Introduction

The Nazis were not the only fascists in Europe. However, they were the most extreme example of fascism. Beginning in 1933, the Nazis built an all-powerful state that controlled most areas of German life. They were defeated in 1945, but not before dragging the world into a terrible war. Tens of millions of people lost their lives in that war. The dead included the more than six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. In this article, we look at how the Nazis rose to power, and how their attack on Germany’s Jews was a key part of their rule.

Nazis take power

The Nazi Party (NSDAP)¹ was founded in February 1920. Its leader, Adolf Hitler, became chancellor of Germany in January 1933. A chancellor is similar to a U.S. president.

Before 1933, the Nazis had limited political power. That began to change after a fire nearly destroyed Berlin’s Reichstag building on February 28, 1933. Hitler claimed the fire was a terrorist act by communists trying to bring down the government. He soon gathered enough parliamentary support to pass the Enabling Act (March 24, 1933). The act gave him broad lawmaking powers.

It was the Enabling Act that allowed the Nazis to take power. But it also showed Hitler’s desire to look like he was playing by the rules. So it’s important to remember that all of this was done by parliamentary vote. It was the German parliament that ended Germany’s democracy. It gave Hitler the powers needed to create a dictatorship. Within weeks, Hitler outlawed all other political parties.

Antisemitism and the Nazi state

The laws the Nazis introduced completely changed the relationship of German people to the state. They also changed how Germans related to each other. Long before the Nazis, some non-Jewish Germans distrusted Jews. The Nazi Party made use of this existing antisemitism. More than that, they encouraged its growth. New laws aimed at Jews began to be passed right away, starting in 1933.

The most important were the Nuremberg Laws, passed on September 15, 1935.² These laws set the stage for the attack on German Jews in two important ways: One, Jews were stripped of their citizenship because they did not have “German blood.” Two, marriage between Jews and ethnic Germans was outlawed. Once Jews lost their citizenship, they also lost their rights.

After 1935, wave after wave of laws made things even worse for Germany’s Jewish population. Jews were barred from many kinds of jobs, and many Jewish businesses were forced to close. Jewish children were not allowed to attend most schools. The state often seized the property of Jewish families. These measures had a terrible effect on German Jews. In just a few short years, a once thriving community was almost completely beaten down. Jews lived at the complete mercy of the Nazis and their fellow Germans.

The Nuremberg Laws had two main goals. The first was to prevent Jews from taking part in German society. Once that stage was complete, the next goal was to prevent Jews from being in Germany at all. German fascists believed that Jews posed a danger to the well-being of the nation. But in addition to wanting Jews out of Germany, the Nazis had another reason for their attack on Jews. German fascists portrayed Jews and communists—and particularly Jewish communists—as the greatest danger to the German nation and its people. Many non-Jewish Germans were convinced by these claims and soon grew fearful. The Nazis used this fear to win the support of everyday people. This allowed them to create an all-powerful, centralized state.

Defining the nation

The Nuremberg Laws and other laws also served to define what it meant to be German. They declared that part of being German was not being Jewish. German citizens had rights, and Jews did not. Germans formed one racial group, the Jews another. According to the Nazis, the two were not meant to live together.

The anti-Jewish laws also sent a hidden message to non-Jewish Germans: Hitler and the Nazis had enormous power over the lives of ordinary people. If they wanted to, they could destroy you. And it was not only the attack on Jews that made their power clear. The Nazis reshaped everything from the military and the economy to the healthcare system and education. Under the direction of Joseph Goebbels,3 even the movies and radio were made to serve the Nazis. This kind of total control was meant to make people obey the Nazis in every area of their lives.

Conclusion

It is important to remember that the Nazis took over in Germany because of a vote. Frightened by the Reichstag fire, parliament gave Hitler the power to make laws. Using his new powers, Hitler established one-party rule. He quickly built an all-powerful state. From 1933 onward, this state terrorized Jews and other minorities in an effort to remove them entirely from German society and then from all of Europe. Antisemitism was central to Nazism. Still, measures like the Nuremberg Laws weren’t simply an attack on Jews. They were also used to strengthen a sense of German ethnic identity and to show how powerful the state really was.

1 NSDAP is the abbreviation of the German name Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. The full name translates to National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Most often, that English name is shortened to “the Nazi Party.”
2 There were two Nuremberg Laws. One was the Reich Citizenship Law. The other was the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor. For more about these laws, visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (ushmm.org).
3 Goebbels was a high-ranking member of the Nazi party. He served as national director of propaganda. His job was to shape how ordinary Germans thought.