Why the Nazis' Treatment of the Jews Changed between 1939-1945

Why the Nazis' Treatment of the Jews Changed between 1939-1945

In 1933 Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany, what followed

in the following years was an enormous hate campaign against the Jews,

to rid the Jews in Germany. Because of the sheer number of Jews in

Germany, the Nazis needed a new answer to the Jewish question.

By 1939 a large part of the Jews were emigrating abroad due to

Hitler's anti-semantic views and the mass of propaganda that turned

the German people against them. The majority of Jews immigrated to

fellow European countries such as France, Holland, and Britain.

Palestine, then under British control was promised to become the new

Jewish homeland. However the Arab population was angry that foreigners

could take their land. Britain had vital supplies of oil there which

was vital to the war they limited the number of Jews allowed in. One

of the famous stories was of St. Louis. St. Louis was a ship full of

Jewish emigrants from Germany; they were destined to go to Cuba but

where denied entry. They continued on to several countries where they

were all rejected, they eventually returned back to Germany. Most

passengers on the St. Louis did not survive.

In 1939 Germany had invaded Poland capturing more than 3 million Jews.

The Nazis needed a new solution as the sheer number of Jews could not

be controlled easily, there they thought of the Ghetto. Ghettos were

small parts of cities where Jewish people were rounded up too. All

Jews were destined to live in the Ghettoes, because of the sheer

number of Jews in one small area would make it easier to control the

Jewish people, but with this came horrendous living conditions where

several families lived in one room. Rations were little, with only a

mere 184 calories a day. The Jewish suffered health problems because

of poor hygiene. Diseases spread quickly, and dead were offered left

on the streets because of lack of space inside. Seeing how many Jews

they had under control the Nazis decided to use this for an advantage