The Treatment of the Jews - Dicuss How the Jews Were Dehumanised During the 1930s and World War Ll

The Treatment of the Jews

Dicuss how the Jews were dehumanised during the 1930s and World War ll

Hitler’s ideology and beliefs formed a strong hatred against the Jewish race, he viewed them as the direct cause to Germany’s economic and social problems and them losing World War 1. Hitler and the Nazi party divided everyone into races, viewing the Aryan race as the strongest and the Jewish race as inferior. The Jews prospered in Germany and experienced a high class of living, whilst many German citizens struggled to earn decent wages and survive, with this hatred grew. In 1932 Hitler won the election and came to power in 1933 as the . During this decade he began to perform attacks on the Jews to dehumanise and isolate them from the German society. Hitler and the Nazi party achieved this with anti-Semitic Laws, the Nuremburg Laws, Ghettos, and Concentration Camps. 

In 1933 Germany enforced more than 400 anti-Semitic laws and regulations on the Jewish race isolating them from society and destroying their private lives. During 1933-1934 the German government focused on removing the Jews from the economic sphere. Jewish shop owners and employees were forced to resign or shut down, Jewish students were removed from schools, Jews were removed from the army, and they were no longer allowed to be actors. This denied Jews of an education and to earn a living. The amount of Jewish owned businesses were reduced by two thirds, this made survival near impossible. Jewish rituals involved those slaughtering animals for dietary reasons, this was banned which dehumanised them and destroyed their beliefs.  During these years the Nuremburg laws took place, mainly restricting their daily life and preventing any sexual relations between the Aryan race and Jewish race.  By 1938 Jews were made to register their property as an effort to lose their ownership and privacy. Jewish doctors were no longer allowed to treat non-Jewish patients and lawyers were no longer allowed to practise law, Jewish businesses were bought at bargain prices by full German citizens. These restrictions were developed so the Jewish race would lose their wealth and power. The last law was for Jewish to clearly identify their race physically, isolating them from the community. These were inclusive of them carrying identity cards, having a large ‘J’ stamped onto their passport, and if their given names were of non-Jewish origin they were to add ‘Israel’ or ‘Sara’. The Anti-Semitic Laws were introduced as an attempt to dehumanise the Jews. 

The Nuremberg laws deprived Jews of their citizenship, they were no longer considered a person and their religions and beliefs were discarded. These laws were first declared in 1935 in Nuremberg, they consisted of two separate laws. The first law approved was the ‘Reich Citizenship Law,’ designed to separate Jews and Germans. A Reich citizen was a person with German blood or related to a German. Jews were not considered to be of German blood a part of the Reich which caused them to lose their rights and citizenship. A Jew was defined as a person with three or four Jewish grandparents, two Jewish grandparents belonging to the Jewish religion, or married to a Jew as of the date the laws were finalised. If a jew was to have two Jewish grandparents they were called 'Mischling,' meaning cross breed or mixed blood  . These laws were put in place to revoke the Jews citizenship. The second law was named 'Law for the protection of German blood and German Honour,' Which mainly prevented any relations between Jews and Germans. Marriages and sexual relations between Jews and Germans was illegal, Jews under the age of 45 could not be employed in households, and Jews lost the right to fly the German flag. In 1938, on the 14th of November a regulation was announced that no Jew could be a citizen of the Reich and would have no voting rights in political matters. These laws prosecuted Jews, not for their religion but who they were; they were not considered human and were no longer members of a society. These two laws were created to protect German honour and protect their country.