The persecution of minorities Flashcards

All 10 cards in this deck

What did the Nazis mean by the 'master race'?

The Aryans – supposedly tall, blond, blue-eyed Germans – whom they believed were racially superior; other groups were labelled Untermenschen (subhumans).

How did the Nazis view and treat Slavs?

They were classed as Untermenschen (subhumans) fit only to serve Germans, and their lands in eastern Europe were wanted for Lebensraum.

How were Roma and Sinti people treated by the Nazis?

Classed as racially inferior and 'workshy', banned from marrying Germans under the Nuremberg Laws, and from 1936 forced into special camps.

How were homosexual men treated in Nazi Germany?

Seen as a threat to the Nazi ideal of the family; thousands were arrested under Paragraph 175 and many were sent to concentration camps.

How did the Nazis treat people with disabilities?

The 1933 Sterilisation Law allowed the compulsory sterilisation of people with hereditary conditions; around 350,000 people were sterilised.

What happened in the boycott of Jewish shops and businesses in April 1933?

SA members stood outside Jewish shops, businesses and offices with signs telling Germans not to buy from Jews; the official boycott lasted one day.

What were the Nuremberg Laws (1935)?

The Reich Citizenship Law took German citizenship from Jews, and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour banned marriage and relationships between Jews and non-Jews.

What was 'Kristallnacht'?

The 'Night of Broken Glass', 9–10 November 1938, when synagogues, Jewish shops and homes were attacked across Germany; around 100 Jews were killed and about 30,000 Jewish men sent to concentration camps.

True or false? Kristallnacht was a spontaneous riot by ordinary Germans with no Nazi involvement.

False. It was encouraged and organised by the Nazi leadership, especially Goebbels, with the SA and SS taking part.

What event did the Nazis use as the excuse for Kristallnacht in November 1938?

The shooting of a German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, in Paris by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew.