Discrimination Against Jews in Germany

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Discrimination Against Jews in Germany

Once Adolf Hitler had gained complete power of Germany as a dictator

in March 1933, he set up policies to bring the country's people 'into

line'. His desire to do this was fuelled by the belief that the German

people were a superior race above all others, called the Aryans. He

also believed that, in order to prosper, Germany needed to be

'purified' by setting the Aryans apart from such inferior races as the

Jewish community.

As soon as he came into power, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg

of the Reich government, to issue decrees to suspend all given civil

liberties of the German people and politicians. The Enabling Act that

followed in March allowed Hitler and the Nazis to establish policies

in order to 'cleanse' Germany of the Jews as they did not need to seek

approval from the Reich. He was not greatly opposed in the beginning

because there was already a proportion of anti-Semitic feeling within

Germany and elsewhere. Although there were only a few Jewish officials

who signed the Treaty of Versailles, the 'weakening' of Germany was

seen as a Jewish plot. The economic crises during the years of the

Weimar Republic were also blamed on the Jews without justification.

Hitler did not create anti-Semitism, but he did encourage and use it

to manipulate the German people saying the Jewish people were

'inferior and dangerous' to German society. He believed that

eradicating the Jewish race from Germany would help it become a great

empire again, which convinced people that the Jews were a problem.

The first official incident of anti-Semitism came on 1st April 1933 a

month after

Hitler b...

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... in any way

possible. Despite Hitler's various attempts at securing anti-Semitism

in all Germans, there were those who were not in favour of his ideals,

but could not do much to stop the endless tirade of hate directed at

the Jews. When it became compulsory and military training was

introduced, one million people refused to join the Hitler Youth

Movement. People were afraid of being associated with Jews because

Hitler used force as well as the legal system to prosecute any who

opposed him. Hitler pitted himself against all those against the

'Aryan' way of life so Germany could become a 'pure' master state. The

Jews were treated extremely unjustly from the very beginning of

Hitler's seizure of power and the level of discrimination rose to such

a height that it was immensely difficult and virtually impossible to

end.

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