Who was shut out of Nazi unity

G2 Full History - syllabus K227, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can explain how authoritarian regimes rose and how they changed politics, the economy and society.

    Syllabus K227, Rise of Authoritarian Regimes, Learning Outcomes. Explain the rise of authoritarian regimes and their impact on the political, economic and social context of countries.

Make a guess

The Nazis promised a united national community. Who do you think was allowed to belong to it?

  1. Anyone who joined the Nazi Party and swore loyalty to Hitler.
  2. Only people the Nazis classed as German; Jews were excluded.
  3. Any German citizen, whatever their background or beliefs.
Show the answer

Only people the Nazis classed as German; Jews were excluded.

The Nazis used false racial ideas to decide who belonged. Laws and violence stripped Jews and other groups of rights.

The Nazis promised a united nation, but used racist laws and violence to strip Jews and other groups of their rights.

The Nazis spoke of a single national community united behind Hitler. But they used false ideas about race to decide who belonged. Antisemitism means prejudice or hatred towards Jews. Nazi claims that Jews caused Germany's defeat or economic problems were lies, used to justify shutting them out and attacking them.

From 1933, laws and boycotts attacked Jewish jobs and businesses. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 took away Jews' full citizenship. They banned marriage and relationships between Jews and people the state classed as having German blood. These were racist categories invented by the state, not facts about biology or simply about religion.

On 9 to 10 November 1938, organised attacks destroyed synagogues, Jewish places of worship, along with Jewish homes and shops. Huge numbers of Jewish people were arrested. This is called Kristallnacht, or the November pogrom. A pogrom is an organised violent attack on a community. It shows persecution growing from exclusion by law to widespread violence backed by the state.

Nazi persecution also targeted Roma and Sinti, disabled people, political opponents, gay men and Jehovah's Witnesses. These groups faced different accusations and policies, so their experiences were not identical.

During the Second World War, the Holocaust was the planned mass murder of Europe's Jews. For a question about the 1930s, use events from that time and keep them separate from the later genocide.

Nuremberg Laws, 1935
Took away Jews' full citizenship.
Kristallnacht, 9-10 November 1938
Organised attacks on Jewish synagogues, homes and shops.
Holocaust
Mass murder of Europe's Jews during the war.

Real examples to use

Nuremberg Laws, 15 September 1935

Jews lost full German citizenship and were banned from marrying people the state classed as German.

Kristallnacht, 9 to 10 November 1938

More than 250 synagogues were burned and over 7,000 Jewish businesses wrecked. About 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

Worked example: Test a promise against a law

The regime promised unity, but the Nuremberg Laws denied Jewish Germans full citizenship.

  1. The promise says all Germans belong to one community.
  2. The law shuts Jews out of equal rights on purpose.
  3. So this was unity only on racist terms.

Watch out for this

Nazi racial categories described real biological differences in people's worth.

They were false, racist ideas used to justify persecution.

Check your understanding

What did the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 do?

  1. Took away Jews' full citizenship and banned certain marriages.
  2. Gave Germans equal rights as members of a new national community.
  3. Began the mass murder of Europe's Jews in camps across Germany.
Show the answer

Took away Jews' full citizenship and banned certain marriages.

Yes. They made racist exclusion into law.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • Hitler asks for trust

    Paraphrase of Hitler's radio appeal on behalf of the new Reich government, 1 February 1933, reproduced by GHDI.

  • USHMM, Enabling Act; law translated from Reichsgesetzblatt I, 1933, p141

    Paraphrase of Articles 1-3 of the Enabling Act, promulgated 24 March 1933; text translated from the official law gazette by USHMM.

  • Wels opposes the Act

    Paraphrase of SPD leader Otto Wels' Reichstag speech, 23 March 1933, as reproduced in the German Bundestag historical exhibition, p2.

  • workers' mixed responses

    Paraphrase of a Central Germany report commissioned by the exiled Social Democratic leadership (Sopade), September 1938; published in GHDI.

  • Hitler's confidential memorandum on autarky, August 1936, GHDI

    Paraphrase of the concluding instructions in Hitler's confidential memorandum on autarky, August 1936, published in GHDI.

  • a Nazi election poster, July 1932

    An original poster drawn for these notes in the style of Nazi Party posters for the Reichstag election of 31 July 1932. It is not a copy of a real poster, but its promises match what Nazi posters of that campaign offered unemployed voters.

  • the Enabling Act, March 1933

    Extract from the "Law to remove the distress of people and State" (the Enabling Act), 24 March 1933, signed by President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler. English translation of document 2001-PS from Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, volume IV, published by the US Office of Chief Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality (1946); text from the Avalon Project.

  • the American ambassador reports, 30 June 1934

    Extract from a telegram from William Dodd, US Ambassador in Germany, to the Secretary of State, Berlin, 30 June 1934, 5 p.m., sent on the day the purge began. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1934, volume II, document 194. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the ambassador looks again, 2 July 1934

    Extract from a telegram from Ambassador Dodd to the Secretary of State, Berlin, 2 July 1934, two days later. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1934, volume II, document 197. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the German Foreign Minister explains, July 1934

    Extract from a telegram from Ambassador Dodd to the Secretary of State, Berlin, 6 July 1934, reporting what the German Foreign Minister, Konstantin von Neurath, told him. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1934, volume II, document 199. A US government document in the public domain.

The Wise Otter

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