Jews were one of several groups targeted by the Nazis, in
addition to Slavs, homosexuals, gypsies and others who opposed
their policies
Jews were targeted for their minority religious beliefs,
segregated in ghettos, and prevented from owning land
Hitler had made clear his intentions for the Jews inMein
Kampf
The Nuremberg Laws
Passed in 1935 and did the following:
Took citizenship away from German Jews
Banned marriage between Germans and Jews
Prevented Jews from voting or holding office
Required Jews to have a red J in their passports
Discrimination against Jews
By 1936, more than half of German Jews were unemployed because
they could not work as doctors, teachers, farmers, journalists, and
civil servants
Even though conditions were harsh for German Jews, many chose
to stay in the land of their birth, hoping the situation would
change
Kristallnacht
Night of broken glass (7 November, 1938)
90 Jews killed in Germany, hundreds injured and thousands
terrorized
7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed
180 synagogues attacked
Hitler had ordered the German police to not protect the
Jews
Further abuses against Jews
The Gestapo orders 20,000 wealthy Jews to leave Germany and
surrender their possessions
Hermann Goering forces Jews to pay for the damages of
Kristallnacht in the sum of 1,000,000,000,000 Deutschmarks
Jewish emigration
350,000 Jews escape Germany in the late 1930s, many go to the
U.S.A.
The U.S.A. accepted some Jewish refugees but rejected many
others, as did other countries around the world
The SS St. Louis
In May 1939, a ship carrying 930 Jewish refugees was denied
entry to Havana, Cuba
The captain then appealed to the U.S. for permission to come
ashore
The U.S. refused to permit the Jewish refugees from entering
the country and the ship returned to Europe
Most of these people were killed after the Nazis occupied
France, Belgium and the Netherlands
The Final Solution
In January 1942, Nazi leaders came up with an answer as to what
to do about the Jewish question
Nazi leaders decided that Jews would be sent to concentration
camps and exterminations camps
Concentration Camps
At concentration camps, Jews worked as slave laborers until
they dropped dead from exhaustion, malnutrition or disease
Concentration camps were located in Germany, Austria, Poland
and other countries conquered by the Nazis
Extermination Camps
Elderly people, the sick and young children were sent to
extermination camps to be executed in massive gas chambers
Auschwitz, in Poland, housed 100,000 people
1,600,000 were murdered at Auschwitz, most of these were
Jews
The final count
Historians estimate the number of Jews killed by the Nazis to
be approximately 6,000,000
1,000 years of Jewish presence in Europe had been obliterated
by the Nazis due to severe economic problems, Hitlers ability to
control the German people, Germans fear of the Gestapo, and a
history of anti-Jewish feeling in Europe