The persecution of the Jews began systematically almost as soon as Hitler came to power. The Nazis established many new anti-Jewish laws. These were introduced slowly at first, so that the civilian population would not realise the extent of the Nazi party’s anti-Semitism. Below is a chart showing a small selection of the 2,000 Nazi anti-Jewish decrees passed between 1933-1945. It is uncertain whether Hitler planned to murder the Jews when he came to power. Originally it seems he intended to force them out of Germany but this eventually led to a plan to exterminate the Jews.

1933

• Public burning of books by Jews and anti-Nazis

  

• Random attacks on Jews and Jewish property
• Police and the courts no longer protect Jews
• April boycotts of Jewish shops – for one day, Germans are told not to buy from shops and business owned by Jews
• SA stand by shops to discourage people from going inside

  

• ‘Kosher’- ritual slaughter of animals banned
• Department of Racial Hygiene (‘ethnic cleansing’) established

1934

• Jewish students excluded from exams in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law
• Jews excluded from military service

1935

• Nuremberg Laws deny Jews many basic civil rights
• Law for ‘The Protection of German Blood and German Honour’ forbade mixed marriages

  

1935-1936

• Jews no longer allowed to vote and lose German citizenship
• Benefit payments to large Jewish families stopped
• Jews banned from parks, restaurants and swimming pools
• Jews forbidden to use the German greeting ‘Heil Hitler’
• Jews no longer allowed electrical/optical equipment, bicycles, typewriters or records
• Passports for Jews to travel abroad restricted
• Many Jewish students removed from German schools and universities

1938

• Special identity cards issued to Jews
• Jews excluded from cinema, theatre, concerts, exhibitions, beaches and holiday resorts
• Jews forced to add the names Sarah or Israel to their own
• Kristallnacht (9 November) – a night of terrible violence in Germany. German and Austrian Jews are murdered, synagogues burnt and desecrated and shop windows destroyed. Thousands of Jews are arrested
• Jewish children expelled from German schools
• Jews’ passports stamped with a red letter ‘J’. Some have passports removed to prevent them leaving the country.

1939

• A central office for Jewish emigration set up
• Jews evicted from their homes without reason and notice
• Jews’ radios confiscated
• Jewish curfew established

1940

• Jews’ telephones confiscated
• Jews no longer receive ration cards for clothes

1941

• Jews over 6 forced to wear a Yellow Star of David with ‘Jew’ written on it
• Jews Forbidden to use public telephones
• Jews forbidden to keep dogs, cats and birds
• Jews forbidden to leave the country

1942

• Jews hand over fur coats and woollen items
• Jews not allowed to receive eggs or milk
• Blind or deaf Jews no longer allowed to wear armbands identifying their condition in traffic
• All schools closed to Jewish children

1943

Continuous Deportations

With all this happening there were still brave people who defied the Nazi rules, often in subtle but clear ways.