JEWS IN PREWAR GERMANY

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Jews in Prewar Germany Analysis

Census of June 1933 - the Jewish population of Germany consisted of about 500,000 people. Jews represented less than one percent of the total German population of about 67 million people.

The Nazi racist criteria codified in the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 (identified Jews according to the religion practiced by an individual's grandparents). They classified as Jews thousands of people who had converted from Judaism to another religion, among them even Roman Catholic priests and nuns and Protestant ministers whose grandparents were Jewish. 

80% of the Jews in Germany (about 400,000 people) held German citizenship, the remainder were mostly Jews of Polish citizenship, many of whom were born in Germany and who had permanent resident status in Germany

70 % of the Jews in Germany lived in urban areas. Fifty percent of all Jews lived in the 10 largest German cities, including Berlin (about 160,000), Frankfurt am Main (about 26,000), Breslau (about 20,000), Hamburg (about 17,000), Cologne (about 15,000), Hannover (about 13,000), and Leipzig (about 12,000).

KEY DATES

APRIL 1, 1933
NATIONWIDE BOYCOTT OF JEWISH-OWNED BUSINESSES
Storm Troopers (SA) and SS (the elite guard of the Nazi state) stand in front of Jewish-owned businesses throughout Germany to inform the public that the proprietors of these establishments are Jewish. The word "Jude," German for "Jew," is often smeared on store display windows, with a Star of David painted in yellow and black across the doors. 

SEPTEMBER 15, 1935
NUREMBERG LAWS ARE INSTITUTED
Jews considered a second-class citizens and revoke most of their political rights.

Jews are:

1.       Prohibited from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German or related blood" ("Racial infamy").

2.        Define a "Jew" as someone with three or four Jewish grandparents or who is a practicing Jew.

3.       The Nazis classify as Jews thousands of people who have converted from Judaism to another religion, among them even Roman Catholic priests and nuns and Protestant ministers whose grandparents were Jewish.

NOVEMBER 9, 1938
"KRISTALLNACHT": A NATIONWIDE POGROM (“La Noche de los Cristales Rotos”)

Began as a reponse to the murder of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by a young Jew in Paris. The violence against Jews lasts into the morning of November 10 and becomes known as "Kristallnacht": the "Night of Broken Glass." At least 91 Jews are killed and up to 30,000 more are arrested and confined in concentration camps.

"Aryanization"

The transfer of Jewish-owned businesses to "Aryans," accelerates following the program.

JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN CENTRAL EUROPE

Mini-Gallery

Signs excluding Jews, such as the sign shown here, were posted in public places (including parks, theaters, movie houses, and restaurants) throughout Nazi Germany. This sign states in German: "Jews are not wanted here."

Two German Jewish families at a gathering before the war. Only two people in this group survived the Holocaust. Germany, 1928.

A first-grade class at a Jewish school. Cologne, Germany, 1929-1930.

VICTIMS

 Barbara Ledermann   

Lore Heumann    

Eva Brigitte Marum