JEWS 1933-37

Question 1

BOYCOTT

Answer 1

• 1 April 1933- only lasted a day
• Justified retaliation against Jews who had called for a boycott of German goods
• Propaganda set to maximise impact- SA men marked businesses and stood menacingly outside shops- yet this did not deter all customers; many saddened by depression still picked up orders
• Also applied to doctors and lawyers- court proceedings with Jewish lawyers disrupted and lawyers attacked on the street
  –> danger: Just enough that they could claim to maintain order in unstable Germany; too much and his power could crumble due to conservative elites

Question 2

CIVIL SERVICE LAWS 1933

Answer 2

• legality was main priority in discrimination- propaganda was key in acceptance
• Law for Restoration of Professional Civil Service April 1933
• Jews to be dismissed from Civil Service- difficulty in assessing definition of Jew
  > if they had 3 Jewish grandparents they were Jewish
  > Hindenburg insisted on exceptions for Jews who had served in war and those whose fathers had died in war- reluctantly accepted until his death
• Extreme economic and psychological impact on middle-class Jews
• Led to increasing emigration- 1933: 37,000 left

Question 3

LAWYERS

Answer 3

• Jews made up 16% of lawyers
• Non-Aryan Lawyers- 60% allowed to keep jobs; stricter regulations slowly brought in in following years to close loopholes
• 7 April 1933- Jews banned from bar with Law on Admissions to Legal Profession

Question 4

DOCTORS

Answer 4

• March 1933- Jewish doctors banned from Berlin’s welfare services
• More than 10% of Doctors Jewish
• Propaganda called them dangerous
• April 1933- Jewish doctors banned from treating non-Jews (though many still did)

Question 5

EDUCATION

Answer 5

• April 1933- Law against overcrowding of German Schools- limited to 10% of university posts
• Not all Jewish children forced out of state schools- process completed in 1938
• Jews could attend private/ Jewish schools (few places where Jewish teachers could work)- these faced problems in funding
• Key aim was segregation

Question 6

PRESS

Answer 6

• October 1933- Reich Press Law silenced Jewish journalists, many forced to leave country

Question 7

NUREMBERG LAWS

Answer 7

• 15 September 1935
• Many anti-Semites believed laws did not go far enough, urging Hitler to move further and faster; Hitler announced these at annual Nuremberg rally
• non-Aryans stripped of citizenship
• outlawed interracial marriage and relations- mere allegation could lead to conviction; Aryan women pressured to leave Jewish husbands
• November 1935- a full Jew was someone with 3 jewish grandparents; difficult to interpret meant classifications were arbitrary and inconsistent
• Some Jews acquired false documents on black market
• Half Jews, Mischlinge, were allowed to live relatively normal lives and be part of lower ranks in military

Question 8

DISCRIMINATION

Answer 8

• Discrimination occurred all over; in Bavaria the Mayor was pressured into banning Jews using swimming pools
• Pubs and businesses placed signs banning Jews- evidence suggests these were displayed to keep Nazi officials happy; yet it was very real in other places
• Herzfeld banned from artists’ club in 1935, later banned from his favourite restaurant
• Many who were unhappy with discrimination did not speak up due to fear