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Hitler becomes chancellor
Hitler becomes Chancellor -
NAZI assault, Takeover of power
In March 1933, Adolf Hitler addressed the first session
of the German Parliament (Reichstag) following his
appointment as chancellor.
After this photograph was taken, all political parties in
the Reichstag—with the exception of the Socialists and
Communists—passed the “Enabling Act” giving Hitler
the power to rule by emergency decree. -
The terror begins
A storm trooper (SA) guards newly arrested members
of the German Communist Party in a basement jail
of the SA barracks in Berlin. Communists, Socialists, and other political opponents
of the Nazis were among the first to be rounded up and
imprisoned by the regime. -
From citizens to outcasts
A woman reads a boycott sign
posted on the window of a
Jewish-owned department store.
The Nazis initiated a boycott of
Jewish shops and businesses on
April 1, 1933, across Germany. Many Germans continued to enter
the Jewish stores despite the
boy-cott, and it was called off after
24 hours. In the subsequent weeks
and months more discriminatory
measures against Jews followed
and remained in effect. -
Nazi Race Laws
An instructional chart distinguishes individuals with
pure “German blood” (left column), “Mixed blood”
(second and third columns), and Jews (right two
columns), as defined in the Nuremberg Laws. Among other things, the laws issued in September
1935 restricted future German citizenship to those
of “German or kindred blood,” and excluded those
deemed to be “racially” Jewish or Roma (Gypsy). The laws prohibited marriage and sexual
relation-ships between Jews and non-Jews. -
The "Science" of Race
Members of the Hitler Youth receive instruction in
racial hygiene at a Hitler Youth training facility. The
Nazis divided the world’s population into superior and
inferior “races.” According to their ideology, the “Aryan race,” to which
the German people allegedly belonged, stood at the top
of this racial hierarchy. The Nazi ideal was the Nordic type, displaying blond
hair, blue eyes, and tall stature. -
"Night of Broken Glass"
Residents of Rostock, Germany,
view a burning synagogue the
morning after Kristallnacht
(“Night of Broken Glass”). On
the night of November 9–10,
1938, the Nazi regime unleashed
orchestrated anti-Jewish violence
across greater Germany. Within 48 hours, synagogues
were vandalized and burned,
7,500 Jewish businesses were
damaged or destroyed, 96 Jews
were killed, and nearly 30,000
Jewish men were arrested and
sent to concentration camps. -
American Response
Government policies in the 1930s made it difficult
for Jews seeking refuge to settle in the United States.
In May 1939 the passenger ship St. Louis—seen here
before departing Hamburg—sailed from Germany to
Cuba carrying 937 passengers, most of them Jews.
Unknown to the passengers, the Cuban government
had revoked their landing certificates. -
"Enemies of the State"
Within the concentration camp system, colored,
tri-angular badges identified various prisoner
categories, as seen in this image of a roll call at the
Buchenwald concentration camp. Although Jews were their primary targets, the Nazis
also persecuted Roma (Gypsies), persons with mental
and physical disabilities, and Poles for racial, ethnic, or
national reasons. -
Search for refuge
Jews in Vienna wait in line at a
police station to obtain exit visas.
Following the incorporation of
Austria by Nazi Germany in
March 1938, and the unleashing
of a wave of humiliation, terror,
and confiscation, many Austrian
Jews attempted to leave the
country. Before being allowed to leave,
however, Jews were required to
get an exit visa, plus pay large
sums of money in taxes and
additional fees. -
Life in the ghetto
Jews in the Warsaw ghetto wait in line for food at a
soup kitchen. LIFE IN THE GHETTO Ghettos were city districts, often enclosed, in which
the Germans concentrated the municipal and
some-times regional Jewish population to control and
segregate it from the non-Jewish population.