The Nazis persecuted numerous groups they deemed as threats to their vision of a Master Race, including Jews, the mentally ill, homosexuals, Roma people, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others. They implemented forced sterilization, imprisonment in concentration camps where many were experimented on or killed, and later began the Holocaust against Jews in particular. Historians disagree on whether Hitler explicitly planned the Holocaust from the beginning or if anti-Semitic policies escalated chaotically over time.
2. To achieve a Master Race, the
Nazis persecuted numerous
groups, including:
• Mentally ill/disabled
• Asocials
• Homosexuals
• Roma and Sinti people
• Jehovah's Witnesses
• The Jews
3. Mentally ill/disabled
In July 1933, the Nazis
introduced the Law for the
Prevention of Hereditarily
Diseased Offspring.
This introduced forced
sterilisation for people suffering
from problems such as epilepsy,
depression and alcoholism.
350,000 people were sterilised.
“Sterilisation is liberation, not punishment”
4. The Nazis eventually extended
their actions into euthanasia.
From 1939, doctors and nurses
were to report any children under
three affected by conditions
including Down’s Syndrome.
The children were then killed
under the Aktion T4 programme.
Parents were often threatened to
get their agreement for this. 1938 poster saying that this person costs
Germany 60,000RM over his life.
5. Asocials
Asocials were people that did not
fit in to the expected norms of
society. This included people who
refused to work, or other groups
such as prostitutes or beggars.
They were sent to labour camps –
being forced to wear a Black
Triangle – and eventually
sterilised and murdered.
6. Homosexuals
Homosexuals were seen as
asocial. Large numbers were
sent to prison camps and forced
to wear a Pink Triangle.
Many homosexual men were
castrated or forced to undergo
experiments to ‘cure’ them.
Homosexual members of the SS
were shot.
7. Even before the Nazis took
power, it was illegal for men to
be gay in Germany.
Scientific books about
homosexuality were burned by
the Nazis.
The police also closed down
pubs and clubs where gay
people went, and kept lists of
gay men.
8. Roma and Sinti people
The Roma and Sinti people
(often referred to as ‘gypsies’)
had faced prejudice in
Germany since before Nazi rule.
In Weimar Germany, a law was
passed preventing ‘gypsies’
from travelling to Bavaria.
They also had to carry ID cards
when in Prussia.
9. Roma and Sinti children were
often taken from their parents
and sent to ‘special schools’.
Others faced bullying in
mainstream schools.
During the 1936 Olympics, the
Nazis forced them to leave their
camps and live in certain areas.
They were also sent to work in
armaments camps.
10. The Nazis eventually opened
special ‘internment camps’
where Roma and Sinti people
were sent to live.
When in these camps, they
were often used for medical
experiments by Nazi
scientists, including children.
Around 500,000 died under
Nazi rule.
11. Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Nazis struggled to control
the mainstream churches due
to many Germans’ personal
religious beliefs.
Small religious groups could be
targeted though. Jehovah’s
Witnesses refused to joined the
army or let their children join
the Hitler Youth.
12. Meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses
were broken up by the Nazis.
Offices belonging to Jehovah’s
Witnesses were also ransacked.
The Gestapo also spied on
suspected Witnesses.
Many were arrested and taken to
concentration camps (around
6000 by 1939).
13. The Jews
Obviously the group most
commonly associated with Nazi
persecution is the Jews.
Anti-Semitism was prominent in
Germany and Europe since before
the Nazis took power. Many
Germans believed that Germany’s
WW1 defeat and 1920s problems
were caused by Jews.
14. There were numerous steps
taken to at first isolate and
then exterminate Jews.
Initial laws focused on Jews
ostracising the Jews from
society, forcing many to leave
Germany. Eventually this
became the Holocaust,
although this did not begin
until during World War Two.
15. Numerous steps were taken in
1933 after the Nazis first took
power in Germany.
In April a boycott of Jewish
shops started, although lasted
only one day. Further actions
that year banned Jews from
working in the Civil Service
(with some exceptions) and
from owning farms.
16. By 1935 there were unofficial
attacks taking place on Jews. As a
result in September 1935 the
Nazis passed the so-called
Nuremburg Laws:
• Marriage and sex was banned
between Jews and Aryans
• Jews were stripped of German
citizenship
• Aryan genetic tests started
17. From 1936, the Nazis actively
began encouraging Jewish
emigration, although
eventually only allowed this on
payment of high taxes.
After Anschluss with Austria
in March 1938, there were
150,000 more Jews within
Germany’s control. They were
also forced to emigrate.
18. 1938 saw various extreme
actions to hurt Jewish people. A
variety of laws were passed:
• Jewish lawyers and doctors
could not have Aryan clients
• Jews must add Sarah (women)
or Israel (men) to their names
• Jews could not own businesses
• Jews banned from schools
19. November 1938 saw the
infamous Kristallnacht (Night
of the Broken Glass).
The Nazis unofficially
organised attacks on Jewish
homes, businesses and
synagogues. 91 Jews were
killed and 20,000 sent to prison
camps, and Jews were even
forced to pay fines for damage.
20. By the time that World War
Two started in September
1939, the Jews had no rights
in Germany.
Hitler openly referred to the
“extermination” of the Jews,
Jews were being forced to
move into ghettos and the
euthanasia programme
started in October 1939.
21. Historians disagree on whether
Hitler planned the Holocaust.
Although there was no official
order given, it fitted in with
Hitler’s rhetoric.
The killing was officially kept
secret from Germans. However
at least 100,000 Germans
were involved, and others are
likely to have known.
22. Historians’ views
• Lisa Pine: Once in power Hitler’s intense personal hatred of
the Jews “became central to state policy”.
• Richard J Evans: From September 1935 anti-Semitism became
“a principle governing private as well as public life”.
• David Cesarani: Anti-Jew policies – especially the Holocaust –
were probably not planned and instead the result of chaotic,
especially after the outbreak of World War Two.
• Jill Stephenson: National community was all about race.
