Think of everything that makes someone who they are, like their eye color or religion, now imagine all of those things being the reason for their persecution and inevitable death. This was the terrifying reality for German Jews in the 1940’s. No matter how hard we try to put ourselves in their shoes you will never know the pain and suffering that these Jews underwent. However, we can always learn about the events that lead to these dreadful events. Germany, suffering the defeat of WWI, signed the Treaty of Versailles losing all of their significant military powers and thirteen percent of their territory. Germany also had to claim full responsibility for the start of WWI and pay heavy war reparations. With a defective government and heavy
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Unemployment in Germany skyrocketed to twenty-two percent and the banking system collapsed. With constant elections and bitterness from the war, political demonstrations quickly turned violent. Crime was on the rise and sexual norms were beginning to change as women started to work away from the home and were allowed to vote. Hitler, imprisoned for trying to overthrow the government after WWI, gained recognition and popularity from his trial and book called Mein Kampf, my struggle. With Hitler’s popularity on the rise, Nazism began to rise as well. Later, Hindenburg died and Hitler abolished the office of President declaring himself Führer and Reich Chancellor, leader of the German nation and head of the government. There was no authority above or equal to his own. Hitler began to declare race laws in order to create a “racially pure” Germany. Soon, Jews were being shunned, isolated, and even worse, their stores were being vandalized and destroyed. The destruction of Jewish shops became so numerous and violent that the term Kristallnacht, Night of Broken Glass, was created to describe the shattered windows of the Jewish stores littering the streets. Things only further escalated and eventually the Jewish concentration camps were created and the lives of many were
Unemployment in Germany skyrocketed to twenty-two percent and the banking system collapsed. With constant elections and bitterness from the war, political demonstrations quickly turned violent. Crime was on the rise and sexual norms were beginning to change as women started to work away from the home and were allowed to vote. Hitler, imprisoned for trying to overthrow the government after WWI, gained recognition and popularity from his trial and book called Mein Kampf, my struggle. With Hitler’s popularity on the rise, Nazism began to rise as well. Later, Hindenburg died and Hitler abolished the office of President declaring himself Führer and Reich Chancellor, leader of the German nation and head of the government. There was no authority above or equal to his own. Hitler began to declare race laws in order to create a “racially pure” Germany. Soon, Jews were being shunned, isolated, and even worse, their stores were being vandalized and destroyed. The destruction of Jewish shops became so numerous and violent that the term Kristallnacht, Night of Broken Glass, was created to describe the shattered windows of the Jewish stores littering the streets. Things only further escalated and eventually the Jewish concentration camps were created and the lives of many were