Essay Sample on Nazi Ideology & Its Impact on Jewish Lives

Introduction

The oppression of Jews and anti-Semitism were the main principles of Nazi ideology. In 1920, the Nazi Party members established a 25-point party manifesto that illustrated their objective to isolate Jews from Aryan society by revoking their civil, legal, and political rights. Nazi leaders revealed their determination to persecute Jews after they assumed leadership, especially during Hitler's era. From 1933 to 1939, German Jews felt the adverse impact of Hitler's dictatorship through the 400 regulations and decrees that stipulated their private and public lives. Most of the oppressive rules were national laws that had been endorsed by the German government to maltreat Jews. Nevertheless, municipal, regional, and state official incorporated their initiatives to promulgate exclusionary decrees in their respective communities. Most of the Nazi leaders in various government levels played a significant role in the economic exclusion of Jews through discussing, drafting, adopting, supporting, and enforcing anti-Jewish laws.

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Anti-Jewish Legislation

Anti-Jewish legislation during Hitler's administration comprised several rules that discriminated against German Jews to restrict their legal, civil, and political rights. Most statutory initiatives were characterized by a series of restraining regulations implemented in 1933, the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, and the final wave of rules passed before the onset of World War II in 1939. For instance, the Enabling Act of 1933 granted the Nazi-led government the authority to adopt regulations by decree that allowed Hitler to bypass parliament's consent. The act was endorsed on 24th March 1933, and it successfully annulled the Weimar Constitution.

Rule for the Reinstatement of the Professional Civil Service

In April 1933, the Civil Service Law was passed, and it granted Nazi-led administration the power to legally remove German Jews from their civil service careers, especially, lawyers, teachers, and doctors. Likewise, the local authorities barred the Jews from utilizing the Shechita traditions when slaughtering their livestock. The Hitler administration approved the anti-Shechita rules to prevent Jews from complying with their Jewish dietary regulations. Lawson urged that the inception of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service created the foundation for the implementation of Nazism ideologies that advocated for racial purity. The Nazi-led government intended to exploit their racial purity perspective to establish a superior cultural society that could promote the establishment of an authoritative state. The Civil Service Law was meant to enable the Nazi-led government to purify communities by segregating Jews from crucial economic aspects of German society. It defined the three primary groups of the unwanted civil servants while it provided their dismissal policies. The first victims of the discriminative decree were the German Jews who were appointed on 9th November 1918. The Civil Service Law advocated for the removal of personnel who had not undergone proper training that necessarily implied anybody fitted the criteria. Workers who were presumed to have been unsupportive to national state projects were dismissed from their public service professions. Lastly, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service targeted non-Aryan civil servants. It was a tactical term used to exclude Jews without the decree openly mentioning Jews.

Laws Regarding Legal Profession and Physicians' Services

A decree on admission into the legal profession was enacted in April 1933 to supplement the Civil Service Law. The regulation attacked public prosecutors and judges since it forbade Jews for undertaking the bar exam that was mandatory before they would become lawyers. Similarly, the rule concerning physicians' service in the public health sector affected Jewish health facilities and doctors. It was implemented in April 1933, and it forbade patients from seeking medical services from non-Aryan general practitioners. The Germans who would transgress the decree were prone to losing their national health insurance. Therefore, the order led to the exclusion of Jewish physicians from German society.

The Policy Against Over-Crowding in German Schools

Focused on enhancing his racial agenda, Hitler's administration aimed at restricting educational activities. On 25th April 1933, the Law against the Over-Crowding of German Schools was enacted. The pro-Nazi leaders exploited the rule prohibiting over-crowding in German institutions to suppress the population of Jewish learners enrolled in German schools to almost 1.5% of the total enrollment. The government abolished all Weimar teachings that promoted equality and democracy; it compelled educators to enforce lessons that encouraged racial pride.

Denaturalization Law and Hereditary Farm Law

In July 1933, the Advisory Committee for Population and Race Policy proposed the Denaturalization and Citizenship Law to exclude Jews from being entitled to full citizenship. On 14th July 1933, the Denaturalization Law was approved, and it enabled the Reich government to withdraw citizenship for individuals who were considered undesirable as per the Nazi policies. The implementation of the decree affected almost 150,000 Eastern Jews in Germany. The Citizenship guidelines encouraged the Weimar government to formulate a strategy that would prohibit Jews from owning land. As a result, on 29th September 1933, the Hitler administration passed the Hereditary Farm Law that restricted Jews from engaging in agricultural activities and owing farmland. The decree allowed only Germans to be farmers. Even though the regulation had minimal impact on Jews since most Jewish did not engage in farming. The rule exposed the Nazi Party's central ideology on endorsing a policy that would enable them to establish norms on land inheritance within the German jurisdiction.

Formation of the Chambers of Culture

On 29th September 1933, Joseph Goebbels has bestowed the authority to establish Chambers of Culture that would dictate Jewish Cultural life. The Chambers of Culture governed the press, broadcasting, literature, fine arts, music, theatre, and film. Consequently, various cultural genres were combined to form the Reich Chamber of Culture. It had the authority to disregard any cultural facet even though it did not have specific written Aryan clauses in its policies. For instance, the film chamber dismissed Jews that participated in any stage of a film-making process, such as ticket collectors, actors, or producers. Hence, the journalism law was incorporated on 4th October 1933 to supplement the Chambers of Culture that compelled one to obtain particular legal permits before working as an editor or journalist in any press. Therefore, Jews who intended to be involved in the film industry had to get a license from the Chamber President.

Nuremberg Laws

In September 1935, Nazi leaders held their annual political rally in Nuremberg and outlined three new decrees that could ensure that Jews were excluded economically from German society. The proposed laws were recognized as the Nuremberg Laws that defined the legitimacy for violence and arrests against German Jews. The Nuremberg rules were created to cater to Hitler's demands to widen citizenship policies that could reinforce the racialized anti-Jewish regulations. The three laws were created to replicate the party's ideologies that Hitler had outlined in his 11920 National Socialist Program. Firstly, the Reich Flag Law claimed that white, red, and black were the national colors; hence, the Swastika flag was endorsed as the new national flag. According to Stallbaumer, the Reich Flag Law required citizens to repay a token of gratitude to the movement as an essential requirement of the National Socialist Party's program. Secondly, Citizenship Law simplified the persons who were granted full civic and political rights while declaring individuals who were deprived of those rights. Lastly, the Law for the Defense of German Honor and Blood prohibited intimate relationships between non-Jewish and Jews among German citizens. Even though the decree did not interfere with existing marriages, it barred future marriages in Reich. Furthermore, the policy forbade Jews from employing non-Jewish Germans who were below 45 years old.

Supplemental Decrees

Once the Nuremberg rules were enacted, the Nazi Party presented additional regulations on the Law for the Defense of German Blood and Honor as well as the Citizenship Law that classified persons who were to be regarded as a Jew. Therefore, the supplemental decrees categorized persons who were entitled to the exclusionary laws. On 14th November 1933, the first additional declaration was released. It classified a Jew as an individual who had at least three-generational grandparents. On 21st December 1933, the second decree was circulated, which claimed that Jewish notaries, lawyers, physicians, teachers, and professors be dismissed from their occupations.

Post-Nuremberg Legislation

1936 Berlin Olympic Games

To avert foreign censure of Germany hosting the 1936 Berlin Olympics and to avoid economic losses among German investors, Hitler withdrew the anti-Jewish policies temporarily. On 3rd December 1936, all anti-Jewish symbols near the winter Olympics venue were removed. Hitler opted to undertake an initiative, not as an act of good faith, but to mitigate international criticism and ensure that the Berlin Olympics occurred.

Second Wave of Nazism Legislation

After the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws, the harsh decrees and violence that Jews encountered in 1938 were meant to force Jews to flee the freshly captured Austria or the Reich. The decertification of Jewish doctors marked the turning point of the second wave of Anti-Jewish rules. The Hitler administration termed them as "sick-treaters" to degrade them and deny them the opportunity to exercise their skills in treating Germans. Likewise, on 22nd March 1938, Jews were forbidden from possessing private gardens. The oppression against Jews escalated when the Hitler administration legalized "essential robbery" against them. For instance, on 21st February 1939, Jews were forced to turn in all their valuables, especially jewelry. As a result, Nazi leaders had expelled the Jews using strict economic rules that relied on a racialized regime to provoke arbitrariness and terror using the legal system.

Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht refers to the violence that Jews experienced in annexed Austria and Germany on 9th and 10th November 1938. The violent attacks targeted Jewish citizens, synagogues, and Jewish businesses. The violence resulted in the death of almost 100 Jews, while many German Jews were arrested during the attacks. Kristallnacht marked the inception of the mass imprisonment of Jews and organized Nazi attacks. Hitler's administration failed to account for the destruction of Jewish establishments, inhumane treat of German Jews, and the execution of the violence. Approximately 267 synagogues were destroyed in Sudetenland, Austria, and Germany by the rioters. Nazi leaders had instructed the firefighters to prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings, but not to extinguish the flames burning the synagogues. The two-day violence resulted in roughly 7,500 Jewish businesses being robbed and their properties being demolished. Despite Jews being the victims of the violence, about 30,000 Jewish youths were arrested and detained in various concentration camps or prisons. Hitler's government blamed the Jews for the destruction and violence that had occurred before imposing a one billion Reichsmark fine on the German Jews community. The government withheld insurance disbursements that would be allocated to the Jewish victims as compensation for homes and businesses that were destroyed...