nazi policies towards the jews; 1933-37

Question 1

When did the Nazis impose a boycott of Jewish shops and businesses in Germany?

Answer 1

April 1st 1933.

Question 2

How did Hitler validate his action of boycotting Jewish shops?

Answer 2

Because it was his retaliation against Jews in Germany and abroad who had called for a boycott of German goods.

Question 3

How did Goebbels help the impact of the boycott?

Answer 3

He organised an intensive propaganda campaign to maximise impact, carried out by gangs of SA members.

Question 4

How did the SA impact the boycott?

Answer 4

They marked out which places of business were to be targeted and stood menacingly outside to deter anyone from going inside.

Question 5

Who were the main targets of the Jewish boycott?

Answer 5

Shops, doctors and lawyers.

Question 6

What was happening to many Jewish lawyers in the streets during the boycott?

Answer 6

Many were attacked and stripped of their legal robes.

Question 7

Why didn’t the boycott have undeniable success?

Answer 7

It was unclear of what was a Jewish business and what wasn’t. Many were half-Jewish or half-German in ownership. Some were controlled by foreign creditors or German banks.

As well as this, many Germans defiantly used Jewish stores to show disapproval of the Nazis.

Question 8

How long did the Jewish boycott last?

Answer 8

Only one day, but the SA had hoped it would last indefinitely.

Question 9

What did the boycott seem to show at the time?

Answer 9

An unleashing of Nazi violence in an aggressive new dictatorship, flaunting its power just a week after the passing of the Enabling Act.

Question 10

What was the reality of what the boycott was like for Hitler?

Answer 10

He was not enthusiastic about a ‘revolution from below’ bringing chaos in Germany. He was also anxious about keeping the SA under control and was genuinely concerned about adverse reactions from conservative allies in Germany + foreign public opinion.

Question 11

Why might have Hitler let the boycott go ahead?

Answer 11

Only as a limited, grudging concession to the radical activists.

His main aim was to avoid instability whilst carrying out his legal revolution.

Question 12

Why was Hitler willing to allow considerable degree of Nazi intimidation?

Answer 12

It was a useful expression of spontaneous public anger in which only his new government could satisfy.

Question 13

What civil service law did the Nazis introduce in April 1933?

Answer 13

The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.

Question 14

What did the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service do?

Answer 14

Required Jews to be dismissed from the Civil Service.

Question 15

Why was the implementation of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service not as straight forward as the Nazis had hoped?

Answer 15

There was no objective, scientific definition of who was racially Jewish according to physical characteristics or blood group.

Question 16

Who were considered ‘non-Aryan’ under the 1933 Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service?

Answer 16

If either of their parents or either of their grandparents were Jewish.

Question 17

What exemption did President Hindenburg insist under the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service? How long was this kept in place?

Answer 17

For all German Jews who had served in the First World War and those whose fathers had been killed in the war.

Up until Hindenburg’s death in 1934.

Question 18

Why did the exemption amendment to the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service lessen the law’s impact?

Answer 18

Because it applied to up to 2/3 of Jews in the Civil Service.

Question 19

What devastating impacts did the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service have upon middle class Jews?

Answer 19

It had economic and psychological impact, contributing to the increasing levels of Jewish emigration.

Question 20

How many Jews left Germany in 1933?

Answer 20

37000.

Question 21

Why were similar laws to the Civil Service Law introduced for other professions difficult to implement as well?

Answer 21

There were also exemptions for those who fought in WW1 and partly because Jews in medicine, law and education were numerous and well-established.

It was not feasible to remove them all at once.

Question 22

How much of Germany’s legal profession did Jews take up?

Answer 22

16%.

Question 23

How many of the non-Aryan lawyers were able to keep practicing in 1933 after regulations were put in place?

Answer 23

60%.

Question 24

What did the regime do to try and close loopholes for lawyers to continue working?

Answer 24

By introducing stricter regulations over time, making exclusion of Jewish lawyers a very gradual process.

Question 25

What percentage of German doctors were Jewish?

Answer 25

10%.

Question 26

What were Jewish doctors described as in Nazi propaganda?

Answer 26

A danger to German society.

Question 27

What did some local authorities start doing to Jewish doctors?

Answer 27

Removing them from their posts.

Question 28

What was included in anti-semetic propaganda against Jewish doctors?

Answer 28

Stories about inappropriate and malicious actions supposedly carried out by Jewish doctors.

Question 29

What did local initiatives force the Nazis to do regarding Jewish doctors?

Answer 29

They pushed them along, with the regime announcing a ban on Jewish doctors in April 1933.

Question 30

Who were Jewish doctors only allowed to treat after 1933 regulations? Was this implemented?

Answer 30

They were only allowed to treat Jewish patients, but many continued normal practice for several years.

Question 31

What did the April 1933 law against Overcrowding of German Schools and Universities do?

Answer 31

Restricted the number of Jewish children who could attend state schools and universities.

Question 32

How was the Law against Overcrowding of German Schools promoted to the German population?

Answer 32

On the basis that Aryan students would receive more resources and attention, instead of being waste on pupils who'd grow to be 'enemies' of Germany.

Question 33

What did Nazis stress about educated Jews?

Answer 33

That an educated Jew was a greater threat to Germany than an uneducated Jew.

Question 34

Were all Jewish children forced out of State schools after the 1933 Law?

Answer 34

No, the process wasn't complete until 1938. Children could also attend private education and Jewish schools.

Question 35

What issue did Jewish schools have?

Answer 35

They struggled to find funding and maintaining academic standards.

Question 36

What did the Reich Press Law in October 1933 do?

Answer 36

Applied strict censorship and the closing down of publications they disliked. It silenced the large number of Jewish journalists and editors many of which were forced to leave the country.

Question 37

Why were many anti-Semites in the Nazi movement restless by 1935?

Answer 37

They believed Nazi persecution of the Jews had not gone far enough. They pushed for Hitler to move faster and they became the driving force behind demands for anti-Jewish legislation.

Question 38

What did Hitler announce at the Nuremberg Party Rally in 1935?

Answer 38

That the Communist International had declared war on Nazism and it was time to 'deal once and for all with Jewish-Bolshevism'.

Question 39

What laws were introduced on September 15th 1935?

Answer 39

The Nuremberg Laws.

Question 40

What were the Nuremberg Laws 1935?

Answer 40

- The Reich Citizenship Law meant that someone could be a German citizen only if they had pure German blood. Non-Aryans were considered subjects and had fewer rights than citizens - Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour outlawed marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans. Made illegal for German citizens to marry Jews. Also illegal for Jews to have sexual relations with a German citizen

Question 41

What were the Nuremberg Laws later extended to cover?

Answer 41

Almost any physical contact between Jews and Aryans became illegal, with only an allegation being enough for a conviction.

Question 42

How were Aryan women being pressured into leaving their Jewish husbands?

Answer 42

On grounds that men who lost their jobs through anti-Semitic legislation would be a burden on their partners.

Question 43

What happened to many Jewish men who were convicted under the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour?

Answer 43

They were often re-arrested by the Gestapo after release and sent to concentration camps.

Question 44

What did the First Supplementary Decree on the Reich Citizenship Law of November 1935 do?

Answer 44

Defined what constituted a 'full Jew'. Someone who had 3 Jewish grandparents, or had 2 Jewish grandparents and married to a Jew were a 'full Jew'. Mischlinge were 'half Jews' and had both Aryan and Jewish ancestry.

Question 45

Why was the Law on Reich Citizenship hard to interpret?

Answer 45

In many cases Jews or their Jewish parents had converted to Christianity, confusing the legal classifications and were often inconsistent.

Question 46

What did many non-practicing Jews try to do?

Answer 46

Attempt to prove their Aryan ancestry, some acquiring falsified documents on the black market.

Question 47

What difference in discrimination was there between 'full Jews' and 'half Jews'?

Answer 47

Some companies would not employ Jews but mischlinge were able to continue relatively normal lives and could even serve in the lower ranks of the military.

Question 48

What does evidence show about anti-Jewish signs in almost all areas of public life?

Answer 48

That most were displayed to keep Nazi officials happy rather than to stop Jews from using establishments.

Question 49

What were some Jews who were embarrassed by overt discrimination reluctant to do?

Answer 49

Break off from family doctors they'd relied on for years, or were appalled to see literary classes seen as Jewish purged from the local library.

Question 50

What happened when Nazi activists in Leipzig demanded removal of a statue of great composer Felix Mendelssohn?

Answer 50

Even the local party boss drew the line and blocked the proposal.

Question 51

How did most people oppose the Nazis?

Answer 51

Outright opposition to discrimination was rare, but most people who were unhappy about discrimination retreated into internal exile.