By the end of 1934 Hitler had managed gradually to force Jews out of jobs if they were in the civil services, he also targeted any Jews who could influence others, he banned Jews from teaching in universities and he took away their right to speak by banning them from the press. This was Hitler’s way of silencing the Jews so their thoughts and opinions could not corrupt German minds.
All of these were done with minimal violence, but in 1938, violence reached new heights, the night called Kristallnacht came on the 9th November. Nearly 100 Jews were murdered, and 20,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps. As said my the name (the night of broken glass) not only were hundreds of synagogues burned, but windows of Jewish shops were smashed, and it all happened within a single night, it happened all over Germany and Austria. Kristallnacht was the result of more than five years of and . The consequences of this violence were disastrous; it marked the beginning of a horrific era for the Jews. Not only did most of them loose their businesses, they were forced to pay a huge fine for the destruction. German Nazis’ blamed the Jews for the night of Kristallnacht.
In 1938 the final law on jobs was enforced, all Jews were forced to close down and sell their businesses, many were left with nothing, and many Germans around them, even their old friends, denied to help them. Hitler slowly persuaded his ‘loyal’ Germans that Jews were nothing but vermin, and any blame that couldn’t find a place was soon put onto them. This even occurred within the children, many Jewish youngsters would be bullied by their once friends, because they were Jewish. Only a handful of German citizens helped the Jews through this rough start, and many were shunned upon by their neighbours if found to be helping the Jews.
Although Jewish children were not an immediate threat, they were for the future; so Hitler’s first move against them came on April 25, 1933, he passed a law against the overcrowding of German schools, which placed severe limits on the number of young Jews allowed to enrol in public schools, however this did not push all Jewish children out, it was when reaching the year 1938 that Hitler felt more settled and in control, that he saw it necessary to ban all Jewish children from attending any state schools.
In 1935, the Nuremberg laws were passed, Jews were no longer allowed to be German citizens, not only did Hitler and his Nazi party control where Jews stood in society, but they also struck their social lives. Jews were no longer allowed to marry or have a sexual relationship with non-Jews. This was only the beginning; I believe Hitler did this to control the German population, making sure they were not ‘contaminated’ with Jewish blood. But when in 1938 Hitler banned Jews from all cinemas, theatres and other public places, I see this as him only trying to demoralise Jews in their own eyes, making them believe they, themselves were not worthy.
To make Jews feel vulnerable, Jewish passports had to be stamped with a red ‘J’, this was labelling and segregation, however it wasn’t until November 1938 that Jews had to wear the Star of David on their clothes all the time. This created utmost vulnerability; Jews were now easy targets to discriminate against.
With the many methods Hitler used to discriminate against them, Jews were soon seen to be a pest in society. Many German citizens dismissed the ideas of Jews altogether, and this led to Jews not being able to stand up against their government, not being able to help themselves, they were totally pushed into the back of German society.
