Why did the status and position of Jews in Germany worsen in the years 1933-1945?
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Introduction
Why did the status and position of Jews in Germany worsen in the years 1933-1945? There were many reasons why the position of Jews worsened between the years 1933-1945. The main reason was Hitler coming to power in 1933. At the beginning of his rule Jews were at all levels in German society, many were very successful. We see in Mein Kampf that Hitler was very anti-Semitic and believed in an 'Aryan Race'. He encouraging the Nazi's to attack Jews as soon as they came to power as he disliked them being so successful in the German society so used them as a scape-goat for all Germany's problems in the 1920's. He had three main purposes when he came to power. The first was to rebuild Germany's ruined economy. The second was to make Germany a powerful nation again. The third was to create a pure German society by getting rid of racial minority groups, especially the Jews. ...read more.
Middle
Nazi school authorities sacked Jewish teachers and Jewish actors and musicians were forbidden to perform in public. For the next two years, Jews everywhere in Germany were the victims of organised hate. Making laws against Jews was only one way of restricting them. The Nazis also tried to change people's behaviour towards Jews. The Nazi's produced lots of Anti-Semitic propaganda. The Nazi-controlled press ran hate campaigns against Jews. Young people especially were encouraged to hate Jews, with school lessons and textbooks putting across Anti-Semitic views. The Government put anti-Semitic material into every classroom in Germany. Adults as well as children were bombarded with anti-Semitic propaganda. It was only a short step from reading in magazines about 'the protection of the Aryan race' to putting it into practice. By 1939 they had already taken away German citizenship from them, sacked them from Government jobs, and made them wear yellow stars in public. Many Jews tried to resist the Nazis but all too often this led to worse treatment then before. ...read more.
Conclusion
Individuals who protested were arrested and taken off to the newly opened concentration camps. Here they might be tortured by the SS or SA guards for such small things as refusing to raise the right arm and say 'Heil Hitler'. Known opposition politicians, trade union leaders and other less well known people were also arrested. The rest of the German people knew that this was going on and they therefore had to make choices. They could stand up openly against the Nazis and risk their own lives and possibly those of their friends and family, work secretly against the Nazis or they could simply do nothing. I don't think that the Germans originally set out to exterminate the Jews. They just wanted to get rid of racial minority groups by moving them out of Germany so they were not their problem. He tried to bully them into leaving the country but as Germany invaded more countries Jewish numbers increased. When war broke out in 1939 the borders shut down and Jews could not leave the country, so decided to turn to the final solution, a horrific and quick way to get rid of them. ...read more.
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