Radical policies to 1939 Flashcards
(10 cards)
What are “radical policies” in the context of Nazi Germany?
Policies aimed at enforcing racial purity, promoting Aryan supremacy, and eliminating “undesirable” groups like Jews, Roma, disabled people, and political opponents.
What were the core beliefs of Nazi racial ideology?
The Aryan race was superior; Jews, Slavs, Roma, and other minorities were seen as inferior and a threat to racial and national purity.
What did this 1933 law do?
Allowed compulsory sterilisation of people with hereditary illnesses (e.g., mental illness, epilepsy) — over 400,000 people were sterilised.
How were the Romans persecuted by 1939?
Subjected to racial laws, arrested and interned, and later targeted for extermination. They were classed as asocial and racially inferior.
What were the Nuremberg Laws?
Reich Citizenship Law – Jews lost German citizenship.
Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour – banned marriage/sexual relations between Jews and Aryans.
What were early economic actions against Jews?
Boycott of Jewish businesses (1933).
Gradual Aryanisation – forced transfer of Jewish businesses to German ownership.
Banned Jews from many jobs (law, medicine, civil service).
What happened during Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)?
On 9–10 November 1938, SA and civilians attacked Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues. 91 Jews were killed, and 30,000 sent to concentration camps.
What was the Nazi policy on Jewish emigration before 1939?
The Nazis encouraged forced emigration, and around half of Germany’s Jews (approx. 300,000) left by 1939, though many faced difficulty finding countries to accept them.
How were disabled people treated under the Nazis before 1939?
Subject to compulsory sterilisation and later targeted for euthanasia programs (e.g., Aktion T4), though large-scale killing began in 1939.
What was the effect of Nazi radical policies by 1939?
Racial persecution was legally entrenched, the Jewish population was marginalised, and systematic exclusion and violence had escalated in preparation for future genocide.
