starvation rations", malnutrition and disease mainly intense cold and typhus, over 500,000 Jews died in the Warsaw ghetto, which was the largest of all the ghettos. In occupied territories of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), conditions worsened because of the Eisatzgruppen. The establishment of these mass killing squads was a turn for the worse. In Ukraine where there were similar practices, Jews were made to surrender their garments, line up naked in front of large "death pits" and were then, shot dead into them.

Hitler decided that this method of killing was inefficient as it was; slow, of a high cost and emotionally strenuous for some killers. The "final solution" to the Jewish problem was to gas the Jews on an industrial scale in Death Camps, using Zyklon-B. This organised killing of Jews in all occupied territories was finalised at the Wannsee Conference in 1942. The location of the death camps, and their structure was finalised and it was to be in East Poland as this was where many Jews were situated. It was decided to transport Jews by rail, as this was the fastest and most efficient means of transport. The fabrication of the scheme was established and Jews were told they were being resettled, as they were loaded on to the train; this would avoid causing major panic for the Jewish people so that they were easily kept under control. The holocaust began and in total between 1942-45 4.5 million Jews were exterminated. More concentration camps were built, where "able-Jews" were used as slave labour, they were beaten, starved, and worked to death.

The Nazis exposed Jews to various horrific scientific experiments, Doctor Mengele carried out many ruthless experiments on Jewish children and twins. The lack of action by the outside world meant that Hitler was not in the least discouraged from killing Jews. The Victorious Allies argued that the best method of aiding Jews was to win the war. Targeting these death camps was not possible due to the lack of resources.

The rise of Hitler meant growth of anti-Semitism was inevitable in Germany, but this persecution became a European issue following Hitler's "war-time expansion," and led to genocide.

Rehan Karodia