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Hitler made Chancellor
On this day, Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany. This puts him in the position to pass several anti-Semitic laws. -
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Progression of German Anti-Semitic laws and public resistance to them
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First Wave of Anti-Semitic laws
The first wave of anti-Semitic laws start. These include banning Jews from theaters, holding a driver's liscence, being an actor, or being a lawyer; and restricted the number of Jews and other "non-Aryans" from attending schools and universities (only 1.5% of a school could consist of 'non-Aryans.')
Also, in many cities, it was forbidden to slaughter animals in a kosher manner, meaning that the Jewish people could no longer follow Jewish dietary laws. -
Dachau Opened
Dachau, an infamous Death camp, is opened by the Nazi SS. -
Mass Boycott of Jewish Establishments
Hitler ordered the Nazis to boycott (not to buy products from) Jewish businesses. This caused many of them to have to close, and many Jewish people to become broke. -
Law for the Reestablishment of the Professional Civil Service
This law did several things. It fired all government employees that weren't part of Aryan (non-Jewish, non-gypsy, without any physical or mental conditions, basically, Hitler's definition of 'perfect.') descent; it fired all government employees who did anything or said anything that could be interpreted as being against Hitler's administration, and gave them no pension. -
Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases
People would be neutered if they carried a hereditary disease, or if they suffered from chronic alcoholism. Later, the law was extended to Jewish and other "non-Aryan" people. -
No insurance
It becomes illegal to sell insurance to Jewish people. -
Hitler Approved
Just over 90% of Germans voted that Hitler should keep his dictatorial power. -
Nuremberg Race Laws (part two)
The Nuremberg Race Laws also changed the way the German government defined being a Jew, from being a religion to being a race. Anybody who had three or four Jewish grandparents was automatically deemed a Jew, even if they had converted. -
Nuremberg Race Laws
The Nuremberg Race Laws were very important. They took away the citizenship of anybody who was Jewish, took away their right to vote, banned them from going to many hospitals, were forbidden from even being cited in court except to prosecute them, were banned from marrying or having sex with Germans, were banned from becoming doctors in any sense, (MD or PHD), were kicked out of the army, and were not allowed to have their names written on any WWI memorial. -
Rhineland taken over
German troops marched into the Rhineland and took it over. -
No more fair trial for Jews going into a concentration camp
At this time, the National German Police and the Gestapo claimed they had the sole right to determine who was put into concentration camps. This meant that Jews and the other "non-Aryans" no longer had the right to a fair trial, and were instead put into the camps with no chance of ever getting out. This was what allowed the Nazis to put Jews and other "non-Aryans" in concentration camps without having to make a claim that they committed a crime, as they did previously. -
Aryanization in full swing
"Aryanization," a process which involved kicking Jews out of their businesses and giving them away to those considered to be Aryans, was in full swing by mid-june of 1937. It had begun in 1933, but had begun only a few businesses at a time, until it reached its plateau point in 1937. The purpose of Aryanization was to impoverish Jewish people. -
Mauthausen concentration camp started
Mauthausen, a large concentration camp, was built and opened during March of 1938. -
Austria incorporated
Austria was forced by Germany to become part of the Anschluss, or union, and adopted all the laws that Germany had adopted. -
Nuremberg Synagogue razed by the Nazis.
The Nuremberg Synagogue was the first to be destoyed by the Nazis. -
Munich Betrayal
The Munich Betrayal was another name for the Munich Agreement, in which Italy, France, and the UK gave the Sudetenland, part of Czechoslovakia, who was not invited to the meeting, to Germany. The Sudetenland was a major strategic point for Czechoslovakia, and they felt betrayed by France, to whom they had signed a military alliance treaty. -
J stamped on Jewish passports
A law is passed that requires that Jewish people have their passports stamped with a large red J. -
Assassination of Ernst vom Rath, a German embassy official.
Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew, shot a German embassy official named Ernst vom Rath because his parents weren't allowed back into their native country Poland and were forced to live stranded in a refugee camp in Zbaszyn, a border town. The Reich used this as a pretext for Kristallnacht. -
Kristallnacht (part two)
Two hundred and sixty seven synagogues were destroyed, and many more were damaged, seven thousand and five hundred Jewish businesses were smashed, burned, and looted, dozens of Jewish cemeteries were dug up, and around one hundred Jewish people were killed on that day, dozens of others died because of injuries recieved on Kristallnacht. This willingness to kill, harm, and destroy signaled to the Reich that more harsh legislation could be introduced without too much resistance. -
Kristallnacht, a nationwide pogrom.
After Ernst vom Rath's assassination, the German government announced that they would not intervene if a 'spontaneous' pogrom occured, so long as only Jews were killed and targeted, using Rath's death as a pretext for the attack. No hospitals would admit Jews, and despite the burning buildings, firemen were instructed only to intervene to stop the flames spreading to German homes. Also, German Police were told they should arrest as many Jewish men as their jails could hold. -
Kristallnacht laws
Kristallnacht signalled to the Nazi regime that the German people would not complain or rise up if they stepped up their legislation. They began by making the Jewish people pay for all of the repairs to the Jewish businesses damaged in Kristallnacht, then gave most of those to "Aryans" as soon as they could. They then banned Jews from schools and universities, cinemas, theaters, pools, and virtually every other public facility, and couldn't enter "Aryan zones" in cities. -
Kristallnacht laws (part 2)
Furthermore, every Jewish man or woman that had a name that could not be easily recognized as a Jewish name was required to add the name "Israel" to their first name if they were a man, and "Sara" to their first name if they were a woman. -
The voyage of the St. Louis
The ship was a transatlantic cruise liner that brought nine hundred and thirty nine Jewish refugees to Cuba. This was one of many ships, but it attracted the most media attention. -
WWII starts
Hitler invades Poland, marking the beginning of World War Two.
This is also when the concentration camps start becoming more deadly, and when mass shootings of Jewish people starts.