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. Following these three main aims changed the lives of millions of people as Anti-Semitism became one of the main features of Nazi Germany.
Once in power, the Nazi’s made life difficult for the Jews. The storm troopers (Hitler’s private army) carried out many campaigns of terror against the Jewish population. On April 1st 1933, Hitler ordered the boycott of Jewish owned shops, cafés, and businesses. The SA stood outside these places urging people not to enter. They painted the word Jude (Jew) on the windows, and beat up people who tried to enter. A week later, Placards appeared outside many public places throughout Germany, saying ‘Jews not wanted’ or ‘Jews forbidden’. Also, in November, 1938 after a Jew shot dead a senior Nazi official the SA retaliated by carrying out another campaign of terror. It started on 10th November with the ‘Night of the broken glass’, in which 10,000 Jewish shopkeepers had their windows smashed and the contents stolen. During the campaign, 91 Jews were murdered and 20,000 put into concentration camps. Nearly 200 synagogues were burnt down. Finally, on 12th November, the Jews were ordered to pay a fine of one billion marks to the Government.
