Transcript Legal Foundations of Nazi Germany

Legal Foundations of Nazi Germany
Anti-Jewish Policies
Background
 1920 – The 25 points of the National Socialist Party
 “all Germans must have pure blood”
 “no non-Germans may enter the country”
 “the Jews should leave the country”
Early anti-Jewish Measures
Early anti-Jewish Measures
 In 1933, Jews comprised of less than 1% of Germany
 April 1933 – Official state boycott of Jewish stores. This is the first
official act against the Jews.
(only lasted one day due to the economy)
 April 7th 1933 – Civil Service law. This is the first attempt of
implementing Nazi racial ideology into law.
(no Jews in civil service jobs, removed from political associations)
 April 1933 – Definition of a Jew is passed into law.
(one Jewish grandparent makes you Jewish)
 Stock markets fall around the world with the passing of these laws.
Nuremburg Laws of 1935
 1st citizenship law – Only Germans could be members of the
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Third Reich.
Jews lose civil rights, star of David is mandated.
Law of “protection of German blood and honor”
-outlawed marriage between Jews and Germans
No German woman under the age of 45, could be domestic
servants. (fear the Jewish men would rape German women)
Swastika is the national flag of Germany
Joseph Goebbels
Preparing for War
 1936 – Less oppressive (Olympics are held in Germany)
 Jesse Owens Rocks! Four Gold Medals!!!
Preparing for War
 1936 – Hitler marches into the Rhineland.
He later says “this was the biggest gamble of my life”
Appeasement
 After marching into the Rhineland, Neville Chamberlain
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does nothing.
1938 – Germany is welcomed by millions of Austrians when
they incorporate Austria into the Third Reich.
In Austria – systematic arrests of Jews and forced into
concentration camps. (Not death camps, forced labor)
1938 – “forced Ayranization” – forced immigration of Jews
Nov. 1938 – Krystalnacht
Why did Hitler allow Krystalnacht, knowing that there
would be foreign repercussions?
Krystalnacht
Germany Welcomed in Austria
Moving Towards War
 Sept 1939 – Hitler invades Czechoslovakia. Lebensraum
 Hitler “If we go to war, we must first suppress our domestic
enemy”
 False Accusations
– Jews did not fight in WWI, this is why Germany lost
- Jews were communists preparing a revolution
Slavery in Work Camps
World War II
 Sept. 1st 1939 – Hitler invades Poland
 Himmler and SS are put in charge of Poland
-forced migration of Jews east
 1940 – Madagascar Plan
- Jews would be sent to French colonies that were taken from
the French. Many papers written on this
 June 22nd 1941 – Operation Barbarossa
-Hitler defies non-aggression pact with Soviet Union.
-Beginning of the final solution
-Hitler on drugs???
1941 – Einsatzgruppen established to
murder communists and Jews
Einsatzgruppen
The Final Solution
 1942 –Wannsee Conference
- The final solution is discussed
-Hitler does not attend
-Acting out “the will of the fuehrer”
 Most orders are given orally by Hitler, but there is a legal
foundation to his plight
 Misconceptions of the Reich
-Jesus was an Aryan
-Japanese were Aryans of the east.
Wannsee Conference
Zyclon-B