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Hello, I'm Mr. Marchant and thank you for joining me for today's history lesson.
My job today is to help guide you through our history resources in the lesson, and I'm gonna be working to make sure that by the end of our time together you can securely meet our lesson objective.
Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the Holocaust, where we've been asking ourselves, what was the Holocaust? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain how Nazi persecution of Jews developed over time.
There are five key words which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.
Three of those are antisemitism, boycott, and synagogue.
Antisemitism refers to hate directed at Jewish people or cruel or unfair treatment of people because they are Jewish.
A boycott is a situation in which people refuse to buy, use, or do something because they do not approve of it.
And a synagogue is a Jewish place of worship.
And our other two key words for today's lesson are looted and emigrate.
If something is looted, it is stolen from shops and houses during a period of fighting, and to emigrate is to permanently move out the country.
Today's lesson will be split into three parts and we'll begin by focusing on Nazi beliefs about Jews.
In 1933, the Nazi party and its leader, Adolf Hitler, gained power in Germany.
The Nazis won power by promising to revolutionise the country and restore its best qualities.
By the end of 1934, Germany had become a one-party state under Nazi control.
So thinking about what we've just heard, which political party gained power in Germany in 1933? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.
Okay, well done to everybody who said that it was the Nazi party which gained power in Germany in 1933.
The Nazis had strong beliefs about race.
They believed that Germans were part of an Aryan master race that was naturally superior compared to all others.
Jews were one of many races alongside groups such as Siniti and Romas who were regarded by the Nazis as inferior.
The Nazis argued that inferior races would corrupt the German Aryan master race and weaken the country.
So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just heard.
Which two are the following were Nazi beliefs? That Aryans could not be threatened by other groups, that Germans were part of an Aryan master race, that Jews were the only race inferior to Germans, or that many races, including Jews were inferior to Germans? Remember that you are looking for two answers to this questions.
Pause video here and press play when you're ready to check your answers.
Okay, well done to everybody who said that from our options, the two Nazi beliefs were that Germans were part of an Aryan master race, and that many races, including Jews, were inferior to Germans.
The Nazis championed antisemitism and regarded Jews, unlike most other inferior races, as mortal enemies of Germany and Europe.
It was believed that Jews shared responsibility for every problem faced by Germany and were part of an international Jewish conspiracy, meaning that there were secret plans to do something bad, which mainly targeted Germany.
These suspicions and beliefs were reflected in German propaganda such as the poster, which you can see on the screen.
So thinking about what we've just heard, I want you to write the missing word from the following sentence.
Nazis believed that there was an international Jewish, blank, aimed against Germany.
So what's the missing word? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.
Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing word was conspiracy.
Nazis believed that there was an international Jewish conspiracy, so secret plans aimed against Germany.
So we are now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about Nazi beliefs about Jews into practise.
I want you to study the poster shown on the screen.
How does a poster help historians understand Nazi anti-Semitism and their beliefs about Jews? You should refer to details from the source and your own knowledge as part of your answer.
So pause video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.
Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.
So I asked you how does the poster help historians understand Nancy antisemitism and their beliefs about Jews? And your answer may have included, the poster demonstrates that the Nazis believed that Jews were leading an international conspiracy against Germany.
In the poster, it shows three flags of the USA, Britain and the Soviet Union and describes these countries as enemies in text written on the poster.
However, the poster also shows a man wearing a Star of David who is supposed to be a Jew standing behind the three flags.
The full text reads that "behind the enemy powers: the Jew." This shows that the Nazis believed that the opposition of foreign countries to Nazi Germany was actually organised by Jews who must have been hostile to Germany.
So really well done in your own response looks something like that model there.
And now we're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson for today where we are going to think about isolating Germany's Jews.
Antisemitic persecution began very quickly after the Nazis came to power in Germany.
Nazi persecution of Jews continued throughout their years in power, but also changed in nature over that time.
Violence against Jews was not very common in Germany from 1933 to '37.
Instead, during these years, the Nazis followed multiple policies to isolate Jews from the rest of German society.
When the Nazis first came to power, despite their hostility towards Jews, the government avoided blatant instances of violence against Jews.
There was uncertainty about the extent to which extreme persecution would be accepted by the majority of Germans and by foreign powers such as Britain and France.
Instead, between 1933 and the end of 1937, German policies towards Jews primarily focused on isolating those defined by the Nazis as Jewish from the rest of German society.
One aspect of this isolation was economic.
Through a policy of Aryanization, the Nazis worked to transfer Jewish jobs and properties to non-Jews.
In 1933, Jews were banned from owning farmland and working as lawyers.
Economic pressure was also put on Jews through a national boycott of Jewish businesses.
Members of the SA, the unofficial military wing of the Nazi party, were placed outside Jewish businesses carrying signs with messages like, "Don't buy from Jews." Similarly, by 1935, all Jewish civil servants had been dismissed from their jobs.
Furthermore, in 1936, Jews were forced to hand over electrical appliances and other goods to the state.
Finally, by 1938, new laws deprived Jews of their right to own property, declared that Jewish businesses would not be given government contracts and ban Jews from working as midwives, bookshop owners, and travelling salespeople.
The combined effect of these actions left many Jews in impoverished and transferred at least 40% of businesses and 40 to 50% of wealth, which had been owned by Jews in 1933 to either the German state or non-Jews in Germany.
So let's check our understanding of what we've just heard.
I want you to write the missing word from the following sentence.
Between 1933 and the end of 1937, German policies towards Jews primarily focused on, blank, those defined by the Nazis as Jewish from the rest of German society.
So what's the missing word? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.
Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing word was isolating.
Between 1933 and 1937, German policies towards Jews primarily focused on isolating those defined by the Nazis Jewish from the rest of German society.
And let's try another question.
What percentage of Jewish owned-businesses were transferred to non-Jews or the German state due to Aryanization? Was it 20%, 40%, or 60%? Pause video here and press play when you are ready to see the right answer.
Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was B.
40% of Jewish owned-businesses were transferred to non-Jews or the German state as part of the policy of Aryanization during the 1930s.
Political and social restrictions also isolated German Jews.
A cap was placed on the number of Jewish students who could attend German schools and universities.
Bans were introduced on the use of some public spaces like swimming pools by Jews.
And in 1935, the Nuremberg laws were passed.
These laws forbade Jews from having sexual relations with or marrying non-Jews and stripped all German Jews of their citizenship.
The loss of citizenship meant that Jews were denied certain rights and protections such as the right to vote.
In August, 1938, the Nazis forced all Jewish men to adopt the middle name, Israel, and all Jewish women to adopt the middle name, Sarah, making it easier to identify them.
The isolation of Jews was intensified by the voluntary actions of ordinary Germans and organisations after 1933.
Many clubs, singing groups and bowling leagues began limiting their membership to Aryans, even excluding Jews who'd previously been members.
So let's check our understanding of what we've just heard.
Which set of laws stripped Jews of citizenship and prevented them from marrying non-Jews? Was it the Berlin laws, the Munich laws, or the Nuremberg Laws? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.
Okay, well then to everybody who said that the correct answer was C.
The Nuremberg Laws which were passed in 1935, stripped Jews of their citizenship in Germany and prevented them from marrying non-Jews.
And let's try another question.
This time we have a statement which reads, Jews only became socially isolated because of the actions of the Nazi government.
Is that statement true or false? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.
Okay, well done to everybody it said that that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our answer.
Why was the original statement false? Pause video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your response.
Okay, well done to everybody who said Nazi laws help to socially isolate Jews, but many organisations voluntarily chose to restrict membership to Aryans after 1933, thereby excluding Jews.
This shows that Jews didn't only become socially isolated because of the Nazi government.
Ordinary Germans voluntarily isolated their Jewish neighbours as well.
We are now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about isolating Germany's Jews into practise.
I want you to complete the table.
It mentions three different types of persecution, economic, so relating to finances, money and jobs, political, so related to people's rights and social, so about people's day-to-day lives and their interactions with others.
For each of those types of persecution, I want you to provide one example of how this persecution occurred against Jews under Nazi rule.
So pause video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your responses.
Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.
So I asked you to complete the table by providing one example of each type of persecution listed.
And your answers may have included for economic persecution that Jews were banned from owning businesses and working in careers such as law, book publishing and sales.
For political persecution, your example may have included the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of citizenship, so they lost their right to vote in Germany.
And for social persecution, your example may have included that Jews were not able to use some of the same public spaces such as swimming pools as non-Jews.
So really well to if your own examples look something similar to those models, which we've just seen.
And now we're ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today, where we are going to think about Kristallnacht.
Nazi persecution of Jews became more violent in 1938.
The events of Kristallnacht provide the clearest, though not the only example of escalating persecution against Jews in the Third Reich.
Although policies like Aryanization and the Nuremberg laws were successful in increasingly isolating Jews, for the Nazis, they did not go far enough towards reducing the Jewish population living under their rule.
This problem was exacerbated, made worse, by the addition of Austria to the Third Reich, the name of the Nazi ruled state in 1938, as this brought many more Jews under Nazi control.
Subsequently, Nazi-led violence towards Jews began to increase.
In the summer of 1938, Jewish homes were regularly broken into in Austria, the main synagogues in Munich and Nuremberg were destroyed.
And tens of thousands of foreign-born Jews were forcefully rounded up for deportation, forceful removal to another country.
When a young Jewish man, Herschel Grynszpan assassinated a Nazi official in Paris in anger at this persecution, the Nazis organised a collective assault on the Jewish population of the Third Reich, which became known as Kristallnacht, meaning the night of the broken glass.
In November, 1938, during Kristallnacht, 7,000 Jewish shops were looted, 267 synagogues were destroyed, and at least 91 Jews were murdered.
Whilst over 20,000 more Jews were arrested.
Police and firemen did little to prevent a violence against Jews and destruction of their property.
And after Kristallnacht, the Nazis demanded that Jews in the Third Reich collectively pay a large fine for the outbreak of violence.
Many Jews who were able to, had already immigrated from the Third Reich to escape Nazi persecution before the events of Kristallnacht.
However, because many Jews had been impoverished by Aryanization and also because antisemitism existed in many countries outside of Germany, it was not always possible for those who wish to escape Nazi rule territories to do so.
Nevertheless, by September, 1939, roughly 60% of Jews in Germany and 67% of those from Austria had managed to emigrate.
So let's reflect on everything that we've just heard.
We have a statement that reads, Kristallnacht was the first major instance of violent persecution of Jews in 1938.
Is that statement true or false? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.
Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our answer.
Why was the original statement false? Pause video here and press play when you are ready to check your response.
Okay, well done to everybody who said, in 1938, before Kristallnacht, tens of thousands of foreign born Jews were deported from the Third Reich, Jewish property in Austria was attacked and so were synagogues in Munich and Nuremberg.
This all shows that there had been major violent persecution of Jews in the Third Reich, even before Kristallnacht in 1938.
And let's try another question.
This time, I want you to identify one example which demonstrates that there was significant violence towards Jews during Kristallnacht.
So pause a video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.
Okay, well done to everybody who gave one of the following examples that 7,000 Jewish shops were looted, the 267 synagogues were destroyed, or that at least 91 Jews were murdered.
All of these examples show that there was significance violence towards Jews during Kristallnacht.
And let's try another question.
This time, I want you to identify two factors which made it hard for many Jews to immigrate after Kristallnacht.
So you need to choose from, antisemitism in foreign countries, foreign bans on travel to and from Germany, a lack of money often due to Aryanization or Nazi bans on immigration.
Remember, you are looking for two factors to answer this question.
Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answers.
Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answers were A and C, anti-Semitism in foreign countries and a lack of money often due to Aryanization, both restricted the amount of Jews who could emigrate from the Third Reich after Kristallnacht.
Okay, so we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge of Kristallnacht into practise.
We're gonna split task C into two parts.
Firstly and starting with the earliest.
I want you to sort the events shown in our table into chronological order.
You should use the numbers one to six to indicate your answers.
So pause video here and press play when you are ready to check your response.
Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.
So I asked you starting with the earliest to sort the events in our table into chronological order, and your answers should have looked as follows.
The first event from our table is that the Nazis gained power in Germany, this happened in 1933.
The second event you should have identified was that there was a boycott of Jewish businesses organised by the Nazis.
Thirdly, the Nuremberg laws were passed.
This happened in 1935.
The fourth event you should have identified was that all Jewish men and women were forced to change their names.
Men had to have the middle name, Israel, and women had to have the middle name, Sarah, if they were Jewish.
Fifthly, you should have identified that 267 synagogues were destroyed during Kristallnacht in 1938.
And the last event from our table was that 60% of Germany's Jewish population had emigrated by 1939.
So really well done if you managed to identify that chronological order correctly.
And now we can move on to the second part of task C.
For this, we have a statement that reads Nazi persecution of Jews between 1933 and 1938 was not commonly violent.
How accurate is this statement? I want you to write one paragraph to explain your answer.
So pause a video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your response.
Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.
So we had the statement, Nazi persecution of Jews between 1933 and 1938 was not commonly violent.
And I asked you how accurate was the statement? Your answer may have included, the statement is only partially accurate as it does not fully account for how prominent violence became as a form of Nazi persecution against Jews.
It is true that for many years, violence against Jews was not a very common form of persecution in Nazi Germany.
As Nazis focused on isolating Jews instead through policies such as Aryanization.
However, from 1938 onwards, the emphasis of Nazi persecution became more violent.
For instance, tens of thousands of foreign born Jews were deported over a year.
And in November, the Nazis organised a pogrom known as Kristallnacht.
During Kristallnacht, 7,000 Jewish owned shops were looted, 267 synagogues were destroyed, and at least 91 Jews were murdered, showing how prominent violence had become.
So really well done if your own response looks something like that model which we've just seen.
And that means we've now reached the end of today's lesson, which puts us in a good position to summarise our learning about Nazi persecution of Jewish people.
We've seen that the Nazis promoted antisemitism.
They viewed Jews as inferior to the Aryan master race and also as enemies of Germany.
They began persecuting Jews almost as soon as they gained power in 1933.
Initially, Nazi persecution mainly focused on isolating Jews politically, economically, and socially from the rest of German society, through the boycott of Jewish businesses and the policy of Aryanization, Nazi persecution became more openly violent in 1938, most noticeably during Kristallnacht, during which at least 91 Jews were murdered, and 267 synagogues were destroyed.
By 1939, roughly 60% of Jews in Germany had managed to immigrate.
So really well done for all of your hard work during today's lesson.
It's been a pleasure to help guide you through our resources, and I look forward to seeing you again in future as we think further about the Holocaust and continue to ask ourselves, what exactly was it?.