Jews whom lived in The Pale still continued to try and live their life as normal, they continued to live their different lifestyles and keep to their different traditions. Jews being different from other people made them easy targets to persecute against. Jews were often taken to court on false accusations and even given different laws to abide by, if these laws were broken they were made to pay out hefty fines. Many Jews found that bribing local authority and their gentile neighbours was the only way to live a peaceful life.
Jewish children were discriminated against in their education, this causing them to be less successful in later life. A Jewish child was expected to take an entrance test for school at the age of nine, the test was set out for a gentile the age of thirteen to take. Jewish children were also sent to non-Jewish schools on very small numbers, this also making them easy targets for discrimination.
Jews living in France were not sent to live in certain sectors of the country but were still treated differently and also discriminated against. They were discriminated against for looking different and also speaking in their native tongue (Yiddish) and not in French. Jews whom were in the French forces were excluded and were told they could not be in the forces any more. Jews were seen as greedy in France and the church even blamed them for the collapse of their banks.
Jews living in Germany were treated differently again. Many Jews in Germany were welcomed, as they had fought in the First World War for Germany. Some Jews even considered themselves to be German before Jewish. Many Jews living in Germany had highly paid jobs and good living standards. Many Jews working in Germany were employed in jobs such as banking and being involved with law. Although after the 1st world war some Jews were blamed for Germanys defeat as some people who had surrendered and signed peace treaties were found to be Jewish, but before this some Jews were discriminated for being successful by jealous German people.
Persecution against the Jews in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century was never seen on a large scale but many different small incidents were accounted for. Jews were only mainly discriminated against for being different and not much else. It seems that Jews were treated better and had better status and position in western Europe than they did in eastern Europe.
2. Why did the status and position of Jews worsen in Germany in the years 1933-1945?
During the time period of 1933-1945 the status and position of the Jews worsened in many different ways and for many different reasons. The Nazi’s had now began their rise to power following Germanys defeat in world war 1 and the wall street crash in 1929. Hitler was the Leader of the Nazi party and later on became the leader of Germany, he hated the Jews and so the persecution against them became a lot worse.
In 1934 Jews were banned from going to public places such as cinemas and schools. In 1935 laws were passed which stopped Jews from being German citizens and also stopped them from marrying anyone who was not a Jew. All laws and similar things like this was all part of Hitler’s plan for a “master” or “Aryan race”. Jews were forced to wear the Star of David so they could be easily singled out from a crowd. These laws were known as the Nuremburg laws.
Jews were also banned from being allowed to work in high-power jobs, those who already worked in them were soon enough forced out by Hitler and his Nazi followers many Jews were fast becoming unemployed and poor. At this time many Jews whom could afford to decided to flee Germany and immigrate to other countries.
In November 1938 persecution of the Jews worsened during “the night of broken glass” or “kristallnacht”, thousands of Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed. The nazi storm-troopers also burned down many synagogues and killed around about 100 Jews. During the same week over 20,000 Jews were placed into concentration camps and many were fined for no reasons at all.
After the second world war had got underway the status and position of the Jews worsened further, the Nazis forced Jews to move to small secluded areas called ghettos which often became overcrowded. The ghettos were an excuse for Hitler to gather all Jews into one area to make them easier to attack. Hitler started placing many of his enemies and many Jewish people into work camps or concentration camps even when they had followed his set laws. Many Jews became so fearful at this time that they changed their beliefs.
Not long after the Jews were placed into ghettos or camps the Nazis came up with a new idea called the “final solution”. The “final solution” against the Jews was to exterminate them all by placing them in death camps where they would be shot or gassed. Inside the death camps millions of Jews were tortured before being killed, some Jews were forced to work all day and nigh and some just sent to die. Jews selected to die often had to dig their own grave before getting into it ready to be killed, or some Jews were shot into a mass grave. It was known that not all people whom were shot died and therefore waited until nighttime when they would climb out of the trench of bodies in a bid to escape.
The status and the position of the Jews got progressively worse as did the persecution. People who were not Jewish but were married to Jews or found to be helping Jews out had to suffer. By the time that the Second World War had ended and all concentration and death camps had been shut down it was recorded that Hitler and the Nazis had murdered over 6 million Jews in what is know to day as the holocaust (death by fire.) Hitler and the Nazis did all of this as part of their plan for a greater Germany and a perfect race, although they managed to wipe out a great number of the Jewish population they still failed in their doings after coming to defeat in 1945.
