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Enabling Act
On March 23, 1933, the newley elected members of the German Parliament (the Reichstah) met in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin. On February 27, 1933, the Nazi had burned the Reichstag building and seat of the German government, causing panic and outrage. -
Jewish Boycott
Hitler called for boycott of all Jewish businesses in Germany. The boycott lasted just one day. It attracted attention around the world, all of it negative. It had little effect on Germany, except to fighten and worry German Jews even more. -
Berlin book burning
On May 1, Berlin University students decided on an act "against the un-German spirit." They collected the work of "undesirable writers" and threw them in a huge bonfire. They burned 70,000 tons of books before they were made. -
Aryan Law
On April 7, the first anti-Jewish law was passed.It was called the "Law fot the Restoration of the Civil Service," usally referred to as the Aryan Law. A non-Aryan," which meant a Jew, was defined in this first law as anyone who had Jewish parents or two or more Jewish grandparents. -
Nuremberg Law
There were two parts of the Nurember Laws. one was called "the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Germman Honor," and the second was "The Reich Citizenship Laws." The Jews were now almost defenseless. -
Jewish name change
Property owned by Jews had to be registered with the government. This was the first step in a series that ended with jewish busunesses being "Aryanized' sold cheaply or given to non-Jewish Germans. -
Night of broken glass
A seventeen year old herschel Grynzpan shoy and killed a minor official at the German embassy in Paris. The Nazis used this as an excuse to uleash a giant pogrom against Jews and Jewish property. It has come to be called "Crystal Night" or "the Nihgt of the Broken Glass" because of the huge amounts of broken glass. -
Jewish Star Requirement
In September 1941, all Jews from the age of six are forbedden to appear in public without displaying the Jewish star. For the first time since the Middle ages centuries earlier, a Jewish badge made its appearance in the civilized world as a mark of shame.
