The main effects of Nazi policies on Jewish communities in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe

subject to punishment by imprisonment.

After the "Nuremburg Race Laws", there were many amendments, such as the

withdrawal of benefits from large families and ostracism of Jews from all

positions of wealth ( running pharmacies, for example). In late '36, Gypsies

began to be sent to Dachau concentration camp, and Jews were soon to follow, (

although Dachau had been used since 1933 to deal with political prisoners ). In

June '37, Heydrich ordered that Jews guilty of miscegenation ( racial disgrace )

should be sent to concentration camps after serving their prison sentence, both

male and female.

In 1938 their was widespread persecution of Jews in Austria following the

Anschluss campaign, including compulsory 'Aryanisation' of Jewish firms, and

the expulsion of Jewish persons into neighbouring states. On 9 November,

Kristallnacht ( The night of broken glass ) when many synagogues were burnt

and nearly one hundred murders were committed, many members of the German

public showed graphically that Jews were no longer a respected group in

German society. The Jews were then ordered to pay for the damage caused,

which was humiliating for them and unfair to them. By 15 November all Jews

were expelled from schools across Germany. An office for "Jewish emigration",

directed by Heydrich, was set up in January 1939, making it obvious that their

would soon be large numbers of people being excluded from Germany.

In September 1939, as well as Jews being sent to camps, 'ghettos' were

introduced. This involved the transportation of whole Jewish communities from

their home towns to designated areas. Most people saw this as a step towards

organised executions of the communities, although it may have been well

defended by the claim that it was to contain disease, ( as Nazi doctors at the

time were claiming that Jews were carriers of diseases such as spotted fever ).

In these ghettos, there were Judenrat ( Jewish councils ) which had limited local

powers to maintain orderly community life, but were in effect there to carry out the

orders of the German authorities. They often had to recruit for workers to do

forced labour in the ghettos and camps, which

bred mistrust of the leaders throughout the communities. In Lodz, Jewish

currency and stamps bore marks of Rumokovski, who was the chairman of the

Jewish council there. He acted like a dictator of his 150 000 strong community,

and did himself no favours by showing off his power, as it looked as though he

was being a traitor to the Germans to gain it.

In Warsaw, the living conditions were subhuman, with on average fifteen

people sharing an apartment, and six people to a room. There was running water

in only one per cent of the apartments, and the amount of calories that the Jews

received in their food was only one-eighth of what the Germans got.

Due to these standards, their were outbreaks of spotted fever, typhus and

tuberculosis, so even if the ghettos had been for disease containment, they had

done more harm than good. In fact, the monthly death figure for Warsaw in 1941

rose from 898 in January to 4 239 in December.

As soon as the Nazis came into power, all communities which did not conform

to the Aryan ideal, not just the Jewish race, came under attack. But the Jews

being the largest of them, were made out to be the worst of all. This meant they

had the hardest punishments and prohibitions applied to them, affecting all of

their everyday lives. The Nazi policies were developed throughout their period of

power, into legitimate channels for orders of mass annihilation, bringing pain and

suffering to many.

Benedict Ashton