In May 1934, Jews are told that they are not allowed National Health Insurance. This meant that if a Jew became ill or injured and needed a doctor, if they could find a doctor that would treat them, they had to pay for the treatment themselves.
In July 1934, Jews were prohibited from gaining legal qualifications. This separated the Jews even more from normal Germans and also added to the restrictions on the Jewish population.
On 2nd August 1934, President von Hindenburg dies and Hitler becomes Fuher. This was bad for the Jews and other races seen as inferior because Hindenburg was the only person who could potentially stop Hitler and his Nazi party from going too far. Hitler had managed to win the hearts of the German people, this is shown on 19th August when Hitler receives a 90% “Yes” vote approving his new powers.
In May 1935, Jews are banned from serving in the military. The Nazis do this claiming that it was the Jews fault that Germany lost the First World War, this is of course a lie.
On 6th August, the Nazis forced Jewish performers/artists to join Jewish Cultural Unions. This meant that Jews could not perform at all because the Jewish Unions had been excluded from the arts is September 1933.
In September 1935, the Nuremberg Race laws against on Jews were introduced. Jews were now no longer German citizens and therefore lost their right to vote. Also, Jews were no longer allowed to marry Aryans, nor have sexual relationships with them. The already existing marriages between Jews and Aryans were no longer valid. Jews were also banned from parks, restaurants and swimming pools. The new race laws included that Rabbis and other leading Jewish leaders were stopped from preaching or speaking publicly. Jewish newspapers and magazines that had carried on publishing after October 1933, when the law stated that Jews could not be newspaper editors, were suspended. The writers and editors were arrested.
In 1936, the Olympic games were held in Berlin. This was good for the Jews because Hitler and other leading Nazi officials wanted to create a good impression to the foreign visitors, and therefore they left the Jews alone while the world was focused on Germany.
In 1937, Jews were banned from many professional occupations including teaching Germans, accountant or dentists. They were also denied tax reductions and child allowances.
1938 saw a big attack on the Jews again after a couple of quiet years. On 22nd of April, Nazis prohibited Aryan “Front Ownership” of Jewish businesses. This meant that some Aryans had seemed to take over Jewish businesses when really the profits were still going to the Jews. Four days later, the Nazis ordered Jews to register their wealth and property.
Then on 14th June, Nazis ordered that all Jewish owned businesses had to be registered.
On 6th July, Nazis prohibited Jews from trading and providing a variety of specified commercial services. This led to the closure of many Jewish businesses.
Then on 23rd July, the Nazis ordered that all Jews aged 15 and over had to carry identification cards issued by the police. These had to be shown on demand to any police officer.
Next on 25th July, all Jewish doctors were no longer allowed to practice medicine by law.
In August 1938, Nazis destroyed a Synagogue in Nuremberg. This encouraged more acts of violence towards the Jews. Jews are also told that they need to add Sarah if they were a women and Israel if they were a man, to their middle names on all legal documents including passports.
In September 1938, Jews were banned from all legal practices. And on 5th October the law requires all Jewish passports to be stamped with a letter “J” on them. Some Jews had their passports removed to prevent them from leaving the country.
On 28th October, 17,000 Polish Jews living in Germany were arrested and then sent back to Poland. Poland refused them entry, leaving them in a “No Mans Land” near the Polish border for several months.
On 9th and 10th of November was what was called after the event “Kristallnact” or “The Night of Broken Glass”. This was one night of violence that the SA had pre-arranged. Violence broke out across the whole of Germany and Austria, which saw 91 Jews, murdered and 20,000 Jews imprisoned in concentration camps. Synagogues were burned, sacred objects were desecrated and shop windows were smashed. The SA knew what shops and homes to target because the Jews had to declare this earlier in that year. It is because of the broken glass across the streets that it was given the name “Kristallnact”. Two days after this the Jewish population is fined one billion marks for damages related to “Kristallnact”.
The weeks after “Kristallnact” saw Jewish pupils expelled from all non-Jewish German schools. Also a law was passed to make compulsory Aryanization of all Jewish businesses. This meant that businesses that had survived until now had to be handed over and owned fully by an Aryan.
In January 1939, Hitler delivered a speech to the Reichstag threatening Jews that things would get worse for them.
In February, the Jews were made to hand over all their gold and silver items. Some Jews in desperation to keep these valuables, swallowed them and then had to go through their own excrement to retrieve them.
On 30th April, Jews lost their rights as tenants and could be relocated to Jewish homes without reason or notice.
In September 1939, Jews in Germany were forbidden to be outdoors after 8 p.m. in the winter and 9 p.m. in the summer. If Jews broke this curfew they would be imprisoned.
Things got worse for the Jews in Germany from 1933 to 1939 because of Hitlers control over Germany through the SS, which acted as a special police, the SA, which were the Nazis own army. They spread all of the Nazis policies to the public, which made them the link between Hitler and the people of Germany. On 26th April 1933, the Gestapo was created Herman Goring. They policed the German State of Prussia but soon spread to main Germany and worked as undercover spies most of the time.
Another problem for the Jews was the expansion of Germany. In 1936, the Nazis occupied the Rhineland, in 1938 Nazi troops entered Austria and in 1939 the Nazis invaded Poland. In Hitlers eyes this made the Jewish problem bigger and therefore the treatment of the Jews grew worse.
Many Jews tried to leave Germany and in July 1938, in France, the U.S. convened a League of Nations conference with delegates from 32 countries to consider helping the Jews fleeing Hitler, but results with no action taken because no country would accept them.
