Life Under Nazi Rule

1
Life Under Nazi Rule

• Holocaust History
• Power Point 2

2
Nazi Beliefs

• (1) Germany had lost World War I because Jews and
  Communists undermined morale
• (2) They were racists who believed inferior races
  threatened the Volks blood line
• (3) Jews were not German they were only guests
• (4) The feeble-minded and deformed must be
  prevented from producing more of their kind
• (5) Traditional religious teaching about duty to
  God and brotherhood weakened the nation

3
Defining Who was Jewish

• The Nazi newspaper Der Sturmer (The Attacker)
  reported stereotypes of Jews such as they were
  repulsive, fat men who tried to lure Aryan
  children into their cars rich bankers, traitors,
  and trade union leaders
• Jews dressed, looked, and acted like any other
  German
• This similarity caused a problem for the Nazis in
  deciding who was Jewish

4

• In the early days, Nazis were not sure how to
  solve problems like mixed marriages and tracing
  ancestry
• Worked out the complicated formula in The
  Nuremberg Laws of 1935
• Jews and Mischlenges (mongrels or mixed bloods)
  were those who had practiced Judaism, had Jewish
  grandparents, or were married to Jews

Right A complicated chart detailing the
Nuremberg Laws of 1935.
5
The Nuremberg Laws

• Law passed on September 15, 1935
• The Law for Protection of German Blood and
  German Honor
• Marriages between Jews and citizens of Germany or
  related blood are forbidden
• Jews are not permitted to display the German flag
• Jews may not employ in their households female
  citizens of German or related blood under 45
  years
• The Reich Citizenship Law
• A citizen of the Reich is only that subject of
  German or related blood who proves by his conduct
  that he is ready and able to serve the German
  people and the Reich faithfully
• Only the full citizen of the Reich enjoys full
  political rights
• A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich
• Jews cannot vote or hold public office

6
Restrictions Begin

• All non-Aryan government officials were to retire
• All Jewish newspaper workers were fired
• Jews expelled from the guilds of musicians,
  writers, and artists
• Businesses pressured to fire Jewish executives
• Companies and banks owned by Jews were hit by
  SA-sponsored boycotts

7
Restrictions continued

• April 1933 The Law Against Overcrowding of
  German Schools was issued to separate Jews from
  Aryan school children
• By 1938, Jews were no longer allowed to use
  swimming pools
• SA or SS would stand outside a Jewish shop to
  warn patrons

8
1936 Olympics

• The 1936 Olympic games were being held in Berlin
• Hitler did not want the foreign press writing
  vicious truths about his Jewish policy
• During the games, the only indication of Nazi
  hatred for subhumans was Hitlers snubbing of
  black athletes.
• After the foreign games were gone, gangs of young
  bullies returned to beating up helpless Jews

A Dutch poster protesting the 1936 Olympics
9
Austria

• Hitler wanted to expand into Austria
• He sent Nazis into Austria to create enthusiasm
  for the union (Anschluss) of the two countries.
• About 90 percent of Austrians favored uniting
  with Germany
• This was tragic for Austrian Jews, where there
  was already long standing Anti-Semitism
• To show their support for Hitler, Austrians
  outdid the Germans in persecuting Jews
• Dragged from homes and shops, forced to clean
  latrines, sidewalks, and grafitti
• Concentration camp was established in Mauthausen

This woman was reduced to tears when the
Austrians decided to follow Hitler.
10
KristallnachtNight of Broken Glass

• In 1938 a German-born Jew killed Ernst vom Rath
  when he learned his family was being deported to
  Poland
• Goebbels used to event to justify Kristallnacht
• November 9, 1938 became known as Kristallnacht
• Jewish property was destroyed or damaged and more
  than 90 Jews were killed
• Police ordered not to interfere as mobs smashed,
  looted, and burned stores, synagogues, and homes
• Estimated 400 million worth of damage
• Because this was the result of German righteous
  indignation, the Jews had to pay to repair
  everything as punishment for Raths murder
• In January of 1939, all Jewish shops were closed.

Herschel Grynszpan was 17 years old when he
killed Ernest vom Rath, a German embassy
official, in retaliation for his familys
deportation to Poland.
11

Left An example of some of the physical damage
done to Jewish businesses on November 9, 1938,
now called Krystallnacht.

• In 1933 there were about 700,000 Jews in Germany
  and Austria.
• In 1938 and 1939, 403,000 were left.
• In 1940, the U.S. embassy in Berlin had 248,000
  immigration applications on file
• The U.S. quota allowed on 27,000 Germans a year
  into the country.

12
The Ghettos
13
Was there Jewish Resistance?

• Ghettos were not a new invention
• Existed back in Middle Ages
• Been confined several times before in history
• Hitler believed Jews were a cancer that needed
  to be destroyed
• Strong Jews who could survive and spread Judaism
  must be killed
• Jews were not fighters by nature few owned guns
• Community and family were very strong in Jewish
  culture
• Thought reason was a way to convince the Nazis
• Thought by cooperating the SS would ease up
• Jews were too scattered in isolated towns to put
  up resistance.

14
The Order to Move

• Little warning, came early in the morning
• Could only take one suitcase
• Homes and valuables had to be left behind
  scavengers came in and stole unattended property
• At the ghetto, family was assigned a room (12 to
  20 people in one room)
• No privacy, few toilets, little food, streets
  filled with beggars
• Ghettos were located in the oldest, most run-down
  sections of town. The buildings were in bad
  condition, often near collapse.
• Most of the ghettos were enclosed surrounded by
  fences, barbed wire or a large wall

15

• Jews were forbidden to leave without a special
  permit, under penalty of death.
• Jews began to develop a system of schools,
  newspapers, and cultural and religious
  organizations
• Jews worked whenever they could. They repaired
  old uniforms and clothes, produced such things as
  wooden and leather shoes, mattresses, ammunition
  boxes, baskets, and brooms. Their best costumers
  were the Germans, particularly the army. They
  also produced most of what kept the ghetto
  functioning.
• German-owned and SS businesses functioned both
  inside and outside the larger ghettos
• They took their workforce to and from the ghetto
  population
• Mean a back-breaking ten- or twelve-hour day
• The work permit came with a very small extra bit
  of money and a slightly larger food ration
• Underground libraries sprang up ghetto
  orchestras secretly performed
• Religious life went on despite Nazi efforts to
  stop it
• Rabbis had to alter some of the rules concerning
  non-Kosher food or clothing options

16
Government Within the Ghetto

• Judenrat was the Jewish government that took
  orders from the Nazis
• 12 men were chosen from each ghetto to form a
  Jewish Council
• Responsible for the day-to-day running of the
  ghetto
• In charge of health, housing, and public order
• Responsible for carrying out any and all Nazi
  orders
• People were the only thing not in short supply in
  the ghetto

17
A Few of the Ghettos

• Lodz
• The first ghetto that was established
• A little over 1.5 miles square (the size of about
  twenty city blocks
• Over 150,000 Jews lived seven or eight to a room.
• Mordechai Rumkowski (leader) wanted to keep Nazis
  happy at all costs
• Believed if ghetto was productive the Nazis would
  leave them alone
• In 1942 Nazis began resettling Lodz Jews,
  sending them to Chelmno death camp
• Rumkowski told parents to give him their children
• He was killed in August 1944

18

• Warsaw, Poland
• Took up 1.6 square miles.
• It held anywhere from 400,000 to 600,000 Jews
• The largest ghetto
• Eight to ten people lived in a room went up to
  fourteen towards the end when the ghetto was
  reduced in space
• Adam Czerniakow (leader)
• Made little effort to stop smuggling
• Begged the Nazis to let children go free this
  was denied and he killed himself
• Vilna
• 25,000 people lived here
• Seventy-two buildings on five streets
• The crowding was so intense that each person had
  about seven feet to call his or her owna space
  as narrow as the grave
• The creation of the ghetto is obviously only a
  temporary measure. When and by what means the
  ghetto, and the town of Lodz, will be cleansed of
  Jews I reserve to myself. Our final objective
  must be, in any case, to burn out this plague
  boil completely.
• SS Brigadier General Friedrich Uelbehoer

19
Daily Life in the Ghettos

• Starvation
• Starvation was a deliberate Nazi policy
• At its best 1,100 calories a day
• At its worst 220 calories a day
• Bread (14 oz.) Meat Products (4.5 oz.) Sugar
  (1.75 oz.) Fat (.9 oz.)
• Killed approximately 500 a week
• It was the Jews greatest torture---it was
  endless and could not be escaped.
• The elderly and sick suffered the most and died
  the soonest.

20

• The Cold
• Temperatures could drop to 20 below (Warsaw,
  Poland)
• Warm clothing was taken away
• Did not provide them with enough kerosene, coal,
  or wood
• Disease
• Breeding grounds for bacteria
• Limited sanitary facilities
• Sewage pipes froze and burst
• Little soap and water available
• Typhus, a disease directly connected with
  overcrowding and filth, took by far the greatest
  number of people
• In 1941 almost 100,000 people died of typhus in
  the Warsaw ghetto

21

• Smuggling
• If it had not been for the smugglers, the Nazis
  would have succeeded in starving the ghettos to
  death.
• There was some large-scale smuggling, but most of
  it day by day was small.
• Those who could afford it bribed guards to not
  notice smuggling.
• If the Jews were caught smuggling anythingno
  matter how smallthe penalty was death, sometimes
  by being shot immediately.
• Sometimes smugglers were hanged and then left for
  days as a lesson to all who would learn
• Most of the smugglers were children ten to
  fourteen years old.

22
The End of the Ghettos

• It was estimated that one-fifth of ghetto
  inhabitants died of disease and hunger-related
  illnesses.
• At this rate it would have taken five or six
  years to kill all ghetto inhabitantsthat was too
  long for the deranged Nazis
• So
  began the Final Solution