Racial policy of Nazi Germany
In 1900, Houston Stewart Chamberlain published The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century. This two-volume work combined Social Darwinism with antisemitism to describe history as a struggle between Germanic peoples and Jews. Adolf Hitler later called Madison Grant's book The Passing of the Great Race his Bible. Grant had advocated Nordicism in 1916 to preserve the Nordic race through eugenics. Hans F. K. Günther wrote Race Lore of German People to warn against mixing Slavic blood with the German stock. Eugen Fischer, Erwin Baur, and Fritz Lenz produced Foundations of Human Hereditary Teaching and Racial Hygiene from 1920 to 1921. They used pseudoscientific studies to conclude Germans were superior to Jews intellectually and physically. Arthur de Gobineau published An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races in the 1850s. He proposed that the Aryan race was superior and urged preservation of its purity. By 1897, this text had been translated into German. Johann Gottlieb Fichte served as an ideological inspiration for Hitler and other Nazi Party members during the Weimar Republic years. His works helped form the philosophical foundations of Völkisch nationalism.
The 14th of July 1933 Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring established Genetic Health Courts. Ernst Rüdin and other theorists of racial hygiene drafted this legislation. The courts decided on compulsory sterilization for anyone suffering from congenital mental deficiency or schizophrenia. The law also targeted those with manic-depressive insanity, hereditary epilepsy, Huntington's chorea, blindness, deafness, severe deformities, and alcoholism. At least 400 mixed-race children known as Rhineland bastards were forcibly sterilized by 1938. This order applied only within the Rhineland region. Other African Germans remained unaffected by this specific policy. The Nazis passed the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage shortly after gaining power in 1933. Newly married couples of the Aryan race received government loans to encourage higher birthrates. A portion of these loans was forgiven after each child was born. The goal was to ensure the Aryan population grew rapidly while eliminating those deemed genetically unfit.
Approximately 525,000 Jews lived in Germany when the Nazi Party seized power in 1933. They made up 0.75% of the total German population. On the 1st of April 1933, a nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses began across Germany. Six days later, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service banned Jews from government jobs. By the 15th of September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws had been passed during great Nazi rallies at Nuremberg. These laws criminalized sexual relations and marriage between Germans and Jews. The Reich Citizenship Law stripped all Jews of their citizenship and official titles. They became subjects of the state without basic rights like voting. Hans Globke co-authored aspects of these laws including an ordinance requiring Jews with non-Jewish names to adopt Israel or Sara as first names. On the 5th of October 1938, a large letter J appeared on Jewish passports. the 15th of November 1938 saw Jewish children banned from state-run schools. The Night of Broken Glass occurred on the 9th of November 1938 after Herschel Grynszpan shot Ernst vom Rath in Paris. At least 91 Jews were killed and 30,000 arrested into concentration camps that night. The January 1942 Wannsee Conference made the Final Solution official policy.
Nazi Germany began persecuting Romani people as early as 1936 by transferring them to municipal internment camps. Roughly ten percent of Gypsies were considered racially pure by Nazi standards. Heinrich Himmler suggested creating a specific Gypsy Law but it was never enacted. About 23,000 Gypsies were eventually deported to concentration camps. The number of black people in Germany when Hitler came to power ranged between 5,000 and 25,000. Eugen Fischer believed Rhineland bastards should be sterilized to protect racial purity. Hans Massaquoi described his experience growing up half-African in Hamburg without knowing about the Rhineland sterilizations until long after the war. Downed black American pilots faced higher risks of violence and murder than white pilots. Susan Samples noted African-Germans had better survival chances than average Germans during the war. They were excluded from military activity yet unlikely to be incarcerated because they posed no perceived threat. Some black individuals disappeared mysteriously while others were used in medical experiments. Jazz music was banned as corrupt negro music despite its prior popularity before Hitler took power.
Hitler first suggested Lebensraum living space needs in Mein Kampf back in 1925. He argued for German expansion eastwards at the expense of inferior Slavs. Operation Barbarossa launched in 1941 officially described the invasion as a European crusade against Bolshevism. Generalplan Ost divided into Kleine Planung Small Plan and Grosse Planung Big Plan parts. The Small Plan covered actions taken during the war while the Big Plan covered post-war ethnic cleansing over 25 to 30 years. Polish decrees issued on the 8th of March 1940 regulated working conditions for Zivilarbeiter laborers. Any Pole engaging in sexual relations with a German man or woman faced execution by death penalty. Heinrich Himmler wrote Reflections on the Treatment of Peoples of Alien Races in the East dated the 25th of May 1940. He proposed restricting non-Germans to four-grade elementary schools teaching only writing names and counting up to 500. Hundreds of Polish and Russian men were executed for their relationships with German women during the war. The Wehrbauer soldier-peasants settled fortified lines to prevent civilization arising beyond Germany's borders.
In 1936 the Reich Cabinet issued a special decree exempting Iranians from Nuremberg Racial Laws. They were classified as pure Aryans due to shared Indo-Germanic ancestry. Hitler declared Iran an Aryan country following suggestions from the German ambassador. In 1934, Nazis celebrated the Ferdowsi millennial celebration in Berlin to emphasize common racial membership. Han Chinese and Japanese were considered Aryans of the East or Herrenvolk of the Orient. Adolf Hitler stated in February 1945 that he never regarded Chinese or Japanese people as inferior. Hsiang-hsi Kung visited Nazi Germany on the 13th of June 1937 receiving honorary doctorates from Hitler and Hermann Göring. Chiang Wei-kuo studied military strategy at a Kriegsschule in Munich achieving lieutenant rank before returning home. Japan had defeated Russia in 1904 which Hitler viewed as defeating Austro-Slavism. Karl Haushofer called Japan the brother nation to Germany after studying there starting in 1908. Hiroshi Oshima believed noble castes like daimyo descended from gods similar to Himmler's Nordic beliefs. Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath issued exemptions for Han Chinese and Japanese in October 1933.
Common questions
What was the 14th of July 1933 Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring in Nazi Germany?
The 14th of July 1933 Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring established Genetic Health Courts to enforce compulsory sterilization on individuals with congenital mental deficiency, schizophrenia, manic-depressive insanity, hereditary epilepsy, Huntington's chorea, blindness, deafness, severe deformities, and alcoholism. At least 400 mixed-race children known as Rhineland bastards were forcibly sterilized by 1938 under this policy within the Rhineland region.
When did the Nuremberg Laws criminalize sexual relations between Germans and Jews in Nazi Germany?
The Nuremberg Laws were passed on the 15th of September 1935 during great Nazi rallies at Nuremberg to criminalize sexual relations and marriage between Germans and Jews. The Reich Citizenship Law stripped all Jews of their citizenship and official titles, making them subjects of the state without basic rights like voting.
How many Romani people were deported to concentration camps by Nazi Germany?
About 23,000 Gypsies were eventually deported to concentration camps after Nazi Germany began persecuting Romani people as early as 1936 by transferring them to municipal internment camps. Roughly ten percent of Gypsies were considered racially pure by Nazi standards while others faced deportation or death.
What was Generalplan Ost in Nazi Germany?
Generalplan Ost divided into Kleine Planung Small Plan and Grosse Planung Big Plan parts to cover actions taken during the war and post-war ethnic cleansing over 25 to 30 years. Heinrich Himmler wrote Reflections on the Treatment of Peoples of Alien Races in the East dated the 25th of May 1940 proposing restrictions on non-Germans including four-grade elementary schools teaching only writing names and counting up to 500.
Why did Nazi Germany exempt Iranians from Nuremberg Racial Laws in 1936?
In 1936 the Reich Cabinet issued a special decree exempting Iranians from Nuremberg Racial Laws because they were classified as pure Aryans due to shared Indo-Germanic ancestry. Hitler declared Iran an Aryan country following suggestions from the German ambassador and Nazis celebrated the Ferdowsi millennial celebration in Berlin in 1934 to emphasize common racial membership.