To What Extent Were Jews Assimilated Into Germany by 1930?

One event that encouraged Anti-Semitism and increased tensions leading up to Kristallnacht and beyond was the announcement of the Nuremberg Laws in September of 1935. This set of laws created by the Nazi party made sharp distinctions between the rights and privileges of Germans and Jews (Sigward 291). This redefined citizenship in the Third Reich and laid the groundwork for a racial state. For example, the Reich of Citizenship Law stripped Jews of their citizenship, claiming they didn’t have “German blood” (Sigward 291). Those of Jewish descent were denied the right to vote and the ability to obtain a valid passport or visa to leave the country. This law completely dehumanized Jews living in Germany and made them stateless, which caused those of the Aryan race or pure German descent to feel superior. In the Nuremburg Laws, Article 5 of the First Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law defined a Jew as a descendant of three or more Jewish grandparents or two Jewish parents (Sigward 293). These laws lead to the Jews being persecuted for who they were, rather than the faith they believed during previous years. As a result of these laws being carried out, German nationalism and Anti-Semitism across the Reich increased drastically .

Consistent with Rossel, Germany has had a past of anti-Semitism, starting in 1542 when the great German Protestant leader Martin Luther wrote a booklet called Against the Jews and Their Lies. Even earlier the Catholic Churches had taught that the Jewish people killed Crist and should therefore be hated (10). Early teachings of anti-Semitism lead to a hating of the Jewish community, but with the German’s calling themselves the “Aryan Race” and the Jewish people calling themselves the “chosen one’s” there was bound to be competition on who was superior.

Throughout the history of America, there has always been a influx of Jews from Europe. Even though Emma Lazarus wrote her poem after the massive immigration of German Jews to America, her poem can be used to describe the Jewish Immigrants. Many German Jews arrived in New York " tired ... poor... [and] yearning to breathe free." While New York City was still a hub for German Jewish immigrants, some had also moved to Atlanta and more Western states. Several of the German Jewish families who immigrated to America will forever have their names etched into her history, through their central role as entrepreneurs in America's expanding clothing industry. They began from humble careers and worked their way up the proverbial food chain. Once

At the end of WWI in 1918, Germany’s economy was in ruins. There were very few jobs, and bitterness began to take over the country. According to the text, “Hitler, a rising politician, offered Germany a scapegoat: Jewish people. Hitler said that Jewish people were to blame for Germany’s problems. He believed that Jews did not deserve to live.” (7) This was the birth of Antisemitism--prejudice against Jewish people. Europe’s Jewish people have always been persecuted due to their “different customs and beliefs that many viewed with suspicion.”(7) Hitler simply reignited the flames, and a violent hatred was born.

To begin, there were many political laws implemented against Jews. In the earlier years of World War II, the Nazis declared their goal to segregate Jews from the “Aryan” society.

Discrimination against the Jews started immediately after the Nazi seized power in Germany on January 30, 1933. Hitler had a vision for Germany that they belonged to Aryan master race. Hitler also believed the Jews were interfering with that vision. Hitler's discrimination against Jews began April 7, 1933, with a law passed stating Jewish member couldn't practice their religion. The Nazi regime began pushing out Jews from the country voluntarily with violence. Jewish businesses were attacked and denied access to markets and advertisements. On September 1935 Nuremberg Laws, which prohibited Jews and Germans to be married, was put into effect. The Reich citizenship law stated that those of Germanic or relative blood were defined as citizens which means Germans were striped of their citizenship. By the start of WWII around 250,000 of Germany's Jews emigrated to the United States, Great Britain and other countries.

* People were Jealous. Some Jews were successful and held powerful positions in Austria and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. Germany was hit the hardest by the worldwide economic depression which started in 1929, and successful Jews were envied.

German anti-Semitism played the main role in Holocaust and extermination of Jewish population in Europe during World War 2. There are different views on this subject among historians. Some support the fact that German society was anti-Semitic and ordinary

Germans were encouraged by a particular hate against the Jewish people, the hate led the Jewish people to believe that they had to die, and they didn’t want to say no because they believed Hitler was right about the Jewish people. This shows that the Germans had hatred towards Jewish people because they didn’t want to oppose otherwise. They were making the Jewish people believe that they were going to die because of all of the hate that was going against them. The last example to show that ordinary Germans were responsible was the event in 1938 known as Kristallnacht- Jewish businesses and homes destroyed by mobs. What this shows is how they were developing hate throughout other groups to be against the Jewish people.

The hatred towards Jews was nothing new in that time. Throughout history Jews have been prosecuted and blamed for many of the world's problems, and Germany was the same. The treaty of Versailles was incredibly harsh on Germany as it extinguished the nations power and reduced its presets on an international scale. The Germany people especially hated the treaty of Versailles and they needed someone to blame, so lo and behold the hatred of Jews began in Germany. The TOV was signed and approved by Jewish politicians so many German peopled blamed Jews for the TOV. During the 1930s, many Jews where doctors, lawyers and bankers which

During the holocaust, the germans saw the jews as a “tainted race”, and saw them inferior to themselves. They also sought to kill off the jewish bloodline completely.

The persecution of many individuals in Germany was due to their Jewish ancestors, the persecuted were accused of having “Jewish blood” because according to Jewish religion, one must be chosen by the religion from birth; meaning that if one’s ancestor was a Jew, then that ancestors treacherous Jewish blood was prominent in their offspring as well.

The first thing that must be discussed is the ever-worsening persecution of the Jews, even before 1935 tensions between Germany and the Jewish population were prevalent, harkening back to the Weimar Republic and the blame being placed on the Jewish population for the surrender of

Germans saw the Jews as threats to their German community. Jewish people lived in most countries that the Germans gained power over in World War II. The Germans also targeted other races but Jews were the main target. Around 1945 the Germans were using what they called

“The German law restricted the number of Jewish students at German schools and universities,” as stated in the article, “Children During The Holocaust.” Without education, many Jewish children would have to live with not being able to have better jobs when they are older because the higher the level of education you finish, the more job opportunities you’ll have that pays a high salary. Additionally, taking Jewish education affected their level of intelligence since they weren't able to learn as much as the other German children that were given the right of having an education. Another major thing that Germans did to Jewish students was that they examined them in schools to see if they belonged to the true ‘Aryan race,’ the Germans had “measured their skull size and nose length, and recorded their pupils’ hair and eyes” (Nazi racism). This examination in the schools embarrassed and humiliated those who did not fit the standards of the Aryan race, which is blonde, blue-eyed and tall. These high expectations of the Germans probably lowered the self-esteem of these excluded children, which can affect how they view other people around them because other people are judging them about their appearance instead of their intelligence. (“Children During The Holocaust,” “Nazi