10 - Nazi Ideas About Race and Religion
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10 - Nazi Ideas About Race and Religion
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10. Nazi Germany - Nazi Ideas about Race and Religion* of 25
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© Boardworks Ltd 2006
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How Hitler’s ideas about the ‘master race’ affected his treatment
of Jews, tramps, homosexuals and the handicapped.
How Hitler’s feelings about the Christian faith affected his
treatment of Catholics and Protestants.
What we will learn in this presentation:
Learning objectives
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The Nazis took Social Darwinism even further by arguing that
conflict between races of people was inevitable.
Hitler believed in an Aryan 'master race' of ‘blue-eyed,
white-skinned, fair-haired people’.
He felt this race was undermined by toleration of:
(a) ‘undesirable’ other races, such as Jews and Gypsies
(b) ‘undesirable’ Aryan specimens, such as the mentally ill
and people with disabilities.
In order to create a strong 'Volk', Hitler believed it was
necessary to rid Germany of both groups of ‘undesirables’ (“Victory
goes to the strong; the weak must be eliminated”).
This presentation will deal with how Hitler treated these
‘undesirables’.
Social Darwinism: the Nazi context
© Boardworks Ltd 2006
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Hitler hated the Jews. He considered them communists and war
profiteers who had ‘stabbed Germany in the back’ at the end of
World War I. Where did these ideas come from?
Jews were historically blamed for killing Christ, so they
were:
Politically – denied basic rights in many Christian
countries.
Economically – excluded from professions.
As a result, they either:
Became very poor and so attracted to communism, which scared the
wealthy
Became very rich by setting themselves up as moneylenders (a
profession closed to Christians) so they were hated by the
poor.
or
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This is designed to highlight the fact that anti-Semitism is a
self-fulfilling prophecy.
© Boardworks Ltd 2006
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“The Jews inhabited Hitler’s mind. He believed that they were the
source of all evil, misfortune and tragedy. They were devils whom
he had been given a divine mission to destroy…” Lucy Dawidowicz,
1975.
What did Hitler think of the Jews?
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As soon as he came to power, Hitler began a systematic state-led
attack on the German Jews.
In 1933 he organized a boycott of Jewish businesses. SA members
barred entry to Jewish shops.
Jews were made to use separate seats on buses and trains, and were
banned from public places like parks and cafes.
Jews were excluded from many professions. Jewish civil servants and
teachers were sacked and Jews were not allowed to edit newspapers
or study law.
Jews could not join the Chamber of Culture or the German Labour
Front, further removing them from public life.
Nazi anti-Jewish policies 1933–39
© Boardworks Ltd 2006
Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, London.
This cartoon is from a German school book from the inter-war
period.
What message do you think this cartoon is trying to give to German
school children?
Nazi anti-Jewish policies 1933–39
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The woman in this cartoon is very Aryan looking. The man in the
suit is a Jew. Comment on his appearance – he is fat and ugly
compared to the blonde woman and little girl who are pretty and
wholesomely dressed. Note how the woman is looking away as if her
natural inclination is not to be tempted by the Jew and his money.
This cartoon was aimed at children – think about the message it is
giving to them. The little girl on the left looking worried could
be the woman’s daughter – is the cartoon warning children to beware
of immoral Jews who might steal their mothers away? Should they be
vigilant against Jews and their corrupting ways?
© Boardworks Ltd 2006
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In November 1938, a high-ranking Nazi was shot by a Jewish man in
Paris. Hitler used this as an excuse to organize a week of violence
against the German Jews.
On 10 November, Himmler and the SS led attacks on Jewish
businesses. 10,000 shops were looted and 200 synagogues burnt
down.
91 Jews were killed during the seven-day campaign of terror, and
20,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
To add insult to injury, Hitler then fined the Jewish community a
billion marks to pay for the damage caused.
Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass
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Many Jews left Germany during this period. When do you think most
Jews would have left, and why?
Many Jews nevertheless chose to stay. Why do you think that this
was?
The Jewish Exodus
Jewish emigration:
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, there was a wave of Jewish
emigration which lasted for several years. The rate of Jews leaving
the country then stabilized at a lower level. This was partly due
to a period of political stability in Germany, and partly due to
the increasing reluctance of other countries to accept Jewish
refugees. Emigration increased dramatically in the wake of
Kristallnacht in 1938.
© Boardworks Ltd 2006
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Nazi motives:
Nazi actions:
Anyone who demonstrates through behaviour towards the community …
that they will not adapt themselves to the natural discipline of a
Nazi state [should not be allowed to have children]. Himmler,
1935
By 1945, 350,000 men who were considered vagrants had been forcibly
sterilized. 100 of these died as a result of the “Hitler
cut”.
Tramps
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Nazi motives:
Nazi actions:
There are homosexuals who take the view: what I do is my business.
However, all things which take place in the sexual sphere … signify
the life and death of the nation ... A people of good race which
has too few children has a one-way ticket to the grave. Himmler,
1937
During the Nazi period, between 10 and 15 thousand homosexuals were
imprisoned. They were then either castrated or subjected to medical
experiments to ‘correct’ their sexuality.
Homosexuals
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Nazi motives:
Nazi actions:
[Doctors can] decide whether those who have – as far as can be
humanly determined – incurable illnesses should, after the most
careful evaluation, be granted a mercy death. Hitler, 1939
By 1945 the ‘mercy killing’ of people who were ill or disabled had
resulted in nearly 280,000 deaths. The euthanasia programme set a
dangerous precedent that paved the way for the Holocaust.
The disabled
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Hitler was in two minds about what his policy towards the Christian
churches should be.
On the one hand, the churches could be a powerful ally. The
Catholic Church had supported the Nazis because it saw them as a
bastion against Communism.
On the other hand, the Church represented a rival authority to the
Führer. Catholics were required to give their allegiance to the
Pope, and the Protestant churchman Martin Niemoller, had openly
spoken out against the Nazis.
Hitler’s attitude
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Hitler united the Protestant churches into one organization led by
the pro-Nazi Bishop Muller.
Its members were called 'German Christians' and their slogan was
“The swastika on our breasts and the cross in our hearts”.
Over the course of the next few years the churches came
increasingly under attack. By 1939, RE lessons had been abolished
and all church schools closed.
What do you think the slogan of the German Christian Movement was
getting at?
The Protestant Church
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In 1934 the German Faith Movement was set up. This became the state
religion and was based around the Hitler Myth. It aimed to promote
the Aryan people and Nazi ideology.
"The National Reich Church demands an immediate stop to the
printing and sale of the Bible in Germany ... On the altars must be
nothing but Mein Kampf, and to the left of this a sword."
From the rules of the National Reich Church.
The German Faith Movement