Survivors in this section talk about life before the Holocaust. They encounter prejudice and discrimination in the form of anti-Semitism. They talk about the loss of various rights once anti-Jewish decrees are established. Some speakers relate their childhood memories, such as having to leave their homes as refugees in Germany to travel to England on the Kindertransport. Jack Kagan describes occupation and the arrival of the Einatzkommando in his town as violence towards the Jews escalates.

Anti-Semitism

• The Nazis used propaganda campaigns in order to promote Hitler's virulent hatred of the Jews. This hatred of Jews is known as anti-Semitism which can take different forms - institutional, physical and verbal.
• The Nazis wanted to portray the Jews as sub-human evil parasites, inferior beings who were trying to dominate the world. The Nazis built upon the negative myths concerning Jews passed down through the Church for centuries. The main myth was that the Jews were blamed for the death of Christ. This is why Barbara Stimler refers to Passover time as an anxious time for Jews, particularly in Eastern Europe.

Anti-Jewish Decrees

Germany, at the time of the Nazi rise to power, had been experiencing enormous economic and social problems. For example, they had:

lost World War One experienced huge unemployment there was huge inflation and economic instability they had to pay compensation to the Allies for starting World War One they had to adhere to the Treaty of Versailles, whereby they could no longer have a large army and they had to give back lan

The German people were looking for a scapegoat, and Hitler chose to blame the Jews for Germany's misfortunes. The Nazi party promised to solve Germany's problems and in 1932, the Nazi party won 37% of the vote.

The persecution of the Jews began systematically almost as soon as Hitler came to power. The Nazis introduced anti-Jewish decrees, which gradually eliminated the rights of Jewish citizens and they were regularly persecuted and humiliated. Many people were bystanders and did nothing to condemn the Nazi racial policies. This may have been due to the fact that they were content with their other policies, which appeared to improve the disastrous financial and economic conditions in Germany. People were also afraid to speak out, as they were terrified of the brutality of the Nazis.

The anti-Jewish decrees were legalised in 1935 when the Nuremberg Laws were passed. The Nazis believed that the Germans were racially superior and there was a struggle for survival between them and what they considered to be inferior races. They saw Jews, Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), black people and the disabled as a serious biological threat to the purity of the German-Aryan race, which they called the 'Master Race'. For the Nazis a typical Aryan was blond, blue-eyed and tall.

The Nuremberg Laws declared that only Aryans could be citizens of the Third Reich. All Jews and non-Aryans were excluded from Germany society. They were stripped of all their rights and could no longer hold government jobs, own property or run their own businesses. These laws aimed to isolate and ostracise Jews so that they became non-citizens and completely defenceless.

Many Jews had given a great deal to German society. Some German Jews had been Nobel Prize winners and Jews had contributed for centuries to all areas of German cultural life. Many Jews were patriotic Germans and had sacrificed their lives for their country in World War One. For example, survivor Trude Levi's father fought for Germany during the 1914-1918 conflict and was granted medals for serving the country. In her oral testimony in Topic 1 she describes how her father was told to return his medals and that his Hungarian citizenship had been revoked.

Getting out

There were those who managed to leave the country as refugees but they usually needed money and an entry permit to the country they were fleeing to. A conference was held in Evian, France, in July 1935. 32 countries, including Great Britain, met to discuss the refugee crisis. Most countries refused to accept more Jewish refugees. They claimed admitting more refugees would lead to over population, unemployment and further anti-Semitism. Great Britain insisted that Jewish refugees leaving before the war must prove there was an available job for them or that they had sufficient funds to live on. In 1938 there was a special scheme called the Kindertransport allowing 10,000 Jewish children and children of other Nazi victims into Great Britain. Many countries had strict quotas and so although many Jews escaped before the start of the war, some Jews were sent back to Nazi Europe. A survivor, Anon, in Topic 1 describes preparing for arrival in England and her treatment by her foster family. Most of the 9,354 Kindertransport children never saw their parents again.

Occupation

The German occupation of Europe began in March 1938 with the annexation of Austria (Anschluss). The occupation of Poland on September 3rd 1939 was the trigger for the start of the Second World War. As other countries were occupied, the Nazis quickly established the anti-Jewish decrees. These included compulsory wearing of yellow stars and the establishment of the ghettos. In June 1941, Hitler broke his pact (10 years of non-aggression) with the Soviet Union and ordered an invasion using overwhelming force. 2,000 SS, Gestapo and German police were joined by Romanians, Ukranians, Latvians and Lithuanians who followed the German army of 5.5 million men.They formed mobile killing squads called Einsatzgruppen and were responsible for the murder of approximately 2 million Jews and thousands of Roma and Sinti( Gypsies). This was the start of the Holocaust.

Click on the chronology button to see how events evolved.