The first stage of the treatment of the Jews I’m going to look at is boycotts. On 1 April 1933 the Nazis made their intentions obvious by calling for a boycott of all Jewish businesses. SA men were posted outside the doors. The Nazis ran newspaper advertisements telling people to boycott these stores, and also included a coupon listing Jewish businesses for people. Shops were defaced and things like books written by Jewish authors were burned. The Nazi press increased anti-Jewish propaganda. But for the first two years of Nazi rule, there was little organised persecution of the Jews.
The second stage I’m going to look at is discrimination against the Jews. In 1935, Hitler made anti-Semitism official by passing the Nuremberg Laws. These deprived the Jews of their German citizenship and placed special restrictions on them. Jews were forbidden to marry non-Jews or to have non-Jewish servants. Professional associations, like those for German doctors and lawyers, expelled their Jewish members, and some schools expelled their Jewish pupils. During 1936, the Olympic Games were taking place in Berlin and so there was a pause in the anti-Jewish campaign. In September 1937, for the first time in two years, Hitler made an outspoken attack on the Jews. The Aryanisation of businesses was increased and more Jewish businesses were confiscated.
Finally, I will be looking at the third of stage, which is persecution. All through 1938, the Jews in Germany were humiliated and picked on. All Jewish property had to be registered, and valuables handed over to German authorities. Jewish doctors, dentists and lawyers were forbidden to treat Aryans. Also, all Jewish people had to have a red letter ‘J’ stamped on their passports, which they had to carry with them at all times. On the 9th and 10th November 1938, Nazis destroyed synagogues, Jewish homes and shops. This was known as Kristallnacht, also called the ‘Night of Broken Glass’. About 1000 synagogues were burned, 300 Jews killed and over 30,000 rounded up. After these riots, more than 20,000 Jews were taken to the various new concentration camps that had been built. Much of the property that had been damaged on Kristallnacht was only rented by Jews from German owners. On 12th November the Nazis ‘fined’ the Jews one billion Reichmarks for the damage. From 15th November the curriculum changed in German schools. Children were taught to hate Jews and also how to recognize them. The Jewish community were now forced to start their own schools. And in December all the remaining Jewish businesses were confiscated.
While Hitler had been strengthening his control within Germany, he had also been strengthening Germany’s position within Europe. He had reclaimed parts of Germany in 1935. In 1938, Germany united with Austria. Hitler implemented an anti-Semite policy into the country and most local Nazis and non-Jews were eager to make the Jews suffer. Jewish people were severely insulted and humiliated. In some towns they were made to scrub the streets while the crowd looked on and laughed. This resulted in many Jewish people leaving the country. Before Kristallnacht, many Jews in Germany believed that Nazi anti-Semitism was a passing phase. Afterwards, most Jews were persuaded that things would only get worse. They were all treated as second class citizens now and many emigrated to other parts of Europe and to the USA. By 1939, about 282,000 Jews had left Germany. This was exactly what the Nazis wanted to happen.
