Why did the Nazis treatment of the Jews change from 1939-45?
Husain Fazel 11Wy
Hitler and the Nazi party managed to kill six million Jews throughout Europe by the end of 1945. This systematic process of killing between the years 1939 and 1945 is known as the holocaust. There were five key issues that led to the Wansee conference that took place in 1942 before the Nazi’s decided upon the “final solution to the Jewish problem. These events included the outbreak of World War II, Hitler’s personal agenda against the Jewish population, the rise and power of the SS and the failures of other solutions put forward to “get rid” of the Jewish problem.
The start of the war in 1939, robbed the Jews of what little protection they had. The threat of sanctions being imposed on Germany by other nations as a result of any attempt by the Nazi party to publicly put into practise any anti-Semitic activities no longer mattered as Germany did not care what other nations thought of it during wartime. There would be no interference from other countries and with the attention of the world focused on the war; the Nazi’s could eliminate the Jews in the background, away from public attention. The war also meant that the Jewish problem the Nazi’s had on their hand was increasing as they conquered more and more lands. One of the biggest problems they faced was the three million Jews they acquired through the invasion of Poland. The new lands the Nazi’s invaded and took over were originally planned to be the destination for Jews through forced emigration however that was now not possible as the Germans citizens would expect the land to be used as “lebensraum”. The start of the war had the impact of further isolating an already isolated race in Europe.
There were also other reasons for the change in treatment towards the Jews after 1939 and one of these reasons was the growth of the SS and their rise to power. The SS who began as Hitler’s personal bodyguards when the Nazi party first took power, from the year 1939 onwards grew at an alarming rate. Soon they were larger than the German army. Some even referred to the SS as a “state within a state”. With their growth, they were also given the responsibility of the putting into practise the Nazi’s anti-Semitic views. The SS were prone to using violence to achieve their aims as seen before the Nazi’s came to power where the SS were used to threaten political opponents, and other persons from challenging the Nazi’s or voting for any other party. It was inevitable that the SS would use violence to eradicate the Jews. One of the reasons why the SS were keen on following Hitler’s orders and getting rid of the Jews was that they were able to steal from the Jews valuable possessions which even included any gold that the Jews in their teeth. These goods taken from the Jews would than be sold on the black market at huge prices making the members of the SS extremely rich. During wartime some commodities were extremely rare and those wishing to purchase them would have to pay extremely high prices. Selling goods without the knowledge of the government is known as trading in the black market. The SS were therefore interested in making personal gain through the abuse of the civil rights of the Jews. The SS were broken into three main groups, the Einsatzgruppen, the Waffen SS and the Death Head Units. This statement will be important later on in the essay.
