WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Persecution and Antisemitism, 1933–1939
Antisemitism - hatred of Jewish people - was not invented by the Nazis, but they made it the centrepiece of state policy. In the six years between Hitler becoming Chancellor and the outbreak of war, Jews in Germany were systematically stripped of their citizenship, their livelihoods, their civil rights, and eventually their physical safety. The process was not uniform - it happened in stages, with periods of apparent calm followed by sudden escalation. Understanding this escalation, from the boycott of 1933 to Kristallnacht in 1938, is essential for AQA - and for understanding the path that led to the Holocaust.
Why antisemitism was central to Nazism
Antisemitism was not just one element of Nazi ideology - it was at its core. Hitler's worldview held that history was a struggle between races, and that Jews were the most dangerous racial enemy of the German people.
In Nazi propaganda, Jews were blamed for almost everything that had gone wrong with Germany: the defeat in 1918 (the "stab in the back" myth), the humiliation of Versailles, the hyperinflation of 1923, the Great Depression, Communism (which they identified with Jewish intellectuals), and the decadence of Weimar culture. The image of the Jew as criminal, exploiter, and conspirator was everywhere in Nazi media.
Germany had approximately 500,000 Jews in 1933 - less than 1% of the population. They were disproportionately represented in professions (law, medicine, journalism, academia) because historical exclusions from guild trades had pushed Jewish communities towards these fields. This representation was weaponised in antisemitic propaganda.
The escalation of persecution, 1933–1938
Persecution did not begin with the Holocaust. It escalated in stages.
April 1933 - The boycott: Within weeks of taking power, the Nazis organised a national boycott of Jewish businesses. SA men stood outside Jewish shops with signs reading "Germans, defend yourselves! Don't buy from Jews." The boycott lasted only one day - international reaction was negative and the Nazis feared a trade backlash.
1933–1934 - Exclusion from public life: Jews were dismissed from civil service positions, barred from journalism, law, teaching, and other professions. Jewish children faced growing discrimination in schools.
1935 - The Nuremberg Laws: Two laws announced at the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg:
- The Reich Citizenship Law stripped Jews of German citizenship. They became "subjects of the state" - legally inferior.
- The Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour banned marriage and sexual relations between Jews and "Aryan" Germans.
A supplementary decree defined who was a Jew: anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents. Those with one or two were classified as "Mischling" (mixed) - a category with its own complex legal status.
Key legislation
The Nuremberg Laws, 1935
The Nuremberg Laws were announced at the annual Nazi Party rally in September 1935. They stripped Jews of German citizenship (the Reich Citizenship Law) and banned marriage or sexual relations between Jews and non-Jewish Germans (the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour). The laws also created a definition of "Jewishness" based on grandparents - this definition would later be used to identify those to be deported to the extermination camps. The Nuremberg Laws were a significant escalation: for the first time, antisemitism was written into the legal foundations of the German state.
Life for Jews in Nazi Germany
Between 1933 and 1938, the daily reality for Jewish Germans deteriorated steadily:
- Jews were excluded from an increasing range of professions and businesses
- Jewish children were humiliated in classrooms and eventually excluded from German schools
- Restaurants, parks, swimming pools, and public facilities displayed signs: "Jews not welcome" or "No Jews"
- Jewish businesses were "Aryanised" - sold, often under compulsion, to non-Jewish owners at far below market value
- Emigration increased: approximately 150,000 Jews left Germany between 1933 and 1937. The main obstacles were the high taxes on assets taken out of Germany and the difficulty of finding countries willing to accept refugees.
Kristallnacht, 9–10 November 1938
On the night of 9–10 November 1938, organised violence against Jews erupted across Germany and Austria. This was Kristallnacht - the "Night of Broken Glass" - named for the shattered windows of Jewish shops, synagogues, and homes.
The immediate trigger was the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by Herschel Grynszpan, a young Jewish man whose family had been deported from Germany to Poland. The response was not spontaneous: it was organised by the SS and SA under Goebbels' direction.
The scale of the violence:
- Approximately 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed
- Around 1,400 synagogues were burned or destroyed
- Approximately 100 Jews were killed during the night itself
- 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps in the weeks that followed
After Kristallnacht, Jews were banned from owning businesses and were forced to pay a collective fine of one billion marks to cover the damage - in other words, they were forced to pay for the destruction of their own property.
Turning point
Why Kristallnacht mattered
Kristallnacht represented a decisive escalation: the Nazi regime had moved from economic and legal persecution to openly organised physical violence. It also provoked significant international condemnation - though no country took concrete action to help German Jews. Crucially, Jewish emigration accelerated sharply after Kristallnacht: approximately 115,000 Jews left Germany in the following year. Historians debate whether the regime was intentionally driving emigration - or whether the radicalism of Kristallnacht was ahead of official policy. What is certain is that after November 1938, the situation for Jews remaining in Germany was far more dangerous than before.
Other persecuted groups
Jews were not the only victims of Nazi persecution. Other groups were also targeted:
- Roma and Sinti were subjected to racial laws, forced sterilisation, and eventually mass murder in the Holocaust
- Gay men were persecuted under paragraph 175 of the German criminal code (which had existed since 1871 but was enforced more aggressively from 1933); many were sent to concentration camps
- People with disabilities faced compulsory sterilisation under the 1933 Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring; the later T4 programme (1939–1941) killed over 70,000 people with physical and mental disabilities
- Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted for refusing military service and refusing to give the Nazi salute
Why this matters for the exam
The path from 1933 to the Holocaust
AQA questions on antisemitism often ask you to trace how persecution escalated between 1933 and 1939. The key stages are: 1933 boycott → exclusion from professions → Nuremberg Laws (1935) → Aryanisation of businesses → Kristallnacht (1938) → mass emigration. This escalation was not neatly planned from the start: historians debate whether the Holocaust was the product of a long-term plan (intentionalism) or of ad hoc radicalisation (functionalism). For GCSE purposes, the most important thing is to show that persecution escalated over time and that Kristallnacht represents a clear turning point - after which emigration became the only realistic option for Jews still in Germany.
Revision checklist
Before moving on, make sure you can answer:
- Why was antisemitism central to Nazi ideology? What did Nazis blame Jews for?
- What happened in April 1933? Why did it only last one day?
- What were the Nuremberg Laws? What did they do to Jews' legal status?
- What was "Aryanisation"?
- How many Jews left Germany between 1933 and 1937? What stopped more from leaving?
- What happened on Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938)? What were the consequences for Jews?
- Name two other groups persecuted by the Nazis besides Jews.
- How did antisemitic persecution escalate between 1933 and 1939?
What's New snippet
Article slug: gcse-history-germany-persecution-antisemitism
Title: From boycotts to Kristallnacht - the escalating persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany
The April 1933 boycott of Jewish businesses was the beginning of a systematic campaign of exclusion, humiliation, and violence that intensified year by year. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripped Jews of citizenship. Kristallnacht in November 1938 - when 1,400 synagogues burned and 30,000 men were arrested - marked the shift from legal persecution to organised violence.