The persecution of minorities Hitler and the Nazis had firm views on race. Nazi racial beliefs. Many Jews saw the events of Kristallnacht as a turning point. Most clergymen either did not read Mein Kampf or ignored its foreshadowing of things to come, and thus the majority of Germany's religious leaders supported Hitler's nationalistic ambitions.
Yet there were those among the religious community who did challenge the Nazis. Out of 17, Protestant clergy, three thousand were Evangelical Lutherans who opposed the Nazis. Some of the members of the group were arrested and sent to concentration camps-never to return.
Others worked quietly in their opposition. Some spoke out because of Hitler's attacks on the church, and a few because of his actions against the Jews.
Jehovah's Witnesses, though few in number, also were seen as a threat to the Nazis. Not only did they oppose war and refuse to fight, but they also urged others not to serve. In addition, Witnesses refused to salute the flag or to say "Heil Hitler.
Not only the parents, but also their eleven children, were punished for being Jehovah's Witnesses. In , when the father, Franz Kusserow, refused to renounce his religion, he was put in jail until the end of the war.
Two sons were executed because they refused induction into the army. Another son was incarcerated in Dachau, where he contracted tuberculosis and died shortly after the war.
The three youngest children were sent to reform school for "re-education. Kusserow and the older girls were taken either to prison or to concentration camps. The Gypsies, like the Jews, were condemned by the Nazis to complete annihilation for being racially impure, socially undesirable, and "mentally defective.
In , a plan to put thirty thousand Gypsies aboard ships and sink the ships in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was abandoned, but many Gypsies were sterilized under a law that permitted the sterilization of "mental defectives.
At least half a million Gypsies were murdered by the Germans in the gas chambers, in experiments, or in general round-ups. Although the Nazis declared Polish people Untermenschen, or subhumans, thousands of Polish children who were blond haired and blue eyed were separated from their families and sent to Germany to be raised in German homes as Aryans. The dark-haired, dark-eyed sisters and brothers remaining in Poland were to be taught only simple arithmetic, to sign their names, and to offer obedience to their German masters.
Their purpose in life was to serve as slaves for the German empire. Anyone caught trying to give further instruction to Polish children was to be punished.
Despite the ban on education, secret schools flourished in attics and basements. Because of the ideological and racial antipathy toward Russian Communism, between two and three million Russian prisoners of war were purposely starved to death by the Nazis. Others were shipped in cattle cars to concentration or extermination camps.
Most died of disease, exhaustion, or starvation. No article on the non-Jewish victims would be complete without mentioning the first opponents of the Nazis: Germans who happened to be Communists or Social Democrats, judges and lawyers, or editors and journalists who had opposed the Nazis.
They were the first to be arrested. As soon as the Nazis came to power, the goal of eliminating all opposition took primacy. Trucks and police vans raced up and down the streets arresting any threat to Nazi rule, including those members of the artistic community who demanded cultural freedom. Tags Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics.
Browse A-Z Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically. For Teachers Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust.
Wise — International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. About This Site. Glossary : Full Glossary. Mosaic of Victims: In Depth. More information about this image.
As part of Operation 14f13, ill and exhausted concentration camp prisoners were sent to euthanasia killing centers for gassing.
In the second phase of euthanasia program, from —45, approximately , institutionalized adults with disabilities were murdered at institutions throughout Greater Germany; these victims were killed by starvation and lethal overdoses of medication.
Other Persecuted Groups The Nazi regime also persecuted and killed members of other groups. See Also Series Nazi Racism. Series The Holocaust. Glossary Terms. The Forgotten Victims of the Holocaust. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, Berenbaum, Michael. Friedlander, Henry. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, Gutman, Israel, and Shmuel Krakowski. New York: Holocaust Library, Hesse, Hans, editor. Bremen, Germany: Edition Temmen, Lewy, Guenter.
The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies. New York: Oxford University Press, We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors. Trending keywords:. Featured Content. Tags Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics. Browse A-Z Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically.
For Teachers Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust. Wise — International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. About This Site. Glossary : Full Glossary. Who were the Victims?
Key Facts. More information about this image. Who Were the Victims of the Holocaust?
0コメント