United States History Student Edition

Anti-Semitic Policies Anti-Semitism was central to Nazi ideology. It held that Jews belonged to an inferior race. This racial anti-Semitism emerged in the late nineteenth century, but it drew upon a long history of anti- Jewish attitudes. By the nineteenth century, Jews were widely distrusted and criticized for not “fitting into” European societies even though many had assimilated . So that by the turn of the twentieth century, Jews were depicted as a separate and inferior “race.” Racist views of Jews provided the basis for Nazi anti-Semitism. Once the Nazis were in power, anti-Jewish policies began immediately. The initial goal was to pressure Jews into leaving Germany. Life was to be made intolerable. Jews lost their jobs in government, were banned from practicing medicine or law for “Aryan” clients, and their businesses were boycotted and made unprofitable. In September 1935, the Nazis announced new anti-Semitic laws at the annual party rally in Nuremberg. Known as the Nuremberg Laws, they defined who was to be considered a Jew: anyone with even one Jewish grandparent. The laws also stripped Jews of their German citizenship and their civil rights and forbade marriages between Jews and Germans.

Eventually, Jews were also required to wear yellow Stars of David and to carry identification cards saying they were Jewish. They were effectively excluded from society in every way. The destruction of “un-German” books began in 1933, when university students held mass book burnings. A more violent phase of anti-Jewish activity began on November 9, 1938— Kristallnacht , or the “night of shattered glass.” Nazis burned synagogues, Jewish books, and holy items and destroyed some 7,000 Jewish businesses in Germany (which now included Austria and the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia). As a result of Kristallnacht, 30,000 Jewish males were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Jews were barred from all public transportation and public buildings, including schools and hospitals. They were prohibited from owning, managing, or working in any retail store. The SS, an “elite” force of Nazi police and later soldiers, encouraged Jews to emigrate out of Germany. However, few were fortunate enough to escape, as most countries did not want Jewish refugees. As World War II began, this policy of emigration was replaced by a policy of annihilation .

assimilate to fit in or become similar

annihilation something being completely destroyed

The people of Mosbach, Germany watch as the furnishings and ritual objects of the town’s synagogue are burned on November 10, 1938.

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A9

Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust