Preview

Racism and Racist Legislation in Nazi Germany

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1967 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Racism and Racist Legislation in Nazi Germany
Got A+, bibliography unavailable =(

Racialism began to develop in Germany when Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party seized power in 1933 after the Enabling Act was performed. It gradually worsened as various Nazi legislations, such as the Nuremberg Laws, were instated in the years following Hitler's rise to power which led to further discrimination against all Jewish people in Germany with the intentions of racial genocide. This was in spite of the attempts made by the Reich Deputation of Jews in Germany and the actions of the allied forces of WWII. Finally, in the latter part of the 20th century, these activities stopped and the laws were abolished when Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party were defeated, however Jewish persecution still remains in various forms in different areas of the globe.

The National Socialist German Workers' Party, or more commonly known as the Nazi Party, always held ideals of anti-Semitism and racism, ever since it's founding in 1920. This is known as the Nazi Party released "The 25-Point Program" which publicly declared their intentions to segregate Jews from "Aryan" society. When Hitler became chairman in 1921, he organized violent attacks on parties opposing these Nazi values using the SA, the Nazi's private militia. For this, Hitler was imprisoned but when released he reorganized the Nazi Party and was eventually appointed Reich Chancellor in 1933. In addition to Hitler's activities and organization of the Second World War, he also set about the internal ‘cleansing' of Germany. A process of removing those deemed ‘Un-Aryan', people who were mentally retarded, homosexual, had hereditary diseases or who were generally undesirable according the Reich. However, most persecuted were the Jewish people, who had three separate groups of anti-Jewish legislation pinned upon them during the years between 1933 and 1945. Legislation which justified and legalized the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jewish men, women and children for the ‘crime' of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The racism to Germany expanded quickly in the year of 1933 when Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Memorable things started to happened because it was the start of the Second World War and this also meant it was the beginning of the Holocaust. This Holocaust was caused by the Germans they were in control of this cruel act they made will never be forgotten. Germans looked at Jews differently because they believed in a different religion then the Germans. The Germans plan was that they were going to get completely rid of all the Jews and their memory. They began to put their plan in to action and several Jews were killed from it and others were missing and that did affect Jewish population greatly. In the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel tells the horrendous story about the everyday life of a Jew during the Holocaust, it’s a memoir of their struggles and their unhappiness. This book tells us how Jews were punished with out no reason and how things could of ended if they would of seen that everybody is the same for this reason people should read “Night” and read what Jews went through those horrible years. The approximate deaths of Jews were 11-17 million not including other races which were discrimination against Jews. The Holocaust emerged as the most significant event in the twentieth century, not just for genocide of the Jewish people, but for efforts humanity. The causes and effects of the Holocaust must awaken our world conscience to the plight of oppressed people…

    • 265 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Holocaust is one of the most horrific events in modern history. It is estimated around 11 million Jews were killed during the time frame of the Holocaust (Wegner G.). That time frame spans from 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany to 1945 when WWII ended. During that time period Jews, cripples, mentally handicapped, Jehovah witnesses, homeless, homosexuals and many other undesirables were removed to purify the Aryan race and to advance the German people or so it was believed.…

    • 7367 Words
    • 30 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nazi laws aimed to remove the civil and economical rights of Jews in the 1930s. They wanted to create a biologically pure generation of people who had blonde haired and blue eyed. To be a Jew, you had anything but blonde hair and blue eyes. On November 15, 1938, German Jewish children were prohibited from attending German schools, and were banned from parks, pools, or any other public places. Children died, were hidden, rescued, starved, gassed, shot, orphaned, and experimented to create a pure generation with no Jews.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    These policies were intended to create a social divide within Germany. The argument from the Nazis was that the Jews had penetrated into the German bloodline. Friedlander points out the Nazi’s twenty-five-point party programs of February 24, 1920 had four points, four, five, six, and eight, dealing with the “Jewish question (Friedlander 26).” However, nothing in the program necessary laid out a way to achieve these goals. These ideas set up what is to come—that is, the Nuremberg laws. These racist laws were protecting the “German” blood by making it illegal for Jews and “aryans” to marry or have intercourse (Friedlander 142). Friedlander explains, “taken at face value, the Nuremberg Laws did not mean the end of Jewish life in Germany (Friedlander 143).” The Jews still had a place in Germany—it wasn’t at all good, but it existed to some degree. However, Friedlander wants the reader to know “once again, after taking a major step in line with his ideological goals, Hitler aimed at defusing its most extreme consequences on a tactical level (Friedlander 144).” Hitler wanted a slow transition and not to be “rush ahead” with extending new laws. Friedlander also points out that Hitler could also turn into a brash and reactionary individual (Friedlander 144). Some of his decisions reflected this. The protection of the…

    • 1856 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ernst Vom Rath

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages

    He had total power to make legislation, no matter how discriminatory it may have been. Purifying Germany through racial cleansing was always Hitler’s plan, but at the beginning he planned to accomplish this through ridding Nazi Germany of any and all Jewish power and influence, in hopes that Jews would emigrate to other countries. The first laws passed against Jewish people included their exclusion from civil service and the discrimination of Jewish doctors and lawyers. At this point, German Jews began to realize that they were not welcome in their own country under the Führer’s rule. Jews were further persecuted in 1935 under the Nuremberg Laws, which made it illegal for Jews to marry “pure” Germans, and forbade granting Reich citizenship to Jewish people. As discriminatory as these acts were, at this time few Jews were physically harmed by the Nazi regime. Concentration camps mainly housed political prisoners, and not Jews, in the year 1935, and the prisoner population was at the Holocaust’s lowest figure of 3,000. Jews were unfairly persecuted, but up until this point anti-Semitism had not escalated to the point of…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It wasn't until 1938 that the anti-semitic truths somewhat became clear which by then Hitler had almost total control of Germany and the German population could only comply with the regime or live in fear or be subject to the…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators”, lasting from the years 1939-1941 (United States Holocaust Museum). After becoming the chancellor of Germany in 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime strived to bring Germany out of the depression and debt zone that they were currently in. Since the Nazis believed strongly that the Jewish people were harmful to the Germans and were “inferior”, Hitler’s idea of helping Germany out of this mess was by getting rid of the Jews in his ”Final Solution”. As a part of his Final Solution, Hitler exterminated the Jewish population through the implementation of concentration camps. Located in these camps were: gas chambers, crematories, and labor camps, which were used to execute the Jews. At these camps, the Jews were forced to work and if not, “[they would] go straight to the furnace [Or] to the crematory” (Wiesel 47). Although the Jews were the main targets, many other groups were subjected to cruelty under the Nazis as well. Some of these groups included: gypsies, homosexuals, the physically/mentally challenged, communists, anyone who opposed the Nazis, and the elderly (Wahutu,…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nazism was a form of government unlike any other in history. Lead by Adolf Hitler, the Nazis had distinct beliefs and policies, severe racism and hatred, strong, new family values, and plans for future Germany and the world. The Nazi party came to power in the early 1930s, thanks to Adolf Hitler. Hitler was loved and admired by all of his followers. The Nazis derived many symbols from ancient runes and made code names for things like their concentration camps. They also formed several new laws and restrictions. Racist beliefs and violent actions were all part of everyday life in Nazi Germany. Concentration camps killed millions of people using gas chambers and firing squads. The Jewish race was considered inferior, and therefore extremely and harshly discriminated against by law. Family values were encouraged, education was reformed, the women's roles were outlined, the Aryan race was to be the only race, and law controlled breeding. Education was reformed in order to benefit the state, not the individual. The woman's main role was to bear children, cook, and clean. The Aryan race was the only "superior" race, so therefore Hitler wanted to have all Aryan citizens. Only the elite would reproduce and inferior races were restricted from breeding with the superior race. Hitler had several plans for his new Germany and for the world as well. Hitler wanted leaders in Germany. He also wanted to control what everyone saw and heard to maintain a working state. The youth of the world was to be under Nazi control, and Europe and Russia were to be conquered. Approximately eleven million people died as a result of the Nazis. The Nazis were one of the most racist forms of government ever.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With the end of World War I, came the down fall of Germany. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles forced Germans to take blame for the war and pay large reparation to the victorious countries. Germany lost everything they owned and spiraled downhill. With the whole country down in the slums, any sight of hope sparked a wild fire; the emergence of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party did just that. Hitler, a German Nationalist, began rising to power due to his promises to fix the corruption and create the rebirth of Germany, which included his idea of a perfect Aryan race. Many groups of people, including the Jewish, Russians, and Slavics, contaminated Hitler’s pure race. With the rise of the “Jewish Question”, what to do with this hated group of people, the only answer was the extermination of the vermin like European Jews. “Getting rid of lice is not a question of ideology. It is a matter of cleanliness” (Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Himmler). The mass extermination of the Jews called for thousands of SS officers to run the concentration camps and gas chambers. The Holocaust happened due to the horrific orders that no one dared to break, in order to rebuild the strength of Germany.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although an overall unexceptional German citizen, Hitler did have the ability to appeal to the German people and influence their thoughts and perception of his rampant anti-Semitism. When brought to power in 1932, the German people were well aware of the Nazi party’s anti-Semitic inclinations. They had hoped for moderation, but instead experienced excessive anti-Semitic policy. The persecution of the Jews at the hand of Hitler occurred inconsistently over the pre-WWII era. Hitler stated early on that one goal of his being in power was to address the “Jewish problem”.…

    • 1248 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though it started as simple discrimination, before long it had escalated to full blown organized murder. From 1933 all the way through 1945, anyone that Hitler deemed as ‘undesirable’ was annihilated. In 1933, there were roughly nine million Jews in Europe, with the bulk of their population in Germany and the countries Germany would occupy in World War II. By the end of the war, almost two-thirds of their population had been executed by the Nazi’s so-called ‘Final Solution’. 2.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nazi Racial Policy

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Nazism can be regarded as the most destructive force of the 20th century in part due to the sinister implications of Nazi racial policy on civilians amidst the European war. Essentially, the impact of Nazi race ideology was most adversely felt by the Jewish people as generations of Jews in both Germany and Nazi occupied territories were subjected to denationalization and subsequently mass-exodus under the banner of aryanisation and the policy of Lebensraum. Moreover, this form of race policy inclusive of the Nazi belief in the establishment of Herrenvolk or a master race is what led to the Holocaust, claiming the lives of more than 6 million Jews. Yet, the impact of Nazi racial policy did not only extend towards extermination but also forced upon a state of…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racism In Germany

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Before tackling the issue of racism in Germany or elsewhere, we first need to be aware of the term “racism” and its origins. According to Professor Marion Kaplan’s lecture, racism is a 15th century idea created following European observations of perceived biological markings. Racism denotes a hierarchy of superiority and inferiority based on factors such as gender, skin tone, and other biological characteristics. The word race stems from Arabic ras, which means beginning, origin, or head (Burleigh 23). Racism connotes external differences in people who are singled out and denigrated for their religion, physical appearance, or socioeconomic status. Racism began before WWII in Germany, but the way the Nazis carried out violence through racism,…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The first areas that we look at that were prevalent and were used to lay the foundation during the holocaust were those of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism. Racism can be defined as a “prejudice and discrimination on a basis of race”, and prejudice can be defined as an “attitude or prejudging, usually in a negative way” (Henslin, J., 2014). Finally anti-Semitism is a “prejudice, discrimination, and persecution directed against the Jews” (Henslin, J., 2014). The leaders of the Nazi party used all of these elements (racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism) in the 1930’s to come to power by uniting the German people in a common cause and that was to purge Germany and ultimately the world of what was keeping Germany from being great and that was seen as the Jewish…

    • 1736 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Persecution of Jews

    • 2566 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The question of whether or not the persecution of Jewish race has had a steady intensification, relates closely to whether you adopt an intentionalist or structuralist viewpoint on this historical event. An intentionalist will claim that the process of persecuting Jews in Germany is a planned sequence and was outlined by the Nazi Party; they claim that the roots of Hitler’s politics was about eliminating the Jewish race from Germany and the evidence can be found in Mein Kampf. On the other hand, structuralist historians will claim that the persecution of the Jews was never planned and it was improvised all the way through to the Holocaust; furthermore, they will state that the Nazi’s did not come to power based on policies towards the Jews as the electorate was never as enthusiastic as Hitler was about this.Although it increased it was more gradual than steady, It did increase but there were times where it stopped, but it was at a very low key when not much attention was taken towards the situation. However, in 1938 when the Nazi’s had invaded Austria and Sudetenland, there was more of an increase in persecution of Jews.…

    • 2566 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays