Download Slide 1

HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
Prejudice and Persecution (Pack 6.2)
The Persecution of the Jews in
Nazi Germany
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
CASE STUDY OF PREJUDICE AND PERSECUTION
THE JEWS AND THE NAZIS IN GERMANY 1918 — 1945
WHY THE NAZIS VICTIMISED THE JEWS
• The Nazis were the insider group (more of them, more
power, more influence)
• Wanted scapegoats after loss of World War I, as Hitler
and Nazis could not accept Germany’s defeat
• Treaty of Versailles (1919) harsh (reparations, loss of
land, colonies armed forces and War Guilt clause). Many
Germans wanted someone to blame
• Depression of German economy, and inflation
• Unemployment (6 million in the 1930s)
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
• Hatred of Jews (anti-Semitism) was used to unite German
people
• Nazi propaganda (e.g. rewriting school books, Hitler Youth,
control of the media) and censorship (preventing opposition
views), spreading anti-Semitic message
• Ruthless oppression of those who spoke out against the
Nazis
• Hitler and Nazis early successes in other ways persuaded
many Germans the Nazis must be right
• Complacency and anti-Semitism of other countries and
religions (e.g. refusal to help Jewish refugees)
• The Nazis were in power in Germany after 1934 when Hitler
became the Fuehrer
• Jealousy of Jewish success (medicine, the arts, law and
education)
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
WHY WERE THE JEWS AN EASY
TARGET?
• Outsider group (fewer in number, less
influential, less power)
• Already an ancient tradition of antiSemitism (diaspora, crusades, pogroms)
• Visibly different (often Mediterranean
skin colour)
• Stood out through cultural differences
(kosher, Hassidic clothing, Jewish areas
in cities, Hebrew writing and names)
• Stood out through religious differences
(synagogues, Sabbath, torah)
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JEWS?
Persecution followed the “Continuum of Persecution”
• antilocution
• ostracism
• non-violent discrimination
• violent discrimination
• genocide
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
HOW DID THE CONTINUUM APPLY TO THE JEWS IN
NAZI GERMANY?
ANTILOCUTION
From 1918 (end of World War I)
Nazi speeches and writing against the Jews in the media
OSTRACISM
1934 Hitler becomes
Chancellor
Germans encouraged
not to use Jewish
businesses and to cut off
social links with Jews
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
NON-VIOLENT
DISCRIMINATION
Nuremburg Laws (1935) passed
against Jews. No longer allowed
certain jobs, to move freely or to
marry non-Jewish Germans
VIOLENT DISCRIMINATION
Transportation, ghettoes, beatings
and concentration camps begin
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
GENOCIDE
Under the “Final Solution”
the holocaust begins with
shooting then gassing of
Jews in extermination
camps like Auschwitz. By
end of Won War II in 1945,
6,000,000 Jews
exterminated.
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
WHO WAS TO BLAME?
• Hitler and the Nazis
• Fear of the Nazis from
opponents (who kept quiet)
• Concealment by the Nazis of
what was going on
• Lack of reaction from the Allies
(UK, USA, Russia)
• Lack of reaction from religions
(e.g. the Pope would not speak
out against it)
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
HOW CAN WE OVERCOME PREJUDICE?
We need to accept that prejudice comes from badly formed
attitudes. When we stereotype, we fail to understand that
every human being is different and unique. When we
understand this, stereotyping becomes impossible.
So, how can we overcome stereotyping:
• Socialisation: Our primary socialisers (parents) and
secondary socialisers (teachers, media, peers, work,
religion etc.) can help us to learn to respect the uniqueness
of all human beings
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
• Education: Deliberate teaching (like this module) may
help people to come to understand the causes of prejudice,
thus giving them the capacity to resist it.
• The Law: Can make some prejudice illegal, but doesn’t
always change attitudes
• Lobbying – putting pressure on politicians or other
influential people
• Support of the UN Conventions on Human Rights and the
Rights of the Child.
HUMANITIES G.C.S.E. REVISION
RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPECT
• The applicability of these rights to everyone (from local to
worldwide)
• The fact that rights can conflict with each other
• That rights are a common ethical / moral language that is
shared worldwide
• Rights relate to SURVIVAL, e.g. the right to life
PROTECTION, e.g. the right to live in safety
DEVELOPMENT, e.g. the right to education and
PARTICIPATION, e.g. the right to vote by secret ballot
• Be prepared to write about how we use rights education at
JHCS to improve the atmosphere, build respect, reduce
bullying etc., through peer education, peer listening,
citizenship, rights newsletter, school council development etc.