policies towards the jews & minorities
TRANSCRIPT
Learning Objectives:
Outline who the Nazi’s targeted for persecution and why?
Examine anti-Sematic laws that were developed by the Nazi’s between 1933-1939?
How Jewish people were affected socially, politically and economically?
Nazi Policies towards the Jews and Minorities
Who were the undesirables in Nazi Germany?
LO:Outline who the Nazi’s targeted for persecution and why?
In July 1933 the ‘Law for the Prevention of Offspring with
Hereditary Diseases’ brought in a compulsory sterilisation
programme which targeted people with mental or hereditary
illness
18 August 1939 registration of all ‘malformed’ newborn children
was made compulsory. German midwives and doctors were
ordered to report any child known to them who was born deaf or
blind, with paralysis or with a neurological disorder such as
Down’s Syndrome.
Each case was taken to a panel of ‘experts’ who marked it with
either a plus or a minus. A plus meant the child would be
murdered.
Treatment of the Disabled
LO:Outline who the Nazi’s targeted for persecution and why?
The hospital in Hadamar and the asylum for the mentally
handicapped in Grafeneck became official killing centres
during the 1930s.
Children on the wards were given lethal cocktail of drugs in either tablet or
injection form. Their parents were told they had died of infections.
"It is now well-established that species evolve through Darwin's
principle of 'Survival of the Fittest'. Selective breeding produces
superior cattle, horses and other livestock. Mixing different
animal species produces mongrel breeds of inferior quality. In
just the same way, different races of people have different
qualities. Black men, for example, dominate the world of
athletics and boxing, and tend to have an excellent sense of
rhythm. Jewish people have a talent for business, and Asians
have a reputation for working incredibly hard. All of this goes to
show that mixing the races - either socially or biologically - is a
bad thing. Multicultural societies are weak and divided, and
mixed-race people are mongrels"
The Nazis and Society: A Moral Dilemma?
LO:Outline who the Nazi’s targeted for persecution and why?
The Nazis and Society: A Moral Dilemma?
It would be easy to condemn Nazi racial policies out of hand, but that
would allow us to dodge some very awkward questions.
• Highlight the parts of the statement which you agree with in one
colour.
• Highlight the parts you disagree with in another.
• Compare your findings with a partner and discuss any differences of
opinion.
• Repeat the process in a larger group.
LO:Outline who the Nazi’s targeted for persecution and why?
• Which statements in this
account generated the most
debate? What did you
argue about?
• Imagine someone has just
expressed the points of
view laid out in the
Introduction. Produce a
reply of roughly the same
length designed to explain
why you think their
argument is flawed.
The Nazis and Society: A Moral Dilemma?
"60,000 Reichsmark is the lifetime cost of
this hereditarily diseased man to the
Volksgemeinschaft. Fellow German, that is
your money, too."
LO:Outline who the Nazi’s targeted for persecution and why?
“The eternal Jew”
What does this source
suggest about Nazi attitudes
towards the Jews?
Are there any contradiction in
the way Jews are portrayed?
Persecution of the JewsLO:Examine anti-Sematic laws that were developed by the Nazi’s between 1933-1939
Illustration from a children’s book published in Germany in 1936. The
signs say—”The Jews are our misfortune” and “How the Jews cheat”.
Arrange these laws in chronological order on your table. What do you notice that happens over the years?
The treatment of the Jews increased in severity and can be split into three main stages:
Stages of Persecution
Stage Date Persecution
11933 - 1937 Laws relating to Jews introduced, mostly
non-violent
2 1938 More violent action (Kristallnacht)
3
1939 Build up to the Final Solution
1941 Invasion of Poland then Russia
1942-1945 The ‘Final Solution’/Holocaust
LO:Examine anti-Sematic laws that were developed by the Nazi’s between 1933-1939
Triggered by assassination of
German diplomat in Paris,
Ernst von Rath, on the
7th of November 1938,
by Herschel Grynszpan,
a Jewish teenager
whose parents,
along with 17,000
other Polish Jews,
had been recently
expelled from
the Reich.
Various laws were
introduced between
1933 and 1939, each
one aimed at
restricting the
personal liberty and
civil rights of German
Jews
Using the link below create a timeline. Put the anti-Semitic legislation, as outlined on the worksheet, that was created by the Nazi’s between 1933-1939 into chronological order.
For each law find an image/photo/clipart that will help you remember the law.
State whether these laws affected Jewish people socially, economically and politically. Some laws may fall under more than one category.
www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007459
Timeline of PersecutionLO: How Jewish people were affected socially, politically and economically