Social Groups Involving the Holocaust

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Social Groups Involving the Holocaust
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Our initial thoughts

Who were the social groups in Germany after
World War I and before the Holocaust? Through
our research we discovered that there are many
social groups before and after the Holocaust. The
groups included homosexuals, Germans, Catholics,
Christians, Jewish, Gypsies, Czech, Political
prisoners, Jehovahs witness, criminals,
prostitutes, beggars, homeless vagrants, chronic
alcoholics, African Americans, and emigrants.
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Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was a political leader of Germany.
Adolf Hitler was a decorated veteran of WWI and
joined the Germans Workers Party in 1919. Which
was later renamed the National Socialist German
Workers Party( short version is Nazi). By 1921
he was the leader of the group, and in 1923 led
an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the ruling
German Weimar Republic. He was then sent to jail
and wrote a book called Mein Kampf. He was made
Chancellor in 1933, he suspended the
constitution, forcibly suppressed all political
opposition and brought the Nazis to power.

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Jewish
The beginning of the Germans hatred toward the
Jews began a long time ago, centuries even.
There was a period of time when the Christian
church decided that people of their religion
should not handle money, therefore they hired the
Jews to be the bankers. From then on, most if
not all banks were run by Jewish business men and
women. After World War I was over,
Germanys economy was in a major recession and
the people were suffering and were angry.
Everyone wanted someone to blame. Thats when
the National Socialists came about and Hitler
joined. After becoming a leader in the group he
began to accuse the Jews for their hardships. He
said that they had a lot of the money and good
jobs and from then on they began to be excluded
from society. They were an easy group to
pinpoint because they were the minority. As the
next few years progressed they were eventually
completely exiled from common life. This was
around the time Hitler began to send them and
other groups to the concentration and work camps.

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The Nazis Rise to Power

• Adolf Hitler organized a meeting with
  other people angry about WWI. These people agreed
  with Hitlers plan for the next election, and won
  back the dictorial chairmanship. But social
  conditions kept him and his party from growing.
  Hitler was also not allowed to speak in public,
  which was his greatest weapon to come to power.
  In September 1930, after a depression in Germany,
  the Nazis made their first great percentage in a
  national election (18.3), and from there on
  there was no stopping Hitler and the Nazis rise
  to power.

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Homosexuals

• The homosexuals were targeted because the
  Germans wanted to have a purified society. Also
  they could not contribute to the production of a
  greater race. On January 30, 1933, Hitlers
  troops raided the gathering places of the
  homosexuals and lesbians.

• They banned all clubs and social
  organizations of the homosexuals.

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Gypsies

• The Gypsies had been social outcasts in
  Europe for centuries, however, because of Article
  109 of the Weimar Constitution they enjoyed full
  and equal rights but were sometimes subjected to
  discriminatory laws. But, since they were a
  minority group they were easy to target. As with
  Jews and African Americans they were labeled as
  racial inferiors. They were known as racially
  distinctive minorities with alien blood. In July
  1933 the Gypsies were not allowed to have
  offspring. The Nazis were afraid that their
  offspring would be deformed. Gypsies began to be
  sent to labor camps as early as 1929, and when
  Hitler took power in 1933 the anti-Gypsy laws
  remained.
• Throughout the concentration camps Gypsy children
  were used for racially biological research.

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Ending Thoughts

• We have learned numerous things about the
  social groups in the Holocaust during our study.
  It was very informational and we hope you have
  learned a lot too.