The Life of the Jews in Germany After the Nazi Rise to Power | Yad Vashem

[Music] in january 1933 on the eve of the nazi rise to power some 500 000 jews lived in germany comprising less than one percent of the total population most defined themselves as part of the german nation and viewed their jewishness only as a religion or as a shared origin the anti-jewish policies enacted after hitler's rise to power in january 1933 impacted all fields of jewish life and led to the persecution of jews across germany this policy included anti-semitic propaganda exclusion from the public sphere and legislation that revoked the jews civil rights these changes resulted in ever greater hardships for german jews and compromised their ability to provide for themselves financially towards the end of the 1930s their situation deteriorated and they became the targets of popular violence and mass arrests nazi policy towards the jews developed gradually from hitler's rise to power and until the outbreak of the second world war in september 1939 the authorities periodically reviewed and updated their jewish policy depending on the reactions of the german public and international pressure the first major anti-jewish action was a financial boycott of jewish businesses in germany which began on the 1st of april 1933 and was organized by the nazi party the boycott resulted in an international backlash and a series of interventions by foreign governmental agencies and businessmen both jewish and non-jewish in an attempt to call off the boycott the results of the short-lived boycott were unsatisfactory and were seen as a cause for concern in financial circles who worried about the negative effect of the boycott on business and unemployment rates later on anti-jewish legislation was enacted that restricted the lives of jews in germany and excluded them both socially and economically thus for example the law for the restoration of the professional civil service enacted on the 7th of april 1933 provided the legal framework through which jews were dismissed from public positions this anti-jewish legislation peaked in september 1935 with the nuremberg laws which led to the revocation of citizenship for german jewry in addition to anti-jewish legislation the popular anti-semitism against jews intensified and with it the tendency of german citizens to harass their jewish neighbors these factors led to a reorganization of jewish groups such as the right representation of german jews and the youth aliyah these organizations founded social welfare systems and provided financial and medical assistance as well as professional guidance and they instituted educational and cultural activities simultaneously some german jews chose to emigrate and already within the first year of nazi rule 37 000 jews left the country even as new anti-jewish legislation was passed in 1935 the most restrictive to date most jewish organizations did not take this as a signal from the german government for the jews to emigrate the widespread assumption was that the jews would be allowed to live in germany as a separate minority group an example of such a detant in anti-jewish actions was the 1936 summer olympic games during which orders were issued to cease from unofficial actions against the jews as a result labels distinguishing between jewish-owned businesses and aryan businesses were removed as were signs prohibiting jews from entering certain places it seemed that a new period of law and order would now reign in relations between germans and jews following the anschluss the annexation of austria in march 1938 viennese jews suffered unprecedented violence that led to further waves of jewish emigration during that year the aryanization of property escalated and jewish property was confiscated both in austria and in germany in july 1938 the evian conference an international summit in which 32 nations participated took place in france its express purpose was to find a solution that would ease the emigration of german and austrian jews ultimately none of the countries participating in the conference agreed in practice to open their gates to jewish immigration or to increase immigration quotas for jewish refugees the night between the 9th and 10th of november 1938 known as kristalnacht was then the height of anti-jewish violence in germany during this night jewish stores and synagogues were destroyed about a hundred jews were murdered and tens of thousands were sent to concentration camps kristallnacht and the events that followed in its wake mortally wounded jewish life in germany towards the end of the 1930s and particularly from the second half of 1938 jewish immigration from germany and austria became a clear goal of nazi policy from this stage onwards there was a marked increase in the number of jews leaving germany they were transformed from immigrants into refugees people who had been deported from their country you

Channel: Yad Vashem

Views: 178,118

Keywords: Yad Vashem, Holocaust, Shoah, Jewish life, yt:cc=on, German Jews, Germany, Nazi Rule, Antisemitism, Antisemitic Laws, Kristallnacht, Nuremberg Laws, Boycott of Jewish Businesses, Concentration Camps

Id: d5p_F1KaCfY

Length: 5min 19sec (319 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 07 2022