Nazi Germanys discrimination against the Jews Essay Example for Free

Nazi Germanys discrimination against the Jews seekAs a result of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, a system of untamed curtailment and control emerged that ultimately took the lives of an estimated 6 million Jewish the great unwashedAnti-Semitism is an opposition to, prejudice against, or intolerance of Semitic people, most commonly Jews. Anti-Semitism has existed throughout history, since Israels dispersion in 70 AD. In every land in which the Jews have lived, they have been threatened, violated and murdered, century after century.After Germanys pommel in World War I, many Germans found it hard to accept their defeat. These Germans connived a theory that the citizens at home had betrayed them, especi onlyy laying blame on Jews and Marxists in Germany for undermining the war effort (http//www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/ends.htm). This is the main land that led to the extreme discrimination and removal of basic rights of Jewish people in Germany during the 1930s a nd 1940s, however, thither were many other reasons including Christianitys general hatred for Jewry.Jews were often the victims of Nazism. The first Jewish victims of the Nazi era were 8 innocent people who were killed in the streets on 1 January 1930 by Brownshirts. Soon after that, violence against Jews in the streets became common.Violence was an integral part of the Nazi programme Jews were molested in cafes and theatres, synagogue services were disrupted and anti-Jewish slogans became the day-to-day calling card of Nazi thugs. (Gilbert,200131)One particular night of violence, known as Kristallnacht, is remembered with fear. During the night of November 9-10, 1938 thousands of windows were puckish out of Jewish businesses and homes, hundreds of synagogues were burnt to the ground, and more than ninety Jews were murdered.On March 9, 1933 the first Nazi meanness camp was opened at Dachau. OnApril 1, a boycott of all Jewish shops was put in place. It only lasted a day, because o f threats of a counter-boycott in the USA of all German made goods. However, the expulsion of all Jewish people from Germanys Universities and then the Burning of the Books quickly followed the one-day boycott.The Burning of the Books consisted of 20 000 books burned in a massive bonfire in front of the Berlin Opera House, and opposite the University of Berlin. The books that were destroyed were judged to be degenerate and intellect filth by the Nazis, many being written by Jewish authors. Also during this time, Jewish scientists and intellectuals were pink-slipped from their positions, and Hitler was quoted as saying If the dismissal of Jewish scientists means the annihilation of contemporary German erudition, we shall do without science for a few years.In late 1939, the first ghettos were created in Poland. All Jews were forced to move into a designated area of a city or town, which was surrounded by brick walls topped with barbed wire, and guarded by armed men. SS frequent He ydrich ordered that the ghettos were to be located on railway junctions, or along a railway so that future measures may be accomplished more easily. Large numbers of people had to share small living quarters, and medical supplies and food were limited. The Jews could only bring into the ghettos what they could carry, and their luggage was searched and pillaged on their arrival. Life in the ghettos was hard, and demolition rates were high. closely of the deaths in the ghettos were by starvation or disease. In the two largest ghettos in Poland, Warsaw and Lodz, the death toll from starvation alone in the first cardinal months after the creation of the ghettos reached approximately 42 000.In most of westbound Poland, there were no ghettos. This was because General Heydrich had ordered Western Poland to be cleared completely of the Jews. Immediately after the Germans invaded a town, they rounded up all the Jewish people, made them dig large pits, then shot and buried them just outsid e the town.The ghettos were also referred to as concentration camps and slave bear on camps. This was because while the Jews resided in the ghettos, they could be forced to proceeding up to fourteen hours a day in some circumstances. Some were deported to separate concentration camps where they would wrick on farms in the country to maintain a food supply for the German war machine. Others who stayed in the ghettos worked for the Nazis in munitions factories making armaments, or for local businessmen who paid the government for the use of slave labour to work their factories. These Jews were mostly considered totally expendable, and were subject to minimal food rations, a lack of medical attention, and violent beatings. At least half a million Jews died as slave labourers.The extermination camps, or death camps were the sites for hundreds of mass murders. Men, women and children were deported from ghettos and concentration camps to these death camps and usually taken straight fro m the train to a gas chamber where they were gassed to death.A few hundred people were kept alive as slave labour to relegate through the clothing and luggage of the victims. A small part of this labour force was known as the Death Jews. These Jews performed the task of removing bodies from the gas chambers and stripping them of anything of value. They then dragged the corpses to a crematorium where the naked bodies were burnt. Most of the labour forces were killed and replaced whenever a new group of deportees arrived.The most infamous death camp was Auschwitz, where mostly deportees from Western europium and southwest Poland were taken. Lilli Kopecky, a deportee from Slovakia recalls arriving at AuschwitzWhen we came to Auschwitz, we smelt the sweet smell. They said to us there the people are gassed, three kilometers over there. We didnt believe it. (Gilbert,200177)More than a million Jews were murdered at Auschwitz alone.The Holocaust is probably the most infamous instance of anti-Semitism in History. The oppressive tactics of Nazi Germany took away all the rights of the Jews, and wiped out almost the entire race of Jewish people in Europe. If the Nazis had succeeded in what they came so close to doing, there would not be a trace of Jewry remaining in Europe today.