LESSON AIMS:

To identify how Jews were treated in Nazi Germany.

To understand how the persecution of Jews escalated.

HOW WERE JEWS TREATED IN NAZI GERMANY?

It is important to remember that it was not only Jews who experienced prejudice within Germany.

Communists, gypsies, the disabled and homosexuals were some of the groups who also faced persecution. The Nazis disliked any group who did not fit into their ideal of the ‘master race’.

The persecution of the Jews was not new. Jews had been persecuted throughout history, in many countries across Europe. Discrimination against Jews is known as anti – Semitism.

Hitler was strongly anti-Semitic and when he became leader of Germany in 1933 he pursued anti-Semitic policies.

These were quite subtle to begin with but gradually they escalated.

For example, people were initially encouraged not to buy goods from Jewish shops and were “warned” about which shop belonged to the Jews - Jewish shops would have the star of David painted on the front windows.

Hitler then began to make laws which discriminated against the Jews. In 1935 he passed the Nuremberg Laws.

These laws were designed to:

•Stop Jews and ‘pure’ Germans from marrying.

•Stop Jews and ‘pure’ Germans from having sexual relations

The Nazis believed that the German race was superior. Hitler wanted to create a master race of pure Germans and had to ensure that German blood was not tainted by mixing with other races.

The Nazis placed great emphasis on encouraging children to view what Hitler was doing as right.

Posters encouraged children to recognise that Hitler was a saviour. The Nazis used lessons in schools to ‘teach’ their ideas.

Various efforts were made to ensure that children were brought up to believe Jews were inferior and a danger to German people.

WHY DO YOU THINK THE NAZIS AIMED THESE IDEAS AT CHILDREN?

This slide shows two extracts from Nazi school books. The one on the left shows you the dangers of Jews and non-Jews marrying. The one on the right shows German school children being taught to identify the racial features of Jews.

This book was designed to show what a ‘normal’ German child looks like compared to a Jewish child.

In 1938, anti-Semitism escalated. On the night of the 9th November 1938, over 7000 Jewish shops were attacked and synagogues and homes burned down. More than 30,000 Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps.

It marked the start of more systematic violence against the Jews

This night was known as Kristallnacht meaning ‘Night of the Broken Glass’.

From 1939 onwards, Jews were rounded up and herded into ghettos. They had their property confiscated and were forced to move out of their homes.

In the ghettos the Nazis allowed only starvation rations and thousands died of hunger, the intense cold or the disease typhus.

In 1941, Hitler and the Nazis devised the ‘Final Solution’.

A series of death camps were set up to carry out a mass slaughter of the whole Jewish population of Europe.

During the next four years, the Nazis were responsible for the deaths of over 6 million Jews,

Poles, gypsies and homosexuals in what has become known as the Holocaust

‘the most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world’

- Winston ChurchillHOW?WHY?

HOW?WHY?

HOW?

WHY?

TASKS

1. Create a timeline of events showing the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany.

2. Chose the event that you consider to be a ‘turning point’ – i.e when the persecution of the Jews became significantly worse. Write a paragraph to explain your choice.

3. Write a paragraph entitled ‘The beginning of the Holocaust’ – using the information from the power point, and your timelines, explain how the persecution of the Jews began and developed.