9 Volksgemeinschaft- Racial Policies PDF

**Volksgemeinschaft -- Racial Policies** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **Specification:** | | | | Nazi Germany, 1933--39...

**Volksgemeinschaft -- Racial Policies** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **Specification:** | | | | Nazi Germany, 1933--39 | | | | Shaping society and the creation of the Volksgemeinschaft: the impact | | of welfare and the Kinder, Küche, Kirche policies on women; the | | importance of Robert Ley and DAF and its subordinate organisations; | | the significance of education and youth policies; **the impact of | | racial theories and racial policies;** the impact of the regime on | | the Christian churches and religion. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **Possible Questions** | | | | The effectiveness of the Nazis' policies on races -- did they work? | | | | The impact of the Nazis' policies on races | | | | A comparison of the Nazis' policies on race and another social group | | -- men/workers, women, children, the Church etc. What policies had | | the biggest impact? | | | | OR | | | | The Nazis policies on races had the biggest impact -- if no other | | group is mentioned, write about them all | | | | The Nazis were successful or unsuccessful in creating a | | Volksgemeinschaft -- Were races effectively oppressed? | | | | The Nazis were successful or unsuccessful in controlling opposition | | -- Were races controlled? What resistance came? | | | | The main reason why the Nazis had such little opposition -- policies | | on different groups (including races), terror, propaganda etc. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ **Background on Anti-Semitism** There was a long tradition of **Anti-Semitism** in Europe and Germany before the Nazis. As many Jews were immigrants from Eastern Europe, they were easily identifiable because of their different traditions. While many were impoverished, they made up 1% of the population but 16% of lawyers, 10% of doctors and 5% of editors and writers. Racial theories of Social Darwinism gave some respectability to ideas of some groups being 'inferior'. **The Nazi Racial State** Hitler was able to exploit the pre-existing hostility towards the Jews and turn it into a radical ideology of hatred. In Germany, the Jews were an easy scapegoat for problems. Nazi propaganda insisted that the Jews were behind communism and had conspired to control Germany's financial institutions. They were also responsible for the defeat in the war. At the very centre of Nazi policy was the issue of race and specifically anti-Semitism. Hitler's obsessive hatred of the Jews was perhaps the most dominant and consistent theme of his political career. The translation of such ideas into policy led to racial laws, gov inspired violence and later the genocide policy which would become the Holocaust. After coming to power, the Nazis moved to isolate Germany's half a million Jews, discriminate against them with legislation and then attack them with propaganda and physical violence. For some Germans, their own beliefs or the propaganda made them believe that discriminatory legislation was no more than what they though the Jews deserved. For those who thought it was offensive, there was the practical problem of how to show opposition to offer resistance. After the apparatus of dictatorship was established by the end of 1934, the futility of opposition was apparent to most people. Feelings of hopelessness were soon replaced by those of fear. To show sympathy for the Jews would have risked freedom or life. **The Jews and the National Community** The National Community was not open to everyone. The most basic requirement arose out of racial theories. Only Aryans could belong. Jews didn't just not belong, the Nazis claimed they were enemies who were actively trying to destroy the volksgemeinschaft. The Jews, according to the Nazis, were a race not a religious group. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | According to the Nazi race, there were three main racial groups in | | Eruope: | | | | The Aryans (or the Nordic or Germanic race, in its purest form, | | distinguished by blond hair and blue eyes) | | | | The Latin race (French, Spanish, Italians) | | | | The 'sub-human' Slavs | | | | The Nazis also viewed the Jews as a distinct race | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ **Gradualism 1933-39** The Nazi approach to Anti-Semitism was gradualist. The early moves gave no suggestion of the end result. **Early attacks** The earliest moves were vicious but uncoordinated. Many radical Nazis were keen to take immediate measures against Jewish people and their businesses. In spring 1933, local SA units, acting largely on their own initiative, went on the rampage. They beat up Jews and destroyed their property. These attacks left the impression that the Nazi leadership was unable to control its rank-and-file supporters. The leadership was worried that uncoordinated attacks would get out of hand and lose them too much support. But they were also under pressure from the SA to take some action. **Boycotts** In order to regain the initiative, Hitler ordered a one-day boycott. On 1 April 1933. Jewish-owned shops cafes and businesses were picketed by the SA, who stood outside urging people not to enter. However, the boycott was not universally accepted by Germans and got a lot of bad publicity abroad. After testing the water, the Nazis developed their anti-Semitism in a more subtle way by passing Anti-Jewish legislation. **Legislation -- *You must add detail on the examples from the table*** Once the Nazi regime had established the legal basis for its dictatorship (through the Enabling Act of March 1933), it was legally possible to initiate an anti-Jewish policy. On 7 April 1933, the Nazi gov issued its first anti-Jewish decree -- the hastily drafted law on **civil service.** There was a partial gov climbdown after Hindenburg intervened on behalf of Jewish war veterans. Jews who had fought were allowed to keep their jobs. Later in April 1933 -- **Law on overcrowding in schools** -- limited the total of Jewish students to 1.5% 1934 saw a pause but in 1935 Hitler returned to the attack. The remaining SA had demanded more aggressive policy, and they were annoyed after the Night of the Long Knives. Hitler announced the **Nuremberg Laws**. This clearly stood in contrast to the extensive civil rights Jews had enjoyed in Weimar Germany. The Nuremberg laws were put together in two days and were imprecise. They contained no definition of who actually counted as a Jew. Later in 1935, the Nazis introduced a further law, the **Supplementary Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law**, to clarify. A Jew was defined as someone with three or four Jewish grandparents. People with one grandparent usually escaped, but two did not. Discrimination worsened as **more laws** were introduced. In this way all the rights of Jews were gradually removed even before the onset of the war. +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Date | Law | +===================================+===================================+ | 7 April 1933 | Law for the Restoration of the | | | Professional Civil Service -- | | | Jews were excluded from the civil | | | service | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 4 Oct 1933 | Law for the exclusion of Jewish | | | journalists | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 15 September 1935 | The Nuremberg Race Laws: | | | | | | Reich Citizenship Act -- 'A | | | citizen of the Reich is a subject | | | who is only of German or kindred | | | blood.' Jews lost their | | | citizenship. | | | | | | Law for the Protection of German | | | Blood and German Honour -- | | | Marriages and extramarital | | | relations between Jews and German | | | citizens forbidden | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 5 July 1938 | Decree prohibiting Jewish doctors | | | practicing medicine | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 28 October 1938 | Decree to expel 17,000 Polish | | | Jews resident in Germany | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 15 November 1938 | Decree to exclude Jewish pupils | | | from schools and universities | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 3 December 1938 | Decree for the compulsory closure | | | and sale of all Jewish | | | businesses. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 1 September 1939 | Decree for the introduction of | | | curfew for Jews | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **Propaganda and indoctrination** Nazism also set out to cultivate the message of anti-Semitism; in effect to change people's attitudes so that they hated the News. Goebbels himself was a particularly committed anti-Semite and he used his skills as the Minister of Propaganda and Popular Enlightenment to indoctrinate the German people. All aspects of culture associated with the Jews were censored. Even more worrying was the full range of propaganda methods used to advance the anti-Semitic message, such as: **Posters and signs**, e.g. 'Jews are not wanted here' **Newspapers**, e.g. Der Angriff, which was founded by Goebbels himself; Der Dturmer, edited by the Gauleiter Julius Streicher, which was overtly anti-Semitic with a seedy range of articles devoted to violence **Cinema**, e.g. the Eternal Jew; Jud Suss A particular aspect of anti-Semitic indoctrination was the emphasis placed on influencing the German youth. The message was obviously put across by the Hitler Youth, but all schools also conformed to new revised textbooks and teaching materials, e.g. tasks and exam questions. **Terror and violence** As already mentioned, in the early years of the regime, the SA, as the radical left wing of the Nazis took advantage of their power at local level to use violence against Jews, e.g. damage of property, intimidation and physical attacks. **Violence calms** However, after the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934, anti-Semitic violence calmed temporarily. First, in 1936 there was a distinct decline in the anti-Semitic campaign because of the **Berlin Olympics** and the need to avoid international alienation. All signs of anti-Semitism in public places -- notices, posters etc. -- were removed Secondly, **conservative forces** still had a restraining influence. For example, Schacht had continued to express worries about the implication of anti-Semitic action for the economy until he resigned in 1937. V**iolence escalates** In 1937 to 1939 it became clear that a new onslaught on the Jews was in the offing as Nazi leaders proposed different measures. Himmler began to interest himself in Jewish policy, arguing that Germany should be made 'Jew-free; by terrorising them out of the country. Goering wanted to strip them of their property and use the proceeds for economic development. Goebbels pushed for Kristallnacht. **1938 Violence** The events of 1938 were on a different scale. The Anschluss (union with Austria) in March 1938 was to have an important effect and resulted in thousands of attacks. The level of violence and ferocity of attacks on Austria's Jews was worse than anything experienced in Germany. In particular, Vienna's 180,000 Jews were the targets of regular attacks, as well as having their property looted. **Kristallnacht** Secondly. On 9-10 November 1938, there was a sudden violent pogrom against the Jews, which became known as the 'Night of the Crystal Glass' (Kristallnacht) because of the smashed glass. It started in Berlin and spread throughout Germany with dramatic effects. Kristallnacht was an outburst of violence and destruction: at least 90 Jews were killed; hundreds more beaten up; over 200 synagogues were destroyed by fire and nearly 8,000 Jewish businesses were smashed and looted. The excuse was the assassination of Ernt von Rath, a German diplomat in Paris by a Jew on 7 November. The Nazi leadership tried to pretend it was an unprompted popular response to the Paris murder but few were fooled. A collective fine of one billion marks was levied on the Jewish community as a punishment for the murder and 30,000 Jewish men were rounded up and sent to camps. New **anti-Semtic laws** followed Kristllnacht. This included the decree excluding them from running businesses and from public places. *See table* **Forced emigration** From the start of the dictatorship, a number of Jews had decided to leave Germany voluntarily. Many Jews with influence, reputation or wealth were able to leave. Among the most renowned émigrés were Albert Einstein, the scientist, and Kurt Weill, the composer. However, from 1938 a new dimension emerged -- forced emigration. As a result of the events in Austria in 1938, the Central Office for Jeiwsh Emigration was established in Vienna, overseen by Adolf Eichmann. Jewish property was confiscated to finance the emigration of poor Jews. Within 6 months, Eichmann had forced the emigration of 45,000 and the scheme was seen as such as success that in Jan 1939, Goring set up the Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration to be run by Heydrich and Eichmann. 1933 -- 38,000 emigrated 1939 -- 78,000 Combined figure -- 257,000 The Nazi persecution led to about half of the Jewish population leaving before the war. Technically the Jews had voluntarily emigrated but they were forced to leave behind their belongings. Given those circumstances, the remainder decided to take their chances and stay in Germany, rather than lose their homes and all their possessions. **The SS takes over** In 1939 responsibility for the 'Jewish Question was transferred to the SS and became part of Himmler's growing empire. Persecution would escalate to full on genocide. **Evaluation** The position of the Jews deteriorated in the 1930s but it not deteriorate steadily or progressively. Despite the range of anti-Semitic measures of 1933-39, it is difficult to claim that the Nazis had pursued a planned overall policy to deal with 'the Jewish question'. The policies before 1929 were unsystematic, chaotic even. Initiative followed initiative in bewildering fashion. There was also competition between rival approaches -- Himmler and Goering -- battling for control of Jewish policy. The initiatives sometimes cut across each other. Goering was furious with Goebbels after Kristallnacht because he could not strip them of property if it was destroyed The intensity also varied. Savage attacks took place in 1933, 35 and 38-39. 1934, 1936 and 1937 were relatively quiet. However, on one point it is very clear -- the year 1938 marked an undoubted 'radicalisation' of Nazi anti-Semitism. The legal laws, the violence connected with Kristallnacht and the forced emigration came together, suggesting that the regime had reached a pivotal year -- a fact, confirmed by the tone of the speech in the Reichstag by Hitler on 30 of January 1939. *If the international Jewish financiers in and outside of Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevising of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.* **Other groups excluded from the Volksgemeinschaft** The creation of the happy 'folk community' inevitably involved the removal of those who did not fit in or would not join. **Outsiders** Despite all its claims to create a Volksgemeinschaft, Nazism believed that certain people were not allowed to join the Third Reich -- and they were to be discriminated against and persecuted. Nazism was an all-embracing society, but only of those who conformed to their criteria and there were certain groups who could never fit the criteria and were definitely 'outsiders'. **Ideological opponents** This was most obviously applied to the Communists. They were the first to send to the concentration camps in 1933. As the years went on, anyone who did not politically accept the regime could be considered an opponent and imprisoned, or worse. The 'biologically inferior' This covered all the races they thought were subhuman -- Gypsies, Slavs and Jews. It also included the mentally and physically disabled. July 1933 -- 'The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring' -- compulsory sterilization of those with hereditary conditions, including schizophrenia, blindness and deafness. 350,000 would be sterilized over 12 years. After 1939, they would euthanise disabled children. **Asocials** This covered anyone whose behaviour was not considered acceptable. This included alcoholics, criminals, the homeless and workshy. Those who were considered 'orderly' were rounded up and made to join a labour force. The 'disorderly' could be imprisoned, sterilized or experimented on. In 1936, the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion was established. Between 10,000 and 15,000 homosexuals were imprisoned and sent to camps where they were forced to wear pink triangles. **Summary of the impact of the Volksgemeinschaft** In a very obvious sense, the effects of the Third Reich had a dramatic impact on German people but the Nazis did not succeed in creating of Volksgemeinschaft that fit all their goals. It did not get rid of the **class system**. It actually reinforced the position of the established elites, especially the military and big businesses. Despite Nazi rhetorical support for the Mittlestand and the peasantry, both groups remained under social and economic pressure. In contrast, the traditional elites continued to dominate and property and industry stayed in private ownership. Indeed, big business prospered. Fundamental **changes in values** and attitudes did not really take effect. The **Christian Churches** were expected to wither away. However, the Churches survived and enjoyed the support of the vast majority of Christians, although active opposition to the regime was actually limited. **Women** were supposed to stay and home and have more children, but really their role was set by the economic demands of the situation. It seems that the indoctrination of German **youth** did have some successes, especially in the pre-war years. However, even then the effects of Nazi education have been questioned on the groups of imposing conformity without real conviction. Nazi **culture** was meant to establish new roots in the Volk, but it exerted little more than a negative censorious role. If there was a 'revolutionary' core to Nazism, it is to be found in the obsessive nature and implementation of **racial policy**. This is where changes were most evident. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | June 2019 - Historians differ in their judgements about the impact of | | Nazi social policies in the years 1933--39.' **'The Nazis failed to | | create a Volksgemeinschaft in the years 1933--39.'** Assess this view | | using your own knowledge of the issue. | +=======================================================================+ | ∙ Not all German citizens were supportive of a Volksgemeinschaft, and | | by 1939 some sectors of German society showed some disillusion, e.g. | | unskilled workers | | | | ∙ Policies to encourage the domestication of women were undermined | | after 1936 by economic pressures that required them to return to the | | workforce | | | | ∙ Dissent was on the increase throughout the 1930s from youth groups | | and German churches | | | | ∙ The racial and eugenicist aspects of the Volksgemeinschaft were not | | accepted by large numbers of Germans, e.g. boycott of Jewish shops, | | euthanasia for the mentally ill. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | ∙ Many Germans supported the Volksgemeinschaft's aim of creating a | | classless and racially pure 'people's community' and demonstrated | | this by mass participation in Nazi rallies | | | | ∙ Participation in DAF and KdF confirmed the belief in a 'workers' | | community' | | | | ∙ The Kinder, Küche, Kirche policy promoted the values of family life | | and led to an increase in the birth rate and fewer women in work | | | | ∙ Most German youth belonged to the Hitler Youth and were being | | educated through a Nazi-controlled education system | | | | ∙ The Nazis successfully introduced discriminatory measures against | | Jews, ethnic minorities, 'asocials' and some religious organisations. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Sample - 3 Historians differ in their judgements about the success of | | Nazi social policy. **'The Nazis were successful in creating a | | Volksgemeinschaft in Germany in the years 1933--41.'** Assess this | | view using your own knowledge of the issue. | +=======================================================================+ | ∙ Many Germans supported the Volksgemeinschaft's aim of creating a | | classless and racially pure 'people's community' and demonstrated | | this by mass participation in Nazi rallies | | | | ∙ Participation in DAF and the uptake of the leisure opportunities | | and the volkswagen offered by the KdF confirmed the belief in a | | 'workers' community'. | | | | ∙ The Kinder, Küche, Kirche policy promoted the values of family life | | and led to an increase in the birth rate and fewer women in work | | | | ∙ Most German youth belonged to the Hitler Youth and were being | | educated/indoctrinated through a Nazi-controlled education system | | | | ∙ The Nazis successfully introduced discriminatory measures against | | Jews, ethnic minorities, the mentally ill, 'asocials' and some | | religious organisations. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | ∙ Not all German citizens were supportive of a Volksgemeinschaft, and | | by 1939 some sectors of German society showed some disillusion, e.g. | | unskilled workers, little support for invasion of P | | | | Support for farmers was undermined by continued urbanization and | | mittlestand by businesses | | | | ∙ Policies to encourage the domestication of women were undermined | | after 1936 by economic pressures that required them to return to the | | workforce | | | | ∙ Dissent was on the increase throughout the 1930s from youth groups | | and German churches | | | | ∙ The racial and eugenicist aspects of the Volksgemeinschaft were not | | wholly supported by large numbers of Germans, e.g. boycott of Jewish | | shops, euthanasia for the mentally ill. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | January 2020 - Historians differ in their judgements about the Nazis' | | control of opposition in the years 1933--39. **'The Nazis | | successfully controlled opposition in Germany in the years | | 1933--39.'** Assess this view using your own knowledge of the issue. | +=======================================================================+ | In February 1933, all media was put under state control, which | | effectively removed all forums of debate and opposition and anyone | | attempting to demonstrate was arrested and imprisoned | | | | The Nazis used punitive legislation and mass arrests to control | | opposition, e.g. 2 May 1933 laws ended the trade union movement | | | | The Nazis banned and made illegal all political parties in July | | 1933 and many political opponents were either executed or sent to | | concentration camps | | | | Under the Nazis the police, the Gestapo and the SD were granted | | extensive powers in monitoring potential subversives. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Many Protestant pastors opposed Hitler's policies and the Nazis | | were unable to control them, e.g. many joined the Confessional Church | | led by Martin Niemöller | | | | The Nazis were unable to eliminate opposition that came from within | | the army | | | | The Edelweiss Pirates was a collective name for a number of local | | groups, e.g. Roving Dudes, the Navajos, who beat up members of the | | Hitler Youth and the authorities found it difficult to control them | | | | The 'Swing' Movement was an alternative youth group. They rejected | | Nazi politics, and expressed their ideas through forbidden music. The | | Nazis closed bars and made arrests, but could not stop or control | | them. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+