In May 21st 1935 Jews were forbidden to join the German army under the Defence Law. Jews had served in the army for a long time and they fought as Germans in World War One. After the defence law was made several resorts, public buildings, restaurants and businesses put up signs saying “Jews not wanted”. On September 15th 1935 Hitler introduced new, very harsh laws that are know as the Nuremberg Laws. Hitler said one of the laws was the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and honour.” This meant that marriages between Jews and non-Jews were banned as well as sexual relations were considered criminal. The second law was the “Reich Citizenship Law” which stripped Jews of their Citizenship- No citizenship, No rights.
In 1936 Germany hosted the Olympics. Since Hitler did not want a bad reputation for Germany Internationally so the Restrictions for Jews were relaxed. Many Jews took the opportunity to flee Germany and by 1939 about 250,000 Jews had left Germany.
Also in 1936 Jews were banned from professional jobs such as Doctors or Lawyers.
In August 1938 all Jewish Men had to have Israel in their name and Jewish Women had to have Sarah in their name. In September 1938 only Aryan Doctors were allowed to treat Aryan patients. From the 5th of October all Jews had a red J on their passports.
On November 7th 1928 a Polish Jew walked into the German Embassy and killed an official called Ernst von Rath. This gave Josef Goebbels the opportunity to organise a pogrom. From the 9th to the 10th Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were assaulted. The pogrom became known as Kristallnacht. People in Germany were disgusted by what happened and Hitler covered it up by saying that it was a spontaneous out burst by the German people and that the Jews provoked people into doing it.
On November 12th the Jews were fined one Billion Reich marks as compensation for some “True” German Property. Jews were no longer able to own or manage any business, shop or employ workers.
Three days later Jewish Children were banned from ordinary schools and had to go to a Jewish school.
By April 1939 nearly all the Jewish businesses had been closed or sold. In September when war broke out the Nazis no longer cared about world opinion so the Jews lives became harder.
As the Nazis began to plan the Death camps, they wanted the Jews to be in one area where they couldn’t escape so they made them live in Ghettos. The Ghettos were dirty, Unhygienic areas of the cities, which were surrounded by High walls, barbed wire and guards. Many people died form lack of food and poor water and because conditions were cramped and diseases could spread more quickly. 100,000 Jews died in the Warsaw Ghetto alone. 38% of the population were forced into the Ghetto and the Ghetto itself took up only 4.5% of the city. In 1943 there was an uprising and because of this 50,000 Jews were killed.
In 1940 Hitler wanted to drive out all the Jews in Europe. By 1942 Death camps were being built in Poland to murder every Jew the Nazis could find. In 1941 when German forces failed to beat the Soviet Union and America joined there was a list formed. This was a list of all the Jews that were in Europe. It totalled to more than 11 million Jews and Hitler wanted to kill every last one of them. This was Hitler’s “Final Solution”.
More than 11 million people died in the Holocaust and 6 Million of them were Jewish. Many were killed in Death camps such as Auschwitz. They were told that they were going to have a shower and instead they were gassed. People who were selected for slave labour were stripped of their identity and their clothes.
The status of Jews changed dramatically in twelve years and people often ask why did no one ever stand up for the Jews and the answer is they did. They just aren’t heard about as much as the evil things that happened. Also people were scared anyone who stood up for a Jew was killed. As to why it happened no one can answer that for that information is inside the mind of a handful of people who had power and used it for evil.